737 Retreat
Despite Lex's hesitation towards the doctor's… treatment, he continued to observe him for he was still working. The treatment method continued to remain highly unorthodox for he had a seeming aversion to any processed medication, and instead preferred to use ingredients in their most natural form.
Unexpectedly, the treatment did not take long nor was it too overly complex. In a few minutes, the leeches fell off the man's chest and took on a green tinge, while the soldier's condition improved almost immediately.
Given his current situation, Lex of course could not make an accurate judgment as to the extent of the treatment, but he was satisfied enough with what he had seen. Lex summoned Fenrir, and quickly disappeared from where he lay. As much as he hated to interfere with his healing process, but he had work to do.
He changed into his suit, which automatically cleaned the… lather which Lex had on his chest.
"Find Alexander," he told Fenrir, and described him to the pup. Lex obviously had nothing on him which had Alexander's scent, so he would have to rely on scouring the battlefield instead.
The duo quickly returned to the battlefield, and Lex immediately understood why the situation was getting worse rather than better. Although the original insect army had been diminished drastically by the angel-like immortal, more and more tears were opening up and flooring the ground with even more insects. It was only a matter of time before more immortals also showed up.
Although he expected that the Jotun army should have had the resources to combat this situation, perhaps he was not aware of the whole picture.
It did not take long for them to find Alexander, partly because it was quite easy to spot his six flying blades, and partly because of how openly they were scouring the battlefield with their spirit sense.
Moreover, they found him just in the nick of time, as he too seemed to be suffering greatly from the poison's effects. He was bleeding from his eyes and nose, and was kneeling on a single knee while his swords killed any insect that neared him. He was breathing heavily, and considering if he would be accused of desertion if he escaped to the Inn right at that moment.
"Need a hand?" asked an oddly familiar voice, though in his current state he could not exactly recall who it belonged to. He felt a force yanking him up, and before he knew it, he was atop Fenrir, and all the insects began ignoring him. He saw the face, and instantly a part of his drowsy mind clicked.
"I left a message for you to avoid Polebitvy," he said hoarsely. "I'm glad you ignored it."
"I never got your message, I was here to begin with. I need your help. The situation here is bad, and it's getting worse by the second. There's little hope for evacuation under such a heavy assault, and I don't see reinforcements coming fast enough to change the situation. Everyone needs to escape to the Inn, that's the only hope you have for avoiding a complete wipe out."
Alexander's thoughts were slow, though it was unknown if it was due to the poison or if he had suffered a concussion during the battle. But even so, eventually he caught on to what Lex was saying.
"That decision can only be made by the current commander," he said. "If it was my own squad head, I could have convinced her. But, as you probably saw, Valkyrie left after delivering a devastating attack. She probably has some other mission."
"Do you know who the current commander is?"
"Yes, it's the immortal fighting off the other immortal insects with the formation."
They both paused the conversation and looked up in the sky, where the fight between the remaining immortals was still ongoing, albeit not as intensely as before.
"How about anyone we can actually talk to?"
Alexander tried to think of a solution, but he was not in the best state of mind.
"I can only think of someone else in my squad. Maybe they'll know."
"Lead on, we don't have time to waste."
Due to the fact that they were once again on a manhunt, Alexander described the appearance of his superiors so that they could look. It did not take long before they found the first member of Alexander's squad, but he was already dead.
Finding a second took some time, but fortunately, this one was alive, and even in better condition than Alexander. Though with his cultivation at the Nascent realm, it only made sense that he had fared better.
"Captain Radamei," Alexander yelled, as he tried to get the man's attention. Lex did not want everyone to know about Fenrir's ability so they got off, and the two wounded men fought their way to the Captain.
"We can't go on like this, the situation is not improving! We have to retreat to the Midnight Inn!"
"Music to my ears boy," the captain yelled back, "but the Valkyrie will have our hides if we retreat from battle!"
"Better her than these insects. We have to convince command to retreat, there's no other choice."
"Even if we get them to agree, how can we actually get away?" the burly man asked, dissecting another insect as he did.
Before Alexander could answer, Lex summoned forth a bag full of hundreds of keys.
"You can use this," Lex said, handing the bag to Alexander.
"Will you be alright with him, or do you want to come with me? I have another task to take care of."
"I'll be fine with the captain. Don't worry, desertion or not, I have no intentions of dying here today. I'll go to the Inn if the situation gets worse."
Lex nodded, and separated from the two. He could only hope that whoever was in charge would agree, as the premonition of danger was growing genuinely worrisome now.
Without wasting a second, he quickly got on Fenrir and hurried towards the good doctor, or rather… Doctor Best.
738 Grandpa
Charles Best was having a spectacularly bad day, which fit perfectly with the horrendous week that he just went through. For reasons he could not completely comprehend, he had reincarnated.
His original identity was that of shaman king from the Dark Elf race, but that was merely the most mundane identity he carried in his previous life. He was a third generation elf, meaning he was only two generations down from the birth of the very first Dark Elf in this realm ever!
As such, when he was born, the Origin realm had only been stable for a little over 10,000 years, with its actual age being near 100 million years, as compared to now when it was already nearing 14 billion years!
As a result, he was privy to certain secrets that remained unknown to most, and had experienced perhaps the most spectacular time for this realm. Any and every realm, upon its inception, was filled with the most potent form of spiritual energy, meaning chaos energy, and was too dangerous for normal species to be born. But that did not mean that no species were born at all.
No, in fact the younger the age of a realm, the more likely it was to give birth to what were categorized as Mythical beings. They usually gave birth to extraordinarily powerful races, though their offsprings scarcely ever reached the level of their primogenitors. Such was the case with elves, and it was similarly the case with dragons, phoenixes and many prominent races.
As the grandchild of a primo, so to speak, Charles had been exposed to knowledge and secrets that the races of today could not even begin to comprehend. So, it was quite ironic that Charles himself could not comprehend the reason for his reincarnation, though he strongly suspected it was related to the cause of his death.
But the greater secrets of the universe be damned, for he was in no position to even consider them at the moment. Reincarnated as a human, a race he had never even heard of before, Charles was put in an extremely weak and frail body. Moreover, the spiritual energy of the realm was no longer able to support the kinds of cultivation techniques he already knew, meaning he would have to rely on the more modern, subpar techniques.
Before he could get his affairs in order, and begin his cultivation, armageddon seemed to have descended on this place. If he did not use certain techniques that relied on external items as fuel to save himself, he would have died immediately when the poison spread.
Had he mentioned that, on this entire forsaken planet, the body he had inhabited was even more pathetic than the rest of his race? For reasons unknown, the prior occupant of this body had not been able to cultivate at all during his life.
At least Charles had a clean slate to begin his cultivation with when he finally picked what he wanted. But the issue now was, the artificial energy he had stored in the containers he had attached to his body was running out. When that happened, he would have no way to protect himself.
He could only hope that by showing off his extensive knowledge of nature, he could be considered valuable enough by the human empire, and be rescued before anything too drastic happened. He had too much to live for. After all, he knew all the great secrets of the Origin realm. He only needed a little bit of strength, and he could begin harvesting treasures that had spent billions of years in the making. His rise would be unstoppable.
Just as Charles was worrying about his survival, daydreaming about his rise, and reminiscing about his past, he became aware of a massive white wolf standing right in front of him, and a human wearing some kind of devilish mask riding atop it.
"Grandpa Fenrir!" he could not help but suddenly exclaim as he fell to his knees, the shock of what he saw completely wiping his mind clear of all thoughts. But then a few seconds passed in awkward silence as neither side spoke, and everyone was wondering what was going on.
Charles woke up, and realized the mistake he had made of letting his instinctual reaction get the better of him. But he also could not be blamed, for who could expect to see a wolf with such a pure bloodline 14 billion years after the origin realm had already been formed. His Grandpa Fenrir was probably already dead, or had long since left the realm.
Charles stood up and coughed to clear his throat, pretending as if his previous actions had never happened.
"How can I help you? Do you also need treatment?" he asked, his expression and tone extremely professional.
But, unfortunately, the devilish man did not play along.
"You recognized Fenrir pretty quickly. Have you seen another wolf with the same bloodline before? But I was under the impression that this bloodline was pretty rare."
It definitely had to be rare, for even though the system had many drawbacks, it never lied when it was concerned with its quest rewards!
"You… you…. You named him Fenrir?" Charles asked, raising a trembling hand and pointing at the devilish man. "Do you know what you're doing?"
Charles suddenly became weak in his legs. He had just been reborn, so why the hell was he encountering so many dangerous situations? The ignorant were truly bold, and dared to do anything.
"Why? Is there a problem with giving it such a name?" the devilish man asked.
His question made sense. Ordinarily, it was not a big deal regardless of what one was named. But that was only if one did not know about the Mythical beings, and their corresponding powers over their bloodlines. If the wolf had been named Fenrir, and nothing amiss had happened to it, there were only a few possibilities Charles could think of.
The first, and safest option was that Grandpa Fenrir truly was dead. The second, and quite a real possibility, was that Grandpa Fenrir had used certain laws to set up conditions for his own reincarnation. The third… Charles suddenly stopped trembling and looked at the devilish man as if trying to guess his identity. The third possibility was that behind this devilish man was someone even Grandpa Fenrir did not dare to mess with.
Chapter 739 A tear in space
Lex had approached Dr. Charles with the intention of creating a strong impression on him, and getting him to take refuge with the Midnight Inn. But, from the very first instant, things had not gone the way he expected. It seemed like even without putting in any effort, the man had been thoroughly dominated. After all, he dropped to his knees and called Fenrir grandpa!
That was a feat Lex had not been able to accomplish even as the Innkeeper, let alone as Lex. But all jokes aside, although Charles did not end up having a system, the man clearly had some secrets and unusual experiences. After all, he had directly called Fenrir by his name, and even addressed him by it.
It was not so surprising that someone could guess Fenrir's name, for Lex had directly named him after his bloodline, but so far Charles was the only one who had had a significant reaction to his pup. Even if Lex was not interested in him for his medical knowledge, his familiarity with his pup's bloodline, and possibly even origin, made it so that he had successfully aroused all of Lex's attention.
"There is no problem with such a name," Charles responded, having once again regained his composure. "It's just not everyday that one takes on the name of a bloodline. It's very unoriginal."
"So are you saying your… grandpa did not do the same?" Lex asked, seeming as if he was completely calm and not in any rush at all. In truth, Lex knew that the sooner they left this planet, the better. The warning level from his instincts were getting very close to the level where Lex would leave without any hesitation.
"I misspoke," Charles responded, refusing to comment on the matter. Some matters were best left unsaid, because he could not come up with a reasonable explanation for his answer. Was he supposed to confess that he knew and had met the real and original Fenrir?
Lex pondered for a minute, but then decided there would be plenty of time to question the good doctor at a later time, as long as he joined the Inn.
"This planet is about to face a great danger, much greater than the one it is currently already facing," said Lex, based completely on his guess. "You can try to evacuate through the empire, but I have a quicker solution for you."
Lex threw a platinum key at the doctor, who caught it immediately. He sensed a familiar aura from the key, but he could not place where exactly he had felt it before. Regardless, the aura it gave off was worth speculating over.
"I work for a place called the Midnight Inn. We cater and host guests from all across the universe. I've seen your medical skill, and I think you're good enough to recruit. If you crush the key, you can take a test to see if you too can become a member of the Inn."
At this point, Lex threw a golden key towards him too.
"But, of course, joining is not mandatory. If you do not wish to join, you can simply leave this place by crushing the golden key. You'll be teleported over to the Midnight Inn, where you'll be able to escape whatever disaster is about to fall here. Of course, if you visit normally, you'll just be an ordinary guest, and you'll have to pay for your stay."
With that, Lex decided to leave. One way or another, Charles was coming to the Inn. Based on his behavior, Lex could see that he lacked the courage to endanger his life for very long. Moreover, although it seemed like Lex gave him the choice of whether to work at the Inn or not, the reality was that that was not the case.
If he visited as a guest, he would only be able to stay for a limited time, as he would eventually run out of MP. Then he would have to return to this planet, and based on how Lex saw things proceeding, it was unlikely the good doctor would want such a result. So, in the end, whether he used the platinum key now, or later, Lex was sure that ultimately he would end up using it.
When he returned to the Inn, Lex finally breathed a sigh of relief as the sensation of impending danger finally disappeared.
"Mary, I have a potential new hire coming in by the name of Charles. If he joins, have him treat all the poison patients. I have no other solution for the poison for now. If there's an emergency that requires my attention, wake me up. Otherwise, just manage things till I wake up."
He passed on a few more instructions before he teleported away to his private Recovery pod, got in, and went to sleep. Although it seemed like he was fine, the amount of pain he had tolerated was truly driving him to the verge of insanity. There was almost nothing that could prevent him from going to sleep, and finally escaping his pain.
An hour or so after Lex appeared, many soldiers also teleported over to the Inn, all in a bad condition. The situation on the planet had truly deteriorated, and it was far worse than anything any of them could have expected. Simply speaking… a massive tear in space had opened up, and had engulfed the entire planet teleporting it away!
Such a scene was unprecedented and completely unheard of, and only the few who had evacuated to the Inn, or used the teleportation formations in advance to escape had survived.
A day later, news finally spread as experts from across the realm approached the area and conducted an investigation. The insects that they had been fighting seemed to have been specifically bred for a single purpose, and surprisingly that purpose was not to fight. Their blood contained an unusual material that rapidly deteriorated the stability of space, considering that space in that area was already vulnerable in the
first place.
It seemed like… to erase his traces, the mastermind behind the 'eco-terrorism' act had decided to remove the entire planet.
Of course, he had further compromised the environment in the process as well, as the massive tear in space was now leaking chaos energy directly into the realm.
As for what would happen next, no one knew. But the situation was far from over, as no one seemed to be able to trace the terrorist 'Jeffery', including the Daolords dispatched by the Henali!
Chapter 740 Catch up
𝑙𝒾𝒷𝘳𝑒𝑎𝘥.𝒸ℴ𝓂
13 days after the incident, Lex suddenly woke up in his Recovery pod. Unlike his usual retreats, Lex did not wake up refreshed and well rested, but rather he felt like he was on the verge of dying from starvation! Although, he had indeed also healed. The Lotus seemed to have gone back to sleep as well, for the warm sensation of the Lotus healing him had already vanished.
Unable to bear the hunger, Lex teleported over some food and immediately began eating while a part of his brain tried to understand what was happening to him. The changes to his body due to the new cultivation technique were many, and he was still only just understanding them. Originally, his hunger could usually be sated just using spiritual energy, but now it seemed like he also needed to replenish his reserves with food, and not just any ordinary food.
The stash he was eating from now was a reserve he had created for himself, and contained extremely energy abundant foods, all procured from the emporium. Even then, this was only barely helping him slowly sate his hunger.
"Mary, what happened while I was asleep? Did Charles join the Inn?"
"Lex… a lot has happened while you slept. Yes, Charles did eventually join the Inn, but only after Polebitvy was completely teleported away, and all his accumulated wealth disappeared, leaving him broke…"
Mary began to inform Lex of all that had happened recently. The state of things had escalated so much that it had transcended just the Pendal galaxy, and, oddly enough, the number of guests had ironically dropped. No one was in the mood for a vacation in such a tense time. Everyone was returning to take care of important things that could not be put off.
As it turned out what had happened at Polebitvy was only just the start. Similar terrorist acts were carried out across the entire realm. Countless planets were then similarly teleported away using the same method.
At first, everyone assumed that causing massive tears in space was a way for the terrorist to hide his trail, but once the method was replicated multiple times, many began to suspect that there was still more to the matter than there appeared, and indeed a week later the suspicions were proven true.
Before the tears could completely heal, even under the efforts of Dao Lords, they became points at which the Fuegan infiltrated into the realm. If the Dao Lords wanted, they could have forcefully destroyed all the infiltrating Fuegan, but that would have further compromised the integrity of space in that region.
The entire realm had entered a state of emergency, and the Henali were finally beginning to take action personally. Only they knew the heavy investments they had put into ensuring the maximum organic growth of this realm, and if external interference ruined that then their losses would be immense!
These too were only the things Mary knew of because she had heard multiple devils discussing the matters openly. Speaking of whom, the devils had become the race to most frequent the Inn these days. If one did not know better, it would seem like the Inn was a devils retreat.
As if all that was not enough…
"Charles has been bothering me every day. He really wants to meet the Innkeeper. According to him, the medical treatments that the Inn offers are too 'subpar' and he wants to change the whole system. Moreover… he… his ideas extend far beyond just the field of medicine…
"Moreover, he's been pestering Fenrir non-stop as well. He has not even spared the Galactic Sovereign turtle, and keeps insisting that the turtle needs to obey him if it wants to maximize its growth.
"As if that was not enough, he thoroughly scolded Lady Anita, and gave her proper instructions on how to raise a baby Cthulhu, saying that the baby was extremely malnourished. In the past few days, he has also prescribed an extensive meal plan personalized to over 700 of the Inns employees, stating that their bodies development is stunted.
"Once he… he actually fought with one of the guests saying that they were doing their bloodline a disservice by becoming obese, and became a personal trainer for that particular devil. Although there were no complaints registered against him for that incident, I have thoroughly reprimanded him for it.
"Moreover, the Inn's mechanic, Xeon, heard that Charles was boasting extensive knowledge about bloodlines and medicine, so he approached him and asked if Charles could help him evolve into a true dragon. Charles agreed, and since then has been running various tests on Xeon. Since it's with Xeons own consent I cannot really stop him, but… I can't help but think he's trying to swindle the poor fellow.
"Those are just… those are just some of the prominent things Charles has done that I thought deserved mentioning. He has been extremely active, so he's done a lot more. He's been spending a lot of time observing the sleeping Mountain-man, though fortunately he hasn't done anything to him yet. But the way he keeps looking at him… it just makes me nervous for some reason."
The tiny floating Mary, who was dressed up in a toga, shivered for a moment, but then regained her composure.
"Other than Charles, there are many matters that need your attention. For one, there is a massive number of devils who wish to meet you and have been asking for appointments. Rocketfellow Rothsfather is also one of them, and he's ready to begin the 5 trillion MP event he mentioned previously, but just wants to speak with you first about a few things.
"John is also back from the Murder grounds, but he's suffered incredibly. His entire cultivation seems to have disappeared and he seems very… destitute. He wants to talk to you.
"Last, but not least, Alexander has left a letter for Lex, as well as a spatial ring. I'm not sure what that's about, but you can ask him whenever you want. Since he teleported over from Polebitvy, and the entire planet disappeared, he kind of got stuck at the Inn, like many other soldiers. Temporarily, they have been shifted to the Minor realm that the empire is incharge of protecting, but finding a way to send those people back somehow is also something you should think about."