The mansion around the two immortals morphed a little, as if the very stones making it up had undergone a change. While internally the mansion looked more or less the same, only one real change occurred. All exits from the mansion, and thus the cell, had been blocked off and moreover, reinforced by stones and rocks. Moreover, they were not so easily removed either.
As far as Lex was concerned, this was far from the retaliation he would have wanted. But, given his power, he would have to be content with a forced detention.
Ezio grimaced and looked at Belmont, who looked both awkward and angry.
"For centuries I have been lobbying against the establishment of positions based on nepotism," Ezio said, frustration and irritation evident in his voice. "Such a great accomplishment you have made, Belmont, making any enemy out of someone capable of traveling realms. Let alone the loss we will now suffer being deprived of the possibility of easy traversal between realms, can you imagine what kind of backing he must have? Can you tolerate an enemy able to facilitate inter-realm traversal? Worst of all, what if his claims are true? What if our realm is on the path to destruction?"
"Shut up!" Belmont could not help but roar, his embarrassment coloring his face red. "I will not hear lectures from a criminal!"
Ezio scoffed.
"I could receive a pardon whenever I wish, child. You know nothing of the world and its way. Just wish that things are not irredeemable, or else you may be the one coming here in place of me."
Not paying him any mind, Ezio left to try to exit his mansion. He needed to contact some Crystal on the outside and assess the situation. Behind him, though, Belmont began to worry about the repercussions to his reputation if word got out. As mind conjured up greater and greater threats to his future, his eyes once again were filled with mania. No one must know!
He locked onto Ezio's back, and attacked!
*****
In a room sat a priest, his robe worn and heavily damaged. His once tough and buff body was now also battered and bruised. His beak, one his pride and joy, had now lost a lot of its color. Like the deity he used to worship, the priest had the head of an eagle and the body of a human.
But as the religion worshiping Ra was eradicated from the Origin realm, so were almost all its followers. Even this priest had only survived due to special circumstances.
Opposite to him sat a truly revolting slug creature from a race known as Gilati. A few other creatures sat in the room with them, as well as a devil. They were all waiting patiently for news.
Some time later, a portal opened and the succubus Karen walked through.
"Ladies and gentleman, slugs and bugs, beasts and monsters, the moment we have all been waiting for has finally arrived. The location of the Midnight Inn workers have been verified, and a plan has been put into motion. Soon, you too can try to get your hands on one of them. All you need to do is sign this confidentiality contract, witnessed by an Elder Devil, and we will be ready to go. Whatever your reasons are, so long you deliver on our agreement, we will not care at all."
There was no clapping or celebrating, as everyone in that room was in a sour mood. They were all gathered here as enemies of the Midnight Inn. Some of them just wanted to hurt the Inn somehow, while others wanted to blackmail them while others still wanted to dissect and study those workers.
Their personal reasons varied, but they were unified in their goal. One by one, they got up and signed the contract. In the corner of the room, a devil watched with eager eyes and a massive grins as he rubbed his hands together. Breaking a contract with a devil was nigh impossible, but the devils oh so loved it when someone tried to do so. Even now, this devil was hoping that some of them would change their mind midway.
3
Inside Valesco, the moment certain changes took place inside Ezio's prison cell, the guards noticed. The entire prison entered lockdown and a number of guards approached the prison and tried to enter it, but found to their amazement that they could not! The stones and rocks in the surrounding area had morphed so that all entrances and windows had been blocked. But being blocked was not the main issue. The issue was that the entire 'prison cell' had somehow become an impenetrable box, able to withstand a bombardment of powerful attacks.
Still, the Crystal race could not be underestimated. Based on their judgment of the toughness of the cell, it would take them exactly 12 seconds to break it and enter. They could only hope that nothing ridiculous happened within those dozen seconds, as the sounds of a fierce fight could be heard inside.
*****
Lex, who reappeared at the Inn, was still in a foul mood. But he was not a child, and he was not immature, so he could not let his mood continue to influence him. Instead of checking up on the Inn, as he usually did, Lex entered his own meditation room and began to meditate. He calmed his mind and allowed himself to relax, keeping himself from reflecting on recent events. After a short twenty-minute interval, seeing as how the environment was just right, he decided to spend some time cultivating.
Since he had entered the Golden core realm, he realized that his cultivation speed, despite the excellent environment, was quite low. This was not only because it was harder to grow in the Golden core realm, but also because he barely ever cultivated. He got away with cultivating now and then during the Foundation realm, but in the Golden core realm, that did not seem to be the case.
Several hours later, when he finished cultivating, he slowly exhaled and allowed himself to completely relax.
Now that he was certain that he had completely calmed down, he finally allowed himself to reflect on what had just happened. To a degree, he considered this his own failure as well, not because he could have stayed back and salvaged the situation, but because he should have never even allowed the situation to deteriorate as such.
He had great pride in manipulating people and controlling events subtly, but this time he had allowed the situation to get out of hand. That failure had made his subsequent task more difficult, albeit he still had not given up on it. It had been a while since he tasted such failure.
When he had just begun his journey in the cultivation world, he seemed to be constantly making stupid mistakes, but with time and experience he became better. He faced numerous tricky situations, and always came out the winner. Now, after a long time, he came out as a loser once again.
Instead of cribbing or complaining about it, it was better if he learnt from it. For example, there had been subtle signs of Belmonts character from as early as he met him, yet Lex had become so used to dealing with capable and intellectual people that he overlooked all his faults.
Moreover, he had been so determined that once he met the elder from the Crystal race, Ezio, that his problems would be solved that when he finally encountered the situation, his anticipation had put him in a psychologically inferior position. Although it was not obvious based on Lex's behavior, the fact that he felt like he could not have manipulated them was a sign of such a mentality.
Of course, it was always easier to pick out mistakes and problems in hindsight, so Lex was not too hard on himself. Once he was done contemplating on how he could have done better, he began planning out what he could do now. He still had not learnt the secret of the Crystal realm, and he needed to use some way of gathering as many dignitaries at the wedding to raise the quest performance value.
What resources did he have available? How could he entice people to visit? How could he take advantage of the current situation in the Crystal realm to his benefit? Gathering people at the Inn would have been easier, but that did not in any way benefit his quest.
He had not yet moved from his meditation position as all these thoughts crossed his mind, and he did not intend to relocate either until he was done. Nor did he plan to use his state of flow to help him with his planning.
Almost instinctively, without even thinking about it, Lex felt like this would be the best way for him to recover from his setback.
Soon, an outline of a plan formed in his mind. Some parts were still not certain, and would depend on how things played out in the real world. Now that he had a plan, a smile returned to his lips.
The greatest mistake he made, in his estimate, was relying on the Crystal race to fix all his problems. Since when had he needed others' help? In fact, others should come to him in search of aid.
He teleported to the Innkeeper's office, and grabbed the Innkeeper's Pen, dipped it in the InkWell. He lamented for a moment that there was no 'Innkeeper's memo card' or 'Innkeepers notepad' upon which he could write for even further enhanced effect, but he would make do without it.
A square, white paper was summoned in front of him, and he finally put pen to paper. Although Lex had not specifically practiced calligraphy, he had enough control and sufficient imagination to allow him to write beautiful characters on the page.
As for the language he wrote in, it did not matter at all, so even the characters he wrote were completely made up. No matter what he wrote, even if it was a scribble, so long as he used the ink from the InkWell, anyone who gazed upon his writing would perfectly understand exactly what he meant to convey. Moreover, since he was writing with the Innkeeper's pen, his writing also benefited from the fact that the words were imbued with the aura of the Innkeeper. Of course, since he did not intend to sign his name as the Innkeeper, his identity would remain unknown to the reader.
Once he was done writing, he put the card aside and began writing on another one, resulting in two identical cards. But he was not done, and continued to create a few more cards.
Once he was done, he smiled mischievously as he read the contents of his cards.
"You are cordially invited to the wedding of Pvarti Noel and Jasmine Phillips to celebrate their union. As their houses unite in matrimony, so too should the nations unite to discuss the darkness that ripples through the lands. Although the Crystal nation has forsaken action, and tacitly allowed the growing conspiracy, no other can afford to."
Besides those words, there was only the venue, which was the Midnight Tavern, and the time of the wedding. If the address was explained in too much detail, it would take away from the mystique of the invitation, so he left it up to the recipients to conduct their own investigation on where the tavern was. He was confident that they would manage.
These words seemed simple, and perhaps even underwhelming as the prologue of his plan, but that is only when one failed to consider the immensity of the aura radiating from those words.
For a realm that was limited to Earth Immortals, the full dignity and immensity of the Innkeeper's aura was not something they had ever witnessed or could even conceive. This was an aura that even Dao Lords did not belittle and allowed them to assume the Innkeeper should be of rank with them. So how then could a measly Earth Immortal compare?
When seen from that lens, this entire invitation took an entirely new meaning. Although Lex had not said outright what the invitation was for, anyone would be able to conclude that the only 'darkness' rippling through the lands at the moment was the Kraven. Moreover, there was even a jab at the inaction of the Crystal race in the letter, as well as the insinuation that they were somehow involved in some conspiracy. Even if the recipients actually knew the truth behind the Kraven and the Crystal race turned out not to be involved, just the fact that these words had been written by someone of such immense aura, they would begin to doubt if what they knew was the truth to begin with.
Truthfully, Lex was not so petty that he would malign the whole race just because one member earned his ire. No, he would first create that misunderstanding, and then later pin the entire blame on Belmont. He would pretend as if his entire purpose in going to the Crystal realm was to personally deliver one of these letters to them.
As for the consequences of his actions… well, who asked Belmont to mess with him? Sure, Lex wasn't SO petty, but he was still a little petty. He wouldn't ignore being bullied due to a higher cultivation realm.
Chapter 689 The seventh race!
With a number of letters now in hand, the next step was to deliver them. That part, unfortunately, was easier said than done. He no longer had months to travel, as the wedding would take place in less than two months. He would need to recruit some aid, but at the same time finding people with the necessary connections to deliver the letters to the heads of the various nations was not easy.
Frankly speaking, he barely had a way to deliver the letter to King Cornelius. Although, admittedly, he was looking forward to seeing the Kings' reaction when he found Lex at the inn. He had sent his son looking for him, but now Lex was openly inviting the King to his own tavern, and with some kind of mysterious and unknown backing. It would be a good show.
He could ask the Phillips family to have the letters delivered. The letters may reach or they might not, as the connection of that family to other nations was of questionable value.
He had a better idea, though admittedly it was a little crazy. First, though, he scanned the Inn. It would be a test of his luck if it turned out…
He smiled, and teleported away, reappearing at the bar inside Midnight manor. A sulking crown prince by the name of Aegis was futilely attempting to intoxicate himself with the selection available at the bar. Unfortunately, Lex had nothing that would work on immortals, and so he was failing miserably at his objective. Defeated, for now, he was resting his forehead on the bar as he pondered on the future.
"I take it you've had a bad weekend," Lex said extremely casually as he sat beside him.
"Bad weekend. That's one way of putting it," he replied without lifting his head from where it rested on the bar. "I had to run with my tail tucked between my cheeks! I ran into an army made entirely of immortals. Even I'm not stupid enough to think I could take that on. I've been hiding here ever since."
"Yeah I can see how that would bring the mood down," Lex said as he ordered himself a Pina Colada. 'Why was that drink just so good?' a part of him wondered, though mostly he was still just focused on Aegis. "It's unfortunate, then, that I have some more bad news for you."
Aegis finally looked up, his eyes filled with fatigue. He had recently mustered up a lot of courage and determination as he had once again decided to face his undefeatable father. Turning over a new leaf was a lot of work, both literally and mentally. As a recently recovered alcoholic, he was not used to it and was having a tough time, so when he was faced with the tidal wave of immortal Kraven, his newfound resolution immediately crumbled.
Given enough time, he would probably be alright. He only needed to recover mentally before he could once again take up the challenging task of uncovering his fathers secrets regarding the Kraven with newfound vigor! After all, the Kraven just became a much bigger threat.
Unfortunately for his natural development, Lex could not wait so long. Moreover, despite any rebellion he may have shown against his father, Lex now needed him to return to him, so an intervention was absolutely necessary.
He put an invitation on the counter and slid it across the counter till it stopped in front of Aegis. A beautiful yet random scribble adorned the front, radiating a majestic aura, while at the same time translating to a single name: Cornelius.
"The situation in the Crystal realm is a lot more dire than just a massive Kraven invasion," Lex said, taking a sip from the frothy, bubbly drink he received. His visage did not match that of a person discussing potential armageddon at all. "The Crystal realm itself, the very fabric of its reality, is in jeopardy."
Briefly, Lex explained his discovery of Cosmic Erosion Elixir, and put the explanation of the elixir onto the powerful Innkeeper, the mysterious owner of the Midnight Inn, and thus the Midnight Tavern, as well.
Aegis' eyes never left the letter, a feeling of unsurpassed foreboding filling him. If the realm itself was at risk, he had to put aside his grievances and ensure that his own father received this invitation. The upcoming meeting held unprecedented significance and could forever alter the history of the realm. Moreover, this was far more serious than any other conspiracy he could even conceive. He needed to confront his father and discover if he had foreknowledge of this threat. If he did… Aegis could not even imagine what he would do if his father already knew of this.
"As it happens," Lex continued, waking Aegis from his reverie, "I need to send invitations to the leaders of the other nations as well. Do you have any idea how I can do so?"
"Delivering the letters to the capital of the nations of Varns, as well as the Sentinels, is not an issue at all. With our long history of cooperation with the Varns, and the frequent necessity for diplomatic missions to the Sentinels, we have teleportation formations already set that can reach their leadership. For the Crystal race, it is not so easy, but there is a process through which we can go. The new country formed by the Poliod's is completely out of our reach, and we have no ties with them, so I cannot help you there. The Trelops don't really let outsiders into the sacred lands, so delivering a message to them is difficult."
Lex nodded, as if that was already a great help, but then suddenly paused. He counted in his head, and suddenly realized that the number didn't add up.
The Crystals, Humans, Trelops, Sentinels, Varns and Poloids together formed six of the seven races that occupied the Crystal realm, but the seventh wasn't even mentioned. Although Aegis did not know he did not need to deliver a letter to the Crystals, he at least mentioned them. But he had completely ignored the seventh race, and not mentioned it at all. In fact, it was now occurring to him that he had never even heard mention of the seventh major race in the Crystal realm! Not in the academy when he was learning the history and geography of the realm, nor anywhere else had there ever been mention of a seventh race, except in mention of the fact that there were seven main races.
Suddenly, all of Lex's attention was focused on this issue. Why had he never noticed this small oversight before? This was abnormal!
"For the Crystal race, the Trelops and Poliods, I'll think of another way. You know, it occurs to me, that you did not mention the seventh race, nor have I ever heard mention of them."
Lex focused all his attention on Aegis, completely mentally prepared for some unexpected revelation. Could this unknown seventh race be behind the anomaly at the Crystal realm? Could there be some secret behind this matter? Was this unknown race perhaps so enigmatic that people would subconsciously ignore them unless there was a matter that specifically concerned them?
Aegis, who was up until now struggling to deal with shock, gave Lex a peculiar look as if he had heard a most unexpected question. Wasn't this… common knowledge?
Unfortunately, for Lex who was not a native of the Crystal realm, it was not common knowledge.
"The seventh main race of the Crystal realm… doesn't really have a nation. That's because… that race consists of Sol and Frio birds. The entire Crystal realm is their territory. There is nowhere they are not welcome, and nowhere they cannot accept the worship of all living things."
Lex's extremely serious look morphed just a bit as he suppressed his lips from twitching, but ultimately failed.
"Do they… have some kind of leader or do they just live freely?"
"There is a primogenitor Sol bird, and a primogenitor Frio bird, so I suppose they could be called leaders. They live in the territory of the Crystal race. But, I've never really heard of the Sol birds acting in unison as a race before. The largest their groups go to is a single flock. In fact, even when their flocks began to grow too big, they split and form two smaller ones."
Lex nodded. He would… skip the invitation for the birds as well then, since he had no way of reaching the Crystal race territory. He put down two more invitations on the counter, and requested Aegis deliver them to the Sentinels and Varn capitals to their respective leaders. As for the rest… Lex sighed, and turned his attention to Zagan, the latest Inn worker who had yet to perform a single task.
The moment he had arrived at the Inn, he underwent a breakthrough to a higher realm, and had since then been in retreat. It was time for him to contribute a little.
Chapter 690 Work Ethic
A dozen seconds was an inconsequential amount of time for most mortals. Unless one was performing some excruciatingly difficult task, such as performing a plank or counting down the timer on a microwaves for food when starving, it would pass without even giving enough time for significant thought. A good stretch early in the morning would easily surpass such a time limit, and there was certainly almost no task that required less time.
Yet for immortals, 12 seconds was an eternity. With minds fast and powerful enough to work through countless scenarios and resolve an untold number of issues, each second was enough to determine life and death. It was ironic, really, considering that the greater their cultivation level became, the longer their fights took.
So for 12 seconds, the guards who stood outside the sealed prison lived through 12 lifetimes as they waited for an opening. Meanwhile, sounds of a bitter struggle could be heard from within. More and more guards also trickled into the outer room, joining the queue of those ready to face any threat.
Finally, when they were able to puncture a hole into the perimeter of the cell, dozens of spirit senses flooded in to investigate. The sight that awaited them was both extremely shocking, but also blatantly predictable. Ezio and Belmont were fighting!
But, with all his powers and cultivation sealed, Ezio was not fighting so much as he was struggling to survive. His entire body was covered in cracks, both big and small, indicating the bitter beating he had just suffered. Yet he was not dead yet. The crystals that made up his body were stronger than Belmont expected, and even with such an overwhelming advantage, he was not able to kill him.
Belmont, on the other hand, did not look so great either. He was not harmed, but the crystals that made up his body were all tinted with a deep, flowing red, hinting at his mania. As a Crystal who had constantly faced scrutiny and had to live with judgment and condescension from his peers, he was extremely sensitive to any negative news relating to him being spread.
Although not a shred of him believed Lex's claims, facing the possibility where it might be even 1% true and he had driven Lex away, he could not imagine the reproach he would face. But now, it was all for naught. Ezio had survived, and so he could not spin his own tale.
Before he could consider anything even more drastic, the guards streamed in and suppressed him as well. Things were out of his hands now, and his mania finally subsided. All that remained was regret - regret that he had not directly killed that stupid human the moment he saw him. Hatred flashed in his eyes.
Ezio, on the other hand, looked quite happy and even content. Soon he would be treated, and then he could investigate the matter that they had been informed of by Lex. Moreover, he still needed to pay Lex back for sharing a secret. While he himself was stuck in prison, for now, his clone was not. Fortunately, Lex had already shared the location of his tavern. The clone would head there directly.
*****
While Aegis waited for the Kraven army to pass so he could return to the Crystal realm, Lex teleported away. In a distant corner of the Inn sat Zagan, currently in a human form. He looked incredibly pale, almost as if he was sick, and had straight black hair. At a glance, he looked like a highschool kid from Japan.
But of course he was not. He was an immortal monster which had gained sufficient sentience, and a lazy loafer besides. He had spent a ridiculously long time to pass the test, and since passing he had only been cultivating. He had been no help at all.
Though, to be fair, from Zagan's point of view, he was the pinnacle of haste! The monster had lived for millions of years, so its concept of time was very different. Any ordinary task it performed would be stretched over a few years at least. In contrast, it did not even take a single year to finish the test. Moreover, it was currently undergoing a tribulation. If it succeeded, then it would undergo a period of rapid growth during which time it could only cultivate.
In his modest expectations, it would be another 6 or 7,000 years before his current cultivation cycle ended. It did not know much about the Midnight Inn, to be honest, but when it became a worker, it felt the bond created within its soul, linking it to the Inn. To be able to do that, the owner of the Inn definitely had to be much more powerful than it. In that case, he had probably lived much longer than Zagan, right? If that was the case, a few thousand years to get accustomed to its current level should be completely understandable.
In fact, he would not be surprised if he was commended for his speedy resolution of his personal affairs to show up to work. As his first ever job, he was looking forward to seeing what it would entail.
These were only some of the passing thoughts Zagan had while it underwent its latest tribulation. After the more commonly known tribulations, such as fire and lightning, ones it had already experienced before, it was now undergoing an entirely new form of tribulation.
An entity presented itself to Zagan in his mind in the form of an ancient, extinct race known as Farham. The Farham, for crimes unknown, were excluded from the cycle of life and death, and were sentenced to the bidding of 'Heaven' or the universe until they can atone for their sins.
In this case, that atonement was in the form of testing Zagan's mentality through a series of illusions it suffered in its mind. But as a monster that had lived for millions of years, this was perhaps the easiest tribulation it had ever faced. It was others, with far less life experience than it, who would really struggle with this tribulation.
Just as it was focused on its illusion, it felt a physical stimulus attracting its attention. Was this also a part of the tribulation? He felt the stimulus again, and opened its eyes to find a human standing in front of it, poking him.
Zagan immediately shut his eyes again! Although the tribulation it was suffering was easy, it could not afford to be distracted! Opening his eyes activated all kinds of techniques and abilities which subtracted from his main energy reserve. Too much of such stimulation would be dangerous for he currently did not have the ability to control his cultivation.
"What do you want, human?" he asked, his tone filled with arrogance and condescension. Excluding Alyssa, who had treated his wounds continuously, Zagan still saw humans as inferior beings. It was too used to it, after living an entire lifetime of only seeing them cower and fear before they died.
Unfortunately, Lex could not care less about his superiority complex.
"You're from the Crystal realm, right? You've lived there a long time? You probably have a lot of contacts and know a lot of secrets. I need your help."
"Now is not the time, human! Come back in 10 thousand years and I will consider sparing you for your transgression!"
Uncaring, Lex poked him in the face again.
"Listen here buddy, you've been freeloading off the Inn from the moment you came. I don't really mind, since the Innkeeper doesn't mind, but you better pay your dues. Are you going to help me, or should I have you sent back to the Crystal realm? I'm sure absolutely no one will come and bother you once they find out you're undergoing a tribulation."
Zagan panicked. What was going on? It had not even been a century yet and people were complaining that he wasn't working? What kind of job was this? He should have at least a 100,000 year notice before he is required to do any task so that he could rouse himself and adjust his mentality!
This… this… this was employee suppression! This was slavery! This… this was animal cruelty! Wait. Did it count as an animal?
"Wait till I am done cultivating. It will only take a few years."
"It's now or never buddy. You don't need to do much. Since you can talk, then just talk. I need to deliver a letter to the sacred lands of the Trelops and need to reach the Poloids' new country. I don't have a lot of time either, maybe a few days to a couple of weeks maximum."
"I cannot be distracted," Zagan said in a weak, pleading voice. But little did he know, his boss had his work ethics trained in the capitalistic center of the world. Humanity? Workers rights? Decent working hours? Such concepts were for hippies. Here, they got the job done.