hh

The group was stumped. That was not what they had been expecting at all. Such a thing could be replicated, and thus their own hopes of growing stronger were quashed.

But such a thing was completely bizarre. Technically speaking, all of them had already unlocked the bloodline they inherited from the Sephore family so there should be no bloodlines for them to inherit. They were also sure that William would not absorb any blood essence from any beast to unlock any bloodline either, due to his body carrying a seal for certain reasons. So where did the bloodline come from?

Did they have some ancient ancestor who was still alive and had created a special technique, allowing William to unlock it? But that didn't make sense. There was more than one issue with that theory.

What most who relied on bloodlines did not know was that the powers that appeared from bloodlines were not magically appearing out of nowhere. They were actually the result of the resonance between the blood and certain laws which brought about certain effects. Due to this little detail, someone who relied on a bloodline would always be weaker than someone who had mastery over the same laws. But at the same time, gaining access to certain laws due to a bloodline was infinitely easier than learning to control laws.

The fact that William suddenly gained a bloodline meant he suddenly had access to new laws. Yet just because he had a bloodline did not mean it would be good, or even strong. How much of a result a bloodline could produce from its corresponding law or laws usually determined how strong it was. For example, the Gelid Anima bloodline that William created was actually considered an S class bloodline, even superior to the A+ bloodline Jotun created for his own descendants. That meant the results it could display were incredible, but it was also that much harder to unlock the bloodline. That was the reason why his family was so much weaker than his brothers.

"What ability did you unlock?" Jotun asked, trying to understand the phenomenon.

"It's… it's an evolution of my Gelid Anima. You could basically say… I've gained the Gelid Anima myself, just an upgraded version. In the long term the bloodline won't be too useful, but it will drastically boost my comprehension of the laws involved in the bloodline to begin with. When that happens, I can continue to raise my realm without issue!"

The brothers were once again stumped. This situation was completely unheard of! Gelid Anima was a bloodline that was a weaker version of an ability William himself had created. Technically speaking, the bloodline was weaker than his own ability. Yet now, he had gained the bloodline, and it had somehow surpassed his own understanding of the laws involved in his technique! It made no sense!

"Do you know why it happened?"

William shook his head despondently. This was the most unusual power up of his life.

"We can continue to look into this situation later. For now, there's been a new development."

The brothers turned to look at Jotun, the seriousness of his expression letting them know this was no simple matter. Such an expression for him had been a rare occurrence as of late.

"I've received a reply from the Henali to the Innkeeper's proposal. They've rejected it, and made some… strong demands. Although the Innkeeper has been very hospitable so far, I don't want to take any risks. There's no way of knowing how he will react to getting such a refusal. I want all of you to exit the Inn, and return to the empire.

"We've been away for much too long, and let the human race lead itself. They have proven themselves to be what they have always been, susceptible to greed. We need to set things straight and strengthen our hold over the empire.

"Cease all expansion operations, and begin rooting out the problematic elements within the empire. In the next 10,000 years, I want the entire human race to undergo an evolution! The growth of the Origin realm has been sped up, and this is the time that we can use to strengthen our foundation. Opportunities can be found around every corner, so now start scouring the galaxies we control. Don't miss a single chance…"

Over the next few minutes, Jotun passed on a blueprint of what he wanted his brothers to do for the next few years. It was not said expressly, but it was understood that Jotun was caught in between two quarreling giants. There was nothing he could do if one of them wanted to vent their anger onto him except bear it.

Although the Innkeeper had not shown the kind of temperament to harm the messenger, he had also not been rejected and then made demands from before. Such a situation would anger even common mortals, let alone a Daolord. In fact, they all had seen exactly how the robot invader had been taken care of just a short while ago.

Not only had the specific robot been targeted, the others around it had also been harmed as a warning not to repeat its mistakes. If the Innkeeper had nurtured such a temperament in his employees, then he himself would be of a nature to appreciate such things.

Finally, there was no more to be said. Jotun did not need to micromanage things, his brothers were competent. Even if he died, he knew that the empire would not fall, for he had prepared for such a situation. Not to mention, it was not without reason that the Henali were using him to deliver messages. Over the years, he had done countless dangerous tasks for them, and in exchange they had provided him with the resources he needed to grow stronger, as well as develop his nation. If he died in the line of duty, a 15,000 year protection period would envelope his empire protecting it from invasion from external threats.

So with a direction for his empire decided, he instructed his brothers to finally leave. For better or for worse, he had to face the Innkeeper. Once his brothers left, Jotun adjusted his mood to make sure he was in the optimal state of mind.

Regardless of the danger, he took his tasks very seriously. If he had to confront a Daolord, he would do it. He just needed to be in the right frame of mind first.

Eventually, he was ready. He walked to the Innkeepers office and walked through the lobby. The walk never became easier, and humbled him every time he crossed. For some reason, the walk this time seemed especially daunting.

"I would like to see the Innkeeper," Jotun said to Luthor.

"He is indisposed for the moment," Luthor replied without a hesitation. Mary had already informed him that the Innkeeper would be busy for a short while. "I can inform him about your request once he returns if you wish."

"Very well. I will wait here in the meantime."

Not bothering with the pressure bearing down on him, Jotun took a seat in one of the waiting chairs and began to meditate. Regardless of the difficulty, he would wait until the Innkeeper was ready to see him.

The Recovery pod worked whether one was asleep or awake, so Lex did not really need to doze off. Theoretically, he could have stayed awake in the Recovery pod while it healed him, and continued to run the Inn remotely as he had done so often.

But things were not so straightforward. Although his advancement had made Lex much more resilient to injury, it also then took much more effort for him to recover. That meant that if previously a broken bone would take him one day to heal in the Recovery pod, now it would take him a week. Moreover, it had to be remembered that any injury Lex sustained reflected not only in his physical state, but his soul and spirit as well. An injury to his spirit affected his decision making skills, which meant that if he controlled the Inn remotely while in an injured state, he might not do much better than if he had just waited to begin with.

The last, and most significant matter to take into account, was that many bones in Lex's body were completely crushed. While such an injury would have killed a common man, and crippled other cultivators, it proved only an inconvenience to him - at least physically. Spiritually speaking, Lex did not dare trust himself to make any necessary decisions. While he himself felt like he was still in his right state of mind, such a thing did not mean he would risk it.

The best thing to do was sleep, which would allow him to feel like time was passing by faster. But the issue was, as a Golden core cultivator, he did not need to sleep much originally. But his current state itself was a remedy for such a situation.

Through vague sensations and hints, his intuition let him know that sleeping while injured would put his body into a sort of hibernation state. It would not only speed up healing, it would passively absorb spiritual energy into his body to replenish his energy needs and fuel his recovery. Naturally, sleeping in an area with higher concentration of spiritual energy was better. He did not need to make special preparations for that. The ambient energy within the Midnight Inn was enough.

So, for once, Lex fell asleep for a long, long time. Time passed by in a blur, and Lex had many dreams. In one dream, Lex received a prize from the Inn, in the form of a Patisserie, which he never ended up availing, depriving himself of its amazing offerings.

In another dream, he continued to live a normal life, and never received the system. His life seemed to continue to deteriorate as he got more and more depressed, until eventually one day he passed out while at work. When his tumor was discovered, it was revealed that it was pressing against his frontal lobe thus affecting his emotions. A surgery to remove it would be extremely dangerous, and would not guarantee that the tumor would not regrow. Eventually, he shared the news with his family. The dream ended after that.

In another dream, he never escaped the Crystal realm. He stayed there for years, and almost every time he was injured, nurse Honey would take care of him. Eventually, they developed a relationship and started a family. A few hundred years later, Lex finally broke into the Earth Immortal realm, which allowed the system to let him return. The dream ended after that.

In one other dream, he found himself hiding in a small crevice inside a dark canyon on a massive asteroid. He was being hunted by something that could harm him, and it was extremely dangerous. He needed to reach a specific destination before time ran out, so he couldn't even escape to the Inn. The dream ended when a massive yellow eye appeared in the darkness staring at him.

He saw a dream in which he went crazy hunting system users…

He saw a dream in which he identified as a banana…

He saw a dream in which hellfire rained down on the Inn, and Lex could do nothing to stop it…

The dreams were endless, and plagued his weary mind till they all seemed to blend into one, unending dream.

When he woke up, finally, for the first time in a long time, Lex did not feel well rested. In fact, he felt completely disoriented and drained. It reminded him of when he was a mortal, and he would take a nap that lasted too long. Instead of waking up refreshed, he would wake up feeling lightheaded and worn.

Lex groaned as he tried to move, but found that his body actually felt really weak. This was extremely unusual, for Lex had felt better even before he got in the RP to heal. He checked his body's condition using his spirit sense, and found that he had been completely healed. There was not even a sore muscle in his body, let alone a broken bone. He should have been feeling great instead of like this.

"Mary, how long was I out?" he asked, as he picked himself out of the pod.

"A little over three weeks," she replied.

"What? Three weeks! Why didn't you wake me up? What happened on earth? Did they never ask for an event?"

"No, as it turned out, no matter who they approached for help in blocking the invading robots, none accepted. Finally, the Jotun empire helped them out by organizing a meeting between the earthlings and some deities. They met in the Fire temple, and worked out a deal. As it turns out, deities have incredibly unusual powers, and they did not need the Inn to travel to earth.

"Currently, the earth has become the domain of the Deity of Water, Amana, alongside the Deity of Diamonds, Adamas. Any who believe in their religions are gaining incredibly potent powers to use against the robots. As of now, earth has become a massive battlefield. The casualties…" Mary paused for a moment.

"We have over 100 million refugees at the Inn at the moment, and more coming continuously. These are numbers we cannot maintain, especially as things are. The refugee camp has already become cramped."

Lex groaned once more when he heard the number of refugees at the Inn. Normally it would not have been a concern, and he would have handled the situation immediately, but currently he felt incredibly weak. Not only that, now that he was awake, he was developing a severe headache.

"Have someone find a few Minor realms suitable for large numbers and send me a list. At the same time, tell someone from earth and let them know that the refugees will be able to purchase the exclusive rights to a minor realm for a few decades. Tell them the small time frame is so that the price of the realm can be reduced to something they can afford."

In fact, the true reason he was doing things in such a convoluted way was to avoid continuing to build the impression that the Inn was based towards humans. His intuition had once warned him that continuing to do so would lead him into danger, and he took the matter seriously.

He wanted to do more to help make the situation better, but thinking too much made his headache worse.

"Other than that, a few things of note happened while you were asleep. Firstly, the emperor of the Jotun empire has been waiting in the lobby to meet the Innkeeper. Secondly, the Sovereign Galactic turtle has completed its breakthrough. It has grown stronger, which has somehow improved the yield of all the crops being planted at the Inn.

"Thirdly, Zagan and Alysha both passed the Midnight Inn employee test, and are currently both employees. Unfortunately, Zagan had to immediately apply for a holiday as soon as he started. The atmosphere at the Inn initiated a breakthrough he had been suppressing for a long time. He has already passed his lightning and fire tribulations. Right now, he is going through some other tribulation which cannot be seen.

"Fourthly… the fishing event came to a close, but the finale… I won't tell you. I think it's better you check the situation yourself when you feel better."

"Alright, alright, stop. Unless it's an emergency, just hold on till I feel better," Lex said as he held his aching head.

Unable to make sense of the situation, Lex teleported to the Midnight mountain to a remote and secluded cabin. He ordered a bunch of food, before stepping outside and lying down in the heap of snow. Perhaps food would make him feel better.

Soon, several meals worth of food was teleported to him, but he could not be bothered to get out of the snow, and continued to eat slowly. Immediately he realized that the quality of the food at the Inn had improved, as not only did it taste better, but it replenished his exhausted energy much better than anything else.

His state was so ridiculously weakened that he did not even notice when a young girl, huffing and panting, slowly approached the cabin where he was. She had trekked here the entire path by foot, which made her extremely exhausted.

It was only when the young girl was almost right besides Lex that he finally noticed her presence.

"Is your name Lex?" she asked between her heavy breaths, wiping off some sweat. As a Foundation realm expert, there was no way she should have been this exhausted from such a simple climb, but Lex did not pick up on that small detail at the moment.

Instead, he was more caught up in the fact that he knew the girl. Her name was Vera, and she was an oracle.

"Yes," he answered honestly. He knew a little about her, and knew that her random arrival was not so random at all.

"Excellent," she exclaimed and sat up right beside him. "Do you know anything about prophecy?"

Instead of waiting for him to reply, she ventured directly into a speech with a tone that sounded much too much as if it had been rehearsed.

"Prophecies come in many shapes and forms, and most people are ill informed about what prophecies really are. They are not a glimpse into the future, or a predestined path. Well actually, maybe kind of on a deeper level it might seem so, but all in all, prophecy is just glorified probability.

"Even the smartest minds, most incredible techniques and the most thorough calculations cannot accurately calculate the probability of any event happening when taking into account all of the variables in the entire universe. Or, usually, even in smaller regions of space such as a star system. Yet some people are born with unique bloodlines, abilities, or affinities that let them naturally access certain things that manage all the calculations on their behalf. I've been told it has something to do with laws, but I am not familiar with what they are.

"What I can tell you is that, most prophets or oracles or soothsayers or whatever you want to call them, can only calculate the probability within a small region, so when interference from outside that region comes in, it can completely mess up the probabilities. Moreover, almost any simple action at all can completely screw over the probabilities, making any prophecy unreliable.

"In summary, prophecies suck peanuts. But if someone can calculate the probability on a much larger scale, such as an entire galaxy, or larger, then their prophecies become much more reliable.

"Moreover, any divination, prophecy, or probability calculation, or whatever you want to call it, causes a serious burden on the person performing them. Most of the time, indulging too much in this can actually cause serious health issues, or even lead to death. Of course, the exertion also depends on the capabilities of the one doing the divination. If they're really talented, they could get away with foretelling an incredibly likely future and get away with something as light as a headache."

As soon as she finished her sentence, Vera jumped back up and began walking away. She did not bother to say goodbye, or explain herself at all. Instead, she just looked incredibly daunted by the task of climbing back down the mountain.

Lex, with his weary mind, was stunned by what had just happened. His eyes followed the visage of Vera walking away as he tried to understand what the point of that was. It was only a couple of minutes later that he came up with an answer.

Vera was an oracle herself. That not only provided her with great insight into the profession, it also guided her actions. She had once appeared quite timely to help him assess John's abilities before hiring him. As such, there was no reason to believe that her current actions, while bizarre, weren't guided by prophecy as well.

Lex groaned. His headache was really affecting him, and his exhausted state made it hard to even think. It had been much too long since he was in such a poor condition.

He reached for a plate of french fries and snacked on them as he continued to challenge his brain.

Vera did nothing without reason, so now he had to discover the reason behind this. She came to him unprompted and provided him with a lot of information about prophecy. Then, just as abruptly as she arrived, she left.

For a few seconds, he recalled everything she told him. Prophecy was actually probability… the greater the scale, the more likely the prophecy would be accurate… prophecies exacted a price which could be fatal… those talented in such arts could get away with only a headache…

Suddenly, he paused. Even in his current state, he was not so obtuse as to not connect certain dots. He had been sleeping for three weeks, during which time he had some crazy dreams. When he woke up, he was incredibly mentally drained and feeling very weak.

Had he somehow seen the future? Or the past? Did he… predict something? And if he did, what the hell was it?

He had to pause, as the emotional excitement and increased mental strain were putting a massive burden on him. With his fries finished, he bit into his hot dog and let his thoughts simply wander for a while.

When he felt a little better, the first thing he did was decide to reward Vera. He didn't know her motives, but she had clearly helped him out. MP should serve as a decent reward? How much should he pay her?

𝒍𝙞𝙗𝓻𝙚𝒂𝓭.𝒄𝙤𝙢

Unwilling to think too much, he ended up paying her 500,000 MP. Whether that was too much or too little; he did not have the brain capacity to think on it at the moment.

He picked up the plate of mantu and gobbled them down as he continued to try to recall his dreams and understand what they meant.

He recalled… he recalled never utilizing one of the Inn's rewards. Without hesitation, he pulled up the system and discovered that, indeed, he had a patisserie that had long been waiting for him to place.

Lex scratched his head and continued to think. But while he could still somewhat recall his memories, in the end, he gave up. His condition was much too poor. Although his bones had been healed, his brain had been majorly messed up.

He teleported to the Hot tub room and spent some time recuperating there before putting on his bathroom set and finding a place to relax a bit. Eventually, he dozed off in the lawn chair he was sitting in.

With a full belly, and his hibernation kicking in, Lex slept for another two days before waking up.

Unfortunately, even when he woke up this time, his headache and weakness remained. But he was still much better than before. At least he could think a little clearly without straining himself.

Once again, he tried to recall his dreams. Some of the dreams could not be his future. Instead, they were like possible alternate lives he could have lived. Those dreams were the first few. He particularly liked one in which he became extremely rich, moved to Dubai and lived like a Sheikh.

But slowly the dreams changed from potential lives he could have lived if things had played out differently in the past, to potential futures he could still have. For example, the rampage that he went on hunting system users. He could not recall exactly what happened in that dream, but he recalled enough to know that the dream ended very abruptly and poorly. It was entirely possible that while hunting system users he attracted too much attention which led to his demise.

The dream in which he identified as a banana was extremely vivid. He teleported to a world that was extremely unusual. Instead of animals, the planet was populated by living, sentient fruits. The mangoes ruled the planets, and as a banana, Lex was only a mere commoner.

Suddenly, he sat up straight. There was a dream he had in which the Inn was destroyed. Fire rained from the sky destroying everything, and Lex was powerless to stop it.

That dream was perhaps just as scary as the one where he was being hunted by the yellow eyed creature.

He started a list, and wrote down each dream with as much detail as he could clearly recall. 47 dreams filled his pages, but in the end, the remaining dreams were too unusual and fragmented for him to make out anything.

Once he was done, he tried to see if any of the dreams were possibly connected, or just happened at different times. Unfortunately, he could not figure it out. This would require some research on his part, as well as possible consultations with experts. He might even once again take Vera's aid. Especially if he wanted to accurately understand the meaning of those dreams.

But while he did not clearly make sense of all the dreams, he could gauge why he was so tired. While he was asleep, his brain was being used like a computer, calculating endless and random futures and pasts. As if that was not exhausting enough, the price he paid for the dreams left him incredibly vulnerable. Not that he could blame anyone. Who would be crazy enough to perform over 50 predictions of the future in such a short amount of time.

Compared to the potentially fatal consequences of looking into the future, being severely drained was not so bad. The issue now was, how to control this ability so he doesn't randomly look into the future again? Or, possibly, how to look into the future if he so wished.

"Where did this even come from?" Lex muttered as he ignored his throbbing head. There was no indication of him being able to look into the future before, nor had he encountered any upgrade which allowed as such.

The only possibility Lex could think of was the mention of how access to certain laws is what allowed people to calculate the probability of the future.

Lex took one last look at his list, before having a cup of Midnight Signature coffee brew. Feeling somewhat invigorated, Lex teleported to his office. Although he had numerous things to take care of, such as an ever-increasing number of refugees which had nearly completely overburdened the Inns capability to supply food, emperor Jotun had been waiting for him for weeks. He should really find out what that's about.

*****

The ship that had been hovering right above the earth had now moved farther away. The distance had to be kept not because of earth technologies, which were now back in working condition, but because of the intervention of deities.

Unlike what Mary had heard, deities were not omnipotent and couldn't traverse the origin realm as they pleased. But planets that had their religion were always within their domain. While Amana had an actual presence on earth, Adamas' access to the planet was a surprise even to the deity himself. In the vastness of space, diamonds were not so rare and so most large civilizations didn't treat them so significantly. Only on earth were they considered a woman's best friend. As such, the 'zealous' warriors of the diamond religion were mainly rich women who were previously mere housewives. Now they could be seen garbed in diamond plated armor, brandishing fierce weapons and clashing against robots across the globe.

No matter what anyone thought of them before the war, no one could doubt their resolve to step up when it was needed from them. On earth, at least, the domain of war no longer solely belonged to men.

But despite their working technology, no one on earth noticed a sleek silver ship approaching the planet at fast speeds. In fact, even the aliens, despite their superior technology, hadn't noticed it. That was simply because while the robots had the best technology, they couldn't always outfit each ship with every possible machine and scanner.

So, silently, the ship landed in an untouched part of India, before revealing a small opening through which a few humans jumped out. The group of 5 had perfectly concealed their identities using the most advanced stealth armor available to them, in case they had to engage in combat.

"Proceed with objective A and begin extraction of the VIP," commanded a cold yet scrambled voice. "I will engage in objective B."

With that, the leader of the group disappeared, leaving a young Alexander wondering… what the hell was objective B? He had only been briefed on the extraction!

Lex sat in his office chair and let himself feel his connection to the system deepen for a moment. A quick scan of the Inn let him know that everything was alright, or as much could be.

100 million people could not be accommodated in a small space, and an endless sprawl of tents covered much of the Inn's landscape. Alongside so many people came other problems, many of which were manageable, but some were completely unacceptable!

Fights, arguments and small conflicts kept breaking out amongst the crowd, which Lex didn't mind too much as long as they did not escalate and were resolved timely. What Lex had absolutely no tolerance for was public urination and defecation!

Each and every tent had a separate compartment added just to provide facilities to avoid such a situation, yet some still insisted on relieving themselves in the wind. Although the security team had been strict about such matters, they had not been as strict as Lex would have wanted. A single warning was passed to every single refugee, which entailed that they needed to follow the rules or be kicked out of the Inn!

He hadn't had this problem even with the children in his spaceship daycare, so why were full fledged adults having such problems? Fortunately for them, and for Lex's conscience, no one tested the warning once it was given. For now.

Other parts of the Inn had some minor issues as well, but Lex didn't want to focus on them for now. He finally called Jotun to his office.

The emperor stepped in, with no indication of the pressure he had undergone the past few weeks showing up on his face. He looked like he came fresh from a spring bath, and his clothes lacked a single crease. His bearing was regal, and befitting that of his station.

𝓁𝘪𝘣𝘳ℯ𝒶𝘥.𝘤𝑜𝓂

At a glance, all appeared as it should be. But that in itself was the biggest tell that something unusual was going on. Despite his status, Jotun had always been extremely humble in front of the Innkeeper.

Since Lex knew he wasn't in the best state of mind, he instantly entered the Flow state. He suspected that this was a meeting he would have to handle with extreme care.

"Apologies for making you wait for so long," the Innkeeper said, his voice as calm and soothing as always. "I had some urgent matters occupying me."

"Not at all, Innkeeper. I was the presumptuous one to suddenly arrive without warning. Please excuse my hurried behavior. If the situation had not required urgency, I would have requested your assistant to schedule a time like I have done previously."

"If the matter is urgent, then we should not delay. Please, let me know how I can be of assistance."

The emperor took out a familiar-looking item from his spatial ring and presented it to the Innkeeper. The Innkeeper did not show any change in expression as he picked it up and observed it closely. He knew what this was, for he had received one before. It was an epistle from the Henali.

"Do you know what this is about?" the Innkeeper asked Jotun.

"I cannot guess all that it contains, but I know some of its content at least. You can give me your answer and I can send it back on your behalf."

The Innkeeper merely nodded and reached for the Innkeeper's letter opener, which was placed neatly on his table on the right. Each and every gesture and movement of the Innkeeper radiated calm and collectedness. There was no rush or nervousness to be detected, even as he used the letter opener to undo the seal on the epistle.

With the seal undone, the epistle unfurled as if it was a scroll, and laid before the Innkeeper its contents.

The language was strange and incomprehensible, yet at the same time Lex could read it even without the need of his universal translator.

Mr. Innkeeper,

I trust that this missive will find you in a timely fashion. There are two matters of importance, and one notification that I am compelled to inform you of through this letter: your participation in the Fuegan war efforts, your overdue payment for entering the Origin realm, and your subsequent eligibility to participate in the Henali Champions tourney.

Firstly, it has been brought to my attention that due to the neutral stance your organization takes, you do not wish to directly participate in the Fuegan war efforts. Yet, the Henali have issued a directive to all civilizations and organizations of a qualifying rank, as well as inter-realm guests. This is not a request but rather a condition that must be met for those who wish to continue to exist in the Origin realm. Your contribution, thus, is critical and a failure to comply will result in dire consequences. While Daolords are exempted from personal participation, a sufficient force must be sent to represent you and your organization.

Secondly, although our records fail to document your entry into the realm, they also successfully indicate that the necessary payment to enter the Origin realm remains unpaid on your behalf. I strongly recommend you take immediate action to rectify the illegal status you currently have within the Origin realm by paying your outstanding dues. Failure to do so will most definitely jeopardize your personal interests.

Finally, once you have obtained your legal status, the Midnight Inn will be eligible to send one or more representatives in the Henali Champions tourney. The tourney is a grand tradition with numerous rewards and a far reaching audience, beyond even the Origin realm, and so is perfect to promote your business.

Additionally, please be informed that your suggestion to use the Midnight Inn for Henali war efforts and other activities has been taken into consideration. The possibility of hosting the Fuegan kill competition at your venue is within the range of possibility.

Awaiting your response,

Klaus.

A letter such as this would have previously intimidated Lex, and even given him trouble. Now though, he only wondered if one of the dreams he saw had something to do with this.