One excruciating hour later, Lex was finally done.His digestion of the single sip of elixir was complete. Although he could immediately go and start digesting the second sip, he was mentally drained from his experience.
This was not a comment on his emotional trauma from the experience. The difficulty of keeping his cultivation technique running under such strenuous circumstances had actually drained him. It would take him some time to recover before was in any condition to undergo another round of cultivation.
But that did not mean he had any time to waste. There was no telling how long the elixir would last. According to the information given to him by Regal Embrace, the elixir would last, at most, for a week.
He had no time to waste. Instead of returning to the Crystal realm, Lex instead went to X-142. This set of planets had been very fruitful for Lex, not only because it was a great source of various guests, but because of the Infinity Emporium.
Although Lex had not purposefully sold a golden key to the emporium, considering the fact that a lot of people on the planet were becoming regulars of the Inn, he was surprised that the emporium had not discovered it yet. Or maybe it had, but was purposefully avoiding it.
Whatever the reason, so long as they continued to be useful to Lex, he would not pry too deeply into their matter either.
As usual, he saw many guests walking in and out of the emporium, but knew that when he entered, he would be alone in the shop.
He saw a vaguely familiar person exit the store, and then quickly scurry away. Lex paused for a moment as he tried to recall if he had actually ever met that person, or if he was an important guest. It took only a moment for Lex to recall a tavern he had stayed in on X-142 when he first arrived called Bent Benches. The tavern keeper had been some poor fellow with extremely severe anxiety issues.
Lex turned and saw that the man was still quite jittery, and was doing his best to stay away from people as he continued on his path. Lex shook his head. Anxiety was truly an unfortunate ailment to have.
Putting the matter behind him, he entered the shop to once again be greeted by the familiar Powell.
"My friend, it is always a good day when I see you," Powell exclaimed with genuine joy in his voice.
"Haha well then today is about to be a very good day for you," Lex said walked up to the counter. "I have a great deal for you today."
"Why the rush to talk of business? Why don't you relax a little, you look weary."
Not waiting for Lex to respond, Powell brought out a bottle from underneath the counter as well as a couple of glasses and poured Lex a drink. Considering the fact that Lex was a high level member of the emporium, not only did he have access to some of their best items and inventory, he could get amazing perks as well. This drink, it seemed, was one of them.
Lex did not reject, and took a sip from the hazel colored drink,only to feel reinvigorated immediately! All his exhaustion disappeared with a single sip! Unfortunately, Lex wasn't too happy about that. This only meant he would have to go back and cultivate.
"I wish I had the time to relax Powell, but I have a time sensitive matter that I need to handle."
"Tell me about it," Powell said, not prodding Lex to relax any further. Considering Lex's status, it was only normal for him to try and maintain a good relationship with him. But if the man was focused on work, who was he to keep diverging from the topic?
Lex smiled for a moment, as he anticipated Powell's reaction to the matter.
"Have you ever heard of Cosmic Erosion Elixir?" he asked, leaning forward.
For a moment Powell did not respond, as he tried to recall the name. The moment he did, his expression changed minutely but he tried not to show it.
"Yes I've heard of it. But if you're hoping to buy, unfortunately we do not have any way of getting our hands on it."
Although Powell was rejecting him, he was unable to hide the hint of expectation the man had on his face. Obviously he had a suspicion, but he did not allow himself to hope it was true.
"That's even better, because I want to sell some. The rarity of it should help me get a better price."
"Are you sure?" Powell asked, barely keeping himself from jumping up. "Are you sure it's the elixir?"
"Completely sure, though before I am able to sell it to you, I'll need something from you. I'll need a few containers in which I can store the elixir. Everything I have completely dissolves when I try to store the elixir in it."
"That's no problem at all!" Powell said, completely understanding. "In fact, as long as you really have the elixir, and sell it to the emporium, I'll give you a few containers for free. They're extremely valuable, and can be used to store even other precious liquids."
"That's great. But now, let's talk about something much more relevant: the price. What can the emporium pay for the elixir?"
Powell suddenly put on a serious expression and lifted a latch on his counter, inviting Lex in.
"Follow me, let's discuss this in a better setting. For something of this level, I'll need to contain our head office, so it'll take a few minutes to get the relevant data."
Lex followed Powell into a very luxurious room and took a seat on a sofa while Powell pulled out a tablet and began working furiously. He did not know how far the so-called 'headquarters' were, but the communication was quite quick if it only took a few minutes.
Lex watched in silence as Powell excitedly interacted with his tablet. Sometimes the man was so professional, yet at other times, especially when it was a matter of his own commission, he could show a childlike giddiness.
Soon he put down the tablet and looked at Lex.
"Good news. Because of your level at the Infinity Emporium, as well as our history together, I've been promoted significantly. Headquarters will give me special training so that in the future, I will permanently deal with all your transactions. There will no longer ever be a situation where I need to contact headquarters to give you an answer to one of your questions.
"Moreover, you yourself have become a VIP member of the emporium. Your level is no longer denoted by number, as you are completely eligible for the highest authority the emporium has to offer.
"Moreover… moreover, the owner of the emporium has taken notice of your latest request, and is personally making his way over. This deal… he will complete himself!"
"The owner?" Lex asked, surprised. He did not expect to attract the attention of the owner of the emporium, although it made sense. The description of the elixir stated that it was extremely rare, and there were only two known ways of making it, the first involving daolords. Moreover, while Lex knew how he could personally use it, he didn't really know what other actual uses it had. Surely they were extremely useful.
The only concern was… how long would it take for the owner to reach them? Lex was in a time crunch.
Before he could ask, however, the door to the room they were in opened, and an extremely familiar man walked in.
"You've done a great job, Powell," the man said, his voice confident yet smooth as butter. "For now, you can go on and report for your special training. I will take care of things from here."
𝓁𝒾𝘣𝑟𝑒𝘢𝘥.𝘤𝘰𝑚
"Yes sir!" Powell exclaimed full of energy, and saluted the owner of the emporium, before he bowed excitedly towards Lex as well. Then he ran off outside, practically giggling, and shut the door behind him.
Meanwhile, Lex said nothing as he was thoroughly confused. The man he was looking at… was Powell himself! There were two of them?
This should not have been such a big surprise, for even on earth there were identical twins. But the thing was, Lex was not only looking with his eyes. His intuition, spirit sense and soul sense all told him that he was looking at the same man!
Both Powells were… exactly one and the same. Lex could have explained such a situation by saying that one Powell was the clone of the other, but then why did they have different memories, feelings and identities, yet seemed to be the same person.
The remaining Powell looked at Lex with a smile, and seemed to understand exactly what he was thinking.
"Before we begin, Mr. Lex, allow me to say, I am incredibly honored to finally meet you. Though there was not an opportunity to meet before this, I have long paid attention to your transactions. I would like to thank you on behalf of the emporium and all its employees for your continued loyalty and support."
"Your service has always been excellent. I have no reason not to come back," Lex replied with complete composure, despite his confused state.
"I know you are in a bit of a rush, but would you like a bit of a proper introduction to the emporium? Perhaps that will answer some of your questions. Or if you have other commitments, we can get right to work, and then you can ask Powell any questions you have in the future. He will have the knowledge and authorization to answer you when you meet next," the owner ensured.
"Please, have a seat," Lex said, pointing towards a nearby sofa. "Although I am in a rush, it is not to the level where I can't even sit for a simple conversation."
*****
Velma had become extremely busy as of late due to her new profession as well as the immense responsibility the Innkeeper placed on her. If she had to do all that, while maintaining her passion of gossiping, she would need a hundred clones of herself. So, lately, that is what she had turned her attention towards.
She visited the Midnight Library and found some of the best cloning techniques available. None of them were exactly what she was looking for, but they could meet her basic requirements if only barely. But her cultivation was too low for the best techniques, so she had begun to remedy that.
She was cultivating nonstop, and had even visited the soul pond built by Harry. The pond helped her increase her soul strength just enough, where she could use one of the most basic but effective cloning techniques.
It involved splitting a small piece of one's soul and storing it inside a sufficiently strong treasure. This would not be any random treasure, but a specially designed treasure for this specific purpose. Once a soul was stored inside, spirit stones could be added into the treasure to form a spirit energy clone which was completely controlled by the clone.
The clone had half the strength of a mortal, but otherwise was perfectly able to replicate a normal human. For Velma's purposes it was enough, for all the clone needed to do was pay attention to gossip and compile the newsletter while Velma herself focused on raising her cultivation level. It did not really need any significant strength for that.
Moreover, all the information the clone received was immediately shared with the main soul so long as they were within a certain range, so it was not really an issue.
But within her meditation room Velma suddenly opened her eyes in shock and quickly ended her round of cultivation. She just received important news about a person the Innkeeper had told her to keep an eye on.
Garlin, the snake which had won the fishing competition, had been assassinated on its home planet!
Lex and the owner of the emporium sat face to face, leaning comfortably in their chairs as if they were old friends catching up instead of two people about to conduct a business transaction.
Lex's intuition, as well as his great experience, gave him a very clear warning. The person in front of him was ridiculously powerful, to the point where Lex did not even risk using his targeted scan ability. Besides the single moment where Lex first saw him, and ended up using his spirit and soul sense, he did not dare to even bring them out of his body now.
Despite all that, Lex remained perfectly calm. He could no longer be intimidated by powerful cultivators the way he used to be before.
Moreover, a business deal was a type of war on its own. He could not give up his psychological advantage due to the difference in cultivation levels. Lex had always pretended to have a powerful backer in his transactions with the emporium, so he would continue to behave that way.
But he was curious about one thing in particular. According to his information, Emperor Jotun was supposed to be the most powerful human in the entire Origin realm. But even if that were the case, the owner of the emporium should not have been an unknown person. Lex had perused the top 1000 strongest humans list compiled on the Henali portal. Although it was an unofficial list, it contained a lot of information. Yet this person was completely unknown. Or perhaps there were secrets Lex had just missed out on.
"Allow me to first introduce myself, and then my emporium to you," the man said, not allowing an awkward silence to develop between them. Yet by speaking first, he had voluntarily given up the psychological advantage. He had placed Lex in a superior position, where he was the one giving Lex the explanation.
Either he was not interested in such mindgames, or he was so powerful and confident that he felt like he could ignore their consequences.
"My name, as you may be able to guess, is Powell," he said with a bright smile. "You might find it slightly confusing, but you can consider all the workers at the emporium as clones of myself."
"All the workers?" Lex asked, not hiding the surprise in his voice. In this situation, maintaining perfect composure would build a distance between them. It would seem as if Lex was from too large a background, and did not care about Powell. But by reacting where Powell might expect him to react would give the man a sense of satisfaction and give him a positive impression of Lex.
Of course, he could not take it too far. Lex was only trying to build a good relationship, not trying to become a yes-man.
"They are not exactly clones in the traditional sense, but you may consider it as such. It is an aspect of my cultivation technique. Moreover, there is no employee more reliable than myself."
Lex disagreed. He felt like the Inn's employee's were the most reliable, but he didn't voice the thought and allowed him to explain.
"I started the emporium with a dream. I was young and broke when I dreamt of endless riches, so much so that even the stars could not shine as brightly as my horde. But other than just wealth, I wanted my wealth to come from a place that made a difference. I wanted to start a business that could benefit everyone! So in pursuit of my humble dream, I am trying to bring the emporium to every corner of the Origin realm. I want the emporium to be the biggest commerce entity in the entire realm!"
The spiritual energy buzzed with the excitement and passion in Powell's voice. Even if he wasn't trying, the world around him was reacting to his emotions. It reminded Lex of the way the Inn's weather was affected by his mood when he became upset.
"I have come a great way, though I am still a little far from reaching my goal. Let me share a small secret with you, to thank you for your faith in the emporium so far, and to assure you of our capabilities to serve you even in the future."
Sitting in his chair, Lex felt like he could give Powell some pointers on marketing and customer psychology. He too had dealt with guests at the Inn, but Powell was going about it all wrong. He could be appreciative of guests and their patronage, but he also needed to display a certain level of detachment. Powell had gained great success, no doubt, but in the end, he was no match for the Innkeeper.
"You may have noticed that every time you enter the emporium, you arrive at the shop alone regardless of how many people may be going in or out."
"Yes, I found that extremely fascinating when I first arrived," Lex admitted.
"The truth of the matter is… the moment you enter the emporium building… you're no longer on the planet you entered from. Each and every emporium building in the realm is linked. As soon as you enter, you are teleported to the 'main branch' as it were."
Lex was surprised, and perplexed. Sure such a mass scale teleportation, especially one so seamless, was extremely impressive. But what was the purpose? Moreover…
"But many times I've encountered situations where I had to wait for deliveries because I was told it was being transported from elsewhere in the galaxy, or realm. Don't tell me I was made to wait just to keep up appearances."
"No no, nothing like that," Powell said, waving his hand. "It's purely logistical and supply chain matters that delay deliveries. Although having every customer come to one destination makes it easy, as we don't need to maintain separate warehouses or actually transport goods across the wide expanse of space. But getting items to the original warehouse from wherever we are sourcing them also sometimes takes some time.
"I must admit, situations where our clients have to wait for deliveries are usually very rare. It's only your… unique requests that often end up stumping us."
Lex could not help but smile a bit. His requests were either incredibly specific, such as the very specific ore he needed to alter his body, or the millions of cultivation techniques he'd requested. To this date, he still regularly received batches of new techniques which he kept adding to his library. The problem was, the number of techniques had to match the kind of payment he'd made. But Lex's payment had touched upon something that touched the Daolord realm, so there was literally no value that could meet it. In the end, they could just continue to provide techniques endlessly until it became a priceless collection.
Eventually, Lex planned to have them start providing Nascent soul level techniques. Although that would speed up the emporium's payback of its debt, Lex did not actually need endless Golden core realm techniques.
Powell continued.
"The reason I told you this was because, in the future, no matter where you enter the emporium from, you will be brought to our main shop, which is reserved for our highest level members. Moreover, you can establish an account with us, meaning that once you sell something, you will accumulate a special kind of credit called Emporium Credit (EC). You can either cash that out to a currency of your choice, or keep it to purchase items later on. It's a much easier way to keep track of your payments, and the value of each transaction."
"It's easy enough to understand," said Lex, as if it was the first time he was encountering such a thing.
"The ease and convenience of our clients is our first priority. I can take you to the store and you can peruse our premium selection at will, but first I'd like to discuss the transaction you previously mentioned to Powell."
"Yes, the Cosmic Erosion Elixir. I wish to sell some, but first I need a container in which I can transport the elixir itself."
"If you don't mind my asking, how much elixir are you looking to sell?"
Lex leaned forward now, and established eye contact with Powell. Everything before this was merely a prelude to the conversation that was about to take place now. As an item with no fixed price, how much Lex would be able to gain would all depend on his own negotiation skills.
Although Lex may have gained a psychological advantage before this, it would matter little if he failed to gain any tangible benefits. Moreover, he was about to find out if Powell in fact was so self confident that he did not care about mind games, or if Lex really was superior to him in this regard.
"I have quite a considerable amount of elixir," Lex confided. "Yet I am also using a portion of it for my own purposes. What I want to do is sell the amount I don't need before it disappears. Since I harvested the elixir today, I'd say I have about a week to make the most of it. How much of it I sell to you… depends entirely on the price you're able to pay. It could be anywhere from a few drops, all the way up to a liter."
In fact, Lex had a lot more of the elixir than that. But he was not sure exactly how much he needed, not to mention he was planning on holding an auction in the Midnight Inn as well. He had already told Mary to spread the word about this specific auction, but only guests with a prestige level 4 and above were to be informed.
There were very few guests at that prestige level, as they would need to spend at least 10 million MP at the Inn to reach such a level. In fact, the only reason the number even entered double digits is because those who performed transactions at the Guild room were also counted.
Powell did not react too strongly, but at the same time he did not hide his surprise at the possible availability of an entire liter of the elixir. He did not, however, show any surprise to learn that Lex was using the elixir himself.
The truth was, his body projected a powerful aura of laws since his body contained laws to begin with, yet did not have the power to suppress the aura. But once his body stabilized, the aura disappeared. Yet now that he was once again adjusting his body's makeup by drinking the elixir the aura had once again appeared.
Although the aura was not completely oppressive, as it was when Lex was still undergoing his body's reconstruction, it was enough to give a casual cultivator some pressure. Even a nascent cultivator would feel pressured in Lex's presence during this period.
Suffice to say, Powell could tell that Lex was somehow tempering his body using the elixir. As for how that was possible, he did not inquire. As a businessman, he respected others' personal secrets.
"There are many ways in which the emporium can pay you, but I think what really matters is what you're looking for. Why don't you give me an idea for the kind of remuneration you're looking for."
The small exchange where neither of them openly quotes a price was a sort of power play by each, trying to understand the others psychological range for the price. If one of them said a price, such as Lex, but it turned out that it was much lower than what Powell was ready to pay then Lex would be the one suffering the loss.
This was the problem with priceless items. In the end, the final price was entirely dependent on what and how much use the buyer had for it.
As it was, Lex was at a slight disadvantage since he did not know the actual value of the elixir and how it could be measured. So, instead, he opted for another option.
"The elixir, as you may know, contains the physical manifestation of laws. I can sell some, but I need other items which contain laws in a similar fashion."
The elixir, as you may know, contains the physical manifestation of laws. I can sell some, but I need other items which contain laws in a similar fashion," said Lex as he began to explain his demands. "Since I know items on the level of the elixir cannot usually be sought out, and depend on luck, I won't be so harsh as to ask for items on the same level only. Inferior items are also acceptable, but then the quantity needs to be increased. How much elixir I give you depends on the kinds of resources you provide. After all, I've approached a few other circles as well, and if their offer is better than yours, then they will get more of the liquid."
Powell did not show any surprise, relief or competition on his face upon hearing Lex's demands. He remained extremely professional, and immediately delved into relevant matters.
"One of the reasons the elixir is extremely valuable, excluding its rarity, is because it contains laws pertaining to space," he explained. He did not ask if Lex had an understanding of laws, and if so how deep it was. Instead, he chose to explain or reiterate some of the basics. That way Lex would either learn about some things without his ignorance being exposed, or he would be able to bring attention to his own upcoming proposal easily.
"There are a few accompanying laws, of course, such as the law of pressure, the law of power, the law of foundations, but the primary makeup is still space. That is also one of the reasons it is so difficult for it to naturally occur. Moreover, the potency of the law also depends on the maturity of the realm from which it is created.
"Assuming the potency of the elixir is average, there are already very few items directly as valuable as the elixir. Like you said, lower value items can be exchanged, but then the quantity will have to be adjusted which is another hassle of its own.
"Based on your requirements, I can offer you a few options and then you can choose which one suits you the most. But before I get into it, do you have any special requirements in terms of laws? Meaning are there items of certain laws that you are more partial to, or will any laws do?"
This was a good question. Technically, according to Regal Embrace, Lex could absorb any items with laws and the technique would use those laws to reorient, or replace the existing laws that were interfering with his cultivation. To be clear, if Lex wanted to use this method to fix his cultivation technique so that he could cultivate to the nascent realm, it would take far more resources than even his elixir could afford him. But at least it would put him on the right path, while increasing his strength in the process
However, what laws he absorbed would have a longstanding effect on him and his cultivation. For that reason, he was more partial to certain laws that sounded powerful. That was the only criteria he could use to understand laws, for as of right now he knew nothing about them.
"Any laws at all will suffice, but I will give preference to laws that have to do with healing, energy and speed."
Powell only gave a nod and continued his explanation.
"Many of our VIP clients often have requirements for rare or valuable resources that are not easily accessible. As it happens, we have three clients who have put in a request for the elixir, for a long time now I might add, and have offered remuneration in exchange that match your requirements.
"If you wish to proceed, I can show you what they're offering, and the trade can take place using the emporium as the medium. The third, however, has a few qualms. As it happens, the third client has, in fact, offered an item associated with the laws of healing, but the trade cannot be conducted by the emporium. To complete the trade, you will have to visit the client yourself. Though, you do not need to be alarmed, as the emporium will take responsibility for taking you to and from his planet.
"Other than those three, you can also sell the elixir to the emporium. Unfortunately, we do not have items of the same calibre matching your requirements available at the moment, but we can pay using lower level items. During this time, I will also personally try to get my hands on items you might find suitable to trade for. But since I do not have any such items on hand, I will not mention them yet."
"Can you share the details for the items your clients are willing to trade. I'll have to see whether I'm willing to move forward with those trades. At the same time, you can provide me with a list of what the emporium can offer. I'd like to deal with this matter as quickly as possible, so that the next time I visit, I bring as much of the elixir as is needed."
Powell did not hesitate and handed Lex a tablet which had an extremely detailed description of each of the items his clients were willing to pay with.
The identity of the first two clients was hidden, and only their offers were listed.
The first one, coincidentally, was a diamond personally formed by Adamas the deity of diamonds, and contained the laws of impenetrability.
There was a lot of unnecessary drivel about the origin and history of the diamond, and its ceremonial and religious importance. Lex didn't care about that, for to him it was naught but a snack. The law of impenetrability would pair well with the Regal Embrace, however, so it wasn't bad. Alongside the diamond was the required amount of liquid Lex would have to provide to get it.
It will only 300 millilitres, so Lex found it acceptable. After all, he did not understand the value of the elixir, only that the diamond would not disappear in a week so he could take his time to use it.
The next item… the next item made Lex tremble, and not in a good way…
Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.