Chapter 788 Intent
Lex spent a little more time talking to little Pel to familiarize himself with the ring, and establish a deeper bond. The more he talked to him, the more he realized that Pel wasn't really capable of complicated thoughts at the moment. Although he had access to a number of the dragon's memories, his inability to form complex thoughts was most likely what protected him from being influenced by the dragon's past.
For now, his entire world was simple. Since he liked, and somewhat feared, Lex he would try his best to flatter him. At the same time, Pel would do his best to absorb materials to strengthen himself. But he was not greedy for materials, and he would not get upset when he was deprived of them either, as was evident from the fact that Lex did not let Pel have his skin.
Speaking of which, Lex tried to destroy his skin, but it was easier said than done. It retained his incredible defense even in its removed state. He put it away and made a mental note to destroy it later on, lest any complications arise.
He also planned a little how to overcome the sword aura inside his soul. He could more or less determine that his overly aggressive behavior was influenced by that aura directly!
He was already familiar with intents, such as sword and shield intent, as he had covered the topic while studying at the academy. Just to be sure that the information he had was correct, however, he asked Pel to elaborate on what intents were, as if he were testing Pel's knowledge instead of learning from him.
"According to my memories from my past life, intent can be explained from two differing points of view, a basic one and an advanced one. A basic point of view was that intent of any kind was a manifestation of his mastery over anything brought about by spiritual energy. To manifest it, one would first need to achieve a certain level of competency in the respective field, after which one's state of mind and comprehension in the respective field would cause a resonance with the internal and ambient spiritual energy, giving birth to intent.
"The internal spiritual energy can be used to store that intent within one's body, while the ambient spiritual energy can be used to give birth to intent when the respective field is being applied. The most powerful form of intent is when internal and external are combined together.
"An example of this can be something mundane, such as art or music. One would need to first reach a level in which they can be considered a master to even reach the threshold to begin to manifest intent. That does not mean that, for example, the art or music needs to be good, but rather its effects have to be inline with the intention of the master.
"For example, if the intention of the master artist is to arouse disgust, he can purposefully create a horrendous piece of work. Similarly, a musician can use music to either enlighten, invigorate, or even agitate the listener. As long as the work reflects the intention of the master, good or bad does not matter.
"Once such a level is reached, they have reached the minimum threshold to manifest intent. Since intent is formed using spiritual energy, and can be formed from internal or external energy, the higher the cultivation level, the easier it is to manifest a basic level of intent. This is because internal intent is always easier to form.
"For example, someone at the Qi Training level will not have enough spiritual energy to manifest intent, so they will have to rely solely on external spiritual energy to manifest it. As such, if someone at the Qi Training manages to do so, they can be considered a genius in that field regardless of where they are.
"But the reverse is also true. If someone only manages to manifest basic intent at the Golden core level, where their internal spiritual energy is extremely concentrated, then they will be considered the epitome of trash in that field. After all, in the Golden core level, even a bit of effort will result in the manifestation of basic intent.
"But at that point, the effects and benefits brought about by a basic intent are negligible to their existing power level. They would need a higher level of intent for the benefits to be applicable on their power scale.
"An example of this is how a basic, normal arrow can easily kill a mortal animal in a single blow, but is actually worse than useless when the opponent is a dragon. A stronger arrow would be required to face a dragon, preferably one that is imbued with various powers and enchantments."
Little Pel paused in its explanation, as if it felt like it had said something inappropriate, but could not realize why. As such, it continued with its explanation.
"The more advanced explanation for intents comes into effect from a point of view from a Nascent cultivator and onwards. This is because the nature of intent, and even cultivation, changes from that level. Ultimately, it has to do with laws. All intents are actually manifestations of laws, formed by a resonance in the user's intention and comprehension in a certain field with that of the actual laws associated with that field. In fact, on a higher level, it changes even from just being resonance, and enters a new level, which is called Dao. For some reason, I cannot recall the associated memories too clearly, even though I can clearly remember having reached such a level myself in my past life."
"That's more than enough," said Lex, who was very satisfied with the answer. In summary, he would have to learn sword intent, and then level it up to the point where he could absorb the aura within his body. Fortunately, he already had a perfect teacher in mind to help him get started on this journey. Moreover, with his enhanced comprehension and observation due to his new cultivation technique, he did not fear that he would fail. If anything, he was already considering what kind of sword he would choose to master.
But all of that could wait. There were a few things that were more important at the moment. One, for example, was healing and recovering his skin. He did not want to start practicing sword work while looking like a diagram from a medical book. The second important thing that required his attention first was to finally explore his loot.
The best part was, with Pel as his guide, he would not need to go around guessing what each and every item was. He could get a detailed explanation for each item right from the source!
But his meditation room was not a suitable place for such a thing. In his apartment, Lex had long established a kind of storeroom where he placed all the numerous items he collected or earned through various adventures.
It was time now to turn it from a mere storeroom to a vault. Or, better yet, since he did not expect anyone to really rob from him within the Inn, he would create a museum of all his hard collected loot - eh, no, not loot, he meant his hard earned rewards.
Feeling quite grand at the moment, he decided to style his museum after the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art). He entered the design interface and added a heavily decorated wooden double door in his apartment which opened up to a massive space where a building that looked identical to the MET stood.
Considering the amount of space he was adding, it would be very inappropriate to continue calling his place within the Inn as his apartment. Hence forth, owing to his recent upgrade, he would refer to it as his penthouse. After all, it was not ridiculous for a penthouse to have a little something in the back, right? Just because the 'little something' at the back of his penthouse was 2.2 million square feet total did not mean it couldn't qualify.
Putting these minor details aside, he teleported his already existing stock inside, but found that a majority of the building remained empty. How embarrassing.
As if to address the issue, he entered what would be one of his main exhibits, and removed the massive 30 feet (9.1 meters) rainbow jewel alongside the pillow and pedestal it was placed on, and admired it.
He could still feel the dragon's obsession that plagued this jewel, but owing to the fact that he was inside the Inn, was completely immune to it. The obsession on it was now no more than an accessory, enhancing the worth of the jewel from an artistic point of view.
"Say Pel, you wouldn't happen to recognize this jewel from your past life's memories, would you?"
"Yes, yes I do!" Pel answered excitedly. "That jewel contains the corpse of a primordial!"
Chapter 789 Questions
Lex had heard the term 'Primordial' before. In fact, let alone a corpse, he had even met a living Primordial, technically. The Lotus on his back was actually called a World Seed Lotus, and its species was called the Primordial Origin Lotus series.
Lex did not know much about this species, but based on the name he could easily guess that the lotus on his back was just one of many Primordial Lotus'. Moreover, the lotus required extremely special spiritual energy called Primordial Spirit energy which would be present in the Inn unless he raised the star level of the Inn to 8!
That was the original reason why he had to carry the lotus on his back, as it could only absorb that energy from the universe at large outside the Inn. He did not know how abundant that energy was in the universe, but at least it surpassed what was present in the Inn.
He had also heard the term elsewhere as well. To be specific, the realm which one would ascend to after achieving Heavenly immortal from inside the Crystal realm was called the Primordial Garden. He did not know much about it except that the Crystal race maintained a presence there, but could not be considered as a dominant race there.
The most recent mention of the term 'primordial' was by the strange creature that could enter Lex's mind. Although its words were not too reliable, it had claimed that whatever had killed the dragon was a sleeping primordial being. The chances of a sleeping primordial being waking up so close to a primordial being's corpse were uncanny, so Lex scanned the jewel and corpse, but the system did not detect any living being inside which could be a guest. That relieved him.
All in all, it was not a term he had not come in contact with before. He was able to surmise that it represented something significantly powerful, as was evident from the level of the Primordial Garden as well as the Lotus on his back, but should not be so rare, right? If that was the case, he could not understand the level of excitement in Pel's voice, nor why such a thing would be deserving of a dragon's obsession.
Lex had conveniently forgotten that the Lotus came from a seed that could be considered rare not just in the Origin realm, but in the entire universe!
"What's so special about a primordial's corpse?" Lex asked. With Pel, even though he mostly maintained a state where it looked like he was testing Pel instead of asking him, he was not too worried about his act being detected. For one, Pel was too simple minded at the moment. Secondly, he did not meet Pel with the identity of the Innkeeper, so he did not have an overwhelming need to maintain any kind of reputation. After all, it was perfectly normal if Lex, as a Golden core cultivator, did not know all the secrets of the universe.
"My memories about primordials are blurry again, just as they were about matters of the Dao. But what I can recall is that Primordials were the first beings to be born in the universe. To be clear, I am not talking about Mythical beings, who are the first to be born in a newborn realm. I am directly referring to the first ever beings born in the entire universe!
"As for how many there are, how powerful they are, what is the relevance of finding such a corpse… I cannot recall. If I try to force it, I feel the pressure on my body increasing, as if it's about to break."
Pel sounded incredibly anxious, as if to prove to Lex that it was trying its best, but was limited by its breaking vessel.
It continued, "As for what the corpse can be used for, the list is endless. Let alone, the corpse, just the jewel it is trapped in is endlessly valuable. According to my memories, in my previous life I should have hypothesized that this jewel was actually extremely ancient amber that had been converted into this form due to its exposure to the primordial.
"This amber is endlessly valuable, as even a single grain of it can immensely help immortals solidify their tenets and help them study laws. It can also be used to create miraculous medicine, be used in forging weapons, be used to aid in spiritual and body cultivation, be used to cure poison, and many more uses. All in all, just the jewel itself is endlessly valuable. In my previous life, I attached a great deal of hope for a breakthrough to my next realm on this jewel, although I cannot remember how.
"As for the corpse, that is too terrifying a thing to easily deal with. Even in my previous life I did not dare easily conduct tests on it, and only studied it from afar. The corpse has essentially fossilized, so there is no hope to possess it. But I recall theorizing that the fossil is an incredibly potent source of chaos energy, so much so that even in my previous life I did not dare remove it from the jewel.
"However, I also suspected that the fossil can be used to further refine my own bloodline, and possibly elevate my bloodline purity to the level of a Mythical being. There were many other theories as well, but due to the associated danger, I never got around to testing them. The only thing I can confirm is that the corpse, or fossil, is extremely valuable, but to actually derive any value from it, one must first be sufficiently powerful. Otherwise, instead of being valuable, the body will be a great source of danger."
Considering that the dragon had died under the most unusual of circumstances, Lex did not take Pel's warning lightly. Despite having the Inn, and all the benefits the system afforded him, he decided to leave the corpse within the jewel for now.
"Say Pel, what was your cultivation level in your previous life?" Lex asked, unable to hold back his curiosity.
"I was in the Heavenly Immortal realm," Pel said simply, without any hint of pride or achievement.
"Oh," responded Lex, as if he had heard about something as common and mundane as the weather.
More and more, Lex was feeling incredibly lucky that he ended up getting Pel, as it might be his greatest gain yet. So far, he had been more or less stumbling his way through the cultivation world, trying to get answers where he could. Now he finally had someone he could ask questions to without fear of getting judged or any repercussions.
Lex decided to continue bringing his loot out and fill up his museum. The next thing was naturally the Peronian jade. The black jade tree looked both insidiously haunting and spectacularly beautiful at the same time.
Although this addition was destined to be short, he wanted to acknowledge it. Moreover, he was also curious about its purpose.
"What is this, Pel?"
"Peronian jade!" he replied fanatically. "In my previous life, this was my greatest treasure until I found the Primordial corpse. This kind of jade is filled with a very powerful destructive force. I can't remember what I used it for… but I vaguely recall it had something to do with cultivation. The destructive force inside this jade was unique, and cannot be replicated by any other being. It can have various uses."
The answer was simple, and not mired in secrecy and history as the corpse, but at the same time it could not be underestimated. Any item that could be used by a Heavenly immortal for cultivation, especially a dragon, was not ordinary at all. This was especially since Pel had even considered it his most valuable treasure at one point.
"Where can I find more of it? Do you have any ideas?"
"Peronian jade is very rare, and can only be found on planets that are at least 5 stars in rating. But not every 5 star planet will have some, and even if it is found, it is not easy to harvest. The jade in my old collection has already been wiped of all life, but any fresh jade you might find in the wild will most likely contain its own spirit. Fighting it off is a perilous task, even for dragons. In the entire Origin realm, there is not a single existing Peronian jade harvesting facility, as all known sources of the jade have already been exhausted. You either have to find new, undiscovered 5 star planets or loot someone's vault to get your hands on it."
Well, Lex had already done the latter, but he was not in any particular need of it any time soon so this matter could be put on hold.
The next thing he removed was the pool of blood he had collected, as well as the scale.
"What about these? What are they?" he asked, his voice imperceptibly more solemn than before.
Chapter 790 Fear
"This is heart's blood. To be more specific, this is some blood that should have been refined using a single drop of blood from my heart, while the rest is ordinary blood from my body. This kind of blood is used to nurture the body of a newborn dragon, and help it quickly overcome its initial period of weakness. It's strange - even though I recognize this pool, I have no memories of it at all, or why I would have had one in my previous life. It's almost as if I myself removed the associated memories."
"What about the scale?" Lex asked, his voice extremely level. He wanted to understand why Mary was so interested in it. Although he believed her when she said that it was for building herself a new body, he also wanted to better understand what was so special about this scale. After all, she said that the body she arranged for herself would be different from the one the system arranged for her, but could not elaborate on why.
"Every time a dragon breaks through a major realm, all their scales molt, before they regrow new scales. This particular scale is the so-called 'reverse scale' that covers the heart of a dragon. It is the strongest, most durable scale on a dragon's body and can be used for a multitude of things. It is also the best food for a young dragon to eat, as it strengthens its body and purifies its bloodline further."
Lex thought about it for a moment, but did not discover anything too special or unexpected about the scale. It made sense that the hardest scale on a dragon would be excellent material for crafting.
Lex had many more questions for Pel, but he only had two questions that were most urgent. The remaining questions could wait. As he continued to take out his loot, such as the entire small library that the dragon maintained, or his kitchen and its materials, Lex asked Pel a rather important question.
"Pel, how urgently do you need materials to strengthen your body? Is it on the verge of breaking? Can it survive taking a hit?"
He had quite a few materials on hand which could be used to help the ring, and if even something as low leveled as his own skin could help the ring, then he did not doubt that these other materials could help as well. But, if possible, Lex wanted to keep Pel in a wounded state as long as possible. He did not want to risk Pel gaining higher intelligence as his body recovered, as he was still too useful to Lex.
"Now that you have bonded the ring, the pressure on me has reduced drastically, so I can survive much longer. But my body is still extremely weak. If I sustain any immortal level attacks it will rapidly destabilize my body further, and may cause it to break entirely."
"Try and see if any of these will help you restore your body," Lex said and brought out a number of different ores he collected from Pel's own previous collection.
The ring softly vibrated and absorbed each of the ores without any problem, but the small crack on the ring was not reduced.
"They're useful a little bit, but I'll need a lot of them if I want to heal completely. If you have higher quality materials, or materials related to wood then the healing process will be quicker."
"Pel, can you hide your aura completely? I don't want to risk people discovering you inside the ring."
"Until the crack is fixed, it's impossible to completely hide my aura, as some of it will continuously leak. But I can easily disguise myself as an ordinary spirit treasure. No one will suspect anything else, hehehe."
Pel laughed mischievously, as if he were a little kid who thought of something naughty. Lex smiled a little, but did not dwell on it for long. There were both risks and benefits to keeping the ring damaged.
But the crux of the matter was that he himself was weak. If he grew his cultivation level, then he would not fear the ring healing completely. Yet at the same time he understood that it was not so easy to continue to break through.
Lex did not doubt for even a moment his ability to enter the higher levels, but just realized that his progress so far had been stupendously quick and could not expect such a speed to continue. He would have to take things one step at a time.
That same thought also caused him to have a few new ideas on how to run the Inn in the future, but that would happen after he established his own realm. For now, things would continue as normal. Besides, in a couple more months the Inn would stop accepting new guests anyway, so he did not have to be worried about it.
Finally, he moved onto his last question with Pel - one that was incredibly important.
"Hey Pel, do you happen to remember how you died in your last life?"
Considering the treasure spirits' chippy attitude, Lex almost expected an equally chippy and quick response, but for once he was answered with silence.
In a special room designed to contain spirit energy Lex had been removing all the items, including the chandelier, that gave off the heated spiritual energy when he paused and looked at the ring.
"Pel?" he asked, once again.
"I don't remember," Pel finally answered, his voice incredibly low, almost like a whisper. "The only thing I recall is fear - a lot of fear. There was also pain. More pain than I ever felt before. Then nothing. Even now, I feel a little scared to think back on it, as if even thinking about it will put me in danger."
"Alright, forget I ever asked. Don't think about it," said Lex abruptly. He was no longer a novice in the cultivation world, and knew that some mysteries were better left untouched.
Chapter 791 Newfound fame
Lex spent a decent amount of time taking out his loot and setting it up in his new museum. He would then use his 'Room creation' feature to alter each room according to the needs of each specific item. For example, he needed a room which would not allow energy to leak for all the items emitting the heated spiritual energy.
For the energy sources of all the ships he needed a room that would block radiation as well as maintain a sterile environment.
More than the energy sources, Lex was particularly careful when setting down the various artillery shells he had picked up, as he no longer even had skin to lose! At the same time, he questioned Pel thoroughly over their use, and discovered that most of these were extremely useful against Earth immortals, and he had even picked up one that could be used against Heaven Immortals!
The power and rarity of these weapons were the reason that Pel had decided to collect them in his previous life. But while they were potent weapons, Lex could not use them easily for he did not even have the means to leave the blast radius once used.
He decided the best use for these would be if his spaceship was equipped with them, but these weapons were not compatible with the Silent Wanderer, and he didn't want to take the massive flying daycare outside of the Inn. The only alternative was to get more ships, or find engineers and start building his own ships.
No matter what, this was a project Lex was determined to work on because it would be a waste to have such powerful weapons but be unable to use them!
At the same time, Pel informed him of various other uses for many of the treasures he already had but did not know what to do with. The knowledge of someone who had lived for millions of years was invaluable, even if Pel could only access a very small percentage of it.
Since Lex had no other urgent tasks coming up in the foreseeable future, he decided to spend the next few months cultivating and refining his plans for the future while strengthening his workers with the knowledge that Pel gave him.
For now, though, Lex had to address a minor issue that he had been hoping to avoid. His soul pact that he had made with the Infinity Emporium began to weigh on him. He could feel a subtle compulsion to deliver the Peronian jade to them now that he had already collected it, and was not urgently in trouble.𝑙𝘪𝒷𝓇𝑒𝑎𝑑.𝘤𝑜𝑚
There was no real reason to delay delivering it, but he had hoped to at least regrow his skin before he went out again. For a second, he considered rewearing his skin, like a costume, before he discarded the extremely creepy thought. Instead, he just put on his defensive suit, put on a pair of gloves as well as a mask that covered his entire face.
He teleported out to X-142, before promptly entering the emporium.
He had been expecting to see Powell waiting for him, and even considered that the real Powell might be there as well, slightly annoyed over the delay. What he had not been expecting was the nearly worshiping gaze the usual Powell he met gave him, and the amazed look the real Powell, who was also there, gave him.
"I must say, Mr. Lex, when you told me you were raiding a dragon's hoard, I did not expect you to be doing it with the dragon there. I thought you had come across the forgotten cave of a long deceased dragon, or something along those lines at least. But your courage and means… please allow me to applaud you."
Powell actually clapped, but Lex was taken aback by his words. Could he have been spying on Lex? Was there some surveillance mechanism in one of the treasures he had gotten from the emporium?
"How did you know what I did?" asked Lex, the accusation heavily evident in his voice. But his question caught them by surprise.
"Could it be that you do not know? Mr. Lex, a recording of you climbing the dragon has been spread all over the Henali portal. I dare say you are the most famous human in the entire Origin realm right now."
As if to support his words, Powell pulled up the recording that showed Lex struggling under the weight of Dragons Might as he approached Pelvailins corpse.
Without waiting for Lex to ask further questions, Powell elaborated further.
"Although for a short time the recorder managed to hide his identity, he did not have the level of protection you have applied against divination. His identity was eventually discovered, and has become an open secret amongst the upper level of the portal. It's a dwarf called Barley Holdinson. Here, let me share the details with you."
Powell handed Lex a small black device that he had clearly already prepared. Once connected to the portal, the device would reveal all the information stored onto it, similar to a USB.
Lex grabbed the device, but he was struggling to determine how he felt about the situation. He could not accurately conceive what it meant to be the most popular human in the realm, though he guessed the reason his details were hidden was because of the protection of the Inn. Now that he was out, he might once again become susceptible to divination! That could potentially put him in danger.
"I was a little busy recovering from the events," Lex said, as he removed his glove to show Powell his hand. "I did not have time to check the portal, or talk to anyone, so I am not sure what happened. Would you mind telling me… how this video was received?"
Powell nodded understandingly. No matter what, it must not have been easy to escape from that situation. The most mysterious thing was that the dragon, who had been identified, had disappeared.
Only a very few people knew that Pelvailin had also been spotted inside the Midnight Inn, before promptly disappearing again. Although Powell happened to be one of those people, he did not plan on mentioning it. There were certain things even he did not want to get involved in. But he did not mind sharing the rest with Lex.
Chapter 792 Fan club
Lex was no longer in the front entrance of the Emporium. Instead, he had followed Powell to the back and was now sitting comfortably in what looked like a small guest room. There were very few furnishings, but it was decorated very tastefully. Lex could feel his mind calm down as in his chair, taking a sip of some tea another Powell, a butler Powell if you will, served him and Powell.
Between the two of them was a projection playing a video, but this time the recording was not of him in the dragon's hall. No, this time the recording was from the point of view of the ship that had been repeatedly targeting him back at Frigra. It went right up until the artillery explosion.
The worst part of it was that at each second of the video there were annotations made thoroughly analyzing Lex, his reaction to the events unfolding and his strengths and weaknesses. This was just one of many such videos that Powell had managed to get his hands on.
His strengths and weaknesses had been thoroughly analyzed, and though many mistakes had been made in the analysis, many of them were also correct.
Once the video ended, another one began playing immediately. This one was a very short video taken by a public security camera on Polebitvy. Lex only appeared in the video for a moment. Even so, someone had found the video and made annotations on it as well. Mainly, it noted down the time and place of this video and commented on, and questioned how Lex was able to travel all the way from Polebitvy to Frigra in such a short period of time.
No recordings of him from any other planets, such as X-142, Vegus Minima or Earth had been discovered yet, but he believed that unless the attention on him dropped significantly, it was only a matter of time before someone realized.
From there, it would not take long until someone associated him with the Midnight Inn. Of course, Lex doubted that even the craziest conspiracy theorist would conclude that Lex was the owner of the Inn, but connections could be made nonetheless.
In fact, now that he was thinking about it, he was sure that a number of Inn regulars would have already recognized him. If that were the case, the connection would have already been made.
Fortunately he had made preparations in advance, and already linked his identity as Lex to the Inn worker Leo. The connection would not be easily discovered, and only be found if someone were trying to purposefully unveil his secrets.
That would cause them to believe that the information they unveiled was legitimate, and not a ruse he had purposefully put in place to hide his actual identity.
His identity as the Innkeeper was safe, for now.
For now, he had two immediate concerns. The first was the massive number of bounties on his head! He was officially a wanted man! It felt both intimidating and very cool at the same time, especially when considering that all the bounties that had been placed on his head were from various dragons!
The second thing he had to worry about… was the Lex Williams fan club! Powell had only mentioned it briefly, but it had over thirty one billion members already, and those were just the ones who signed up on the portal. Moreover, many of the fans were from various races, and especially a few races who had strong contention against dragons!
"Alongside details of Barley Holdinson, the device I gave you also records detailed information on all the dragons who have put bounties on you, as well as all the dragons associated with Pelvailin Ur Bahatna Gorgin. But even I only have limited information on dragons, so what I gave you is barely more than what is publicly available."
Powell made no mention of any remuneration for his efforts, and Lex did not bother mentioning it either. The man was clearly giving him a favor, and Lex needed all the allies he could get at the moment.
"Thank you, that is quite helpful. Do you have any idea what other kind of trouble I can expect from this?"
"What you have to look out for most are people interested in collecting the bounty on your head, or those who want to rob your gains from the dragon's hoard. These are your greatest threats. The chances of you running into a dragon are minimal at best. True dragons are very rare and they disdain doing things secretly. If a dragon is coming towards you, it will do so openly and publicly. That will give you enough time to run away, or make any other preparations you need."
Lex nodded, and collected all the information Powell gave him, before taking out the Peronian jade and handing it over.
"By the way, I will need the best protection you have against divination," he said, hoping to get his hands on some treasures. This was something he would have to pay close attention to.
*****
On Nibiru, the young Tiffany, who had once been saved/kidnapped by Lex, was watching a recording. In it, she saw a very familiar face belonging to the man she had always thought had died protecting her. She could still remember how he ran away while pulling all the attention of the wolves towards himself, while leaving her to hide in a tree.
It was his heroic sacrifice that had given her courage throughout her life, and allowed her to pursue the goal of freedom for humans on Nibiru. But suddenly, she discovered that the man was alive. Not only that, he was a mighty dragon tamer. He was the hero that the humans on Nibiru needed!
She clenched her fists and decided to immediately go to the Midnight Inn and put up a task to contact him. But before that, she turned her attention to the problem at hand. Surrounding her hideout was a small colony of Vermillion bats, coming to assassinate her. They thought she could not sense them, but they did not know that what awaited them was not their target but death!
Chapter 793 New plan
While Lex waited for Powell to bring all the items he had requested, he watched the initial recording of him in front of the dragon. He had to admit that while he himself knew of how much he had suffered, from the back it seemed like Lex was casually strolling. At most, it seemed like Lex was savoring the Dragons Might instead of resisting it.
Some parts of the recording seemed like they were edited. For example, the video started off with Barley mid-sentence. Moreover, while the recording showed Lex climbing the dragon, it cut off right before Lex was about to begin cultivating.
Lex narrowed his eyes. At the time his condition was too bad so he really did not have the awareness, or even the ability to check if someone was spying on him. However, he could clearly tell by the timing of when the recording cut off that whoever had filmed it had clearly seen him meditate. Yet despite that, he had not shown it in the recording.
In a way, Lex should be grateful that Barley had not shown it. After all, since the recording even recreated the effects of Dragons Might, then the recording would also show how Lex had been able to absorb a portion of it. If something like that had been revealed then the scale of things would be far from what they currently were.
Lex had reflected on the effects of Domination, and long realized how his own aura was able to absorb that of the dragons. While he was sure this was a result of his nameless cultivation technique, that was not exactly something he could publicize. However, if the recording had been released then the whole realm would have been hunting him down to figure out his secret!
While Lex was spared that, there remained a very real possibility that Barley may release the actual recording, or that he may even lose it. The only way to ensure the matter did not get out of hand was to meet Barley personally.
But finding him was the main issue. Lex would not mind having a long, deep conversation with the dwarf using his fists. After all, if the dwarf was considerate enough to leave out Lex cultivating atop the dragon, he may as well have not released the recording at all.
Or maybe this was just a way for him to get Lex's attention, and in reality the dwarf wanted to blackmail him. Whatever the case, Lex wanted to meet him. But the problem of finding him was the greatest issue at the moment.
Just as he was pondering this particular conundrum, Powell finally entered and brought him the items he had requested. It was a protective treasure that would help him avoid any kind of divination up to a certain standard. A Heaven immortal would have to be personally divining information about him for it to even be a possibility to discover something.
The best part was that it would latch onto his body like a tattoo, and remain there for a few years after which it would dissipate. Afterwards he would need to procure another such treasure, if it was available.
But that was not an issue for him, and he was just glad that the treasure didn't take the form of another piece of jewelry. He was not exactly used to it.
In exchange for the treasure, Lex merely handed over one of the many jewels that emitted heated spiritual energy that he took from Pel's hoard. It was apparently quite valuable, and only formed on planets that dragons actually resided on!
"What about finding a way to contact Barley?" Lex asked. He had asked Powell if the emporium could set up a meeting between them, or locate the dwarf for him. Unfortunately, despite its great reach, the emporium did not partake in this kind of business. However, he did sell information that could help Lex.
"I don't need to give you any more information on Barley, you already have it all. Besides that, the only thing you need is this."
Powell handed him a business card that was, oddly, completely blank. Although it looked unremarkable, Lex had actually paid a hefty amount for this card.
'Why do I feel more and more like a villain?' Lex wondered as he held the card.
"Once you return to Suera, pour spirit energy into the card and you will be greeted by one of the attendants for Hix, the largest operating assassination organization in that galaxy. They have remarkable means to locate your target as long as they are within that galaxy, and you can provide them with sufficient information.
"This is the best I can offer you at the moment. Once you look at the information I've given you, you will realize that finding that dwarf is harder than it seems. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he's already been caught by some person or organization who is interested in the particulars of what happened on Frigra. Speaking of which, here is a fresh ore from a planet within the Suera Galaxy, taken away only a few minutes ago. I took care of this matter personally, so you can be assured that there is nothing wrong."
Lex nodded, and took everything Powell offered. He had only two connections to that galaxy, and one was literally a warzone between Henali and the Fuegan, and another was not really a place he dared to return to at the moment. It was almost as if every planet he stepped on experienced a massive trial. As such, he needed access to a new planet in Suera if he had to go and search for the dwarf.
Without spending any more time, Lex exited the emporium and a few moments later, left the planet. However, mere seconds after he disappeared, an unusual rip seemed to open in space and a skull wearing an ethereal shroud seemed to peek out. Unable to find its target, the skull retreated and the rip closed, unbeknown to all around it.
Lex, who had returned to the Inn, now had an issue on his hands. He did not want to go to any other planet right now, but at the same time he did not want to waste any time looking for Barley. He had not even recovered his skin, which was a major injury that affected both his spirit and his soul.
It was not the best idea to be prancing around on a new planet, especially with his history of getting involved with trouble. But if he waited till his skin healed, it might already be too late, not to mention that the Inn was going to cease accepting new guests within a couple of months.
That also meant that if he was outside the Inn at that time, he would not be able to return. Indecision plagued him, but only for a short time. Even though it went against his original plan, he could not afford to leave this issue unattended. Who knew if it might blow up into something bigger later on. Although he could hide in the Inn and just avoid going out, that was no way to live.
With his decision made, all he needed to do now was plan on how to increase his odds of success as much as possible. At the same time, he had to avoid getting sucked into any problems.
While he had a lot of faith in his own ability to plan for such things, there just happened to be a particular resource inside the Inn that he could take perfect advantage of at the moment.
Making sure none of his skinless body was exposed, Lex teleported over to Main street, where a group of kids seemed to be sitting in a nearby park.
Among them was someone Lex knew well enough: Vera Joel. She was an oracle, and all the kids surrounding her were also either oracles, prophets, diviners or something along those lines. They had come here to attend the event Vera had planned.
Since that was the case, it would almost be wasteful if Lex didn't try to foresee any upcoming trouble he might encounter. Fortunately he had not used the treasure Powell had given him yet so he still had a chance.
As he approached the group, before he even had a chance to say anything, Vera looked at him, then looked at one of the other girls in the group.
"Leslie, it's your chance to shine. Do a good job with this one, and he can give you exactly what you want."
The girl, Leslie, was taken aback by Vera's words, before fixing her gaze onto Lex. She was a human, probably, but had four eyes instead of two. The two, smaller eyes on her forehead, right above her normal eyes, looked like they were blind. Yet, for some odd reason, they fixed their gaze onto Lex's shadow.
"I can foretell your future, but first you have to pay. Also, the price is non-negotiable. If you can't pay, you get nothing."
Chapter 794 Lightning vessel
Lex smiled. That's why he liked Vera so much, she was extremely direct. It saved him a lot of time. The only concern he had now was if Leslie would be able to accurately predict the future.
"That depends on what kind of payment you want," Lex stated as he observed the young girl. Besides her four eyes, she looked completely normal, though Lex could not decide if that was a good thing or not. After all, the more special she was, the better her chances of predicting his future, right?
"How much do you know about predicting the future? Not much, I suppose. I don't want you complaining that the price is too high later, so let me tell you a little something. Since the future possibilities are endless, every oracle, diviner, prophet, or basically any profession that deals with looking into the future sets themselves up with extreme restrictions. These restrictions limit the streams of the future they see, thereby increasing their accuracy tremendously.
"Some like to keep their restrictions private, but others advertise their restrictions as it gets them more clients. I specialize in a very specific kind of foretelling that peers into an alternate reality linked to your shadow. The details are irrelevant, but what matters is that I am extremely sensitive to incoming opportunities or dangers."
It sounded like exactly what Lex needed. But the more potent the ability, the higher the cost would be as well, not that he cared about the cost particularly.
"I'm convinced, but you still need to tell me the price first," said Lex. Even if he didn't care, he couldn't let others know that he had the wealth of a dragon.
Leslie looked hesitant, and even turned to look back at Vera, who only nodded encouragingly. Among them all, Vera's ability had the greatest restriction, which is why her predictions were also usually the best. But even then, that did not guarantee 100% the same outcome as the prediction.
She looked at Lex with a hint of guilt in her eyes, but it lasted only a moment before her expression became firm.
"I have 116 sparks leftover from a lightning tribulation within my soul. Until and unless they are removed, I cannot do any forecasts. If you want me to help you, you have to remove those sparks first."
Lex… raised an eyebrow as he looked at Leslie. Why did that not sound so hard? Wait, lightning tribulation? Was Leslie an immortal? She didn't look or feel like one.
"How did you get… sparks of lightning tribulation stuck in your soul?"
"When divining the future, if you look upon something that was meant to remain hidden, then you are punished by the heavens. Do not ask more about this, as this is not a topic that can be easily shared. You may think this price is steep, but I cannot divine anything until those sparks are removed, even if I wanted to."
Leslie felt a little bad offering such a high price to whoever this was. She knew how difficult it was to deal with matters of the soul, and then matters related to lightning tribulations. When both of those matters were combined, the difficulty could be imagined. One of the reasons she was attending this meeting to begin with was to find someone who could help her with this issue, as it was a common one among their professions.
"Sure, I'll do it. Do you want to do it here, or do you want to go somewhere first?" asked Lex, to the surprise of Leslie.
"Don't you need to prepare?" she could not help but ask. Even the others were surprised by how casual Lex sounded. Suddenly, they realized that they may have stumbled upon a great opportunity!
"No, I can do it now. Besides, I'm in a bit of a rush," said Lex. Although he said he did not need to prepare, he did summon the Lightning vessel. The Lightning vessel was a small container in the shape of a thunderbolt that could be used to store a single strand of unique lightning. Although it said a single strand, he assumed he could fit multiple sparks inside to form that strand, right? There was only one way to find out. Though, he still had to be careful, for he did not know how dangerous those sparks really were.
"Alight, we can begin right here. Do you need me to do anything?"
"Stand still," said Lex as he enveloped her with his soul sense and began to locate the sparks.
Unlike Lex, whose soul was merged with his body, others usually did not have a soul in a fixed shape until they entered the Nascent realm. Leslie was clearly not there yet, for her soul was in the form of an unusual blob that filled her body.
Just as she said, there were many sparks inside her soul, with most stuck right at the surface, but a few that reached deeper within.
Lex took off his glove and revealed his very raw hand, startling the crowd, but he didn't care about that. He used Impervious Hands and merged it with his soul sense, allowing it to gain the ability to touch souls.
Slowly, and ever so carefully, he reached out and grabbed the spark that was trapped within her soul. Even with the protection of Impervious Hands, Lex felt his fingers burning as the spark went from zapping her soul to zapping his hand.
Even though he was in pain, he could not react abruptly lest he accidentally hurt Leslie's soul instead. Slowly, he pulled out his hand and stored the single spark inside the Lightning vessel, which gained a soft glow.
He looked at his right hand and saw that a small bit of meat on his index finger and thumb had actually turned to ash! Moreover, around the ash, the remaining meat actually crystalized.
"How the hell did you survive an entire lightning bolt of that?" Lex could not help but ask.
"How the hell can you grab lightning?" Leslie asked back, just as bewildered.
"How the hell are you alive with so many sparks inside your soul?" Lex asked back, as to prove that she was the bigger freak in this situation.
Leslie did not answer, nor did Lex focus on the actual answer, either. Instead, he began the process again. This time, knowing what to expect, Lex was slow to approach the spark but quick to retreat, depositing the spark within the vessel.
The process was painful, extremely painful at that, but simple otherwise. Around them, all the others stood up and stared in shock as Lex casually achieved what normally took massive and expensive formations that relied on rare treasures. Well, casually was pushing it since it did hurt his fingers somewhat. By the time Lex was pulling out the fiftieth spark, he had to shift to his left hand because the bone in his right thumb had become visible.
But, before he started with his left hand, Lex tried something additional. He used Domination as well. He was not familiar with the extent of his abilities' utility, and this was a good opportunity to find out.
When he actually tried again, unbelievably, the spark was unable to hurt Lex as much as before. Lex was intrigued, the others were awed, and Vera could not help but feel incredibly proud. Since she could only see her own future, naturally helping Leslie would benefit herself sometime in the future.
To be more specific, she already knew the identity of this man who had covered his face with a mask. In the future, he would come to her again, and by then their history of having worked well together a few times would already be established. By then, she'd be able to help him find her future husband!
Vera almost burst into maniacal laughter as she thought of her plan, but quickly controlled herself. She had to maintain her dignity.
Eventually, without any unexpected incidents, Lex took out all the sparks. The Lightning vessel, too, was now giving off a bluish-silverish glow, as if it was almost filled to capacity.
He planned on using this lightning to help him improve the tribulation room later on. For now, he turned to look at Leslie, who looked completely bewildered.
"I believe now it's your turn," said Lex, ignoring the smoke coming out of his hands. So in the end, he still ended up burning both hands despite Impervious Hands and Domination.
Waking up from her reverie, Leslie looked at Lex with great admiration.
"Let's go somewhere private. I never do divinations in public," she said.
"I know just the place," Lex said and led her to the Chamber of Secrets. There was literally no place more private within the Inn.
As soon as they entered and got seated, Leslie began using her powers. Her regular eyes lost color, as if she was blind, and her eyes atop her forehead became black, as if they were reflecting endless darkness.
"I see a lot of regret," she said ominously, getting right into the thick of things.