King Cornelius II was not an idle man. Every minute of every day was filled with purpose, and not the kind where others schedule meetings or appointments, giving you commitments that you had to keep. No, he was a man who planned his day himself, and filled each part of it with a conscious effort to fulfill his goals.
Due to this stringent discipline he maintained, he was often called callous or uncaring towards those close to him. The truth, however, was not that he was uncaring specifically towards them, but that he cared too much about his goals. The people he chose to surround himself with knew this well, and so were selective in providing him news unrelated to whatever he asked. Sometimes, however, there were situations that could not be expected and needed his comments.
For events like these, Cornelius had allocated a certain time during his regular briefings. Of course, all of this was dictated by the fact that the event did not require urgency! In case of an emergency, his assistants would obviously interrupt him.
Today, however, was not such a case, which is why, as he ate breakfast, he received various bits of news. To be clear, he wasn't receiving news while eating breakfast, but that so much time was wasted on these things, he decided to eat to fill the time. Someone like him didn't actually have any need for food. He was an immortal, after all.
"There is a bit of news about one of your children again," said Miscellaneous Assistant A. Despite having the same first name, there was no connection and Miscellaneous Assistant A and Miscellaneous Friend A.
"Ah, tell me, another disappointment or did one of them achieve something worthy of note?" the King asked.
Assistant A paused, unsure how to respond, directly shared the news. "Cwenhild, your daughter from the Haugen estate, has dropped your name from her academy identification papers and when asked about the reason, responded with, 'I don't give a shit about that name,'."
Despite himself, Cornelius chuckled, then paused. He didn't care about the name being dropped or her comment - he was a King by right and power, and had forged his position through blood and carnage. He did not feel his position threatened by such things.
No, he paused because the mention of the Haugen estate reminded him of some unpleasant memories. In his life, due to his position and power, there were few who dared accost him, and fewer still of those were humans. Cwenhilds' mother happened to be one of them, though. She was his only legal wife who he did not actively pursue.
Instead, she was the one who approached him and, very bluntly, negotiated the title of wife as well as a child from him. It was not like she was in love with him or anything. She was an extremely capable woman of influence and merely needed the title to progress her own agenda. Of course, she could not threaten him because, honestly, who could? But her influence was genuine, and she could create endless problems for him, and she was not afraid even in the slightest that he would be offended by her bluntness, or think he would harm her. In the end, she outmaneuvered him politically, gained what she wanted, and then left of her own violation. The latest news he had of her, she had expanded her influence to the realm of the Sentinels and actually controlled vast territories there!
"Next," he said placidly, unconcerned by the news.
"On the topic of your children, there is another one showing potential, just that... it is actually unconfirmed if he's actually your child."
"Oh?" Cornelius was actually genuinely surprised. "Elaborate."
Assistant A briefly detailed Lex's various achievements with a degree of accuracy that would have shocked Lex himself had he heard - especially his involvement in the battle between the Trelops. The details of his actions on that front were stated as inconclusive, but he was listed as the primary instigator of the battle. His breakthrough to the Foundation realm was not mentioned, for that had only just happened, but a medical report stating that his body seemed ready to undergo the breakthrough at any time was attached as well.
"The issue arose when he was being treated for his wounds. Having heard the rumor as well, Vernan, the local instructor, ordered his bloodline tested to see if he was related to you. The tests were inconclusive! There's something in his blood that prevents it from being traced to any relative, and he showed signs of a lineage bloodline, but that too has been hidden somehow. He, or at least someone, has taken great care to ensure the boy cannot be connected to his family in any way."
"Inconsequential," Cornelius answered, having lost interest in Lex's origin. Whether Lex was his son or not, why did it matter? "But I like his focus and initiative. Update his file. So long as his purpose is to improve himself, help him however the academy can. Reassess him in six months, and if he maintains such discipline, notify me again."
Of everything he heard, he really liked the way Lex spent all his time either working, studying or improving himself in one way or another.Thi kind of focus he appreciated, and wouldn't mind helping to nurture.
"While we're on the topic of your children, 12 of them have tried to breakthrough to the Earth Immortal realm since I last updated you. 11 of them failed, and their funerals were organized. The one that succeeded..."
The reports continued for only a short while longer, for the King had too many other things to do.
*****
Lex hummed the tune to 'I feel good,' as he walked into the academy library, a ridiculous grin painting his handsome face. Despite its size, the academy had only one library that had been built directly into a mountain range. There was only limited alteration to the natural appearance of the mountain Lex was currently on, mostly to mark the entrance to the library. How far the library itself ran, and how many mountains it filled, perhaps only a few handful of people knew.
None of that mattered to Lex, for early in the morning he received a notification on his PT, and it was one that surprised him, as well as filled him with enormous glee. Due to the size of his contribution during the expedition, he was provided free access to a limited portion of the library, which included the spirit techniques section! The free access would only last for 6 months, but that was more than enough time for Lex!
Oh yes, Lex felt good because he was about to have a free hand at whatever technique he wanted for the Foundation realm!
"Good morning," Lex said in the warmest way he knew how to one of the librarians as he passed his student identification.
"I'd like to look at the list of Foundation realm techniques, please."
"That's a big list. Do you have anything specific you want?"
"I'm good for now, thanks," replied Lex, flashing a generous smile.
The librarian shrugged and led Lex to a private room, and helped him log onto the library's terminal. After that, he opened up the entire list of techniques they had available, and showed Lex how to narrow the search if he needed to.
After thanking the librarian, Lex looked at the list. A list of 130 million techniques was before him. The size of the list did not overwhelm him, but instead made him sad. He would have loved to see how helpful the Fancy monocle could have been if it had access to this library. But, it was best not to dwell too much on these things.
He went through the list randomly for a bit, to get an idea for the kinds of techniques they had. But Lex was not here without any focus. He remembered the Midnight Games well, and recalled the performance of the best few Foundation realm players. Alexander Morrison and Cara Deathsworn were two of the best performers, and he thought back well to their fighting styles. He thought back to all the kinds of techniques they deployed, and how they used them.
He had a few days before his classes began, and he was in no rush, so it was best to take his time and choose well. He thought back to the battle with the Druk that he saw. Despite being an almost indestructible beast, it was captured and incapacitated due to cleverly using its own sturdiness against it.
Lex had excellent defense, but that would be pointless if he ever got in a situation where he was captured. Then, it would only be a matter of time before his enemies defeated him. So, his first order of business was to investigate mobility and or escape techniques.
He narrowed down the list in front of him and began searching.
*****
Origin realm, unnamed region of space
An escape ship crash landed on a planet deep in the wilderness. The pilot, a simple merchant, ran out of the ship, covered in blood, and escaped in a random direction. Mere minutes later, a small but vicious looking spaceship landed near the escape vessel, and its inhabitants investigated the escape ship.
Among the various belongings the merchant had been too panicked to bring along with him was a golden key. Along with everything else of value, the key was brought back onto the spaceship, to be brought before the captain.
Nzaar, the captain of the small ship, was a Qwash. Qwash were an extremely violent species and lived as nomads throughout the universe. They were not too significant on a large scale because of their severely lacking population, since they never settled anywhere, and they didn't really focus on developing their civilization.
Despite these extremely negative aspects, they could be considered a common sight in many interstellar metropolises due to the simple fact that they were a very talented species. They had a higher growth rate in the lower cultivation levels than many other species, humans included, and were more often than not winners in most fights. And, for the fights that they lost, a lot of the time they managed to escape.
With six, sturdy legs spread across its long, muscular body, four sets of claws, two on either side of its long body, and the ability to move its internal organs as it wanted, a Qwash was a menace in a fight. Naturally, they had their own weapons designed to suit their bodies that were very different from swords and guns, and since they were not commonly seen, they were all the more dangerous.
Nzaar operated as a sort of space pirate, but not exactly. In the Origin realm, pirates were obviously a menace and extremely notorious for their danger, but they weren't inherently evil. Many of them were driven by circumstances of their own, and their target was more towards getting rich and then secretly retiring than anything else.
Rather than a pirate, Nzaar qualified as a pillager. He and his crew actively looked for undefended or weak prey and attacked just as much for resources as for the thrill of the hunt. They would take what was useful to them, and burn the rest - something a pirate would never do, or they would take along even what wasn't useful in an effort to sell it.
He was in the middle of a hunt when his crew, a mix of various species, from slimes to beasts and more, brought him a golden key. As a species that did not have eyes, Qwash had other senses to compensate, which is why he became aware of the key long before it was actually brought to him.
Unlike the humans of Earth, who only felt vague sensations of what the key could offer to them, Nzaar immediately picked up on the purpose of the key - it would teleport him to a special Minor realm. Interested, he gathered his crew to explore this new arena.
*****
At the Midnight Inn, Gerard was currently on his regular patrols in his reliable old golf cart. The video game tournament was going well, as the semi-finals were taking place, and the Inn was more lively than it had been in a while.
Old man Will and Hera were going to finalize a trade agreement today with the Governor of Vegus Minima worth billions of dollars, and so were present with a large entourage. Jimmy and Layla were, as usual, conducting a raid towards the heinous and malevolent peacocks of the Inn.
Queen Sophia of New York was celebrating with her son, Rafael, for not only was he walking once again, he had miraculously learnt about the location of an incredible panacea on Earth that would heal him and allow him to cultivate once more. King Marlo was currently busy retrieving that medicine himself, as it was too important to leave to someone else.
The Morrison family was also gathered at the Inn in its entirety, for Alexander had come to the Inn after many months. His journey in joining the Jotun army had been anything but smooth, but his horizons had expanded rapidly. He was currently having a meeting with his family, discussing the future direction of the family.
Blane, Chen, Lily and Iris also happened to be at the Inn, discussing old times. Considering the fact that Blane and Lily had left on a spaceship, the only time they got to interact with their friends was at the Inn.
Many of the original Nacsents from Earth were here as well, drinking to forget their problems. It had been long enough for the Inn to be connected to Earth, not to mention the new Minor realm that never closed, that the number of Nascent cultivators on Earth had exploded. Of course, these new Nascent cultivators could not compare to the old ones, but suffice to say, the original 5 families had long since lost much of the power they held.
Just the Morrison family had 4 Nascent cultivators, in fact, and Marlo was obscenely strong for incomprehensible reasons making it so he was currently the strongest individual on Earth - at least on the surface.
At this particular time, there were even a few Devils at the Inn. They had claimed that they would visit the Inn regularly to recruit Earthlings, and this was their first ever visit. Pramod and Harriot Shelby Ruby Selma Jane happened to be visiting as well.
Suffice to say, through a random coincidence, the Inn was currently hosting almost all of its most regular or renown guests.
As it so happened, it was at this time that Nzaar and his small crew of 100 aliens entered the Inn. As soon as Nzaar entered the Inn, he got a sense for the size and spiritual concentration of the Inn, and immediately decided to seize the Inn. Without wasting any time, he ordered his subordinates to begin scouting the Inn for all its dangers.
Such insidious intent was obviously picked up by the Security room. Chad, the deputy head of security, was currently in the room and as soon as he got the notification, he activated the formation around the entrance of the Inn, trapping the pillagers there.
Calmly, he notified Gerard of the situation while also reporting to Mary. Mary then reported to Lex, who was currently reviewing spiritual techniques. As soon as he scanned the Inn, and understood the situation not only of the invaders but of his guests as well, he smiled.
He had been waiting for the next time the Inn was invaded, and the situation of the invasion couldn't be better even if he planned it himself. He passed along some instructions to Marry, stunning her, before he turned his attention to the Event Management panel. A small 100,000 MP later, his plan was set in motion. Just to be sure no problems occurred, Lex used his advanced authority to disable the invaders ability to return from the Inn - since they had come here with ill intentions, there was no reason to leave.
Across the Inn, the sound of a gong was heard, followed by the voice of the assistant Innkeeper.
"Dear guests, the Midnight Inn is having a spontaneous, special event for your entertainment. A small horde of invaders have entered the Inn but, under the direction of the Innkeeper, instead of being eliminated, they have been placed in a trapping formation.
"Since there are 101 invaders, 101 participants may enter the special event and take place. The participants will enter the formation and fight the invaders. Killing an enemy gives you one point, but capturing an enemy gets you two points. At the end of the event, the participant with the most points gets an award of 50,000 MP! Betting and special commemorative items for the event will be available. The event will begin in 30 minutes."
As soon as the announcements ended, projected screens showing the invaders army appeared in front of all guests. All spots for the event were filled within the first second, as numerous guests were attracted by the prize, while the others just wanted to join in the fun.
When the list of participants was concluded, the betting pool over the winner began and immediately excitement filled the air.
Many guests left the Inn to call their friends to join in the festivities. Once they returned, since the primary teleportation point was locked, they were teleported to a secondary point surrounded by various Inn guards to ensure no one with evil intentions could enter. After ensuring they were normal guests, they were allowed to go as they pleased.
Rafael watched the screen curiously. This event was titled Midnight madness, and he had no recollection of anything like that from his previous life. But then again, since he lacked all interaction with the Inn, it was not a surprise. He ordered a Saturn cake in anticipation for the event, and placed a few bets himself, though they were mostly small.
By now, Nzaar had noticed that he was trapped in a formation and was trying to figure out a way to bypass it. Little did he know, all his actions were being watched by thousands of people. In a few minutes, as it so happened, the merchant that he had been chasing finally remembered the specialness of the golden keys. He had never tried it before, but he was desperate enough to try anything, since he was too wounded to properly hide his tracks.
When he arrived at the Inn, and then learnt about what was happening, he burst out into a melodious laughter, before eventually fainting due to blood loss. Though, before fainting, he took advantage of a special feature of the event. A placed a special, individually financed bounty on Nzaar that could only be claimed if the person who killed Nzaar sent the unaware Qwash the merchants regards right before killing him. That was bound to haunt him even into the afterlife
It was like a sudden festival at the Inn, and everyone was suddenly enjoying the festivities. Many people were watching from the comfort of their rooms, but many had come out into public spaces to enjoy the atmosphere. There were two topics that were being discussed most commonly.
First, who was crazy enough to attack the Inn? Even though there was an invasion a short while ago as well, no guests were hurt, which showed just how in control the Inn was of everything. Second, the topic was who would be the winner for the 50,000 MP prize?
The contestants' names were shared, and if the contestant permitted, some information about their cultivation and ability.
The crowd favorites were Rorick Morrison, for naturally he had a stellar reputation on Earth, a well-respected captain from the Jotun army, here on vacation from the Vegus system, and finally a young devil.
But the bets were not only one who would win, but on how many points any of the participants could get. Considering the limited number of enemies, no one was expected to have an overwhelming lead, but there were still a few who were expected to get at least 10 points.
While the crowd was hyping themselves up, the Inn's staff was preparing for the event. Mary was spreading the delinquent vines underneath the battleground, and Qawain was requested to help out as well. He would only interfere if a participant was about to die, and would remove them from the formation. This technically wasn't a part of his job, but the Inn staff was all so friendly - a stark difference from the humans he had met early when he gained sentience - that he had become fast friends with many of them, and so did not mind helping out.
In the meantime, some of the staff who were free stood in awe. For example, Z, who had been slightly traumatized from how badly he was wounded, could not help but compare how they had handled the situation, versus the Innkeepers arrangements. This invading force, despite being fewer in number, was much stronger since most of their forces were in the Golden Core realm, with quite a few Nascents as well. Despite that, not only had they been easily herded into the formation, but the Innkeeper, instead of getting angry at the invaders, actually used them to entertain his guests.
He was so vastly different from Z's direct boss, Leo, the original caretaker of the Gamer's den. Z could not remember the last time he saw Leo, and of all the Inn's staff and workers, he was the most absent. His sheer laziness and lack of effort was all the more apparent in front of the Innkeepers silent dedication towards the Inn.
Velma had a day off and was, surprisingly, sitting alongside Larry. If Lex noticed him, he would be tremendously surprised to discover that Larry was in the Golden core realm. His cultivation was more focused on absorbing various rare metals into his body than anything else, and the Inn had been a good source for that. During all his time here, his many attempts at wooing one of the waitresses had failed miserably, but he had developed a decent friendship with Velma out of it.
She especially loved hearing stories of his failed exploits back on Earth and often encouraged him to keep on trying. In fact, she even set Larry up with a Neko (cat-human) from X-142 and, well, it wasn't a complete failure - yet!
"Are you placing any bets?" Velma asked as she looked at the screen.
"I don't have the MP to spare. I'm a wanted man, back on my planet, so it's hard to come by any money. What about you? Place any bets?"
"Heh, of course I did, and not just a small bet. I placed all my savings on a single participant," she said with a sly smirk. "If you beg me, maybe I'll share with you what I know."
"Oh? In that case, oh noble miss of the Inn, I implore you to impart onto me some information. I could really use some MP. You know if I go back to my planet, my life will be in danger."
"Cheh, fool someone else. I know you've been hiding in King Marlo's new mansion, disguised as a gardener. Who has the guts to do anything to you there?"
"How did you know?" Larry asked, genuinely startled, only to be responded with a knowing smile.
"Well, anyway, since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you. The winner is going to be a human from Nibiru. She's extremely powerful, extremely ruthless, and she benefited greatly from the upgrade Nibiru is undergoing in its star level. She's been hiding at the Inn lately, because she's caused a lot of problems back on Nibiru, but if she wins this 50,000 MP, it'll be tremendously helpful to her so she won't let anyone else get it. Her name is Tiffany."
Having full faith in Velma, Larry bet quite a decent amount on her.
Countless conversations similar to that one were taking place, but little Tiffany from Nibiru remained overlooked in almost all the bets, since no one knew her.
Eventually the time ran out as 30 minutes was just a short interval, and the event was finally beginning. Mary instructed all the participants to make their way to the battleground while she explained the rules once again. Killing an enemy got them 1 point, but capturing an enemy got them two points. This wasn't really a fair event, considering the higher leveled cultivators had a blatant advantage, but as an impromptu event held in the absence of the Innkeeper, it could not be perfect. Another rule was stated right before the contestants went in, which is that anyone who attacked a fellow contestant would get disqualified.
With that, the event began and all the contestants walked through the white wall of the formation, appearing at the far end from where the invaders were.
Nzaar immediately noticed their entry, and immediately picked up on the fact that they were exactly the same number of enemies as him and his crew. Many thoughts ran through his mind, but his orders to his crew were ruthless and efficient, as usual. There was no buildup to the fight as it immediately began!
It was absolute chaos, and in the very first second, Qawain separated several participants who were going to die under Nascent level attacks. These participants were, naturally, disqualified. On Nzaar's end, however, they had no immortal to protect them, so immediately there were some deaths.
The Nascent cultivators took to the skies, fighting in midair. The pillagers and participants both wanted to avoid friendly fire, for their own reasons, which formed an unspoken understanding. On the ground, however, it was absolute chaos.
No one had even tried to capture an enemy instead of killing, for the battle was too dangerous to take any risks. The numbers dropped quickly and in just the first few minutes; it went from 101 pillagers to mid-60s while the participants actually dropped to the 40s! The pillagers fought for a living, while the participants were just the lucky ones who managed to enter the tournament first. It was fortunate that Qawain was able to save all of them with great skill, removing them without harming them or their enemies.
But, after the first massive drop in numbers, the fight stabilized as the remaining few were similar in strength and skill. It was here that the strength of the pillagers became evident, for not only were they skilled in fights, but they had incredible cooperation as well.
The participants, on the other hand, were just fighting randomly. Even when they paired up, they could not match the synergy of the enemies. But, while they were the ones under pressure, the remaining participants were elites in their own rights. It was now that a few names started to stand out on the leaderboard. A surprise to everyone, except two specific people, was that on the top of the leaderboard was the name Tiffany. She already had 20 points! This wasn't because she had killed 20 people, but that she incapacitated every foe effortlessly, at which point a vine would emerge from the ground and take the captured enemy away.
When Tiffany struck a foe, it was no longer a matter of skill. Her ability was so astounding that even the viewers could not accurately understand what happened - despite the effect being quite simple. If she attacked a pillager with a punch, and the pillager blocked her punch, without moving anywhere, the pillager would be struck by a sonic boom before fainting. If a pillager managed to dodge her punch, however… still sonic boom. If a pillager saw that she had the intention to attack, and ran away… sonic boom. If a pillager thought about attacking her, he would suffer a sonic boom. One pillager, in fact, only gave her a dirty look before suffering a sonic boom.
The most common wound her victims suffered was ruptured eardrums - if they had those! She was a force of nature, an unstoppable entity with a relentless will. She was the living embodiment of the drumming in a good rock song, because wherever anyone heard her strike, they would get chills!
Lex was not observing the event too closely, and was more focused on monitoring its success overall. It was for that reason that he did not recognize Tiffany, not to mention that she looked vastly different from when he last saw her.
The guests, however, could not take their eyes off her! She was ruthless, not in the sense that she was defeating every enemy she came across. Her staggering performance was throwing off all the bets people had placed! Some noticed that there was more to her attacks than the simple sonic booms, but even if they could discover the secret, it would not help them remedy the situation!
It was fortunate then that the battle entered a balanced phase. The pillagers' coordination was keeping them from suffering any more losses while the participants' extreme powers and skills saved them. Whichever side gave in first would suffer tremendously.
In the air, the battle was a lot more hectic! Nzaar was proving his worth and fighting three Nascent participants on his own, and seemed to be winning! Furthermore, he was better equipped than the participants for the fight, which gave him an edge in both offense and defense.
The various pillagers under him also seemed to be more skilled than the participants and even Rorick found himself suppressed - something he hadn't encountered in a long time.
"Marry, I'm busy over here, so I'll check back in later," said Lex, once he was satisfied with how the event was progressing. "Don't hesitate to call me if any issues arise, but if there aren't any problems, then just wait for me to get done to give me the report."
Lex turned his attention back to the issue of deciding on his techniques. He could have continued to focus on the Inn, it would have taken at most a few more hours, but Lex was pressed for time. Not only did he have to go through this massive list and decide on his techniques, he had to practice them as well. If he had access to a Meditation room from the Inn, it would be no problem learning them, but as things were, he didn't know how long it would take. In a few days, when his classes started, he would be even more strapped for time, which is why he had to make the most of every moment.
His first priority was evasion and escape. Evasion could fall under movement type techniques, but escape covered a last array of technique types. This would help him escape from any enemies who were too strong for him, or escape in a situation where he gets trapped the way that Druk had.
The options were truly diverse, and it was at this point that techniques with spiritual affinities started to come into play. Wind, lightning and ice were some of the more common affinities seen in movement techniques, but the most incredible and effective ones seemed to be from space affinity. Lex did not have any affinities, as far as he knew, but he tried out the simplest movement technique with a wind affinity to see if he could use the technique. He could not.
It would require more research to understand why this was so, but for now, he accepted that fact and moved on. For clarification, while he could not use any techniques that required his spiritual energy to have an affinity, a neutral technique that took advantage of an element in nature was an entirely different concept. An example was the defensive technique he used that absorbed 'cold energy'. It did not require Lex to have an icy affinity at all.
In the end, Lex decided on two movement techniques. The first, Hearts Marathon, was similar to his previous movement technique Falcon relief in the sense that it boosted his overall speed in every sense. This would not only help in escaping, it was great for evasion, blocking, attacking and everything else that required any form of movement. It had a fixed cost in terms of spiritual energy, meaning it would use up Lex's energy at a constant rate while he was using the technique.
The second technique, Home Sweet Home, was used for a linear burst that would increase Lex's speed tremendously! Its most obvious use was for escape, or to gain a lead during a chase, but Lex could imagine himself using it to close in on an enemy as well. Its peculiar name was due to the technique's creator's deep wish to run back home any time he left his house.
The escape techniques, which were next, gave Lex a migraine. They seemed to be as useless as they were diverse, and all the good ones seemed to require an affinity. Or they had extreme requirements which were difficult to fulfill. In the end, Lex picked one called the In-Law effect that Lex suspected he would be able to use due to a loophole.
The requirement was stringent, and required Lex to stay in one location for up to 3 hours while he used the technique. But once the technique was done, it was supposed to let the user's soul leave the body, and move up to several miles away, depending on how much energy was used. This technique was not designed for humans, whose souls were too weak to leave their physical body at this level. However, Lex suspected that due to the nature of his body and soul, he would be able to use the technique without issue. It would require some testing to determine, but if it didn't work, Lex could always pick another one.
Next, Lex planned on picking defensive techniques, offensive techniques, and some miscellaneous techniques, in that order.
The reason he was picking techniques in that order was that, now that the options available to him were more versatile, he planned on using his uncanny ability to learn defensive techniques in various ways. Blocking attacks and protecting himself definitely was a priority, but why should he limit himself to just that?
If, for example, he created a shield so sturdy his enemies could not break it, then could he not use that shield to trap his enemy as well? Theoretically, couldn't he create some kind of defensive barrier and then… walk over it to form an impromptu bridge? To be honest, he didn't know the limits to which he could use these techniques, but he fully intended to find out.
But while he could learn endless defensive techniques, it was best to focus on just a few for now. Too many techniques would make it difficult for him to choose the best one in the heat of battle, and drastically reduce his efficiency in utilizing them.
The first one he picked was called Talk to the Hand. It allowed him to extend an invisible barrier from his hand that could extend 12 feet (3.6 meters) in length and 8 feet (2.4 meters) in height. The best part was, the strength, or technically defense, of the barrier was directly proportional to Lex's bodies. It was unfortunate that it required Lex's hand to be up, which limited its distance and eliminated the element of surprise, but Lex was looking forward to the day he could block a barrage of long range attacks simply by holding out his hand.
His next technique was called Ripple shell. It formed an elastic barrier around him that spread any damage received across its entire surface to reduce the effect. What Lex liked most about this was that this barrier would not stop Lex from attacking or doing anything else, and once Lex used it, it would continue to exist without being a drain on Lex's energy pool.
Following that Lex picked up a few circumstantial techniques, for example there was one that strengthened the defensive capabilities of objects, there was another designed to protect inner organs and one in particular that required an external energy source to sustain once established.
With just these few techniques, Lex already had a few plans about how he could implement them in different situations.
Next up, the attack techniques. For this, Lex already had a clear cut idea of what he wanted. He was searching for overwhelming attacks, to serve as trump cards or secret aces to use in opportune moments. This was because Lex already knew that Regal Embrace would cause him problems when learning attacks.
The solution Lex had thought of was to focus more on his technique, weapons, and arrays for attacking.
He thought it would be hard to pick out such a technique, but it turned out to be the easiest. Lex was extremely satisfied with the techniques description, build up and implementation. The technique was called Evisceration, and was for what it did… it was all in the name.
Finally, it was time for the miscellaneous techniques. The techniques that weren't strictly designed for battle, and could be used in multiple scenarios.
Choosing these took the longest for these were the most commonly used techniques, and would accompany Lex on a day to day basis. Not only would they affect his quality of life, they would affect his future as well. These included techniques to dormant formations, traps, arrays or other techniques. It also included things such as healing and preservation techniques, cleaning techniques, air and water filtration techniques. Heck, it even contained things Lex had never even considered, such as refining the etiquette of your energy implementation and signature. In high society, where even things such as forks and knives had to be used in the proper fashion, how could it be possible for one to let their energy signature run rampantly?
These esthetic based techniques, in fact, were the rarest of all. Some would even give your energy a pleasant scent and sensation.
Much later, Lex did not even realize how much time he had spent looking through these techniques, and eventually fell asleep in the library, still scrolling through the many options. He could not help but think, in his last waking moments, how helpful some kind of smart, computerized assistant would be that could sift through all this mess and just tell him the techniques most optimal for him.
While Lex looked through the techniques and selected them, the Midnight Madness eventually came to a somewhat unexpected end. Despite Tiffany's admirable start, the favorites for victory were still the Nascent level cultivators. Yet there was an unexpected turn. While all his subordinates and lieutenants were defeated, Nzaar himself held up the remaining Nascents by himself.
This gave plenty of time for Tiffany to rack up an irrecoverable lead. In the end, literally besieged by all the participants, Nzaar still managed to survive. He was defeated, not killed, though his condition wasn't the best.
There was a small celebration after the event ended, and Tiffany received her 50,000 MP as well as a special token to commemorate her victory. Larry and Velma became the biggest winner from all the bets - other than Lex, of course. Due to how unexpected the event went, most people lost their bets and Lex ended up raking in a neat 210,000 MP via all the gambling, feasting and celebrations.
Had Lex been paying attention to the Inn at this time, he would have noticed a few interesting things happening at this point.
,m Tiffany, along with her winnings, headed straight towards the greenhouse and waited in the forest for the Sovereign Galactic turtle to emerge. They talked for a bit, before Tiffany pulled up her makeshift backpack and from it extracted what looked like burnt up roots.
The turtle took the root from her, and the Gardener appeared beside Tiffany and accepted 40,000 MP from her. It may seem like she only had 10,000 MP remaining, but she had also inherited 20,000 MP from Igishima when he died, so she currently had 30,000 MP for herself! As for the details of the transaction that had occurred between her and the turtle… they were a secret known only to them.
While this was happening, Will Bentham finally signed the deal with the Governor of Vegus Minima, with Mary as the assistant Innkeeper as the witness, and through the Guild room conducted their first major transaction. Through the 1% charge of all transactions, Lex earned another 4 million MP!
It may seem like this was a lot, but the truth was, this was only a small part of the cooperation they were planning. Will Bentham was supplying the Governor with extremely rare resources they had managed to collect from their new Minor realm, but did not understand how to use. In exchange, the governor was not only providing them with various new technologies, far beyond anything Earth had, but also weapons and, most importantly, the knowledge to build a sufficiently advanced space command center!
After all their matters were concluded, Will went to attend another meeting in the Inn, this time followed only by his very competent bodyguard, Hugo.
When he arrived at the new room, it was Larry and Matilda who were waiting for him. Larry did not wear his usual cavalier smile, and in fact, had a grave look in his eyes.
"I was informed you have information about Hugo's family," Will said, sitting down. His bodyguard, Hugo Laurent, had only agreed to work with Will on the condition that Will help him investigate what happened to his family that had been killed behind his back. Larry and Matilda provided the first real lead he had been able to find.
"I hope you have some evidence to back up your claims. This is not a matter I treat lightly."
"Neither do we," said Larry, his fists clenched tight. "Actually, finding out about Hugo's family was coincidental. Let me introduce myself. I am Larry Dershaw, from the Dershaw family."
Will was startled, for he recognized the name. "I'm sure you've heard the stories about my family being banished to the moon. Well, sometime during the upheaval caused by the Council taking over Earth and the moon, my family disappeared. This is my associate, Matilda. Her brother was also killed by someone from the council. We were working together when…"
While this meeting was going on, yet another one was taking place between Sam Brown and Richard, two of the original Nascents from Earth, with a Devil. The details of the meeting were unsurprisingly cliche. The two, unwilling to come to terms with their lost power, were striking up a deal with a Devil.
Something that was surprising, however, was happening not in these meetings, but in the interrogation room near the greenhouse. All the captured pillagers were held prisoner here. To make things quite simple, and ensure that none of them cause any problems, Anita had volunteered her aid. She resurrected all the dead pillagers and had them guard these few survivors.
The undead pillagers, it must be pointed out, did not have the gruesome and decaying appearance one would assume. Not only had they recovered their appearance to what it was before they died, they had undergone some sort of cleansing. Since it was Anita's angelic voice that revived these bodies, as beautiful and pure as it was, the bodies were washed from their impurities. The shackles of a cruel life were lifted from them, the karma absolved, and what they turned into was if they had been saints, living a humble life of piety. They were as pure as the day they were born.
One extremely important thing to know about undead was that they did not retain their original souls, but new, extremely weak and feeble energy filled their body, replacing the function that the soul would have performed.
The security measures aside, the surprising occurrence here was not Anita's help in security, but who was performing the interrogations. There was no bloodshed, no weapons, no threats or blackmail. Instead, one of Nzaar's lieutenants, an alien known as Grumbal that looked similar to a Doberman with small, batlike wings on its back as well as a third eye on its forehead, was sitting nervously at a table with tea and biscuits placed in front of him. Opposite to him sat Velma, taking a small sip of her tea and then nodding, as if appreciating the taste.
"Please, I'll tell you whatever you want," the Grumbal pleaded, with tears welling up in its three eyes. At the same time, it nervously eyed its captured companions, but they were all unconscious. "We're pillagers, killers! We've looted all over the galaxy! Entire worlds have known our wrath…"
"Oh hush, why are you speaking of all these boring things?" Velma said chidingly. "I am a lady, and my friend Larry told me that ladies should not spend their time talking about violence. You know, you're not the first Grumbal I've met.
"Some time ago, we had this lovely couple visit us on their honeymoon. Well, actually, they were going to X-142 for their honeymoon, but through a twist of fate, ended up here. Oh their love story was so wonderful, I heard it from them a million times. I remember how the wife dedicated her life to her husband, and the mark of love she left on her husband, to tie their fates together." As she said that, Velma's eyes wandered to a patch of gray fur beneath one of the Grumbal's wings. "They told me that through the mark, they can always feel one another."
"No please no," the Grumbal trembled once again. "Please, I'll tell you whatever you want!"
"You will? How lovely. Then tell me, how did you two meet?"
The Grumbal trembled once again, and then, reluctantly started telling Velma his own love story. He made sure to fit in all the information about Nzaar he could, every opportunity he got, and gave as little information about his beloved as he could. If he didn't know any better, he really would start to feel that this wicked woman was more interested in his love life than their origins, but he was no fool. The moment he saw that evil woman, raise his former comrades to life, heal them of their injuries and then enslave their minds, he knew they had finally come across someone they should not have offended. It was fortunate that those who came back to life did not seem to have their memories, or else he suspected he would not be given a chance to be interrogated at all.
Velma, on the other hand, listened to his story eagerly. Her endless curiosity, friendly attitude and love for gossiping had resulted in a unique situation that no one had yet realized. Even though she had never left the Inn itself, through talking to the various guests and learning all about their lives, along with the diverse crowd that the Inn had started to receive, in the entire Inn she knew more about the universe than anyone else.
She had become a living encyclopedia, and at the speed at which she gathered new information, soon it would be more fitting if Lex asked her questions about the universe than Mary. At least Velma wasn't limited by the system with what she could say.
As for whether she truly was only listening for love stories or actually fully interrogating the Grumbal, well, only the Innkeeper would find out when he eventually returned. She had prepared many reports for him about things she found interesting, reports even Mary did not know of.
Once Lex woke up he finished up his selection and returned to his apartment. There were many things he needed to practice, attacking with arrays and his new techniques among them. There was a part of Lex that wondered why he couldn't just use the techniques he already knew. After all, considering those same techniques would be powered by a stronger fuel source, they should be more powerful as well, right?
That was not what happened, as even fueled with spiritual energy rather than Qi, the techniques could not perform much better, for they apparently had an upper threshold. The techniques themselves were just not designed to be used on such a scale.
The intricacies of that Lex would learn during one of his new classes focused on cultivation, for now though, he was catching up with what occurred at the Inn. When he saw his MP balance at 6,451,000 he smiled. Once he had gotten the full update, the first thing that needed to be done was decide what to do with the prisoners. He didn't want to kill them outright, but considering their past, just kicking them out of the Inn wasn't the best solution either, since then Lex would feel responsible if they harmed someone.
In the end, he deferred the decision, and told Mary to make sure they wouldn't break free from their imprisonment. The second thing he needed to do, or rather, wanted to do, was something he had been thinking about for a while.
"Mary, now that we have decent security at the Inn, and our income has increased, there's something I want to try. I want to use the increased authority that I have and open up a branch of the Inn in this realm."
Mary was taken aback, as this was something that had never occurred to her. But, after her initial surprise, she replied, "that would be redundant. It may make sense for you to try to make another Inn there, but as soon as you are able to connect this realm back to the main Inn, the new branch would become redundant."
"Not necessarily," Lex replied confidently. "This is not a spur-of-the-moment idea. I've been thinking about this for a while. The main Inn will always be that one but, I want a few physical locations for the Inn in a few worlds as well. These new locations won't be operating the same way as the main one, they'll be a lot more low-key. But, for certain customers, if I like them, we can give them access to our better services, such as the Meditation room or Recovery room.
"After all, being teleported away to a new location is not ideal for everyone. This way, the Inn can become a part of a community and, once the realm is connected, it can even be a way we can give out golden keys. Furthermore, once we've connected this realm back to the main Inn, and we have a few more physical locations, it'll be a lot easier to find capable employees we want to hire. Plus, we can develop a network of Inns. We can gather information across the universe, offer the best services, make the best use of all resources. Our options are endless, we shouldn't limit ourselves by just doing the obvious. Weren't you the one who said to find ways to make use of the system's loopholes? Besides, how can the Midnight Inn be the best Inn in the universe if it only has one branch?"
Lex's last statement was one he said as a random justification for his idea, but it was as if Lex had somehow insulted the system's honor, and immediately prompted the release of a new quest!
New Quest: Establish a branch of the Midnight Inn: The Midnight Tavern!
Pay 5% accumulated energy
Pay 10 million MP
Quest Reward: Pocket Watch
Remarks: The Midnight Inn is the best universal hoteling establishment in this universe! How can it not have branches?
Lex, for once, was amused by the system's reaction while Mary was astounded by it. The truth was, she had a lot of ideas for how to develop the Inn, but she held back in expressing them because she didn't want Lex to become dependent on her for ideas. Lex's unorthodox way of thinking, however, seemed to have surpassed her wildest expectations for how to develop the Inn. It seemed, more and more, he was proving himself a capable Innkeeper. After all, he was no longer the one chasing quests to improve the Inn, but the system was giving out quests to meet his vision.
"Well, to be honest, this is not something I ever even expected," said Mary. "I had no way of figuring out how to even approach this, but with a quest, everything will become much easier."
"Easier, yes. But the wording on this quest makes it look like the system will form the tavern on its own once I pay up the MP as well as the energy. This is not good. While I save up for this, you have to think of a way to let me control where and how the tavern is formed. This has to go according to what I want."
"I'll look into it."
Lex came out of this much happier than he expected. He was completely prepared for there to be multiple problems with his idea, for he had already scoured the system interface and did not find any way to establish branches anywhere.
The next thing for him to focus on now was once again on collecting energy. Fortunately, Cwenhild provided him with a solution. The fact that the academy was going to open up multiple new Minor realms, completely unexplored, meant there were suddenly many areas easily within his reach where he could search for energy. He had not yet decided if he would join her group or go on his own. Once he had more information about this event, he would decide. The drawback of joining Cwenhild was that she was planning on focusing on a single Minor realm, instead of exploring many, while the advantage was that it would clearly be safer in a group than alone.
Lex put all these thoughts aside for now and focused on practicing forming arrays. He was a little excited, for this would be his first time trying to draw one.
Since he was just starting out, he chose an extremely simple and stable array. It only had a few characters and its only effect was to provide a small degree of warmth. This was an array commonly used while traveling to heat up places like rooms, tents, beds or even baths.
He stuck out his index finger and slowly started to draw a character in the air. You did not really need to draw each character like this by finger, but considering that Lex had only just reached the Foundation realm, his control over spiritual energy was not the best and this made it much easier. As he released the energy from his finger, it remained in the air with a silver hue. The hue was the effect of one of the 'esthetic' techniques Lex had picked up, since normal spirit energy would be invisible. He did this on purpose, for he needed to see if he was drawing properly and if any deviations occurred in the character.
It need not be said that Lex's handwriting was not... the best. Of course, that was before he started cultivating. Now he had much better control over his body, and though his handwriting had improved, drawing characters for arrays needed extreme precision.
After he completed the first character, the silver hue of the spiritual energy faded, and the character took on an orangish color. This was normal, as this character represented a type of ember.
After a moment, when the character did not explode or go horribly wrong in some way, Lex continued with the next one. Honestly, a part of him was expecting him to mess up somehow, but his control over his energy remained stable and each character he drew was perfect. A couple of minutes later, once the array was complete, the characters merged and a soft, yellow light emit a gentle warmth into his room. It was like putting on a cozy pair of socks, still warm from coming out of a dryer.
For a moment, Lex was stunned. He actually did it on his first try? Wasn't this supposed to be a test of commitment and dedication, something that was supposed to take countless tries? Was he a natural at this?
No, going as far as calling himself a natural was surely conceited. After a moment of deliberation, though, he started drawing some new characters. This time, he was not drawing a tried and tested array, but one that he had thought up on his own. Theoretically, it should work, and now he would find out.
There were nine characters in this one, so it took much longer, for he was drawing very slowly. Eventually though, when he drew the last character, and all the characters started to merge into one, his heart skipped a beat. Could it really be possible?
An emotionless, electronic voice whispered in his ear, "Hello World."
Lex burst into a mad laughter. This would be fun.