Chapter 644 Educated by a professional
In the testing room, the soldier who had set up the test, as well as everyone else, were all startled by the change. What kind of technique was this? They had seen a lot of different kinds of techniques, but never one that turned an entire army into a seemingly massive robot.
To be clear, the battlefield they were currently at was not run by the Jotun empire, but by a subsidiary force of the Elven empire. As such, they had a much greater exposure and history than that of humans. Still, this was something completely unprecedented. Moreover, it was not the optics of the situation that was an issue. Even in the control room, separated by a protected wall, they felt a sense of danger.
In the testing hall, neither the invading force paused nor the Midnight mech. Even Z did not pause to appreciate how awesome this moment felt for him. Since the Innkeeper had trusted him with this responsibility, he would live up to it.
Silently, the mech moved. Despite its ridiculous speed, it caused no sound as its lithe and nimble frame moved through the hall, let alone the sonic booms it should have caused due to its velocity.
In one single move, which was too fast for those in the control room to see clearly, the mech attacked. A moment later, it appeared in the opposite end of the hall, its back towards the enemies it had crossed. Yet it did not really even need to turn back, for a few seconds later all the attacking robots exploded!
Not a single one survived the single attack. The Midnight battalion, after its first successful combat test, ended their technique, in their daycare faced more of a challenge than this.
*****
dissipating the awesome mech as if it was a mirage. All that was left were 1000 soldiers, standing there unimpressed. Even the bunnies in their daycare faced more of a challenge than this.
*****
"Child, you clearly don't have the same vision as the Innkeeper and I, so don't try to boast empty compliments. You'll only embarrass yourself," said Geeves. He was not happy at all upon receiving a compliment on his work. That was because the person paying the compliment did not even understand enough of what he did to even pay a proper compliment.
Lex, on the other hand, did not feel offended by Geeves' seemingly rude attitude. First of all, the man was seriously sleep deprived, so he could not be blamed for being grumpy. Secondly, so long as he did a good job, why did it matter if he had a bit of an attitude?
"Like I was saying, the suit you made thoroughly impressed me. I wanted to order one for myself as well."
It hardly surprised Geeves to hear as such. Who wouldn't want his suits? Rather, it was the fact that Leo could even order a suit from him that was curious. Just because they were workers at the Inn did not mean they could so easily be exempted from the privilege requirements. Similar to how there were privileges for guests, the official workers of the Inn were also ranked based on how long they had worked, their performance, customer satisfaction, etc.
The only reason why it was not relevant before was because Lex was manually setting up privilege requirements, so he never put them up for his workers. The tailor shop, however, naturally had a restriction on it so the same applied to the workers.
Still, monitoring workers ranks was not Geeves' job. Since Leo was here, the man clearly had the qualification.
"What kind of suit do you have in mind?" he asked, as he massaged his temples. Even if he didn't plan on working immediately on the suit, he took his job very seriously. As such, he needed all his presence of mind for when he took orders.
"I have a very… unique problem," Leo confessed as he scratched his head. "I don't really care about defense or protection, as it's already very hard for anything to hurt me. Instead, I just want clothes that are extremely durable, so that I won't end up naked while fighting or facing a dangerous situation. Since my body is so durable, I end up facing more extreme situations than anyone else would normally face."
Geeves nodded as he took in Leo's requirements and ran a few ideas through his mind.
"Any style requirements?" he asked.
"You did a good job with the previous suits, so I'll defer to your judgment on that."
Geeves nodded once again, as if that was the correct answer.
"What about your budget?"
"Let's just say my budget is… big. So long as my needs can be met, the price is irrelevant."
Geeves nodded once more. That's what he liked to hear. But instead of continuing to ask Leo questions, Geeves moved from behind the counter and approached him. He put an arm around Leo's shoulder and patted it a few times before he spoke.
"Child, I understand your requirements. But I have a small suggestion - a small amendment to your requirements, if you will. As a professional, it is my job to educate you about the possibilities even you don't realize."
Geeves paused, and then sighed. He was truly exhausted, so it was hard to focus. But at the same time, inspiration filled him, and he needed to get it out.
"Imagine you're facing a foe," he said, waving his hand out in front of them, as if that would conjure up an image of Leo fighting an enemy.
"Imagine your foe's desperation, his sheer tenacity and will as he uses everything he can to fight you. Imagine that he fails, but manages to escape. Through planning and scheming, and unsavory alliances, the foe returns, this time prepared better to face you. Through the culmination of all his hard work, he finally manages to pierce through your nigh indestructible armor - your suit. He tastes the sweet nectar of ambrosia as he finally succeeds, peeling away your defense, leaving you vulnerable to harm. For surely someone who relies on such resilient armor must be weak himself, right? He is at his zenith, only to fall to an agonizing and hellish nadir when he realizes that your defense is higher still than your seemingly impenetrable armor. 'Why', he roars to the heavens moments before you strike him down. 'Why would someone as strong as you even need such an indestructible armor' he wonders in his last moments? The answer… it is simple. You may not really need that extra bit of defense, but since your foes don't know that, why not frustrate them a little? You see lad, that is called playing with your enemies."
For a moment, Lex was startled. Then, he grinned.
Chapter 645 Lex is fat
Lex felt like he was meeting Geeves for the first time, and he quite liked it. Even if his prior meeting had not been extremely brief, how could Geeves show off his sadistic side in front of the Innkeeper? He had been on his best behavior. But now, in front of Leo, in his extremely sleep deprived state, Geeves has thoroughly lost all inhibition, and so let his true self show.
What Lex didn't realize was that his true self was not a sadist as he made it seem like, no. His true self was an artist, and he exhibited his art through his suits. The appearance of the suit was just the surface of the art. The functionality of the suit is what gave his art depth.
"I like the idea," confirmed Lex. "What are the limits of what you can do with the suit?"
"Currently, the shop has a limit on the kinds of materials I can access. The materials I can access are on the nascent realm level, at most. If you can bring me better materials from outside, I can improve the suit further, but until then you would have to make do. Having said that, even at the nascent realm, the kinds of materials I have access to are numerous.
"How many things you want to add to the suit play a great role in how I can use the materials. For example, with my previous suits, although they may seem impressive to you, I was actually severely limited in what I could do. It was not budgetary constraints that stopped me, nor was it the material. Instead, it was the physical strength and power level of those who were going to wear it.
"Just because it looks like a suit does not mean that it has to be light. The more leeway I have, the more I can be liberal with the kinds of materials I can use. You'll understand more in a moment. Come, let me take your measurements."
Geeves took off his coat and folded it over his arm as he led Lex deeper into the mansion. Each room and corridor had walls lined with various fabrics in a seemingly infinite number of colors. The truth was, the number of colors the tailor shop was catering to far exceeded the spectral range humans could see, which is why there was such a need for such a vast collection. The true, genuinely valuable materials weren't even stored here. They were in a basement, stored in isolated, temperature controlled rooms. The materials were so volatile, they needed to undergo various kinds of treatments before they could be added into suits.
"You said I can bring materials from outside. What kind of materials do you mean? Should I be looking for some alien sheep producing celestial cotton or something?"
"My young, ignorant lad, if you can get your hands on celestial cotton, or better yet an animal capable of producing celestial cotton, you'll become an instant multibillionaire. Every inch of it is worth several hundred million MP, and that's in its unrefined form. Heck, I don't even have the facilities to process it, so better not waste your time daydreaming about that. No, a more realistic expectation would be to get your hands on precious ores, woods and other natural materials which have unique qualities. Turning them into fabric will be my task."
The two continued to casually chat for a while until they reached a small room filled with strips of fabric, multiple mannequins and various kinds of inch tapes!
"Stand here please," Geeves said as he pointed to a small, circular pedestal. He put his coat aside, rolled up his sleeves and grabbed a yellow measuring tape before hanging it around his neck like a doctor with a stethoscope. He put on a pair of glasses that hung delicately on his nose and stood at the ready to start measuring Lex.
Lex hadn't really had a personalized suit made before so he did not know what the measuring process would entail, but it definitely did not include the extreme raise in gravity that he experienced as soon as he stepped on the pedestal.
If Lex had to guess, the gravity was at least twice or thrice that of earth, yet it kept increasing exponentially. Of course, such an increase posed no burden to Lex for the moment, as his body was extremely strong. But the pedestal wasn't trying to test his physical limits, so it never pushed him to the maximum of what he could manage. Instead, it was trying to determine his comfort range. At the exact moment he felt even the slightest bit of strain due to the increased gravity, the pedestal immediately returned to normal.
Geeves started writing something down in his notes as he walked around Lex with a clipboard.
After a couple of moments, the temperature around Lex began increasing. Similar to what happened with the gravity, it stopped the moment Lex's body displayed even the hint of becoming uncomfortable.
Then, after returning to normal, the temperature started to drop.
"Raise your hands, please," Geeves said, prompting Leo to raise them to his sides. He was standing like a massive 'T' but Geeves still did not approach him to measure the length of his arms. Instead, two parrots, one red and one blue, appeared and sat on his palms. An unusual energy was channeled through their claws into Lex's body, or at least tried to. Piercing his skin and entering his body turned out to be a greater challenge than Geeves expected. The man was actually surprised when there was no result for a couple of minutes, but eventually the energies managed to enter Lex's body.
They were not harming him in any way. Instead, it appeared as if they were mapping Lex's meridians that covered the surface of his body.
"Understanding how your body interacts with energy, and where your body's channels are, is crucial to designing a suit," Geeves explained while the process continued. "Even if I'm making the ultimate defensive suit, I cannot forget to augment your body's basic functions as best as possible."
The process was painfully slow, and took almost 20 minutes, but Geevs did not seem irritated at the slow progress. Instead, he was very pleased. Such a high quality body would be able to don an extremely high quality, yet equally taxing suit.
A glass tube appeared around the pedestal and sealed Lex in, before water began to fill it. Once the tube was completely filled, the pressure the water exerted on Lex's body began increasing. At the same time, millions of tiny fish swam out, and began measuring each and every hair on Lex's body. That… genuinely made him awkward. The system had once accused him of having a hairy back, which wasn't exactly false but he felt like the system greatly exaggerated. Lex would not shy away from taking his shirt off in public. But when each individual hair was being measured…
Of course, none of the fish came near Lex's private parts - mostly After the water, Lex was subjected to multiple other strange and unexpected tests that measured his body's performance and because he kept it blocked with a thick and dangerous layer of his spirit sense.
After the water, Lex was subjected to multiple other strange and unexpected tests that measured his body's performance and capabilities. There was even one that detected the level of body odor he produced!
When the process finally ended Lex sighed in relief. These measurements were really too intense.
"Would you like to read your results?" Geeves asked, as he continued to note stuff down. "Guests often become curious."
"Sure, why not?" said Lex as he walked up to him and glanced at the clipboard. Two measurements in particular genuinely surprised Lex!
The first was his height. He had reached six feet three inches (190 cm). His height had increased. Granted the increase was not massive, but he hadn't even noticed the small change. He wondered if it was a result of his cultivation, or the multiple refinements his body underwent. There was no way of knowing.
But what really surprised, and in fact devastated him, was his weight! The last time he checked his weight, or at least what he remembered, he was 185 pounds (83 kgs). That was quite a lot for his height, which meant that he was a little fat. Or that he had a lot of muscle. It was totally the second one. But now… now he was a massive and unfathomable 712 pounds (325 kgs)!
With his mouth hung open, Lex looked down at his muscular and chiseled body. He couldn't claim to be fat, but it wasn't as if he was bulging out muscles either! What was up with that weight?
In the end… he could only reluctantly accept the fact that all the materials he had absorbed into his body had increased his weight, substantially.
It was fortunate that he wasn't weight conscious at all, or else he would have been crying over these results. He totally wasn't doing that right now. His eyes were just shining and glistening due to how clear and beautiful they were.
Chapter 646 Spreading the news
𝓵𝙞𝓫𝒓𝙚𝓪𝓭.𝒄𝓸𝓶
The measurement process was unusual, to say the least. By the end of it Geeves drew up a few mock designs as well to show Lex and get his feedback. Through the process, where Lex learned more and more about the suits and what they could do, he eventually realized that they were going to be much more useful to him than he anticipated.
For now, the suit he was getting aimed at being a general, all purpose one that he could use in his day to day matters, but already he had thought of various other suits he could have made. For example, the few times where he hunted with Fenrir, he realized the wolf's stealth capabilities were extremely useful. While Lex could not replicate them, he had the Orions scales which could be used for the same purpose. In fact, he already handed them over to Geeves and asked him to make a second suit, for the express purpose of stealth.
That would take a while, as Geeves would have to make the first suit first, then process Orion's scales and then use the fabric made from it to make the suit, which would be completely different.
Unlike the previous 1000 suits which had been made in a rush, Lex's suit gave Geeves a lot more leeway to do as he wished, and so the making of the suit would take much longer. Once Geeves had properly rested, it would take about a week to deliver both suits. That was a long time, considering Geeves had no other orders, but Lex did not complain. He simply paid a deposit of 100 million MP and then left.
With no other tasks left to distract or occupy him, Lex was now FINALLY free to return to the Crystal realm. Fueled by a sense of urgency, if it were up to Lex, he would immediately depart on his journey to find Valesco, yet it was not meant to be.
The last time he was here Jolene, the mother of Pvarti's fiance, had requested Lex facilitate her in the handover of some 'secret' items over to someone else. Naturally, the handover had been successful, and now Jolene wanted to expand the scope of their cooperation.
Lex had been dealing with the matter using his projection, but he felt he might benefit if he went and took a look at matters first hand, as his instincts would play a better role then.
But even that was a secondary matter. The first thing he had to deal with was the Trelop from whom Lex had taken the Cosmic Erosion Elixir.
Lex had scooped all the elixir away and teleported to the Inn while he was still in the Trelops territory, so naturally when he returned to the Crystal realm, that's where he reappeared.
The first thing he noticed once he returned was that the area already looked much better. The massive crowd that had gathered trying to reach the elixir had dispersed, and all the dead and decayed plants nearby had been removed. In fact, new saplings had already been planted and Lex could see that they were growing at an abnormally fast pace. He could only accredit that to Toro, the Trelop controlling the area.
One thing he had noticed, though vaguely, was that the Trelops he had encountered all seemed ridiculously powerful. Even when compared to other races in the same realm, Trelops maintained an overwhelming advantage.
It was while Lex was musing on the incredible strength of Trelops that a familiar fish made of grass and seaweed appeared in the distance, swimming towards him.
Lex waited patiently for the Trelop to arrive, and greeted him immediately.
"Good day senior. I hope you have not been troubled once again after I resolved the issue last time."
"You and you GODDAMN etiquettes!" Toro roared in frustration as soon as he heard Lex speak. Regardless of how unusual this particular Trelop may be, Lex remembered the importance of remaining extremely polite and respectful with him.
"I will take that as if everything is well."
"You're GODDAMN right everything is well," he said in frustration. "As soon as that stinking liquid disappeared, everything quickly returned to normal… or close enough. What the hell was that thing? How did you get rid of it? How can you teleport within my territory without my permission?"
Lex smiled weakly. He was not sure if he should reveal what he had learned… but then decided it was better to reveal what he knew than to hide it. Clearly something was wrong with this realm, and in the off chance that the anomaly was not common knowledge, the entire realm could be in jeopardy. He did not want the destruction of an entire realm on his conscience just so that he could benefit a little from the situation first.
"Originally, I did not know what the elixir was as well, so I went to consult a senior."
Lex produced a golden key, and threw it towards Toro.
"You can use this golden key to go to a place known as the Midnight Inn. I used it too, that's how I was able to teleport away. There, I consulted a senior and learnt that the liquid was called Cosmic Erosion Elixir. I obviously do not understand the specifics of the matter but… the senior told me that the liquid is only formed when… when an entire realm is destabilizing and on the path to destruction."
Lex paused, and waited to see the Trelops reaction. Based on his bombastic personality, he was expecting a great response, but no such thing came. At first, Lex quickly assumed that knowledge of the realms impending demise was common knowledge. But then, when he looked at the lost face of the Trelop, another theory popped up in his mind.
Before he could verify his theory, the Trelop confirmed it for him by asking, "what the GODDAMN hell is a realm, and what does it have to do with my territory?"
Chapter 647 Suddenly protective
Lex had a… difficult… time explaining to Toro what a realm was, though Lex had a sneaking suspicion that the Trelop understood the concept somewhere in the middle of the explanation, but was just venting its frustration on Lex.
When it finally understood, Toro displayed a remarkable amount of 'not screaming' at Lex randomly. Instead, it became silent as it contemplated the ramifications of what it had heard.
The issue that it was facing was not the destruction of its entire world - that was a given based on the situation. The issue was that Lex did not have a solid grasp of the timeline. According to what Lex said, the appearance of the elixir meant that the realm was on the path to destruction, but the fact that it was on that path also meant that it could be veered off that path. The top minds of the realm would think of ways to work on the issue, but it all depended on how long they had.
If one thought of the timeline in terms of the geographic time scale of planets in the origin realm, even millions of years were considered a short time. Theoretically, since the realm was even bigger than planets, the timeline should similarly be greater, right?
But not only was there no way of confirming how long they had, there was also no way of knowing just how bad the situation had become. Maybe the elixir had already started appearing across the Crystal realm hundreds of millions of years ago, and this was just its latest occurrence.
All in all, there was too much uncertainty.
"Do not spread this information lightly," Toro finally said after contemplating for a while. "Spreading panic will not help anyone. I will contact the elders of my race to see what they know. In the meantime, I suggest you find a way to contact the Crystal race. Regardless of what anyone says, they are the true rulers of this realm. If the other races are allowed to exist, it is through their will. If the Kraven are allowed to invade, it is due to their indifference. The true might of that race is not what common folk can understand."
"As it happens, I was intending to meet an elder of the Crystal race to begin with," said Lex. "He told me to meet him in a city known as Valesco. Do you have any idea where it might be?"
"I'm sorry, we Trelops do not usually care much for things outside of our own territories. I do not know the land. You are better off asking one of your human leaders."
The fish, before it went away, extended a small brown root and broke it off, before handing it to Lex.
"If you encounter any Trelops on your way, show them this. So long as you do not threaten them in any way, they will not cause you any trouble. In fact, not only will they avoid causing trouble, they will even go out of their way to assist in your travels."
Lex observed the small root and couldn't really determine what was so special about it, but he kept it anyway.
After saying that, Toro swam away, not really bothering to keep Lex company. He was clearly very disturbed by the news.
Lex, too, saw no reason to delay so he began returning towards the Inn, this time with a bit more urgency. Instead of walking calmly on the seabed, which his ridiculous weight and small frame made so easy, he swam to speed up.
When he eventually reached Babylon, he attracted a bit more attention coming out of the water than he did going in, but no one really bothered to question him.
When he returned to the tavern, he was ready to send one of the workers to go and call Jolene from her residence, but discovered that there was an unusually jovial mood at the tavern.
There was an entire group of mildly intoxicated men, singing and dancing on the stage while the onlookers played music by slamming their tables in synchronization with one another. The triplets were busy serving more drinks, and even they could not contain the grins on their faces.
"What's going on?" Lex asked Roan, the barkeep who was efficiently pouring out drinks without spilling a single drop.
"I think it'll be best if you ask Big Ben," he replied, a soft smile even on his face.
Curious, Lex immediately scanned the tavern and discovered that Big Ben too was dancing and singing, but with a whole host of people on the rooftop terrace!
As the 'security' of the facility, he was usually up front, but today he was the farthest possible from his post.
"What are we all celebrating?" he asked when he finally reached the top. Unfortunately, due to his excellent senses and sharp hearing, the surprise was already spoiled for him, but he still pretended not to know. Still, there was a smile on his face.
"Betty's expecting!" the man roared, drunkenly! "The doctor said so. It's official!"
Lex's smile widened and he grabbed the man by the shoulder, making sure he didn't fall over.
"Congratulations man! Where is she? I want to congratulate her too."
Big Ben erupted into a roar of laughter upon being asked the question, and when he was finally able to stop he managed to say, "she's still at the hospital fighting! She said she won't come back until she finds a doctor who will tell her it's okay to drink while she's expecting."
𝓵𝙞𝓫𝒓𝙚𝓪𝓭.𝒄𝓸𝓶
Lex smiled weakly as concern suddenly filled him.
"Do not worry, I'll talk to Roan. We'll give her the best tea during this time. She won't miss drinking at all."
Big Ben was too busy laughing to hear what Lex said, so he left him to his party. Suddenly a thought occurred to him. Was he supposed to reprimand Ben for drinking on the job?
Shaking his head, he quickly returned to the ground floor to pass out his instructions. For reasons he couldn't fully understand, he suddenly felt quite protective of Big Ben and Betty.
Since they were a part of the Midnight family, he would take great care of them. That also included… not letting this realm get destroyed.
Chapter 648 Simple things
Lex was sitting in silence inside the private room, tapping his index finger on the armrest of his sofa. The sound of singing and merrymaking could faintly be heard from outside, though that was only because Lex left the door slightly open. After all the harrowing experiences everyone in this tavern went through, it was a wonder they could still celebrate like this.
But at the same time, it was because they had all gone through such tough times together that they were so close.
Lex too, had to admit that he felt a special bond for all these people who had been beside him during his very stressful time of being stuck away from the Inn. It was for that specific reason that he was feeling slightly stressed right now.
He did not know much about his surrounding areas, and how far his destination was. To curb that, he had begun asking the locals a bit about the neighboring states or towns, or anything else that they knew of.
Most of them had very limited knowledge. They all lived in the area controlled by the Noel family all their lives, and at most knew the names of neighboring nobles and their states.
They had no idea regarding any information relating to other nations at all. He somewhat missed the highly advanced Hum nation and the academy. There, a simple search on their local portal was all it would have taken to get all the information he needed.
Lex's expressions stirred as he heard a familiar voice in the main hall, and turned to look at the door. A few moments later, the door was opened by Rick, who was followed by a few people.
Jolene was naturally among them, for he wanted to see if his instincts reacted to her. As it happened, Bertram Noel was also there. This was great, for Lex had also extended an invitation to him. Lex was hoping to learn how he could make his way to the Crystal nation through him. Surely he would know more, right? But there was a third, unexpected person there as well.
The young and slightly tanned woman bore a strong resemblance to Jolene, but unlike her smiling mother she wore a very stern and serious expression. This was, no doubt, the daughter Jolene wanted Lex to work with in the planning of Jasmine's and Pvarti's wedding.
He only gave her a cursory glance before turning his attention back to the other two.
"Jolene, Bertram, I'm glad you both could make it," said Lex as he stood up to greet them. Naturally he put on his best smile, and did not let any of his internal concerns show on his face.
"It's no trouble at all," said Jolene, her eyes fixed on Lex with a feverish gaze. "Besides, I was planning on visiting you soon anyway. I have to introduce my daughter, and our soon to be liaison for the wedding preparations. This is Jess, one of my most hardworking and accomplished daughters."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Lex said politely, and Jess only nodded in return. It seemed like for liaison, she wasn't exactly very talkative. But that suited Lex just fine, so it did not matter. Especially since Lex wanted to keep as much of a distance from Jolene as possible. After she and her family had discovered the Midnight Inn, Jolene had become almost fanatical in her admiration for Lex. It was quite a nuisance, even when he was merely dealing with her using a projection.
"Unfortunately, Jess' arrival also means it is time for me to leave. We have decided the date for the wedding. It will be held in 6 months exactly, and there are too many matters for us to deal with to make it happen on such short notice."
"Will you be traveling a lot during this time?" Lex asked, genuinely curious. The person who he truly wanted to converse with was Aegis, but that fellow had disappeared for a while. Let alone the tavern, he was not even showing up at the Inn so there was no way for Lex to ask him for any routes. The next best option was naturally Jolene, for her family was deeply connected to the rulers of Hum nation. The best option after that was the Noel family - probably.
"Yes, unfortunately, familial affairs are the most complicated. A lot of our guests need to be invited personally, and certain matters and deals need to be taken care of during this time as well. We will even need to pay a visit to the Hum nation and inform the royal family about the wedding. Being a parent is truly… too complicated."
"Won't that take too long? How will you reach the Hum nation from here?"
"For ordinary people, it would indeed take quite a while," informed Bertram. "But the influence of the nations extends even beyond their own borders. Even though these lands are far away from the empires, separated by vast oceans and extremely inhospitable lands, many nobles have short and long range teleportation formations within their territories. Anyone bearing a token of one of the nation's royal families can use those formations at will."
This was both good and bad news. The good news was that there were apparently many teleportation formations he could possibly access, but the bad news was that the distance between Babylon and the nations seemed to be great.
"What if I wanted to send someone on an errand? Do you think they could get access to those formations?"
Bertram paused, and an awkward look appeared on his face. It seemed like he was not anticipating such a question. As far as he knew, Lex was not as simple as he made it appear on the surface. Not only was he himself an incredible powerhouse, pretending to be a weakling, but he also had the backing of the mysterious Midnight Inn. He did not want to offend Lex by giving him an answer he might not like, but…
"Oh yes, of course! Why not?" exclaimed Jolene as she suddenly saw an opportunity. From her spatial ring, she summoned a large bronze token which had a pickaxe engraved across its front. As far as emblems went, a pickaxe was not a prestigious symbol, but it was most befitting the Phillip clan which was allowed to mine Ethereum under the royal family's command.
"Although this is not the same as a token from the royal family of the Hum nation, this is a token of my Phillips family. It may not get you the same kind of service, but it will definitely enable you to access the teleportation formations. Unfortunately, you will not be exempt from paying for the use. I would give you the royal family's token if I could, but I am not really allowed to give it out - you understand."
"No need, this is already a great help," said Lex, accepting the token. Although she harbored ulterior motives in helping him, Lex wouldn't deny help that he needed.
"You… you aren't the one who has to go on a trip, right?" Jolene suddenly asked, as if it just occurred to her. "If you are, I can send along an escort…"
"No, no, no need," Lex said, doing his best to keep his lip from twitching. "I will be here, making sure everything is in order for the upcoming wedding. But, I have to send someone on a rather urgent task all the way to the Crystal nation, to a city called Valesco. Would you happen to know where it is?"
Even before the duo had the opportunity to answer, he felt like he got an answer. Both Bertram and Jolene had a change in their expression, though they swiftly controlled themselves. Still, Lex felt like he could detect shock and fear from them.
"The path to the Crystal nation from here is different from the one to the Hum nation. The formations will not be enough to send you on your way, and you will have to cross certain areas yourself. It's… it's not really an easy path. I will consult my father and have a map drawn for you to help your… your helper on his journey. But while I can help you find your way to the Crystal nation, finding your way to Valesco… I think only someone from the Crystal race can help you with that."
"Why is that?" Lex asked, curious.
"That… well, technically I cannot even confirm if what I know is true. But there are rumors that… the Crystal race has a massive prison where they punish members of their race who have committed unforgivable crimes. A prison… so old that no one is sure when it was made, filled with immortal prisoners too dangerous to ever be allowed free again, yet kept alive because killing them is too light of a punishment. The name of that prison… is Valesco."
𝓁𝘪𝘣𝘳ℯ𝒶𝘥.𝘤𝑜𝓂
Despite his resilience, Lex sighed. Why were things never just simple?