Ragnar was startled by the question, as that was not what he was expecting. "Your majesty… I… marriage, I…"
"Alright, alright, forget about it. Let's focus on other things. I admire your strength of character, child, but that's all you really have at the moment. Don't let your successful tribulation get to your head. You're too weak to be talking about the good or bad of the human race. These are things you're not yet qualified to even think about, so let's focus on something else. Tell me, why do you think you're being sent to your death?"
A hint of shame flashed through Ragnar's mind. It had been a very long time since he felt like a child being admonished by an adult, but before the emperor, that is what he truly was. Like the emperor said, there were too many things he was unqualified to know. But what he did know was that, despite the miniscule size of the empire compared to the origin realm, it was not just the humans of the empire who were being supported by the emperor.
Currently, the devils used the humans to farm their demons openly, but not many other races acted so blatantly despite feeling superior to humans. But this had not always been the case. As an immortal, Ragnar had access to a higher level authority on the Henali portal, and so he had read the history of the human race, as scarcely recorded as it was.
The human race was one of the most popular races to have as slaves realm-wide simply because they started out in the mortal realm, and unless they actively cultivated, they were unable to resist their superiors. As such, by restricting their ability to cultivate, most races took advantage of them. They had the intellect and mobility to be perfect slaves.
Back then, there were truly very few human forces worthy of note in the entire realm. Other than the Sephore family, there were only the Paladins, the Beast masters and the Merfolk. By the time the emperor rose to power, and single-handedly raised the prestige of the human race, the Merfolk had already been driven to the point of extinction due to the unique threat their bloodlines posed.
Although Ragnar was not exactly clear on what the emperor had done that changed so much, he knew that he himself was far from reaching such a level. He focused his thoughts and began listing everything that had raised his suspicions.
What greatly surprised him was that… even the emperor himself was shocked to learn of the Jorlam! It seemed the gap in communication in the empire was bigger than it had seemed. To some degree, it was expected. After all, the empire spanned galaxies. Not all places had access to the Henali portal equally. But something like this…
What Ragnar didn't know was that Jotun was genuinely much more alarmed that he let on. A growing Jorlam was not a rebellion against the empire, it was a rebellion against the Henali!
*****
After doing his research at the portal, Lex was relieved that the fruit he needed was not exceptionally rare. At least compared to the ore Lex needed to strengthen his own body, it was not a big deal.
Not wanting to waste any time, he teleported over to the Emporium and placed his order, while also collecting his latest batch of techniques for the library. They did not have the fruit in stock but they could get it soon enough, considering Lex's high customer level.
If Lex hadn't been suspicious that the Emporium was actually the result of a system, he would have directly given them a key and invited them to open a store at the Inn. It would be so convenient for the Inn.
𝓵𝓲𝓫𝙧𝓮𝙖𝙙.𝒄𝓸𝙢
When Lex returned to the Inn, he already had a list of tasks planned out for himself but two notifications made him pause. The first one was expected - someone had finally discovered the first Minor realm. Once the discovery had been made, the entrance to the Minor realm became a lot more evident and took the shape of a single wooden door. About a thousand guests had already entered the realm in the short few minutes Lex was gone to the emporium, and more were continuously entering. As for what was on the other end, there was no news yet.
The second news was unexpected. He had been sent a warning from Larry via the hologram. Apparently, there was someone identical to him at the Inn called William. The warning was not because they looked identical, or that William had expressed curiosity towards Lex once he found out about him. That was only a natural reaction someone would have once they learned someone looked similar or identical to them.
Instead, William and his brothers had displayed an interest in earth that unsettled Larry. Other than asking about Lex, they also asked a lot of questions about Marlo. They had explained the source of their curiosity was the fact that Marlo's name was high in the guest registry, and while that was a reasonable explanation for their curiosity, Larry felt extremely wary. He then also shared the news that Marlo was about to make a move against the prisoners on earth by himself and that Larry was intending on joining him. He invited Lex to join, if he was interested.
Lex sighed. The issue with William was a real headache, and in the back of his mind he had been considering returning to earth to confront his family. While he had been angry originally, he suppressed his anger and decided not to jump to conclusions until he heard their explanation. He also didn't want too much trouble caused on earth, as he still had lingering attachment to the planet he grew up on.
Yet there was also a part of him that wanted to forget all of that, and just stay at the Inn. It would be so easy to give up on those problems. But Lex had been trying to be more responsible lately, so he knew he couldn't just give up on it.
Lex sent him a letter telling Larry that he'd avoid William, and that he'd join him on earth. As for the repercussions… well, he couldn't control the whole universe. He would do what he could, but he held no expectations of becoming some random hero that protects the planet from every disaster.
Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.
Things at the Midnight Inn were going great. The festival was a great success and in the span of a few hours five different Minor realms had been discovered. Nearly a hundred thousand guests had already entered the realms, except for one which apparently had an age restriction. Only those below 20 years of age could enter that realm, for whatever reason.
While that dissuaded ordinary guests from trying to enter, as humans, beasts and other races alike were usually still very weak at that age, several sects were greatly interested.
The Evil Diplo sect were the first to gather at the portal and sent countless members of their sects, alongside their slaves below the age limit.
But while they were the first to act, they were not the only ones who had such an idea. Soon dozens of other sects who had unexpectedly arrived at the Inn during the festival also began sending their younger generation inside, including even the Paladins.
That one Minor realm became a confrontational ground for the various secs, especially since they were banned from fighting at the inn. It wasn't as if they hadn't tried, but the Inn was a lot stricter now with such a situation. The guards would immediately capture whoever started a confrontation and exile them from the Inn, irrespective of their excuse.
Being banned from the Inn was too major a loss for these sects who had just discovered this excellent holy land. But the Inn had given specific disclaimers that its protection did not extend to the Minor realms, so everyone should only proceed at their own discretion. While that represented danger, it also represented an opportunity to compete for unclaimed resources. The sects would never give up such an opportunity.
Lex sat in his office, monitoring the situation. The Minor realms had increased his MP earnings because many would come back in need of Recovery pods, or would put up the treasures they obtained for sale at the Guild room.
This was exactly the kind of progress he liked to see. He could tell that the Minor realms would bring in even more guests soon enough, and that even the village would become too crowded. He would need to build yet another settlement, so he once again began working with the planning division.
He had Main street, which had some of the Inn's unique attractions but also handled less of the crowds. The village was where most of the guests spent their time because that's where most of the attractions and entertainment were located. The third settlement would have to be focused around the Minor realms.
Watching the Inn grow was exciting, but he was in a rush because the Grand Prix would start the next day and he was participating in that. He wanted the new settlement to already be in place before that began, as the race would be the perfect opportunity to bring attention to it by having the track pass through it.
But while Lex was busy with expanding the Inn, there was something else going on that had escaped his attention. With the Host Attire and his office chair making him in sync with the Inn it wasn't as if he hadn't been exposed to it, but with the number of things going on at the Inn, this really was not worth giving any extra attention to.
While the numerous guests and even staff underwent a growth period due to the latest star rating increase, many of the normal animals at the Inn had only barely benefited from it. Such was the case with the many Magikarpet that Lex had brought to the Inn. Their vitality had increased and their colors grew more lustrous.
One of them, however, was experiencing something very unusual. It had fallen into a slumber, allowing its body to fall to the bottom of the lake where the fish lived. As if the unusually long slumber was not odd enough, in recent days its body had started to emit a soft glow.
A dim but clear light was emitted from between the Magikarpets scales, but as the days went by, the light began to get brighter and brighter. Eventually the light became so bright that it started to attract attention, not only of its fellow Magikarpet, but of the various guests who were swimming in the lake.
Thinking they had discovered another entrance to a Minor realm many swarmed towards the light but, before they could actually approach the Magikarpet, its shape began to change!
A storm of spirit energy appeared over the fish, similar to the one that had encompassed Lex during his breakthrough, and its body began growing rapidly. From just a few feet in size, it rapidly grew to a dozen feet, then to twenty before it began slowing down until it reached around twenty-five feet (7.6 meters) in length.
A heavy, intimidating aura enveloped its still shining body, resulting in all the guests retreating in alarm! The light continued to envelop the shape for a few more minutes as its body changed further, but when the light faded, it revealed a new monstrosity.
No longer did it have the soft and cute round eyes of the Magikarpet, and no longer did it have warm, red scales that made one want to cuddle with it.
No, Magikarpet had mutated into a ferocious creature with each and every fiber of its being radiating a savage aura. Its strength was not from a growth in spiritual cultivation, but rather its body packed strength that could shake the very seas.
The various Magikarpets in the lake slowly swam to the new being to observe it, and then began swimming around it as if carrying out some ritual.
But the creature was not paying attention to any of that. As a being that belonged to the Inn, the moment it grew and gained sentience, it automatically became an Inn employee. So its attention was completely diverted to a screen that had appeared in front of it, with words written on it that the beast could somehow read.
The screen read: 'For the first annual Inn employee retreat, please list down any dietary restrictions. Also, please confirm whether you would like dancing lessons before the retreat."
Creating a third settlement was an exciting task for Lex, but first he had to decide where to build it. The Midnight Manor was right in the center of the Inn, Main street was right below it to the south, and the village, where most of the entertainment was based, was to the west. To the north was the greenhouse, which was ever expanding, so Lex wanted to avoid building in that direction. That left only the east without anything major, so that is where he decided to build.
The design of the third settlement was very different from anything Lex had built before, for he did not want to pack all the guests densely in a concentrated area. Instead, it would be a vast, sprawling development spread over a large area. Instead of tall buildings and structures, there would be a multitude of buildings one or two stories high dotting the entire region.
As was customary every time he added something prominent to the Inn, he expanded the size of the Inn. It was not too much, just about 20,000 acres of land added in the east for a total of two hundred million MP.
It was not an exaggeration to say 20,000 acres was not a lot of land. A single state in the US took up millions of acres of so the Inn which was still only in the hundreds of thousands was miniscule.
Adding a new location also meant making alterations to the various transport systems available at the Inn to include it. Train tracks were laid down, roads were cut through grass, the path of the lazy river was altered and Lex finally also added an airport.
As amazing as it would be to have helicopters fly guests around the Inn, they were much too noisy and inefficient. With Xeon as a member of the Inn now, Lex had him purchase a few hundred ships via the Guild room and optimize them for the Inn's use.
Massive jets capable of vertical takeoffs while staying completely silent filled the garages in the airports. Each jet was capable of carrying anywhere between 100 to 300 guests at a time, and could traverse the entire length of the Inn in merely a couple of minutes - only because they kept their acceleration within comfort levels even for mortals.
Naturally, a couple of other airports were also included at the other areas of the Inn.
With transportation taken care of, it was time to look at the layout of the new settlement. But first, Lex wanted to give it a name. Continuously calling it a settlement or development was tedious.
Lex's naming sense wasn't the best, but since he had decided to do things properly, he didn't let them make him do things half-heartedly. Each area of the Inn had been designed with a purpose in mind. Main street was where the guests who only wanted a quiet or peaceful vacation went, and the esthetic and feel of the area matched it. The village, instead, was a happening place with stadiums, parks, coliseums, concert halls and anything else that spoke of entertainment and thus was designed with that in mind.
This new area was supposed to be a gathering place for the more adventurous guests, with the intentions of visiting the Minor realms, or perhaps as a resting area before heading off to dangerous places outside of the Inn. Other than eventually gathering all the entrances to the Minor halls here, Lex wanted to fill this place with Training halls, the eventual armory he would open, pharmacies, equipment shops and anything else that would aid a guest about to venture off on a perilous journey. In the same breath, he had to remember that such guests were not usually fond of overly complicated or embellished names. Something simple and direct would suffice.
After crossing off dozens of ideas, and thoroughly going through dictionaries and thesauruses, Lex settled on the name Immortal Bastion. It would be a place where warriors could come for their final rest before war, a safe haven where they could prepare themselves in every sense before venturing into the unknown.
With the name decided, Lex got to work. Since this latest addition was planned to be over a large area rather than concentrated around one spot, there could be no 'city center' or main area where a few important services were centered. While this could obviously not be implemented for everything, most services had to be readily available throughout the development.
Lex began by setting down 100 'small villages' spread out over a large area, and around them began putting down small and large houses as well as courtyards. Training rooms, Meditation rooms and Guild room branches were added every mile. He also added a prominent chapel-like building repeatedly where he would eventually add entrances to the Minor realms.
If someone wanted to visit a specific Minor realm, they would have to go to a specific chapel, but if they wanted to enter one randomly, they only needed to go to the nearest one. Speaking of looking for specific Minor realms, Lex had assigned workers to compile all the data available for each Minor realm that his guests exited from. They would eventually be named and labeled, so that it was easier to identify them.
Lex began working on the minor details of the Bastion, adding various monuments, fountains, parks and such to bring life to the area. But even before he had finished, the Bastion began attracting attention.
Exploring the Inn had become like a game to many, especially after the latest Midnight letterhead told a story of a guest who discovered a hidden chest containing a ticket to a 1 month free stay at the Inn. During the hunt for Minor realms, many of the small, hidden rewards Lex had hid around the Inn had finally been discovered.
Just as Lex had expected, that had increased the guests interest in exploring the more remote areas of the Inn, slowly uncovering the various scenic spots hidden around.
Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.
Although at the moment the Immortal Bastion was nothing more than an empty shell, with time Lex would turn it into a huge gathering spot for all kinds of adventurers. Until then, it would have to stay just as a large gathering spot for various kinds of residencies.
After a couple of weeks, once more entrances to Minor realms were discovered, he would shift a few undiscovered ones and move them here.
But all of that was for later. The reason he was in a rush to complete the Bastion now was because the Grand Prix was about to begin. Last-minute changes to the course would have to be made to include the Bastion, and Lex kept himself separated from it so that he would not have any unfair advantages during the race. After all, he had thoroughly enjoyed the previous race and wanted to compete fairly. Moreover, the list of other racers was quite interesting as well.
Lex teleported to his room to take a short nap before the race began. He did not feel tired, mentally or physically, but he had been awake for multiple days in a row once again and although physically he did not need it, it was tough to break the psychological habit of needing to sleep.
Fortunately, although his breakthrough made it so that he did not need sleep, it did not interfere with his ability to fall asleep at all. When he woke up from his dreamless sleep, Lex felt a tinge of dissatisfaction. He did not feel refreshed at all, because he was not tired to begin with!
Never in his life did Lex think that he would complain of feeling too energetic and fresh, but it was taking away from one of his favorite activities!
Shaking his head, Lex put the matter behind him. He dressed up casually, put on his Clark Kent glasses and teleported to the Inn.
A massive crowd had gathered at the village for that was both the starting and ending line for the race. Stadiums were filled to the brim with families and cheering fans, all supporting their favorite racers.
Although Leo himself had only done a single race, mostly to get eligibility, most others had done quite a few races. Their intentions were to get used to the dynamics of the race and develop personal strategies, but they were in for a surprise.
The format for the final race had been changed! Instead of 3 laps of the track, there would only be one lap. The first to cross the finish line would be the winner. But, in exchange for this rule change, the rack had been made much larger. Not only did it go across every major attraction at the Inn, the traps and tricks were kicked up a notch.
Regardless of the changes, due to the fact that Leo had only participated in one race, his following was not as large as others, though his unique style of winning his only race had still won him some fans. Moreover, stories of how he defeated countless Nascent cultivators had also raised his popularity a bit. But it was only a bit.
Compared to others, such as Brandon Morrison, Alexander's grandfather, Pvarti, Greta Noel the famous strip poker player, the extremely handsome Gerard, the big brother of the Inn Z, and a few others, he was not that outstanding. Moreover, Lex was certain that the participants had been extremely limited because most of those whose cultivation level was very high were still cultivating. Despite that, there were well over 100 contestants in the Grand Prix.
But Lex didn't mind his lack of popularity - that wasn't why he had been participating in the first place. Wearing a carefree smile, Lex got into his highly modified golf cart and made himself comfortable.
Unlike the previous race, where he had been near the front, this time Lex was in the absolute last row of racers. It did not matter. The race was long enough to make up for any tiny disadvantage the starting position would give.
"Ladies and gents," a charismatic voice boomed over the crowds, "devils and dames, beasts and spirits, I'm your favorite commentator, Awry, here with you on the first ever Golf Cart Grand Prix!"
The crowd burst into an excited cheer jumping up and down at their seats. It wasn't just the stadium that had such a reaction. Due to the convenience provided by the Inn of being able to watch all events from personal screens anywhere inside the Inn, from the peak of the Midnight mountain to the floating rubber donuts in the lazy river, guests were watching the race.
Although most kids lacked the attention span for such a thing, some of the older ones inside the spaceship made themselves comfortable in their bean bags, ready with their chips and nuggets to snack as they watched.
"Alright contestants, get inside your vehicles as I walk you through the upcoming event. The screens that everyone other than the contestants could see started to show the track as the racers would experience them while the commentator continued to talk.
"Unlike previous races, this one will only have a single lap, so there's no time to familiarize yourself with the track, and you'll have to deal with the surprises as they come! The power ups are all the same that you've already experienced, but the obstacles you will face are all new!"
The crowds cheered once again while the racers psyched themselves up using their various ways. The betting, which had been open for quite a while now, was about to close. Lex himself did not bother to bet, for whether he won or lost, he would be the one making the payment. The rest of the racers, though, all bet on themselves as a show of confidence.
The favorite to win the race was Gerard and Lex couldn't blame anyone for thinking as such. He'd had the perfect record so far in any race he participated in, but that was only so far.
Lex tightened his grip on the steering wheel as the commentator finally finished explaining the race to everyone.
Finally, in front of all the racers, Little Blue appeared in the sky, surrounded by red water. A moment later the water turned yellow, alongside a loud siren, and a moment later, turned green.
The race had begun.
Unlike the previous race where Lex had a very aggressive start, he decided to drive a little more tamely this time. The primary reason for that was the fact that every other racer around him was driving like a maniac!
He had not progressed ten feet (3 meters) forward when the first cart crashed into him! Lex had immediately deployed defensive techniques to keep his cart safe, but the thing was so had everyone else! Like hooligans everyone drove left and right, pushing everyone beside them off the track or trying to damage their vehicle!
Since the only techniques one could use were defensive, the only way to attack other contestants was to use the power ups, or to crash the cart itself into them. When it came to the matter of a physical contest, everyone was fairly confident in their own defensive techniques, so if such rough driving continued, the first to be disqualified would be those whose techniques failed first.
Lex did not think for even a moment that someone could breach his defense using only golf carts, but at the same time he was not planning on relying on such mundane tactics for knockouts. The severe lack of speed and close distance between all the racers made it hard for Lex to avoid getting crashed into, so he didn't even try.
Instead, he entered into the state of 'flow' and honed onto what his intuition told him. Instead of trying to avoid crashes, Lex began to maneuver his cart so that instead of pushed aside, he would be pushed forward!
His perception of time seemed to slow down as Lex applied the limited knowledge he had gained of drifting to angle his cart just right beforehand so that when the inevitable crash came, he would move along his desired path.
Since the beginning of the race had been so chaotic and exciting, the crowds were going wild while Awry could only comment on some of the crowd favorites. Gerard was in the lead, his ingenious use of his bloodline allowing him to escape the chaos before anyone else. Even the nearest racer was far behind the racing savant, not to mention still embroiled in the mess.
But, suddenly, from the corner of his eye, Awry saw something very unusual. Between all the madness that seemed to be sucking everyone in, one cart seemed to be moving with the chaos, as if it were a ship sailing over stormy waters!
"Wait a minute folks, turn your attention to cart number 69!" Awry spoke with the excitement of a child.
The driver seems to be using the other carts to his advantage. The random madness, when seen from the perspective of the cart, seemed a carefully orchestrated plan designed to gain every possible inch over the competition!
"The other carts are not obstacles in its path but the wind beneath its proverbial wings! It's gliding through! He just passed number 50, oh no wait, yes, he gracefully took the attack from fan favorite Brandon and bounced off of the underdog, vice-captain Booty, and he managed to push himself out of the crowd!"
By the time it took the crown to find the cart the commentator was talking about, Lex had already pushed away from the remaining carts! But the race had only begun, and he was not the first to escape either.
He floored the accelerator as he spread his spirit sense up ahead to check the track for traps! The track started at the stadium but did not leave the village immediately. Instead, it seemed to be diverted towards the heart of the village, where the giant orb of water floated in the sky!
After a sharp turn through which Lex was able to drift beautifully, Lex finally saw the first contestant ahead of him. He did not recognize the man dressed in a giant black hood, but that didn't-
A section of the road underneath the racer in front of Lex sprung up from the ground, a massive spring connected underneath keeping the road bouncing up and down. The contestant had been launched vertically into the air, but his forward momentum kept him moving.
For a moment Lex thought he had fallen for a trap, but then Lex saw the racer land effortlessly in a different section of the track, bypassing the ordinary path completely!
"Cart number 13 takes the lead!" Awry suddenly roared as an image of him jumping up and down from excitement was shown in a corner of everyone's screens. "Gerard, in cart number 01 has fallen behind. What an ingenious move by the contestant called Xenmas, although it remains to be seen if it was skill or dumb luck!"
Lex himself was unsure of how the other had done so, but he did not try to emulate him. Even with his intuition, it was impossible to predict what kind of trap would be triggered, so every time he sensed danger, he made sure to avoid it! And there were many such instances!
Disguised almost perfectly, Lex actually ended up overlooking several traps with his spirit sense, and would have been a victim to them were it not for his intuition. But since his methods were working Lex would not waste time dwelling on it, for the first real challenge finally appeared.
In front of him, Lex saw a shining golden box in the middle of the road. That would be a power up, something he should have been excited for. But directly behind the power up… the road began inclining upwards. Slowly at first, but eventually the incline changed from being gentle to directly being vertical, aiming towards the floating orb of water in the sky!
This… this was not in any of the plans for the race Lex had seen! Although Lex had told Mary to overlook the design of the race, and that he would directly approve it through the system without looking at the plans… this was pushing it, no?
But before his brain could fry, he noticed other drivers going up the vertical road. It seemed their carts were not falling off, and had been kept attached to the road somehow.
"Interesting," he said, driving straight into the power up.