Back at the Midnight Inn, Larry ended up leaving William and his brothers because his girlfriend had finally arrived. What he didn't know was that after he left, William disappeared from the Inn.
𝓵𝒊𝒃𝙧𝓮𝙖𝓭.𝙘𝒐𝙢
It would be impossible for him to reach the William family home planet within a few years minimum because he was in a different galaxy, but that didn't mean he couldn't contact them from where he was.
Using a special formation, he allowed a projection of himself to appear within a sacred temple, guarded by his family's most trustworthy and prominent members.
"Ancestor!" one of them immediately exclaimed in alarm. This was the first time he had made an appearance in that guard's lifetime, but he didn't care about such things.
"Find all the information we have on a planet called Earth. And get the family registry while you're at it. I want to know if I have a descendant called Lex Williams
Damian Arban William, Lex's grandfather, was filled with both excitement and fear as he hurried to the Ancestor Temple! He was excited, for their family had been ignored by their ancestor for too long, not that he could blame him. Even with his prestigious position in the family, he himself was only an Earth Immortal. That meant any common general in the Jotun Army was stronger than him based on cultivation alone.
Naturally, just because he was an Earth Immortal, it did not mean that was the peak strength of their family - far from it. But it was generally accepted that they were only equal to a normal noble family of the Empire, and not one of the top four like they should have been.
So, he harbored a great hope that their ancestors' attention would spark the fire of their family's growth.
But the tinge of fear in his heart was not without cause as well. He had heard that the ancestor had asked about Lex - his grandson who he knew absolutely nothing about.
His greatest fear was that his son had done something to cause the ancestors ire. After their last meeting, his son and his wife had completely disappeared. Let alone him, even his three granddaughters did not know where they had gone.
But there was no point in guessing. He took a moment to straighten himself out, before he hurriedly entered the temple.
The ancestor's projection was standing with his hands held behind his back, an impassive look on his face. He did not recognize Damian, for it had been too long since he interacted with the family.
"Great ancestor, my name is Damian, the current presiding family head. I have retrieved all the information you desired."
"Tell me about earth," William said directly, not displaying any of the friendliness he did around his brothers.
"It's a planet that falls under the William family territory in the Milky Way, and is deep inside a Dead zone. At the behest of the empire, a prisoner, Bastet, had been kept on the planet as it was one of the few inhabited planets in the deadzone. Due to the lacking spiritual presence on the planet, the prisoner could not recover enough strength to leave without the aid of technology. It…"
"Forget that. What I want to know is, are there any members of the William family on earth? The 'Lex Williams', I mentioned, is he a descendant?"
Damian smiled awkwardly, but did not hide anything.
"There… was a descendant living on Earth, my son, Leon. He got married to someone from that planet and started a family there. I believe… Lex is his son."
"Started a family on earth? Why did he start a family in the deadzone?" William was genuinely confused. There was no real benefit to such a thing. There were a few rumors that cultivating in an area lacking spirit energy strengthened the cultivation as it was forced to do more work for the same results, but there was no actual proof.
Damian cleared his throat, but reported the situation honestly and without adding any bias to make himself look good or bad.
William listened silently, without expressing any approval or disapproval. He was the last person qualified to comment on family drama. Instead, his focus remained on Lex for two very specific reasons.
One was obviously the fact that they had a similar appearance. That in itself should not have mattered, except that he had originally suspected a similar appearance was a sign of him unlocking the bloodline William had created. The second was the name on the top of the Guest Registry. He still did not think his descendant had any real connection to the person whose name was atop the list, but there was no harm in investigating.
As for the bloodline matter…
"Your suspicion about him awakening the bloodline is probably incomplete. If his mother really is as skilled as you say, and was able to give her 3 daughters all exceptional skills, then it's likely that not only did Lex unlock his bloodline, it may have undergone a mutation."
Damian was startled, for he had not even considered such a thing. Successful bloodline mutations were exceedingly rare because any mutation would usually result in the death of whoever had it. A successful mutation meant an evolution of a bloodline… that his incredibly powerful ancestor was able to make. Such a thing… it was impossible, right?
"Make a file, list down every major thing that has happened in the family in the last few thousand years. I'll be coming back soon."
The hologram disappeared, and Damian breathed a sigh of relief that the ancestor did not blame him. But his mind quickly went to the matter about Lex. Even if it was a bloodline evolution, there was no need to hide Lex from them. He suspected the matter was even more complicated than that.
*****
Adrus was on top of the world! From the moment he had AI take over his cultivation technique, his real progress had been amazing! He suspected it would take a couple of days at most to enter the next realm.
To celebrate, he had come to the Midnight Inn, and upon the insistence of a few friends, entered the Henali Portal. Apparently, its VR was ultra realistic and would allow him to feel like he was exploring the universe!
But unbeknownst to him, the moment he entered the portal, a hidden signal was sent out. Protected by the system, his location at the Inn had been hidden, but his origin on Earth could not be protected.
But nothing else happened afterwards. Adrus continued to enjoy the portal, and his cultivation technique kept running in the background. Several hours later, when he exited the portal, he had a lavish meal with a few other friends and decided to partake in the Inns festival.
Life had never been this good for him, and it was bound to only get better in the future.
Lex exited the Mystery trial 8 hours later, finally having completed the trial. It was a genuinely interesting experience, and he learnt a lot. Moreover, he would call the 'reward' anything but small or insignificant. Although he had yet to try it out, he gained a 6th sense for detecting people's emotions in reaction to something he said.
Well, to be fair, the actual 6th sense was very vague and weak, but it was drastically amplified by Lex's intuition. But even without the gift, Lex had gained a whole new perspective about his ability to influence people with his words. In the end, he had completed the trial by convincing the Game Master that the only way to actually prove that he was motivated by purpose was to break his own rules and set them free.
He had tried a few other tactics which did not contribute towards the trial, but did provide him with unique experiences. After all, he would never harm an innocent person in real life.
Lex was wondering if he should go try out his ability or spend some more time enjoying himself when he, unexpectedly, heard a familiar sound.
New notification:
System upgrade complete! System status updated:
System: Midnight Inn
System Grade: Divine (broken ~ SSS - B+ )
System Owner: Lex Williams
System functionality: 14%
System self-repair time: 33,310 billion years
New Notification:
New features unlocked. New features include:
Desert Farm
Well of Invigoration
The system was back online! In a single day!
Lex was surprised, but after looking at his notification he realized that it was probably because the system he absorbed was too weak. His system functionality had only improved 2% and the self-repair time had also only gone down by 2 billion. The system grade hadn't even changed.
Shaking his head, Lex turned and looked at the two new features of the Inn.
Desert Farm
A farm where desert plants can be grown, in addition to any other plants. None desert plants undergo an unpredictable mutation to grow in this farm. All plants that grow in the desert farm have additional medicinal, nutritional or spiritual properties.
Well of Invigoration
A well with water that has special properties which speeds up plants growth without causing any adverse effects. It also has mild medicinal properties if drunk directly, and can heal hidden injuries within the body.
There were only two new features, but Lex liked them a lot more than the ones he got from the Murder System! Moreover this would be more beneficial to the day to day operations of the Inn. Lex was already dissatisfied with the kind of ingredients the Inn had, as they could not provide him any nutrition now that he was in the Golden Core realm. With this, he now had the opportunity to grow ingredients of a high enough level to satisfy himself now, and in the future as well.
Of course, it wasn't as if he wasn't planting crops that targeted Golden core cultivators even now. But the difference was, their maturity period was phenomenally long. Even with all the advantages the Inn provided, it would take well over a year for them to mature. Maybe now, with the water from the well, that period could be sped up.
Lex smiled and disappeared, teleporting to the turtle in his Host Attire. The turtle had buried itself in the ground, with only its head above the ground. Lex did not even try to question what bizarre thing the turtle was doing now, and instead got right to the point.
"I'm opening up a new farm, but it will be in a desert environment. It can cause mutations to normal plants, and provides a huge boost to plants that grow in a desert environment to begin with. I also have a new well that can boost the speed of plant growth. I thought it would interest you to know."
For a moment, the turtle did not react, but then it turned to look at Lex.
"Oh dear, oh dear. That sounds lovely, but I have run into a small little bit of a problem."
Even as the Innkeeper, Lex raised an eyebrow as he looked at the turtle in curiosity. The turtle had… run into a problem? This was a first.
"After all my time at the Inn, I have grown a lot. I am ready to grow to the next cultivation level. But my age is too young, my body has not grown enough yet. I will need to eat a few Shining Irisberry fruits to allow my body to grow. If I don't get them soon… I will fall asleep for a few hundred years until my body is ready to grow."
That was indeed a huge problem. He could not afford to allow the turtle to fall asleep, he was extremely dependent on it.
"I'll take care of it," said Lex, and teleported away. He immediately thought of the Infinity Emporium, as it was his best bet at getting it quickly. But he decided to check out the fruit on the Henali portal first to get an idea of how rare it was.
Yet when he teleported to the portal, he paused and turned his head in a certain direction. His intuition was acting up, telling him something major was about to happen! Unable to identify the cause, he scanned the Inn, and noticed something odd. Ragnar was standing alone in his abode, wearing nothing but a cotton tunic. This was the first time Lex saw the man without his armor, and discovered that the previously seemingly buff man had actually just been wearing very thick armor. In actuality, he had a very toned physique.
But the general changing out of his armor was not enough to alarm Lex's intuition. No, it was the dark cloud that was forming above his head that attracted Lex's attention. Unlike all the previous tribulations Lex had seen, this one was different. Black lightning streaked around the cloud, building up its strength.
Lex had no idea what kind of tribulation Ragnar was about to encounter, but it was definitely much more dangerous than the ones he had seen before. Yet the man was not using a tribulation room.
With nothing but his courage supporting him, the general looked up into the sky. There was no hesitation in his eyes.
It was not just Lex whose attention was attracted towards the unusual tribulation cloud. Most of the demons who had already passed through their tribulation and survived looked over. Hundreds of beasts looked up in fear as their strong instincts were kicking up. Jotun, who was having an important meeting with his wife, was also alarmed, and quickly exited the manor and flew up into the air. The guard who had replaced the griffin looked there as well, though it did not display the same shock as the others.
Somewhere in the crowd of guests, Booty looked up into the sky. Every time he saw lightning, he felt nervous. The captain of the Iron heart pirates was about to enter the Immortal realm, but he had already seen too many fail in their tribulations. Every time he saw one more, he felt his heart tremble.
For a time, the entire Inn came to a standstill as they looked up at the ominous black lightning.
Lex, who was also watching the spectacle closely, however, did not just sit and watch. His intuition was warning him that whatever protection he had given the abode was not enough, and so silently, he began arranging more formations around Ragnar's abode.
The formations were not to protect Ragnar from the tribulations, since the man himself had opted not to enter the tribulation room. Instead, it was to contain the damage within the confines of the abode itself. But the thing was… he added one formation, then 10, then 50, but the warning from his intuition never ceased.
The level of formations available to Lex, even with the extra capabilities of the event panel, were not enough to contain the danger of this lightning.
As the sound of rolling thunder swept across the Inn, Lex suddenly began to panic. Without thinking too much, Lex directly spent 10 billion MP on smashing as many formations down as possible!
But he did not have time to evaluate if that was enough. The sound of the thunder changed, as if the heaven itself was releasing a growl aimed at Ragnar. Dozens of formations around the abode were thoroughly crushed just from the sound.
But the process was not slow as all this happened faster even than anyone, immortals and mortals alike, could understand. Then the lightning struck, a single black bolt aiming directly for Ragnar.
If he had wanted to defend, he should have done so already, for it was too late now even for him.
The black lightning bearing the wrath of heaven and hell bore down on the lone man. Existence itself seemed to fracture where the lightning passed, leaving behind a trail of miniscule cracks in space. At that moment, the air ceased to exist, and all light was destroyed. Despite the intense power and heat of the lightning, there were no flames in its aftermath, for the very existence of fire had been destroyed.
In that moment, despite the protection of the Inn, everyone, the emperor, devils and even Lex included, suffered from a hallucination. For a moment, they saw an impossible tide of darkness swallowing up the universe itself, filled with righteous fury. But in front of that darkness that swallowed everything, there was a single, miniscule speck that remained undeterred. It was not the flame of hope, nor the prayers of a trillion meditating monks, nor the blessing of some deity that remained unmoving in front of that invading abyss.
No, it was a man in a simple cotton tunic. Even as the world faded into nothingness, even as the emotions of everyone watching faded, even at the very end of things, his back did not bend.
The hallucination changed. They saw a young man standing side by side with a billion soldiers. They saw war. They saw death. They saw defeat. They saw a sea of endless demon corpses, and they saw a young recruit alive, crying because he was buried under the bodies of his comrades, who had given up everything to let him live.
The scene changed. They saw retreating spaceships. They saw bleeding soldiers. They felt the endless silence of space, and in it, they saw demons in the form of space worms chasing after them. They saw an escape vessel heading towards the demons while the other ships escaped, and a skinny, injured soldier with nothing but a blaster and a broken sword.
They saw a fight that should have been suicide. Then they saw another. Then they saw a hundred more.
They saw a skinny, fragile back slowly gain muscle and grow stronger. They saw one impossible tide of death crash against a lone soldier again and again, only to be the one to retreat itself.
Then the hallucination, which had seemed millennia long but had not even been a fraction of a second, ended. Most did not see what happened next. Even Lex's mind was not fast enough to process what happened. But due to the feedback from the Inn, the image of what happened was imprinted in his mind!
Ragnar did not flinch, nor did he look away. The black lightning struck him in the face, resulting in an explosion that completely decimated the abode around him.
Though Lex had long stopped trying to depend on luck, somehow, his luck had held that day as all the formations he had put up had been destroyed, save the very last one.
The cloud above the abode dissipated, as if it had never been there, and the ominous pressure that Lex had been feeling disappeared.
In its wake, it had left behind a site of utter destruction. There was not even a cloud of smoke covering the area, for everything in that space had been utterly destroyed, from dust to the very air molecules.
Well, it had destroyed almost everything, for Ragnar still stood there, his posture completely unchanged. There was not a single rip on his tunic, and though his face was covered in blood, there wasn't even the slightest indication of pain on his face. His eyes were so calm that he may as well have taken a stroll in the park.
After a couple of seconds, he finally reacted by cracking his neck. Then he walked out of the confines of what had been the abode, silently admiring the fact that the scope of destruction had been strictly restricted to his abode. The Innkeeper was indeed impressive.
He summoned his personal hologram and said, "please deliver my message to the Innkeeper. There was a devil who was challenging me before my tribulation. I would like to challenge him in the Murder Grounds."
The festive mood at the Inn had come to a pause. There was no fear that filled the air, but everyone had to take some time to settle their emotions after what they had just experienced.
While everyone had experienced the same hallucination, and they could guess that it had been caused by the black lightning, they had no idea who that person they had hallucinated about was or if what they saw was even true. But regardless of those details, there was no one who could deny that the vision had their blood boiling.
Everyone was suddenly in the mood to train or fight intense battles and somehow vent their raging emotions. There were very few who actually knew that the person in the hallucinations was actually Ragnar, mostly because they recognized him from pictures of his youth.
Alexander was one of them, and while he displayed no outward emotion, inside he was filled with a burning passion. He did not want to just be strong, he wanted to be the strongest! Only by learning from such a man could he achieve that dream.
Marlo too felt his blood boiling, but he easily suppressed it. What was going through his head was completely unknown, even to his wife. All anyone could see him doing was sitting laxly on a sofa, twiddling his thumbs. But although he looked completely relaxed, the fire in his eyes spoke otherwise. There was a plan brewing in his mind.
"Who was that?" asked the empress as she flew to Jotun, her voice hiding bits of praise and admiration.
"Our future son-in-law," Jotun replied with a casual smile.
While everyone was experiencing different things, Lex's mind was like a tumultuous sea. First and foremost, he needed to learn about that tribulation! What the hell was that? If he had to spend 10 billion MP per strike of that black lightning, and a few more people underwent a similar tribulation, he would once again be completely broke!
His current wealth was at 70 billion MP. He had earned quite a bit during the festival, and lately he had especially been earning a lot from the 1% transaction fee in the Guild room. He thought it was swimming in cash, but it appeared far from the truth.
But Lex quickly calmed down. The advantage was still with him. If he wanted to boost his earnings…
With a wave of his hand, all the hidden entrances to the various Minor realms in the Inn became easier to find. He speculated it would take just a few more hours at most for people to find the first one. Moreover, the Grand Prix was coming soon. If past experiences had been anything to go by, Lex would be earning a lot soon enough.
It was then that Mary informed him about Ragnar's request for a challenge in the Murder Ground, and a capitalistic gleam flashed through Lex's eyes. He just spent 10 billion on the man. It should be okay if he earned a little something back, right?
*****
In the spaceship above the Inn, all the children were going absolutely wild! It was not fear that had gripped them, although for the younger ones that had initially been the case. But as they recovered from the hallucination and recalled where they were, something else happened. They began playing a game of war!
Since the children had formed various gangs and factions, and had marked certain playgrounds as their home bases within the ship, they were now fighting a relentless war with pool noodles as their weapons.
But not all kids were participating in the game. As it so happened, all the leaders of the various factions the kids had formed were sitting together in a conference room.
Some were sipping apple juice, and some were eating chocolate pudding, while others still were fiddling with fidget spinners. But while some of them had become victims to their short attention spans, most of them were paying close attention to the person sitting at the head of the conference table.
Like them, he was a kid, but his vision, his ambition, and most of all, his ingenious ideas had captivated them. He was not waiting for them to grow up before doing big things. No, he was building a network right now. The most expansive, secret and diverse information network in the Origin realm was beginning to take shape, and at its head sat Roland.
Previously, he had sold newspapers in the Crystal realm. At the Midnight Inn he had joined the Midnight newsroom. But after spending some time here, and upon noticing the vast resources available at the Inn, his hidden passion had been flamed awake.
Since he was in the news business, he should take advantage of the biggest and most unsuspecting resource available, children. Everyone openly revealed their secrets in front of kids, because who would ever expect them to interfere, or even remember? It was not even their own parents they could spy on, but everyone they came across.
"So, we are in agreement?" Roland asked, tapping his fingers on the table in an easy rhythm.
A series of ayes, yes' and yeahs filled the room as all the kids became super excited.
"In that case, I would like to announce officially the beginning of operation 'Secret Base' and operation 'Secret Agents'. Remember, don't tell your faction members everything. Get the information from them, and pass it along. They must think they're the only ones doing this, and that it's a secret. Or else they won't feel like spies."
"And you remember that you're not the only one who will have access to all the information," said Layla. Jimmy was standing dutifully behind her and giving a challenging look to Roland. Sure, Roland was much older than the two of them, but they led one of the strongest factions of children - the Peacock Warriors. They feared no one and nothing.
"Of course," replied Roland. "Prove yourselves, and I'll help you become secret members of the Newsroom. That way you'll all be able to access the information."
Lex was momentarily driven by thoughts of raking in a ton of MP selling tickets to watch the fight between Ragnar and the devil. He could use the attention Ragnar had gained with the Inn-wide hallucination to attract attention, but it was not meant to be.
The devil, as he learned, was locked within his abode, cultivating, with no knowledge of what was happening outside. Many guests, Lex had noticed, despite being at high realms ended up simply cultivating after experiencing the star upgrade, such as the griffin, and did not encounter any tribulations. Maybe they were simply making progress without making any strides across any large thresholds. Regardless, Lex sent a response letting Ragnar know that at the moment the devil was unable to respond, but he would let him know of the answer.
With that small interlude passed, Lex turned his attention back to the portal to investigate the Shining Irisberry Fruit for the turtle.
*****
Ragnar was slightly disappointed when he heard the response, but it was probably for the best. Despite what it had seemed like, his emotions had gotten the best of him and that devil really had managed to rile him up. Although it seemed like he had only suffered a mild injury from that bolt of lightning, that was not really the case.
After stabilizing his increased cultivation, he would have to return to his Command carrier, for the Recovery pods would not be able to help him in his current condition. He would require some exceptionally rare and valuable medicine that had been stored back on his ship.
But his plan to return was suddenly stalled when he saw two humans descending towards him from the sky. As awkward as it might be, he recognized the lady first.
It was her majesty Elinor, the current empress of the Jotun empire! The reason Ragnar recognized her first was because the image of the emperor was not actually that widely spread. It was for that very reason that even the emperor had been surprised when he was recognized by a common soldier.
But the moment Ragnar recognized her, his eyes flashed to the man beside her and realization dawned on him. It wasn't as if he had never seen the emperor, but that the picture he had seen portrayed the man in full royal armor with a halo of incredible power around him. Right now, the emperor looked nothing like his picture and instead looked like a random youth.
Ragnar was not one to suffer from the common mistake of judging someone by their appearance, as in the cultivation world appearances were the most deceiving. Instead, he usually gauged people by the intensity of their spiritual aura. Yet the emperor had restrained his aura completely when he came to the Inn, so he could even be mistaken for a mortal if one didn't know better.
"Your highness!" Ragnar exclaimed as he gave a military salute, finally adding a single crease to his, as of yet, completely pristine tunic.
"At ease, general," Jotun said. "That was an impressive display. Tell me, how long have you been a Heaven Immortal?"
"A little under 100 years, majesty."
"Less than a 100 years and you've already passed through the first mark. Very impressive young man. I dare say there are few in the history of the entire empire who can compete with you."
"It is still below your achievements, majesty."
"Pft, don't compare yourself with me. That's unfair to your hard work. News of your achievements have made it to my ear, Ragnar. Considering I'm barely ever in the empire, that is already an impressive feat. But when the Innkeeper himself told me I should give you an audience, I was genuinely taken aback. I wonder what you have to share with me."
Surprise flashed through Ragnar's eyes, but he quickly calmed down. Although they did not meet often, it seemed like he really had developed a good relationship with the Innkeeper. After all, there was no need for him to mention Ragnar to the emperor. Even Ragnar himself had never spoken of such a request, so for the Innkeeper to do it on his own initiative was a show of good faith. Moreover, it was one that he sorely needed. Although he had set up a task at the Inn to find someone capable of following the Jorlam's trail, there was no guarantee that things would not go horribly wrong before that opportunity could even be availed. Moreover, there was the matter of the aura he collected from the devil Loretta.
"I have a room, majesty. Perhaps we should talk there."
"Lead the way."
Ragnar did not hesitate to lead the way, not to any of the rooms he had recently rented, but the one he rented so long ago, inside the Midnight manor.
The emperor and empress followed him without putting up any pretenses, but when they entered the room and saw a small cylinder sitting in the center, their attention was completely diverted to it.
"Your highness, this seal contains the traces of aura I collected from the devil known as Loretta. Although I suspect the aura has been altered heavily, it should still be useful."
"Why have you stored it here instead of submitting it to the empire?" asked the empress, though she made no attempts to inspect the seal.
Ragnar paused, as if he was ashamed to voice his words, which ultimately attracted the emperor's attention even more than the seal.
"Speak up, what is it?"
"Highness, I apologize if my words sound like blasphemy but… I suspect there are traitors in the empire. There are many things that have happened recently that do not make sense, and… I have suspicions that someone is sending me to my death."
The empress was alarmed by the sudden revelation, but Jotun did not seem too surprised.
"You do not need to worry about the veracity of your words. Even the Innkeeper has hinted at the fact that the long absence of my brothers and I from the empire has caused the relations between our families to sour."
"Jotun what… what are you saying?" Elinor asked, genuinely shocked by what she was hearing. Although it may seem as if he had said something casual, he had said in very simple words that a rebellion was brewing… likely spurred by their own descendants!
𝙡𝙞𝙗𝒓𝙚𝓪𝙙.𝒄𝓸𝓶
But Jotun did not answer. Instead, he looked directly at Ragnar and asked, "general, tell me honestly, where do your loyalties lie?"
Ragnar looked down at the ground in shame. Standing before him was the strongest human alive. A flick of his finger would be enough to decimate Ragnar, so it was all but impossible to lie to him. He had to be honest.
"Forgive me, majesty, but my loyalty lies not with the empire, but with the human race."
Silence fell in the room as Elinor and Ragnar both waited for Jotun to reply. For a general of the empire to speak such words…
"Tell me, Ragnar, are you married?" Jotun asked.