Chapter 702 Gifts
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What Lex had in mind was a little expensive, but that was alright. He could earn money again in the future, but if there was an issue with his cultivation then that was not really something he could easily overcome.
Moreover, once he was done with the wedding, he was intending on focusing on retrieving that special treasure on the rogue planet that the mysterious person had told him about in the Suera Galaxy. Treasure hunting was bound to be a profitable endeavor, right? With his many advantages, he did not expect so much trouble.
He walked into the emporium and was welcomed by the familiar presence of Powell. He seriously hoped that his guests found the Inn as helpful as he found the emporium, because it had helped him out of quite a few troubles.
"Ah, Lex, it's good to see you," Powell said enthusiastically. Oddly enough, he was not completely in his traditional uniform for the emporium. Instead, he was wearing a cardigan and had a pipe sticking out of his mouth, the smell of tobacco strong on him.
"It's good to see you too," Lex responded fondly. "I see life has been good for you recently. You've picked up a new hobby."
"Oh this?" he asked, pulling out the pipe and raising it proudly. "I recently got my hands on grade four Cookies and Cream flavored tobacco from Dunya. It's absolutely phenomenal, I highly recommend it. As for me, life is naturally very good. It has been that way for a while now, all thanks to you of course."
"Haha, I'm glad my spendthrift ways have benefited you. In that case, today should be a good day for you as well. I need a recommendation from you. I'm about to attend a wedding, but I don't have a gift yet. A lot of Earth Immortals will be there, but I want my gift to completely outclass anything they give, and make them envious to boot. But I'm not so good at gift giving. Any suggestions?"
"Suggestions? I have more than just a few," Powell said, suddenly sitting up straight. How convenient it was that his passion was to help his customers. It made him a good employee.
"Before I give you suggestions though, let me ask you a few questions. What is the race of the guest? And cultivation? If its a race with genders, then what's the gender? Does the recipient have a profession? Is this their first wedding? Do they have the ability to procreate, and if so, do they already have any kids? What kind of life expectancy are we looking at? Are there any food allergies that I should know about? What are the recipients' top three hobbies? During the wedding, is the recipient expected to complete any feats of great courage or honor? Does the recipient have an aversion to edible underwear? Does the…"
The questions Powell had were plentiful and quite thorough. Lex was not able to answer many questions, for example any that were pertaining to undergarments, but he at least knew that he did not intend on giving any kind gift of that nature!
It was at the end that he asked possibly the most important question of all: the budget! Placing a hand on his heart, Lex decided to go all out, as far as willing to trade even the teacup containing the law of femininity! Upon hearing this, even Powell was startled. This was no ordinary wedding present. The high cost Lex was willing to pay suddenly disqualified all the options Powell was considering.
At this price range, there were actually very few items they had at all worthy of exchange. But just because they were expensive did not mean they would make great wedding gifts, as a gift had to be suitable.
Wearing a serious expression Powell said, "Please allow me a moment to compile a list for you of suitable presents. Do you have a time restriction on delivery?"
"Yes, unfortunately I do not have long before the wedding begins. It will begin in approximately twenty hours."
"Another tough condition," Powell lamented before he diverted his attention to his tablet. Using his special access he had been given to be able to cater to Lex, he began looking through all their most precious items to see what was suitable.
Just as he started, his eyes fell onto a specific item the description of which startled him! Unable to restrain himself, he immediately showed the item to Lex whose eyes began to gleam.
"Yes, this will do quite nicely!"
*****
There was no dawn or dusk in the Crystal realm, and the hues of the sky all depended on the mood of the Sol birds. Yet as the day of the wedding dawned, the sky was painted with a brilliant orange and gold in the far horizon, as if a magnificent sun were rising!
Such an auspicious sight mesmerized even Lex, who was previously wishing his domain extended to the skies as well so that he may create a wonderful display. Yet, through some fortunate encounter, it happened on its own.
Lex quickly learned of the reasons: this was a rare occasion where a new flock of Sol birds was entering the territory of the ones who currently inhabited these lands. Moreover, the incoming flock was clearly more mature which could be seen by the brilliant display.
Lex, the Noel family, the Phillip family and all the others who had gathered for any reason at all considered this a sign of tremendously good luck, for anything associated with light in the Crystal realm was given great significance. After all, where there was light, there was life, and where there was darkness, there were monsters!
Taking one last glance at the sky, Lex crossed his fingers before returning to the matters at hand. While he himself had to focus on the impending meeting, he also had to ensure the wedding procedures would go along smoothly. To ensure everything would be perfect, he had one last meeting with Ash, the wedding expert he had sent here from the Midnight Inn.
As this was a union of two immortal families, especially two families subordinated to the royal family, there was a long sequence of traditional ceremonies that needed to be fulfilled.
The two families, and the bride and groom especially would be heavily involved at each step, though each family would have separate ceremonies.
Then a procession would begin where both families departed from separate locations, but met together at the final destination at the same time, which in this case would be the tavern. Then, a few more ceremonies would follow after which the two would officially be considered wed.
On this day, there would be no dancing or fighting or plays or fabulous displays until the wedding was concluded, and the town would adorn a solemn feel. Only after the two were wed would the celebrations begin!
During all this time, however, Lex would be busy with the meeting, which would start very soon.
"Rick, has Edward arrived?" he asked, referring to the representative of the monsters.
"Yes," Rick responded seriously. "To avoid any unnecessary troubles, he is staying deep within the sea for now. I will have to send the catfish to get him."
"Well send the fish. It's almost time."
According to what he had informed the two families, the meeting will begin the same time as the ceremonies which will be taking place in their respective residences. Every time one of the royal family members appeared, the same information was shared with them.
Edward was the first to arrive, since he was the only one who had directly contacted the Inn. He appeared in the same human form he took so long ago when he immersed himself in human civilization to increase his exposure and learn more about the realm.
He was extremely fair, to the point that he almost appeared pale, though that did not detract from his handsome appearance. He had crystal clear, bright blue eyes that mesmerized Naki, Nami and Nani when they saw him, and a gentle smile on his lips that made him seem mischievous.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Edward said politely when he finally met Lex, giving a soft bow instead of shaking hands.
"The pleasure is mine," Lex reciprocated. "I'm glad that you could make it. I'm sure your presence will add greatly to the meeting that we are about to have."
"I hope so, though I admit my being here might invite some trouble for you. The other races don't take fondly to monsters, though I do not blame them."
"The matter we are here to discuss is greater than individual interests. When they learn of the magnitude of what we face, they will be forced to set aside their personal grudges and work together."
"I sincerely hope that you are right," said a third voice, as a newcomer entered the room. Lex had, of course, already sensed his arrival inside the tavern.
"Cornelius," Lex acknowledged with a simple nod.
"Lex," the king of the Hum nation similarly simply nodded. "I have been looking forward to meeting you."
Chapter 703 Alive?
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Lex knew all about the reason the King was looking for him, as he had had a conversation at length with Aegis about it. The King wanted his cultivation technique since it was one for the True Path. Unfortunately, it was not one that could be shared even if Lex really wanted to share it, which he did not.
"I've also been looking forward to meeting with you. I've heard much about you, and I am good friends with your daughter Cwenhild."
"And to think, once there were rumors in the academy that you're one of my children too. I found the events leading up to that quite amusing."
Lex smiled wryly. Now that those events were long past, he could really look back and find them amusing. At the time, though, it was more nerve wracking.
"I found it quite an honor that anyone would think to link me to you. But at the same time, one cannot put too much stock in rumors. Maybe one day, when I grow stronger, the story peddlers will claim I am secretly your brother."
This one statement, while complimenting Cornelius, also displayed the deeply rooted confidence that Lex held in himself and his future. Though not directly, he was already claiming that rising to the same height as the King was a foregone conclusion.
Cornelius smiled, as if he did not pay attention to the claim, and said, "the boldness of youth always enables one to achieve outstanding results. Even I achieved most of my most famous achievements when I was young and loud. You are already not less than I, for when last has history seen the representatives of so many of the races gather together for a meeting?"
Cornelius' words seem to be comparing Lex's claims to the brashness of youth, reminding him that until something is already achieved it is naught but loud boasting. At the same time, he was pretending to give Lex a compliment, but was laying the credit of his achievement to the mysterious author of the book… -no, eh, he was laying the credit of his achievement to the mysterious author of the letter that invited them all here. Lex smiled, for little did Cornelius know that he was indeed the one who authored the invitation letters, so his confidence was not assaulted as Cornelius had been hoping.
"Come, let us move towards the meeting room while we wait for the others to arrive," Lex said, completely uninterested in entering a duel of words with Cornelius.
Seeing that he had failed to entrap Lex with his words, Cornelius turned his attention to Edward, the monster. His own confidence, too, was unaffected and he had many other ploys waiting to be revealed.
It was not easily that he had brought humans, the race that was born the weakest, and made them strong. Besides the Crystal race which stood out firmly as the strongest, there was no clear ranking of which race was stronger or weaker than the other. As a result, while the humans did not gain a clear advantage over others, at least none could hold influence over them either. Even the seemingly mighty Trelops made deals with humans instead of forcefully taking territory.
Other than his own clear genius in handling difficult situations appropriately, it was also because of Cornelius' strength, which was widely recognized. He was far stronger than an Earth Immortal was supposed to be, and following the True Path was not enough to make up for the difference. If it were, Aegis would not be so outclassed by his own father. At the same time, Edward would not be so well behaved in front of Cornelius. The monster had been alive for millions of years, but clearly he still suffered a trauma from when he and Cornelius last fought.
Lex led the two to one of the many hidden rooms of the tavern, as they had to remain out of sight while the ceremonies took place within the tavern.
Sipping on one of the incredible beverages Lex had prepared for Earth Immortals from the emporium before the meeting began, Cornelius looked at Lex and said, "while we wait for the rest, why don't you share a little about the reason we were invited."
"I think it's best if we wait for full attendance," Lex said politely, yet uninfluenced by Cornelius. "After all, otherwise I'd have to endlessly repeat myself if I had to tell each guest separately."
Also, by having everyone in the same room, he could study their actions and reactions and thereby guess how many secrets each of them was hiding. As if on cue, a small butterfly entered the tavern, sitting gently above the head of a large turtle.
The ruler of the Trelops had a unique aura, as if despite the small size she retained her full strength that she wielded within her territory. It was as if wherever she went automatically became her territory.
In comparison, the ruler of the Varns was less impressive. Maybe it was because he was used to seeing the Galactic Sovereign Turtle, but seeing that the Varn leader had the form of a turtle, much of his aura was subdued. Not to mention, he was being ridden atop his head by the butterfly, yet he dared not complain.
"Welcome to the tavern, honored guests. I am glad that you could make it," Lex said, as he met them at the entrance, and brought them towards the meeting room.
"It is not often when one receives an invitation radiating so much power. It is a habit of mine to make powerful friends," spoke the butterfly, though his voice did not travel through the air. Instead, it appeared in Lex's mind, powerful and loud.
Lex sensed something the moment fluctuate in the Soul plane when Elena spoke. It seemed she was using that as a medium to speak, rather than the physical plane.
The turtle, instead, only grunted. It seemed like he was not too ecstatic about being used as a mount by the butterfly.
"Sabr, it is good to see you again," Cornelius said, looking at the turtle with great familiarity.
"Cornelius," Sabr only replied with a base acknowledgement, his voice deep and reverberating.
"Your majesty Elena, it is an honor to finally meet you," Cornelius said, his voice a lot more humble, towards the butterfly.
"My daughters speak fondly of you Cornelius. You are a friend of nature, and of the Trelops," the butterfly replied.
"It is a pleasure to meet you all," Edward said, trying to be polite. Yet it seemed none of the rulers were not in the mood to socialize with a monster, and only responded with barely noticeable nods, or even simply glared.
"While we wait for the others," said Cornelius, his voice casual, as if he were speaking randomly, "would anyone mind if we discuss the Kraven? How strongly have they been attacking your borders? What's the situation there? For the humans, I can say that in the past week we have already lost as much land as the past dozen years. There are no formations or weapons that can be used to deter such a massive force of immortals."
The mood in the room instantly turned foul, as everyone seemed to have been suffering at the Kraven's hands.
"What I want to know is where so many immortals came from!" Sabr growled, his angry aura pressing down on everyone, though it seemed a subconscious display. As the only non-immortal in the room, Lex was the most susceptible to it, but he had already planned for such a thing. He was forming a 'room' around himself at all times, effectively putting himself inside a different space from the rest, only leaving a small gap which would allow communication.
That small gap still resulted in the immortals' aura leaking through, but equipped with his defensive suit, not to mention his own resilient body, Lex was able to tolerate it without showing any external discomfort.
"Even an immortal cannot fight against the might of nature. Yet when thousands of them are gathered on one battlefield, they surely can. The only way to fight them is to allow them to gain more land, and have them spread thinly so their force is diluted," remarked Elena, though her voice remained regal and devoid of stress.
"Why not use this opportunity to request intervention from the Crystal race? With such a massive threat on their borders, surely now they have to intervene," said Sabr impatiently.
Immediately though, Lex noticed something strange. Neither Cornelius nor Elena reacted too strongly to the suggestion, as if they already knew it was bound to fail.
"Unfortunately I have some bad news," Lex said at that point, lest the silence pervade too long. "I visited the Crystal nation personally, and even shared some of the details of what we will discuss today with them. Yet instead of worrying about the issue, they attempted to assassinate me. I am afraid they might be complicit in the scheme afoot."
Suddenly, all heads turned towards Lex in shock. The Crystals tried to assassinate him… and he's still alive?
Chapter 704 Secret Conversations
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Extending their spirit sense to examine a peer could be considered rude, and some might even take great offense to it. But in the Earth Immortal realm why would they need to purposefully extend their senses? At this range, just their eyesight could gather more information than just sight. When they focused on Lex, mostly out of instinct due to the shocking news they heard, they immediately noticed that he was merely a projection. His real body was not around!
This once again startled them! How was it possible to have such a perfect projection without any trace of the link to the real body? If they had not focused they would not have noticed at all.
Before they could resolve their confusion though a tingle in the back of their necks, a sensation soft and barely perceptible, grabbed their attention. It was a sign of a warning. Their bodies were reacting defensively to something extremely, extremely dangerous!
While Lex was still smiling as ever, the warmth on his person changed to frigid coldness for barely a second. Still, the second passed and Lex returned to his usual self, while the sensation of impending danger passed. But now everyone was acting warily. Clearly, that had been a soft warning from Lex.
None here had any intention of acting rudely, since none of them could compete with the power radiating from the letter. Yet all of them were extremely confident, and had something to rely on should they get into trouble. Their deep heritage and secret weapons were the source of their confidence, but they were quickly reminded that they weren't the only ones with secrets.
Lex was quite pleased with the reaction the immortals showed. It was very important he retained control of the situation, which was harder to do in a room full of not only immortal beings, but leaders among their respective races. To stimulate the sense of danger, he had momentarily powered on his Dragon's wake formation.
The powerful and threatening aura it radiated was far above the limits of this world, so it was usually a strong deterrent. This time, Lex did not turn it on all the way, as he did not know how they would react if they realized the power was above their worlds limit, for if anyone had the potential to notice this detail it was one of those here. But just stimulating the formation was enough to pass a subtle warning.
"Yes, like I said, they attempted to assassinate me the moment I shared the news with them. As a result, I did not even get to share the invitation with them. It's hard to keep secrets when the invitations were sent to so many, but unless someone specifically shared the news with them, it is likely they do not even know about this meeting."
Silence pervaded the room as everyone contemplated what this meant, not only for this meeting but the general situation of their realm.
It was while they were contemplating that the final two expected guests arrived at the Inn. The Sentinel was humanoid and was wearing something that looked like a knight's armor, but instead of metal it was made of a bone like material. Beside him was a short yet fat insect like creature that looked like a large, chubby grasshopper. That would be the Poliod.
Lex teleported to them, and after extending his greeting, led them to the meeting room.
As he had done before, Cornelius was the first to welcome the newcomers.
"Abras, I see you haven't croaked yet," Cornelius said, looking at the Sentinel wearing a look of schadenfreude.
"Your fist is not as strong as you assume. You'll have to try harder if you wish to kill me," the Sentinel replied, once again speaking directly in the mind. The Sentinels were a unique spirit based species, meaning that while they were mostly spirit creatures, they also possessed physical bodies which is what made them unique in that category.
Unfortunately, their bodies happened to be their greatest weakness. But despite such a glaring weakness, they could not be considered a weak race for they were far superior in terms of spirit control and manipulation than humans could ever be.
"Kritter, I have long looked forward to meeting you," Cornelius said looking at the Poloid, not bothering to reply to Abras.
Kritter waved its antennae and its thoughts were transmitted to those around it.
"Cornelius, you bastard! I know full well that you grilled one of our Duke's to try as a delicacy!"
Everyone in the room looked at Cornelius with a strange expression, while only Edward looked at him with some admiration.
As completely unperturbed by the accusation, he responded, "Come now Kritter, it's not like Poloids haven't attacked humans before. Not to mention everyone knows what happens when Poloids take back their victims bodies to the hive. Don't be the kettle that calls the pot black."
Kritter's body trembled with rage, but he did not escalate the situation. It did, however, have to vent its anger somewhere, and the Kraven became his victims.
"Who the hell can tell me what's going on with the new Kraven invasion? They've yet to reach our new borders, but if we don't stop them now the whole realm will be their playground! This game has gone on long enough! We need to join hands together lest one of you soon repeat the history of the Poloids!"
There was aggressiveness and anger in Kritter's message, but Lex also suddenly realized something. His words… seemed to be referring to certain shared secrets. He instantly entered a state of flow and noticed peculiarities in the speech of the various leaders. At face value they meant one thing, but a deeper analysis would reveal hidden meanings.
"...for when last has history seen the representatives of so many of the races gather together for a meeting…" Cornelius had said while praising him, but the statement also left room for another interpretation. A meeting such as this, where the leaders of the various races were brought together might have occurred before as well. Who had the power to summon all the races save the Crystal race, but they seemed too uninterested in foreign affairs to do so.
"...it is not often when one receives an invitation radiating so much power. It is a habit of mine to make powerful friends…" was said by Elena when she arrived, but her words also insinuated that this was not the first time she had witnessed such a powerful aura! But the aura of the Innkeeper was deep and powerful, and only Dao Lords dared claim its equal, yet no Dao Lords could exist in this realm! Where had she felt such an aura before?
But wait…
"...what I want to know is where so many immortals came from…" Sabr had asked when talking of the Kraven, yet Lex recalled that no one explicitly answered his question, or even referred to it again. Instead, Elena had directly led the conversation into the Trelops ongoing fight with them. Later, when Sabr asked about requesting the Crystals intervention, Cornelius and Elena did not take it seriously, nor did they bother explaining why such an action was destined to fail.
So many hints yet Lex had overlooked them all. It was only when Kritter finally arrived and blatantly called the war with the Kraven a game that Lex finally noticed the strange environment. It was as if there were two different conversations going on in this room. One was on the surface, and the words were taken literally as they were said. The second conversation seemed to be hidden behind clever phrases and specific wording, and between those who were already in the know about certain matters.
No wait, perhaps there were even more than two secret conversations going on, but lex had not picked up on them yet. As far as he could tell, Sabr was left out and did not know the secret. There was also a possibility that Abras did not know either, though he had not said much yet so it was hard to judge his position.
Lex quickly recalled all his political and history related lessons back at the academy and to see what he knew about Sabr. Since the Varn were allies of the humans and shared a large border, knowledge about them was pretty prevalent and they had learned about them in great detail.
Right, he recalled in one of his lessons that the latest Varn monarch, Sabr, had only come into power around 100 years ago, and inherited the position from his uncle who was badly wounded in a battle with the Kraven. The old King had since then been in retreat to heal from his injuries.
Lex's eyes gleamed as stood in silence and allowed the conversation to continue moving forward. The more these realm leaders spoke, the more secrets Lex would be able to uncover.
"Even if we ally together, which battlefield would we tackle first? Whose lands would first receive reinforcements while whose lands would be left unprotected? Joining hands together is unrealistic. Or at least it would have been, but we have a new player on the table now."
Abras, who had just spoken, turned and looked at Edward. Before this, Monsters had only ever been viewed as the enemy of all life. Could that possibly change?