Lex spent the next 2 days getting used to the changes in his body. Getting used to his new strength was the easy part, as his brain did most of the work for him. To further refine his control, he used chopsticks to move rice from one bowl to another, one grain at a time. The chopsticks themselves were quite flimsy, and every time he accidentally broke them, he started from the beginning.
This method seemed pretty stupid when considering all the resources available to him, but sometimes it was just about putting in the work. He quickly gained precise control over his strength, not only in both his hands, but his feet as well - though he hadn't used chopsticks to train them.
His dual vision was difficult to get used to, to be honest. It might have been easier if both his eyes had obtained the upgrade, but since they hadn't, he had to keep track of both streams of data consciously. In all honesty, it was something he was completely capable of doing due to his recent improvements, but it was just tedious. It was like constantly being aware of your breathing. One could, of course, consciously take control and maintain the required rhythm, but it was so much easier when it was something being done on autopilot.
In the end, it was not something he overcame. Instead, while browsing all the techniques he got from the Infinity Emporium, Lex found a technique that trains the spirit, allowing him to multitask better. It was like splitting his mind into two, to perform two different tasks without bothering or being affected by the other.
This was something he could already do to some degree due to his new realm, but the difference between being able to do, and training to do it specifically, was huge. Moreover, the moment he started training in the technique, his intuition told him that the effects of this technique would compound. Since it was focused on training the spirit and not the brain, every time the spirit grew stronger, the effect would increase without him making any additional effort.
Currently he could completely focus on 3 different things without suffering any interferences in his concentration or having a drop in his performance.
One of those 3 things was constantly dedicated to his new eyesight, so now he could easily switch between focusing on one stream of information over the other, without really stopping his eyesight.
He had no progress so far as far as discovering what characteristics his affinity had, although he had determined that it wasn't corrosive or hazardous in any way.
What he had not been able to do, however, was train his spirit and soul sense properly. He had attained some initial progress, to the effect of being able to keep his senses from extending out of his body randomly, but not much else.
Unfortunately, the Regal Embrace did not provide him with some kind of training regimen to train those, so Lex had to rely on other resources.
Finally, after spending two days locked up in his room, he came out. But, this time he did not appear as the Innkeeper nor did he appear as Leo. This time, he came out as Lex.
One reason was that he needed to drop a few hints of his identity, though even that he would not do purposefully. He was going to browse the Henali portal for guides on learning how to train his spirit senses.
The portal had both free and paid services, and apparently some kind of hidden authority system, as Lex learned. After all, it was a network available to the entire realm, so how could there not be tiers?
Lex currently only had access to the common tier of the portal, with no idea of how to reach a higher authority. For now, though, it was completely irrelevant to him, since the kind of information he needed could be accessed publicly.
Besides that, there was one more thing he wanted to do that he could only do as Lex. The system wielder who had been following Suzuki, the man Larry had fought, was now spending a lot of time with Larry over the past few days. Lex wanted to make contact personally and learn a little more about him.
He could have spied on him using the system, but his way he wanted to test out if his eyesight could detect the system as well, and that was only something he could do in person.
Moreover, the new group of people Larry had been hanging out with were extremely suspicious. Lex wanted to get to know them better as well. After all, more than once, he had seen Anakin lead people into the Chamber of Secrets to conduct secret business meetings. Even he could not spy on them in there, for it was strictly forbidden by the system.
With his agenda set, Lex strolled through the Inn as he took in the festive mood. Even if nothing special was happening, everyone was just happy about their breakthroughs.
Lex wasn't able to help the smile that appeared on his face as he enjoyed the positive feedback the Inn kept getting.
Finally, things were going well for once without any problems randomly popping up.
He did not spend too long strolling around, for training still had priority. After registering himself on the portal, he quickly logged on and began searching for guides related to spirit sense and soul sense training.
For spirit sense, he immediately found many guides, both paid and unpaid. For soul sense, however, let alone guides, he couldn't even find a mention of it. He highly doubted that it was such a rare thing that it had never been encountered before. Most likely, this was one of the topics that was hidden behind the secret authorities or tiers mentioned earlier.
Overcoming his disappointment, Lex glanced through one of the free tutorials available. Initially, he found it very informative, but as he continued, a strange look appeared in his eyes. Why was this using chopsticks, too?
While spirit sense was mostly illusory, it could also be used to interact with physical objects. It was not a replacement for physical strength, usually, but still the ability to pick up or somehow manipulate items far away was very useful.
The process of interacting with physical items was broken down into a few simple steps so that beginners could focus on each individual step while they learned. First was, naturally, wrapping the intended item with his spirit sense. Then Lex would channel some spirit energy into his spirit sense, giving it the strength to harden temporarily at certain points, allowing it to touch physical items. Then, based on his control of his spirit sense, he could use the hardened portion of his sense to grab onto and manipulate the item as needed.
There were countless techniques that allowed cultivators to use spirit sense to gain greater strength than their physical bodies, attack the mind, control weapons, and more. From the Golden core onwards, cultivation became infinitely more complicated because there was so much more that a cultivator could do.
But all of that began with training the spiritual sense itself. Much like hand eye coordination needed to be trained, and to some extent was being trained from birth, so too did the spiritual sense need to be trained.
The first step of training spiritual sense in many videos began the same way, which was to first get an easily available spiritual treasure which was specifically designed to aid in learning how to control spiritual sense. It was just that… the tutorial with the most views and the one that Lex was watching started with not one treasure but two. More specifically, it started with procuring a pair of chopsticks which were also spiritual treasures.
Varying from normal treasures, which to cultivators usually either meant natural resources which could aid in some facet of cultivation, or manmade items which could facilitate the use of spiritual energy, often even enhancing it, spiritual treasures were designed specifically to be used with spiritual sense.
Lex watched the entire tutorial and thoroughly understood the requirements of each step in the training before exiting the portal. One issue with using the Henali portal at the Inn, rather than on a planet that had been connected through the proper procedure, was the lack of a delivery service. No matter how affordable the treasure was, it could not be delivered to the Inn. One reason was that the delivery service probably wouldn't have golden keys to enter the Inn, but even in a situation where the Midnight Inn became so popular that everyone had golden keys, using the portal at the Inn disabled location and tracking. It was literally impossible to enter his location as the Midnight Inn while using the portal.
But all was not lost. One of the features of the ongoing festival were stalls that had been setup, allowing guests to sell items and trinkets from their locale. He would first check that market to see if a spiritual treasure matching his requirements was available. If it wasn't then he would place a request at the Guild room.
At the same time…
Lex pulled out his personal hologram which he, as a 'guest' would have had and said, "can you please forward a message from me to the guest Larry, he's an old friend of mine. Tell him I'll be at the local markets."
The hologram nodded and disappeared. The personal holograms could fulfill many of the guests' simple requests such as this, and weren't just limited to answering questions. It was not a commonly known feature, but with time it was slowly catching on.
More importantly, and more relevant than the additional features of the hologram, by inviting Larry to come to him instead of approaching him while he was at his new group, Lex would avoid any suspicion that he was approaching them for a hidden reason. Not that anyone would have any reason to suspect him to begin with, since there was nothing wrong with two friends meeting, Lex was becoming used to thinking about every situation in layers. By doing this, he eliminated even the possibility that someone would suspect him of his real agenda, which was to scope out the system wielder. After all, Lex only invited Larry. They would not have had any idea that he already knew that they would likely follow him.
Lex hailed a golf cart and made his way to the village where the local market had been set up and began to peruse. He could, of course, find out if what he wanted was available if he scanned the system, but he was also using this opportunity to study his eyesight and try to ascertain the limits of what it could show him.
A short while later, his hologram appeared once again, informing him that Larry was on his way to meet him. Lex smirked. Everything was going according to plan.
Well, at least it was, until Larry and his group closed in, and Lex's intuition immediately started acting, warning him that there was immense danger!
Lex was genuinely alarmed, for he couldn't understand who or what could threaten him while he was at the Inn. But it was not a mortal danger that he faced. Lex was still not experienced enough with his intuition to understand what it was trying to tell him.
Unfortunately he was not able to identify the kind of danger, but he at least narrowed it down to who it was coming from. It was one unassuming member of Larry's group. Lex scanned him to discover his name was Noman Butt, but the system gave him no other important information.
His left eye, however, picked up on something. There were strange, invisible waves coming out of and entering his body, mixing in with the environment around him.
"Lex, you sly fellow, where do you disappear to?" Larry yelled loudly over the noise of the crowd as he closed in, his usual stupid smile painting his face. He was still as excitable and jolly as ever.
Lex was about to give a casual reply, stating that he wasn't busy with anything important, before passing a remark about Larry's own busy schedule. He was about to, but before the words left his mouth, his intuition acted up.
This time, he understood the feeling well. No matter what, he must not lie!
"I've been traveling a lot," Lex said with a smile as he greeted his old friend. Yet behind his bright smile and eager eyes, his mind was already compiling a list of everything he could and couldn't say, if he was unable to lie. After all, he was a man with many secrets.
"What about you? Been busy lately? How many girlfriends have you run through by now?" Lex asked casually, trying to divert the topic of conversation from himself.
"I uhh… still have the same girlfriend. I'll introduce you to her," he said awkwardly. Lex could not help but notice how he loosened up his color as he said that, his eyes darting into the distance as his thoughts wandered. Oh? Was there some gossip here? Velma would surely be interested in this.
Silently, he betrayed his friend as he told Mary to inform Velma about this.
"We can talk more about that later," Larry quickly said the moment he snapped free from his thoughts. "Instead, I should ask, are you busy? I have a couple of things I want to talk to you about."
"Not that busy. I was looking for a spiritual treasure to train my spirit sense, but I haven't been able to find one so far."
"Ah yes, I remember going through that hassle. What you-" Larry suddenly paused, and then looked at Lex with a look of genuine shock. "Wait, you… you've reached the Golden core realm?"
Lex shrugged as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world.
"Yeah, I did. I don't know why you're surprised if you were able to reach it even quicker than I."
"I… no, but you…"
Larry shook his head and looked at Lex as if he was seeing the man for the first time. Although he always held Lex in high regard, for he knew he wasn't simple, this was taking things a bit beyond just that. He knew how valuable his own secret was to help him grow so quickly. The fact that Lex could keep up, even if he was a bit slower, meant that his secrets were also probably not too lacking when compared to his own.
Larry's wide grin promptly returned as he wrapped his arm around Lex's neck.
"This is a reason to celebrate," he said, "and celebrate we shall by finally getting you a girl!"
Lex elbowed the man and pushed him away. The man literally never thought about anything other than girls. Lex thought to tease him about it, since last he recalled he was actually not so skilled at flirting, but it seemed he had managed to maintain a relationship for a while. As a young bachelor, Lex really felt like elbowing him a little harder. His strange metallic body should be able to tolerate it, right?
"Haha alright, alright. Forget about the treasure, I'll get you a good one later. I have a guy who handles simple things like this. Instead, let me introduce you to some people. This is Rafael, Marlo's son."
Lex put on a surprised expression as he turned to look at the mature man. He was already in the Qi training realm once again, and making steady progress. As a man in his mid-30s, he looked the oldest of the bunch and definitely stood out, but at the rate his cultivation was going it wouldn't be long before he regained his youthful demeanor.
"It's a pleasure," said Lex as he shook the man's hand.
"Likewise," replied Rafael as he tried to recall if he'd heard of Lex from his memories of the future. After all, such a young Golden core cultivator, especially one from earth, was someone who should have had a lot of fame. But he was drawing a blank.
Little did he know, in the version of the future he knew, since Marlo never trained Lex, his experience at Vegus Minima had been so bad, Lex had decided to slow down the growth of the Inn to a dead stall. It took him many years to reach the Golden core in that timeline due to his caution and lack of opportunities.
"This spry young lad here is Anakin, and this is Noman," he said, continuing with the introductions. "And finally, this brooding fellow is Zouta. Or Souta. Or something like that. I've given up on trying to pronounce his name, I hope you have better luck."
Lex nodded at each of the three guys separately, paying special attention to each of them. Noman was the source of the danger he was detecting, and he could see something odd happening around him from his left eye, but see nothing else. With Anakin he couldn't see anything worthy of notice, but his soul sense brushed past him - mostly because he still couldn't control it - and that's when Lex noticed two souls within the man's body. That only left Souta, the system wielder. All of them, alongside Rafael, who had a mysterious treasure inside his heart, formed a strange group of people with unbelievable secrets.
Lex could not help but think that if this were a novel, each one of them would be worthy of being either an antagonist or protagonist in the series.
𝙡𝙞𝙗𝒓𝙚𝓪𝙙.𝒄𝓸𝓶
"Let's find somewhere more private to talk," said Larry.
Lex, who was keen on trying to understand what objective such a collection of talented young men could have, took the opportunity to test out the warning from his intuition about being truthful.
"I have a cabin on the Midnight train. We can talk there," he said, wearing an expression of showing off as he looked at Larry.
Before the other could respond, however, a whisper interrupted him, saying, "he's lying."
Although it was only a whisper, and they were on a crowded street, as cultivators so close to the source, they all heard him.
Lex wore an awkward expression as an unknown light flashed through his eyes.
"What I mean is, by the time we reach the station, I can arrange to get a cabin. Don't worry, it's just a minor cost to me and I've always wanted to try it, anyway."
Lex looked at Noman as he spoke, but the other did not show any concern, as if the explanation was not for him.
Lex, on the other hand, was thinking about the implications of what just happened. Fortunately, his intrigue did not need to be disguised. Once they reached the cabin, Lex could directly ask Larry.
Lex looked outside the cabin window as the train finally began to move from the station, admiring the beautiful view. The first of purple crystals was a particularly enchanting sight, and stood out for miles around.
"Hey I can't believe you pulled this off," said Larry, not bothering to hide his amazement in his voice. The fact that an entire carriage had to be rented at a time, which was extremely expensive, was not even the start of it. The train was extremely popular and there was always a line, ready to book any carriages the moment they got free. The fact that Lex had been able to book it without even being present spoke of his connections and reach.
"Your friend seemed to think I was lying," Lex said with a smirk, as if he had just proven the other wrong.
"Don't mind Noman. He wasn't targeting you, he just takes everything very literally. Speaking of the devil, come on, let's sit with the others. There are a few things we have to discuss and I think you'll find them interesting."
Lex nodded and followed Larry into another, particularly lavishly furnished cabin and took a seat. There was no table at which they could all sit, but due to the size of the cabin, even sitting in individual sofas, they were all near enough to hold a normal conversation.
"Gents, I'd like to introduce you to Lex Williams, a good friend of mine. He's a reliable fellow, and quite resourceful, as you've probably noticed. Lex, the reason we're all here, and the reason I've even called you here, is because of an issue that I've been facing."
The jolly look on Larry's face finally disappeared, and even his tone turned cold.
"I'm sure you remember that I'm being hunted down on earth. To be honest, a part of me just wanted to give up, and move permanently to the Inn. I had no hope of finding my family, I've just come to accept that they're probably dead. Not to mention, I've heard if I increase my Inn privilege level enough, I can teleport to another planet. I was thinking of getting out forever. But it seems that whoever is after me… is not content to leave things alone.
"They sent assassins after me… to the Inn as well! Thanks to Noman, I was able to identify the assassins and… take care of things. Well, I took care of one. Souta here used to work with the one I took care of."
Lex looked at the man with an eyebrow raised.
"What happened, you switched sides? And if you don't mind me asking, how did you identify the assassins?"
Lex asked Souta and Noman the questions directly. This was the freedom using his own identity allowed him that being the Innkeeper restricted him from. As an all knowing and wise Innkeeper, it was inappropriate to ask so many questions so easily.
"My previous master was a corrupt man. I was forced to listen to him for… certain reasons, but once he died, I was freed from my restraints."
Lex's left eye could not pick up any signs of a system on Souta at all, and though Lex tried to use his soul sense on him, it was difficult to control it for now.
"I didn't do much," Noman answered simply. "I was just passing by when they approached Larry for the first time and happened to notice they were lying to him. Still, I didn't do much. I might have pointed out their lie, I don't remember really."
𝓵𝒊𝒃𝙧𝓮𝙖𝓭.𝙘𝒐𝙢
"The issue is not with the assassins," Larry continued. "The issue is that we still don't know who is after me. Rafael even used his fathers contacts to see if it was someone from the Council of New Order. But we were not able to find anything. Even the councilmen who did act against me seemed to be doing it on someone else's behalf."
Something suddenly clicked in Lex's mind, and he summoned a file that Velma had once given him about the prisoners who were secretly controlling earth. He wasn't worried that anyone would wonder where he got the file from, for he had a bangle with a hidden space inside of it now. It could explain everything.
"I might have an idea of who might be behind it," Lex cut Larry off, as he handed him the file, and explained how every major conflict on earth, including the one orchestrated by the Council of New Order, was actually being masterminded by others.
While Lex was explaining, everyone kept looking at Noman from time to time, as if waiting for him to spot a lie, but it never came. Larry hid his emotions well, but the focus with which he was reading the file spoke much about his mental state.
Most curiously, Lex noticed, that Larry was the only one to have the expected reaction. Everyone else…
"Lex, Lex, Lex, I feel like I'm meeting a long lost brother," said Anakin as he eyed the man greedily. "Larry said you're resourceful but I didn't expect you to be on a level entirely of your own. Let me introduce myself properly a little, while Larry reads the file. The name is Anakin, as you already know. But what you don't know is that I'm a businessman. In fact, I'm not just a businessman, I'm a man with an extraordinary vision, and ideas that could make us wealthy beyond our wildest dreams. The only reason I haven't succeeded already is because I need someone resourceful, who can help me out a little. I have a few, minor, completely irrelevant inconveniences stopping me. But I have a feeling that with your help, my operation can really take off. What do you say? Are you interested in working with me? If you don't trust my word, you can ask Larry to vouch for me. I'm an honest man, just trying to make an honest living."
Before Anakin could continue his spiel, an earth-shattering clap of thunder roared across the Inn, and a flash of lightning struck!