Chapter 631 A mans romance
Since time immemorial, there has been a special romance between a man and his mode of transportation. In the old days of earth, all sorts of animals were reared for the sole purpose of making an excellent vehicle. Horses or rare breeds were sought after with more fervor than gold. Elephants were adorned with more jewelry than actual kings and queens. Rhinos were treated as special mounts, worthy of only the most fantastic generals and soldiers.
Then came a revolution of industry, and times changed. Modernization was suddenly the way of the world, and so the world adapted.
From the first cycle, to the first car to the first train, the romance grew more and more wild. Hot air balloons, blimps, and finally airplanes were welcomed into the world.
People were known in their towns and societies, not by who they were or what they did, but the kind of car they drove. A pilot was not celebrated unless he flew a jet, not a commercial plane or crop duster. A person was only considered 'cool' and 'amazing' if they rode a sufficiently excellent motorcycle.
𝙡𝙞𝓫𝙧𝙚𝓪𝒅.𝒄𝒐𝓶
For a long time already, a man would be recognized by his ride before anything else. It was only natural, as a lot could be told about a man based on the car he drove.
To be clear, although Lex's inner monologue kept emphasizing on the romance of a man and his car, he was not being sexist. When he said man, he was more referring to the race rather than the gender. He was quite clear that a woman too could completely elevate or reduce her status based on her ride.
So, when men and women alike were victims to the beauty of a vehicle, how could Lex be any different?
On the magazine before him, on the double page widespread, was the image of a black spaceship! It was perfectly curved, with no sharp corners or edges anywhere except the very tip. It seemed as if the tip was the very starting point of the entire ship, as if the entire ship emerged from that one, single point.
The interior of the ship was not visible, and there seemed to be no transparent glass panels to see through anywhere, yet that only added to the mystique of this sleek and slender ship. Towards the back, there appeared to be one main thruster engine, with a relatively smaller one protruding from the two wings on its side.
Appreciating Lex's stunned appearance, Powell seemed only to nod as if affirming that this was the correct reaction.
"This is the Silent Night, the latest production in the personal corvette class of ships by Havalier Industries. There's only one of them so far, and it's apparently capable of intergalactic travel in the span of mere months! This is completely a collectors ship!"
Even Powell's voice was dripping with envy, yet Lex focused on something else entirely.
"Wait, the emporium is not selling this?"
"No, no, how could we get our hands on this? Like I said, it was produced by Havalier industries, and they are the only ones who can sell it. Not to mention, everyone knows what the Greydars are like."
Lex, in fact, did not know what the Greydars were like, nor did he know who or what they were. But he did not bring attention to his ignorance for the moment, as in the recent documents he bought from the emporium probably had the relevant information. It was only a matter of time before he discovered it. Instead, his focus remained on the ship.
"You don't sell this, fine, but do you sell other ships at least?"
"Yes, of course! A private vessel is absolutely imperative if one is to traverse from one region of space to another. I'll have you know, teleportation formations are neither cheap nor common. Most trade is conducted via spaceships, and unless the distance spans many star systems, most travel is also done via ships. The Silent Night is a little different, sure. It can even traverse the space between galaxies, so traveling within a galaxy is much faster. But it's rare to find ships of such caliber in the open market. Only some very large empires use them for official government use."
"So what you're saying is… you have ships, but nothing as good as the Silent Night?"
Powell smiled awkwardly, as if he had been caught red handed.
Although Lex felt interested, he restrained himself. He already had a massive ship inside the Inn, if he would ever even need it. Moreover, if he ever wanted a smaller one, he still had better hopes in getting it from his system than elsewhere.
"Let's just get on with the trade. I'll look at ships another time."
Even as Lex said that, he gave one final glance to the Silent Night. This was probably the last time he would ever see this ship, and the possibility of running into it and the owner in the future was as close to 0 as possible. He was completely and totally not thinking all of this on purpose to set up a flag for himself to run into this ship in the future. It was just a ship, it wasn't like he had become emotionally attached to it after a single glance.
"If you'll follow me," said Powell, putting away the magazine and getting back to business. "I'll take you to the teleportation room first. Once you've completed the trade, you can return the same way. Please, rest assured, that the emporium has made adequate preparations for your travel and safety at the destination. Zuri Adisa, being an old client of the emporium, has conducted many such trades before with no history of foul play. I would escort you personally, but the emporium has a strict policy against workers leaving the premises."
Lex only nodded and followed Powell to the teleportation room. He wondered if he'd be able to link the new planet he was about to visit to the Inn now that the teleportation function was upgraded. He would soon find out.
Powell led him through unfamiliar corridors, all the while making sure he continued to keep Lex busy with small talk. Although he was not showing it up front, his recent promotion must have made him incredibly happy. Powell could not stop talking about all the new things he had learnt about.
Finally, they reached their destination, and though Powell looked a little reluctant for he was enjoying talking to Lex, he did not slow the process down. Inside the room was a small, circular platform that was hovering above the ground by only a few inches.
"This is the dedicated platform for Zuri's planet," Powell explained. "Although we can activate it from here, the teleportation will not occur unless Zuri allows it. But you are already cleared to travel, so just go stand in the center whenever you're ready and I'll activate the platform."
With a nod, Lex walked right up to the middle and waited for the process to begin. Powell did not press any buttons or activate any switch, yet the platform turned on, nonetheless.
A ring of bright light enveloped Lex, before he once again began to experience the feeling of being transported through space. Nothing could ever come close to the seamless teleportation offered by the Inn, but the process this time was much smoother than his previous times.
He felt a dull pressure on his body, keeping it completely still as it was moved through the folds of space. While previously the process left him feeling uncomfortable and disoriented, at least a little, this time Lex actually felt a little comfortable. In fact, it almost seemed like he could understand where he was going.
The Cosmic Erosion Elixir! It suddenly occurred to Lex that he had been drinking it nonstop, and that it contained laws pertaining to space. Could that have somehow developed some sort of affinity with space within him?
Before he could ponder the question further, he appeared in what surely must have been heaven.
He was standing on a platform similar to the back at the emporium, waving in the wind… all of them had a cultivation realm much higher than his own!
which was surrounded by white pillars similar to the ones used in Roman architecture. Above his head was a small dome, as if to provide him with shade. But that was it. There were no walls or barriers, and the entire structure seemed to be placed inside a meadow from a children's fairytale.
The air was so pure and fresh it made even the Midnight Inn same stale, and the soft gentle breeze carried with it the scent of wild flowers.
There was wild grass growing all around the structure, with a sea of daisies all around it. In the distance, there were massive trees that reached high up into the clouds, as if creating a border to the meadow.
Tiny creatures could be seen running through the fields, and even tinier birds, flying around, drinking the dew off flower petals.
The awe Lex was feeling didn't last long, however, for he quickly realized that whether it was the birds the size of his pinky finger, the tiny creatures running through the fields, or even the flowers, waving in the wind… all of them had a cultivation realm much higher than his own!
Chapter 632 Clean yourself
Although Lex was not intimidated for he could escape to the Inn whenever he liked, the first impression was indeed quite overwhelming. In a meadow, there were perhaps thousands, tens of thousands or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of blades of grass, yet each and every one was radiating an aura that was at least at the nascent realm.
Interestingly enough, although the flora had cultivation, he could not detect any signs of sentience from them. They were ruled completely by their genetic programming which told them how to grow, how to photosynthesize and how to blend in with their environment.
He was thoroughly impressed, and wondered if this was similar to the wonder his guests experienced when they entered the Inn. Although he did not have an endless horde of powerful beings filling every inch of the ground, the Inn itself was also pretty cool, right?
Regardless, now that he was here, on this unusual planet, the first thing Lex did was inquire if he could link it to the Inn. The answer Mary gave him was yes, but to establish a connection he would still need to spend an extended time here.
Lex shook his head. As much as he wanted this place linked, he did not have the time to waste.
He looked around to see if he could find a path, for he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do next. He would have considered exploring the place if the circumstances were normal, but even he did not dare to randomly step on the grass here. Although his defense was strong, he doubted it could handle an onslaught if the "Follow the path," a voice whispered in his ear, and suddenly the 15:14
grass parted, revealing a thin dirt road.
grass here decided to target him!
"Follow the path," a voice whispered in his ear, and suddenly the grass parted, revealing a thin dirt road.
Lex, who remained unsurprised, simply nodded and began walking where the path led. From what he knew, Zuri Adisa was one of the strongest beings in the Origin realm. Well aware of how powerful high leveled cultivators became, nothing he saw would surprise him.
As such, Lex strolled casually through what could easily be described as the garden of Eden, and took mental notes. In many ways, the place was very ordinary. It was just that the incredibly high cultivation realm of each and every plant elevated the beauty and presence that they generated.
Lex even saw a small butterfly, and he had no doubt believing that a single flap of its wings really could cause a hurricane.
The winding path eventually led him from the meadow into the forest, where each and every tree stood tall and strong, making them seem more durable than the walls of many fortresses. They probably even were.
It was ironic then that the thing they were supposedly protecting was a million times stronger than them.
There was no special clearing, no sudden change or strange "Greetings senior," Lex said, giving a simple bow. He was not exactly sure what etiquette to show when meeting such an eminent being, temples. One moment, he was walking through the forest, surrounded by normal trees, until he arrived at one peculiar looking tree that was shaped like a throne. Upon that throne sat a tall, petite woman, her skin light green, as if it was made from a leaf.
She had a humanoid appearance, though her height of 8 feet (2.4 meters) made her much taller than any normal human. She also had long, pointed ears, so maybe it was more appropriate to say she had an elvish appearance rather than humanoid.
"Greetings senior," Lex said, giving a simple bow. He was not exactly sure what etiquette to show when meeting such an eminent being, but he definitely was not about to be subservient. Bowing was already enough of a show of respect in his opinion.
Of course, he could not be sure that he was addressing Zuri Adisa, but the fact that she was the only being on this planet not blasting her aura told Lex that she was different from the rest.
𝓁𝑖𝘣𝑟𝘦𝘢𝒹.𝑐ℴ𝘮
"Greetings child," she said, her voice soft and creamy. Listening to her made Lex's heart melt, as if it was the most beautiful melody to have ever existed. But that was it. It did not influence his psyche, nor did it want to make him want to worship the woman. Anything he felt was out of pure and genuine appreciation for something beautiful, and not a result of some powerful laws affecting him.
"I am Zuri, as you can probably guess," she continued. "Your aura is so familiar, child. I wonder where I have met you before."
Lex was stumped, for he was certain that he had never encountered Zuri before, but she did not seem to be asking him. She merely closed her eyes for a moment, as if recalling.
"Ah yes, I see now. You have been near one of my clones. First on a planet called earth, and then in a place referred to as the Midnight Inn."
While Zuri spoke, back at the Midnight Inn, the tree that was being constantly taken care of by the turtle and its adopted pets trembled, ever so slightly. But nothing more happened, almost making one feel as if they had imagined it.
"Your… your clone?" Lex asked, genuinely surprised. If he ran into one of her clones on earth it would be fine if he didn't recognize her, but how could he have missed her at the Midnight Inn?
It made no sense. He made a mental note to go back and sweep the Inn again, to make sure there were no entities hidden from him.
"Yes, I have clones across the Origin realm. Don't fret. Most of my clones don't really do anything. Consider it an inclination of my plant heritage to want to spread myself as far and wide as possible."
Zuri thoroughly observed Lex while she spoke, as if inspecting him for any secrets. Or perhaps she wasn't looking for secrets, and just wanted to study him. Either way, she seemed satisfied with whatever she saw.
"If you don't mind me saying so, child, your body is a mess. You should consider cleaning yourself - there are too many external influences attached to you."
For some unusual reason, Lex suddenly thought back to the system's remarks. More than once, it had asked him to shower, or rather, clean himself. As expected, Lex only took that as the system being mean to him, but now that Zuri said something similar, perhaps there was more to it than it seemed.
"What… what external influences? I have never detected any problems."
He was, of course, worried that she might mean the system, but his forehead with her index finger.
"There are remains of one inscription here. Although the inscription gut said otherwise.
With a soft, gentle smile, Zuri leaned forward and touched his forehead with her index finger.
"There are remains of one inscription here. Although the inscription has long since deteriorated, its remains still exist, polluting your aura."
Then she touched his heart.
"There still exists a very active inscription here. According to what I can see, it is hiding your bloodline from being detected."
Then, she touched the base of his neck.
"The last one exists here. It is a silent tracker. It will stay dormant most of the time, but once activated, it will immediately reveal your location to whoever cast the inscription."
Lex was thoroughly startled! There were so many hidden inscriptions in his body! He had never realized they were even there, despite his extremely potent intuition and self awareness. The only people he could imagine having placed that… were his parents! This was extremely dangerous. He did not know how potent the tracker was, but what if it was activated while he was acting as the Innkeeper?
Although he suspected his Host Attire kept his body safe from external probing, otherwise many others would have long noticed the issues with his body. Or maybe, many had noticed it, but never mentioned them.
"The inscriptions are not a problem generally," Zuri said, "but due to the special nature of your body, the laws within them are polluting your aura. Long term, it could be bad for you."
"Thank you for pointing this out!" Lex said very sincerely! He would think of a way to resolve this issue as soon as possible!
"There is no need for such formality. I quite like your aura, so I don't mind helping you out."
Lex nodded, and did not continue to focus on the matter. Instead, he pulled out two vials of the Cosmic Erosion Elixir.
He meant to give the second one as a thanks, and a show of good faith since she helped him out, but Zuri did not bother with it, and only took a single vial. Perhaps, to her, Lex's gesture was akin to a small child giving an adult a piece of candy. It could be appreciated, but it was not really needed.
"Take this blade," she said, sending towards him a small clay pot full of soil, and a single blade of grass.
"I do not recommend you plant it anywhere. There are very few places that can provide the required nourishment to keep it alive. You are more likely to turn a thriving planet into a barren, desolate land than support this blade."
Chapter 633 A favor
"I don't plan on planting it anywhere," Lex confirmed as he took the pot. "How long will the blade be fine in this pot? Can it last for a while?"
"Not for long," Zuri confirmed. "I have prepared the soil in the pot personally, so it should be able to support it in the short term. But at most, in four or five thousand years, the blade will begin to wither."
Without the Host Attire to help him, Lex could not control himself from twitching. Four or five thousand years was 'not long'. It was a matter of perspective, probably.
"Thank you," Lex commented, relieved that he wouldn't need to immediately consume this as well. The constant… 'cultivation' using the elixir had really worn out his body. He was glad to have a break.
"Before you leave, I have a small favor to ask."
Lex was genuinely startled, for technically speaking, someone at Zuri's level did not need to ask him for a favor. Even if she had told him she wanted something done, with his identity as Lex he would have tried his best to accomplish it, if for no other reason than to establish a good relationship with her.
"How can I help you?" he asked, very seriously.
"Will you be returning to the Midnight Inn?"
"Yes. In fact, I was planning on heading there now."
𝓵𝒊𝒃𝙧𝓮𝙖𝓭.𝙘𝒐𝙢
"As I have mentioned, I have a clone in the Midnight Inn, but it is still far away from waking up, so I will require your assistance for a matter. You see, although my clone is asleep, I can still sense its surroundings. The clone is being taken care of by a Galactic Sovereign turtle. I would like to invite that fellow to come and live on my planet. If you could communicate this request on my behalf, I would be very grateful."
Lex was now genuinely startled! She wanted to poach his worker! As annoying as he found the fact that the turtle could somehow manipulate his system, he was also extremely impressed by its work! There was no way in hell that he would give him up!
"Uh, you may not know this but… that turtle is a worker for the Midnight Inn. The Innkeeper might not appreciate your attempts to take him. I don't know the details but… but I've heard rumors that the Innkeeper is a Daolord!"
He was attempting to dissuade Zuri by telling her that she couldn't mess with the Innkeeper, but she did not seem dissuaded at all!
"If the turtle truly wants to leave, the Innkeeper will not hold him back, nor will he have any hard feelings about it."
This… why would she say such a thing?
"I can sense your hesitation. I understand you don't want to cross the Midnight Inn for something like this, but let me share a little something with you. Have you heard of 'Sovereigns' before?"
Lex had, in fact, searched up the relevance of such a title even at the emporium when he was buying information, but did not get any significant details. All he was able to get was that the emporium gave ultimate favor to any race with the term 'Sovereign' in their name, and that preference was even above his own VIP level!
"Not really, no," Lex answered.
"There are a lot of misunderstandings about the term. Many even believe it is the name of a cultivation realm even beyond the Daolord realm! But that is not true. This is one of the secrets you can only come in touch with at a very high level, but it's not a big deal if I tell you.
"The universe is extremely vast, and full of numerous incomprehensible things. Many people like to believe that the universe, on the whole, is a fair place, but that is not the truth. Some races are born as lifeforms of a higher level of existence. The higher the level, the more favor they receive from the universe. Well, that's not really true, but at your level you may as well understand it as such. Almost everything in the universe has more or less been categorized, from valuables, to races, to cultivation realms, to realms themselves and more. Each one follows a systematic and logical progression system.
"Except for the ones that don't. In the universe there exist some things that are completely and inherently unfair. Nothing about them makes sense, and they can seemingly bend the rules of the universe to their whims. Races with the term 'Sovereign' in them are races who have such an advantage. So, regardless of cultivation level, everyone sane respects the will of the Sovereigns and stays out of their way, Daolords included.
"I once heard a rumor about a Galactic Sovereign turtle. It was tending to many planets, as they usually do. They have a great fondness for gardening. But the star system that one of the planets it was tending was eventually destroyed, due to the fact that it was pulled into a black hole. Out of sheer anger, the turtle ate the black hole!
"Perhaps the absurdity of such an event will go over your head. You only need to understand that a blackhole is the personification of extremes in this realm, and even Daolords cannot easily interfere with it - let alone eat one!
"So you see, in this universe, cultivation is not everything. There are some things that cannot be achieved even with high cultivation realms. So, if the turtle really does decide to leave, the Innkeeper will not interfere. He may even be happy about it. After all, Sovereigns are unpredictable."
"I… I will convey your message," Lex said weakly, as he thought of ways to avoid having the turtle leave. If it really was as Zuri had said, the turtle was extremely awesome and Lex did not want to lose him. If it were a normal employee, Lex would not worry, as once someone became an official employee of the Inn, their loyalty would increase. But the turtle was clearly different.
Zuri chuckled, as if she could see the difficulty Lex was facing, but said nothing. She was confident Lex would not get in any trouble, so there was nothing to worry about to begin with.
"You may leave at your leisure. If you want to spend some time cultivating here, it will be extremely beneficial."
"Thank you for the offer, but I have to depart," Lex said.
Zuri did not stop him, and only watched from her wooden throne as he departed, one leg softly nestled over another.
Lex, however, did not worry too long about the matter with the turtle. Sure, Zuri was more powerful than him and had a planet akin to heaven, but the turtle had been at the Inn long enough to know what benefits it could bring, and what level it had the potential to rise to. Moreover, convincing people was his speciality. If he had known this before he would have entered a career in marketing instead of computer science, but none of that mattered now.
He teleported back to the emporium, and then began the second task on his agenda. He had several liters of elixir left, and its potency was quickly dropping. Originally, Lex planned on simply selling it off. Though the massive amount of liquid entering the market would reduce its price, it was better than getting nothing in exchange. Moreover, Lex had picked up the elixir for free to begin with.
But he had changed his mind after teleporting to the planet Zuri was on. Instead, when he returned to the emporium, he asked for something else instead.
"You want to look up methods to build affinity for space? You know, that is one of the rarest affinities to exist. Methods to artificially create it… are even rarer," said Powell with a troubled look.
"As rare as the elixir?" Lex asked, with a smirk?
In truth, he was not asking for this for himself. His affinity was already being taken care of by his cultivation technique. But if there were a way to do the same for his workers… that would only boost their chances of survival in the upcoming war.
"Point taken," Powell replied. "In fact, as it happens, there really does exist a way to do so that actually uses the elixir. But, for humans, it can only be used on cultivators with relatively low cultivation."
"Not a problem," Lex said, and conducted the exchange. In the end, he still decided to sell some of the elixir to the emporium. Even with the reduced potency, he managed to procure the teacup containing the law of femininity as well as get 100 million credits with the emporium.
Lex had no intention of using the tea cup for himself, but who knew when an item containing laws could end up being useful? Maybe he could even sell it later. In Lex's eyes, it was like acquiring an asset he intended on liquidating later.
He also managed to get his hand on the method to induce space affinity, and then quickly departed for the Inn. He had work to do.
634 Locked in his heart
The moment Lex returned to the Inn, he teleported away to his room. He placed the teacup aside, somewhere where he wouldn't accidentally use it to drink something from, and began perusing the method to induce the affinity.
It was complicated, to say the least. Firstly, the method would work best on someone who was building the foundation. That made sense, since if the foundation could be influenced, then when the golden core is formed the affinity would become more evident. During the foundation realm the affinity would merely begin to show its influence.
Secondly, the process was nowhere near as seamless as it was for him. For Lex, his affinity seemed to be able to change easily, but that was a result of Regal Embrace. For anyone not cultivating a technique capable of surpassing the strength of their very universe, it was tad harder. Other than the elixir, which would play the role of the main ingredient, numerous supporting ingredients would be necessary. A lot of medicine and healing items would also be required, because during the process the body would literally start failing to function properly.
In this instance, even the Recovery pod would not be helpful. Since the premise of the pod was to rely on the body's base healing ability, and enhance it exponentially, the pod would not work at all if the body became incapable of healing. That was also the reason why it could not heal golden cores, since the body could not heal it to begin with.
Fortunately, alongside the method itself, Powell had provided him with one set of necessary ingredients for the process. That meant Lex could successfully carry it out on one person, at least. He would, in the meantime, gather the resources himself via the guild to use the process on as many workers as possible.
"Send me a list of everyone who has volunteered so far," said Lex to Mary, who sent him a list immediately. He didn't know if he should be surprised, or if he should have expected the outcome.
As of late, the Inn had a minimum of 5 to 8 million guests at any time, minimum. Based on the festival going on, there could be many more. This was excluding the refugees, who had already started moving into their new realm, which they took from him on lease. They would be paying for it for the next 50 years, at the very least.
One would think that Lex would similarly need millions of workers to keep things running smoothly, but that was not the case. Lex had a little less than 400,000 employees! The number made him sigh, as it was massive. Yet it seemed inadequate to cater to millions of guests. But the truth was, with the system automating so many things, the employees workload was drastically reduced.
Still, most of those employees were very new, from being less than a week old to at most a few months. Sure many of them were cultivating quickly, and had gained the benefits of the Inn's star upgrade, but that didn't miraculously turn them into high leveled cultivators. They still had to cultivate one step at a time.
So, as a result, most of the foundation realm cultivators he had were some of his oldest ones. Every single one of them had volunteered, so the list that Lex got was not 1000 workers who volunteered, but only the first 1000 to volunteer.
The rest were kept on a reserve list. No one wanted to miss an opportunity to contribute to the Inn. While Lex may have been thinking of them as workers and employees, to them, the Midnight Inn was their life!
In the end, all he could do was sigh - and give them unreasonably overwhelming advantages over their opponents. Besides, if there was one thing he had learnt it was that humans seemed to be disadvantaged against other races in the universe. Although all the Inn workers had the potential to awaken an amazing bloodline and grow incredibly powerful, they suffered from the inherent disadvantage of being human. He had to make up for that.
He closed his eyes and pointed at a name randomly, selecting the lucky volunteer who would be the first to go through the procedure to develop space affinity.
When he opened his eyes, he discovered that it was a very familiar name. It was none other than the big brother of the Inn, Z! Clearly, he was both extremely lucky, and extremely unlucky.
For this next part… he donned his Clark Kent glasses and teleported over to little Z, who was, for once, sitting in his little cubicle and watching an anime. When Lex teleported over, he saw Z taking notes. In the cubicle besides him, Lex could see a number of bluetooth speakers, as well as some treasures which were… also speakers. There was also a music player with various playlists with names like 'for fighting scrubs', 'hero saves the damsel', 'the power of friendship', 'screaming to release more power', and 'this isn't even my final form'.
"Hey kid," Leo said, patting Z on the shoulder. Z, who was completely focused on the anime, was startled and jumped out of his seat. When he turned and saw his boss, Leo, he cursed his luck. He would have rather faced an assassination.
"What do you want? I've already opened up all the extra stores you wanted, and now I have a special task from the Innkeeper so I can't do your work!"
Leo chuckled and said, "I know kid, that's why I'm here. The Innkeeper is quite pleased with your performance so far, so he's selected you to be the first to receive a special kind of upgrade. But I'm here to ask you if you're up for it. I must warn you, it's not a simple process, and it'll hurt a lot."
"I am not afraid of pain!" he exclaimed, putting up a brave face. "If the Innkeeper has selected me for it, you can't keep it from me."
"That's what I thought," said Leo, and put his hand over Z's shoulder. The two of them teleported away, this time to a private recovery room. Leo summoned a nurse, and began giving her instructions. Moreover, he had also summoned Luthor, who would be learning the process so he could administer it to as many workers as possible in the near future.
"Prepare yourself. Once the process starts, it can't be stopped. Moreover, you have to keep on cultivating the entire time. If you stop, the process will be interrupted, which will result in you becoming crippled or even killed."
In truth the circumstances were not so dire, or else Lex would not have elected to use it. But if a person failed once, they could not undergo a second procedure. So he used the pressure of death to motivate them.
Z simply nodded, his expression calm and collected, like a protagonist from a shounen manga. Pain could not scare him, death could not deter him. After all, he had already experienced the tribulations of customer service. What could be worse?
Leo summoned all the necessary items, and began working. Z was made to ingest various tablets, potions, powders, herbs and spices, which made his entire body turn red. The medicinal power was too strong for his body, and he was on the verge of bursting.
That's when the difficult part of the process actually began.
"Start cultivating," Leo said calmly, as he made an incision in Z's right arm and attached a drip directly to the bone. Similar drips were attached to various other bones all across Z's body, resulting in a bloody and miserable sight, yet the young lad didn't make a single sound, and only focused on his cultivation.
He had been fighting for his coworkers' honor in the arena day and night. He was no stranger to bleeding, or even grotesque injuries.
Lex kept poking and prodding the young lad's body with various injections over the next few hours, until finally the time arrived to add the elixir.
One thing had to be said about Z's luck. Since he was the first one to undergo this process, the elixir he would get would be the most potent. By the time the others were able to undergo the same process, the elixir's potency would have dropped by another few grades.
As a result, this process would be much harder for him than anyone else. But when it finished, if he managed to survive, his affinity would also be much higher than the rest.
Suppressing his emotions, Leo poured an entire cup's worth of elixir down the child's throat, and then took a step back. If all the previous steps were skipped, exposure to a single drop of elixir would have killed Z let alone a whole cup. Now… now he would live, but he would only suffer some extreme discomfort.
No one spoke as they watched Z's body undergo horrifying changes. Z finally released a sound, not because he was unable to suppress himself from grunting, but because his body was literally making noises!
They all watched, and made sure to keep giving him the required medicine to ensure his body kept healing. Leo especially burned the memory deep in his heart. He could have left, but he wanted to watch.
He did not consider it a failure, that he had to resort to the help of his workers to survive this difficult period. But he did not forget that it was his responsibility to take care of them, not the other way around. One day, he would make it up to them.
Until then, he would lock everything in his heart.
Chapter 635 Finishing His Chores
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It was a few agonizing hours, but eventually it was completed without incident. To look at, Z appeared an average 15 year old boy who had just had the work out of his life. His body was covered in copious amounts of sweat, but other than that he seemed completely normal.
The incredibly powerful healing agents had made it so that not only were there no remaining signs of his various drips and injections, but any cuts or deformities he suffered during the process.
He was breathing heavily and his eyes were closed. It all seemed perfectly normal. That was if you did not look at the rest of the room. The floor was red with blood and guts. There were unusual impurities which had been removed from his body, mostly in the shape of black grains but some had come out in the shape and size of pebbles.
Although that was far from what Z had suffered through, it was as much of the process that Lex was willing to recall.
He walked up to the table with Z lay, and bent down.
"The process is complete," he said softly. "You can get some sleep."
Z tried to speak a few times, but he was breathing too heavily to be able to do so. In the end, he just nodded, his eyes still closed, and finally allowed himself to relax. Despite his out of breath state, he fell asleep in just a few seconds.
"Keep an eye on him," Lex said to the nurse, while handing her a book. "When he wakes up, ask him to see if he can learn this technique. It's a very simple one, and its only real purpose is to check if his spirit energy has space affinity."
Lex then turned to Luthor.
"If he's succeeded, you can begin allowing anyone who volunteers to undergo the same process. Space affinity is an incredibly powerful tool that can help greatly during the upcoming battles."
Without waiting for Luthor to reply, Leo disappeared. Although he had read that the process was going to be difficult, it was only after watching it that he realized just how difficult it was. Yet he didn't let that deter him or change his mind. An unfortunate truth he had learnt the hard way, time and time again since he began cultivation, was that the universe was not a friendly place. One had to be ridiculously tough to survive in it, and tolerate endless ordeals.
He appeared near the greenhouse, this time without his Clark Kent glasses. He was crossing out his tasks, and as much as he wanted to avoid it, he could not ignore the favor Zuri asked of him.
He did not enter the forest, but instead only walked to the edge and started to speak, "I would like to speak to the turtle please."
Although he did not address anyone specific when he spoke, he knew that while Young McDonald had its roots all beneath the Inn, it paid extra attention around the greenhouse. Once upon a time, Young McDonalds job was to act as security for the entire Inn, but more and more, such a thing was infeasible. Young McDonald had hit a growth slump upon reaching the Golden core realm, and it was mostly just focused around the greenhouse.
Speaking of which, the quality of food had really drastically improved at the Inn. Lex didn't pay much attention to it, but it seemed the combination of the turtle growing stronger, and the Inn getting some farming focused features really boosted the Inn's food production capability.
Lex was able to spend a couple of minutes imagining the various delicacies the Inn had to offer, and what new alien food he could try out soon, before the turtle arrived.
"How can I help you, little human?" the turtle asked, as it brought its neck down to Lex's height. Did the turtle get even taller since Lex saw him last?
Unable to answer, he instead focused on more important things.
"I have been requested to ask you a question…"
Lex began explaining the situation to the turtle, all the while setting the conversation up in such a way that Lex would easily be able to convince the turtle to stay if it wanted to leave. As it turned out, he didn't really need to do any such thing.
"Oh dear, such a generous offer. But if I leave, all the children will feel lonely. I cannot leave them. At least until they grow up a little bit."
As if on cue, Little Blue flew up behind the turtle, and looked down curiously at Lex. Unable to find anything interesting, it continued to fly away. Fenrir, too, came running out of the forest. It stopped to acknowledge Lex, but then quickly continued to run. It was chasing after the whale once again.
"I understand," Lex said with a smile, suddenly feeling grateful for the turtle's knack for adoption.
With these few minor chores out of the way, Lex finally teleported out of the Inn. But he still did not return to the Crystal realm - at least not yet. Instead, after a very, very long time, he reappeared on the planet Vegus Minima.
He had incredibly fond memories of nearly fighting to the death against endless hordes of zombies on this planet. Ah, how he missed being weak and feeble. He would just have to make do without almost getting killed at every corner.
Before his thoughts would end up jinxing him, Lex diverted his attention towards how the world had changed since he was last here.
It did not look like it was the site of a centuries long war at all! Tall buildings filled the sky line, with familiar looking ships flying across the sky. In the ground, there were fewer vehicles because most of the ground level was left to accommodate a lot of flora. Trees filled the streets, with grass instead of sidewalks upon which the locals were walking.
Some kind of air trains seemed to be transporting people through the city, for those who did not want to travel by ship, or unusual looking walkways built on the sides of the buildings up a few stories high.
The town… eh, city… eh, massive metropolis that Lex was looking at was completely bustling it. The size of the crowds would make even New York City seem like a secluded city, yet everything was done beautifully and in an ecofriendly way.
It was mesmerizing to see, but the greater wonder was how all of this was built in less than a year. Sure, he expected the empire's capabilities to be far beyond that of earths, but wasn't this a little too much?
Lex strolled through the city as he took in the views, and absorbed everything he saw. He had heard that originally the people of Vegus Minima relied on gene manipulation to grow stronger instead of cultivation, and once the zombies invaded they relied on their cores for body cultivation.
Now, it seemed like they had completely adopted the orthodox way of cultivation within the empire. It was fascinating how many phases and cultures a single planet had been through.
As much as he enjoyed his return, Lex had actually come to this planet with a purpose. He made his way to a Public Services and Security office, an organization set up by the empire to assist the recovery and rehabilitation of the locals.
Once there, he merely handed over a card given to him by Alexander to the receptionist, who immediately wore a serious look.
She glanced at Lex, as if he were some big shot, but began to work furiously on her computer, as if she was afraid she would be the one responsible for wasting his time.
A short while later, a group of military personnel appeared to take Lex to a private and secure facility.
That facility, though, ended up being quite far. In fact, the journey took a few hours as he had to be escorted out of the city he was already in.
At first he thought he would be taken to some hidden base or secure location, but he was instead taken to an even larger, more impressive city. In fact, if Marlo were here, he would recognize not the city, for it had changed too much, but the cliffside near it. This was where he had fought his battles so bravely.
But the speed of his ship was too fast. Lex had no time to admire the capital of Vegus Minima. After only catching glimpses, he was already brought to an in-building parking space where the ship landed, and a number of personnel stood waiting for him.
"Your teleportation formation has been primed and is ready to be used," said one of the soldiers, speaking as if he were talking about the most grim thing in the world. "Before we proceed, however, we will need to enter your details into our system, is that alright? It's protocol."
"Sure, no problem," said Lex.
He was on his way to the planet Alexander needed his help on. He wouldn't stay there for long, but he needed to at least reach the planet so he could teleport there when Alexander needed help.