477-487

Chapter C477 Curse

The man who was addressed as Emperor only slightly nodded to the soldier and kept on walking. The four men behind him didn't slow their pace either, though one of them, a tall, young looking man with dark hair and brown eyes, looked at the soldier for a brief moment.

"Why did that soldier recognize me, William?" the Emperor asked casually using his spiritual sense.

"Lieutenant Dan is a child from the Aragoni noble family. 3000 years ago you met one of their ancestors at a formal event and took a photo with them. It is likely framed in their family home. Another likely reason is that he is from the regiment led by General Ragnar, someone from Serafol's faction. Not only is Ragnar extremely loyal to the royal family, his growth record is phenomenal and he has shown excellent potential. Although he does not know it, his name has been entered into the potential candidates to marry into the royal family."

Jotun merely nodded and kept on walking. Under the instructions of the Henali he had arrived at the Midnight Inn to have a meeting with the Innkeeper. Yet he was informed the Innkeeper was currently occupied and they would have to wait.

Jotun didn't mind. This seemed like an interesting place, with multiple tribulations happening at the same time. He could take this time to relax.

He walked into the bar inside the Midnight manor to find it mostly occupied by some group. The Emperor ordered a drink and sat in the corner to allow himself to relax. Yet before he could do so, he heard an interesting conversation.

"Truck-kun? A serial killer who can travel across multiple galaxies?"

Interest flickered in his eyes as he continued to listen.

*****

Lex continued to look at where Anakin had been when he disappeared, but found nothing. While he hadn't tested out finding him with his spirit sense, just the fact that Anakin could hide from his eyes either meant that he overestimated his eyes' capabilities, or that Anakin's abilities were more formidable than they appeared. Especially when one considered that he was just in the Qi training realm!

"Not bad," Lex commented, and looked to his left. Though Lex could not see him, his intuition was still working. If Anakin wanted to prank him, it would take a lot more than just that.

Anakin was so startled when Lex looked at his invisible self directly in the eyes that his powers failed.

The prankster quickly regained composure when he realized that he had become visible again, and returned to his seat as calmly as if nothing had happened.

"You're right," Noman spoke as well as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "I can tell when someone is lying. I can even tell if what I'm reading is a lie. Even if someone tells the truth, but in a deceptive way, so that the understanding I get is false, I can tell it's a lie. Moreover, my ability has nothing to do with cultivation level. I've never met someone, regardless of how weak or strong they were, who was able to lie to me successfully."

'That's not true,' Lex mimicked him in his mind in amusement. Still, he was observing him closely. That ability… was very impressive, and if it was not limited by cultivation realms… Well, Lex was tempted to hire him as an employee of the Inn right away!

"Not that I'm doubting you or anything, but do you mind if I test it out?" Lx asked as he focused more closely at the waves being emitted from Noman.

"Sure, go ahead."

"My name is Lex," he said and observed if there was any reaction. Nothing unusual happened, and Noman didn't do anything either.

"I am 27 years old," Lex said once again. He did not want to use obvious lies, and planned on mixing a few truths into his statements. Once or twice he might mention an absurd lie just to see if Noman himself identifying the lie made any difference on his ability, and what effect it had on those waves.

As he suspected, from the moment he started speaking there was a disruption in the waves. From being colorless, they gained a red color which, then, was absorbed into Noman's body. The moment the color was completely absorbed, Noman whispered, "he's lying."

Lex accepted the answer and was about to continue when something even stranger happened. Noman looked up at Lex and said aloud, "you're lying."

Lex frowned, and said a few more lines. The pattern with Noam repeating himself twice continued. Even the rest of the group began to notice that something unusual was going on, and the confused looks on their faces told Lex that this wasn't something they were aware of.

"Do you mind if I try something?" Lex asked.

"Go ahead," Noman answered confidently. No one had been able to disrupt his ability before and he was confident it would continue that way.

Lex walked up to him and said, "I'm actually bald."

The red colored waves appeared once again, but this time Lex quickly moved his hand right above Noman's head, blocking the waves. Something absurd happened.

The waves passed through Lex's hand, though he felt a strange resistance, but the red color remained behind.

This time, Noman did not unconsciously whisper out that Lex was lying, but he did confidently look at Lex and declared his lie - completely ignoring the fact that identifying such an obvious lie should not have made him proud.

But he did not get the reaction he was hoping for, as not only Lex, but the entire group was looking at him in a strange way.

Lex tried a few more, less obvious lies and the same thing happened. Lex did not know what the red color was, or why he was able to interact with it, but he did make a deduction of what was happening to Noman.

He looked at Anakin and asked, "does he always whisper when someone lies near him."

"Yes," Anakin answered, at exactly the same time as Noman who said, "no."

Lex frowned for a moment while he considered the possibilities, before he made his way back to his seat.

"Noman, before you came to the Inn, was there any chance someone was targeting you? It may have been a subtle feeling you had, or maybe you saw some hints indicating it."

"There was nothing subtle about it. There was a group of people trying to kidnap me. If I had not been delivered a golden key just in time, I would have been caught. Why do you ask?"

"Hmm, it's just as I thought," Lex said slowly. "Someone has put a curse on you. Every time your ability is used, you can't help but say it out loud. There might be other aspects to it as well. My guess is, they're using that to track you. If you had tried to hide anywhere other than the Inn, they would have found you."

Suddenly, everyone in the group had an abrupt realization. Noman wasn't an idiot or completely oblivious to his own actions, as they had assumed. Someone had cursed him.

Chapter C478 So Many Secrets

"A curse?" Noman repeated, startled. The scariest thing was that he could tell Lex wasn't lying. Moreover, everyone's reaction told him that they believe him too.

"Well, to be specific, I don't know if it's a curse or a technique or something, but yes someone has definitely done something to you. As for the tracking bit, that's purely my guess as well, but it makes sense. If I was kidnapping you, and came close enough to mark you, I would definitely leave some kind of tracker on you as well."

Noman frowned but relaxed just as quickly. He leaned back into his chair comfortably and said, "well I wasn't planning on leaving the Inn anytime soon, anyway. If they have the guts to try to kidnap me here, I say they should go for it."

Lex was taken aback by Nomans' cavalier attitude, but it seemed like whatever he said made sense. Since the 'curse' was not harming him, and he was not planning on returning, there was no point in being worried. Besides, there was a very decent possibility that one day he'd be able to remove the curse on himself right from the Inn.

Lex shrugged and leaned back into his own chair. Regardless of the curse, Noman was worthy of keeping an eye on. The truth only thing was tricky, but with his intuition always reminding him to be careful of what he said around Noman, there wasn't a chance he'd forget.

The group was also taken aback by Noman's attitude, but it wasn't their place to comment.

With Anakin and Noman starting to share already, there wasn't much point in holding back. But unfortunately, not everyone was as open as the other two.

"Knowing my secret is not really relevant to anything we're doing," Souta said calmly, "but for the sake of building trust I'll share with you what I shared with the rest. For certain reasons, I had to obey Suzuki's every instruction, regardless of whether I wanted to or not. He took advantage of that to make me do many immoral acts for his own profit. I was more than happy to see him disposed of, and I did not hesitate to let them know that unless they fought him some place he couldn't call me, he would force me to participate. If that were the case, their chances of success... let's just say they were really bad."

"What about why you're still hanging around?" Lex asked, not worried that his excessive attention towards Souta would cause curiosity or suspicion. After all, the man was a former assassin. It would in fact be strange if Lex weren't wary at all.

"Not to sound too critical, but Rafael was not wrong to question my motives. I still don't understand yours, though. You have been freed of your master's control, so why are you still around?"

This time, even the cool and collected Rafael turned to look at Souta. With Noman present it was all but guaranteed that they could not lie, so while asking such a question was normally pointless, in the current situation it was a good way of ensuring no one was plotting against them.

Souta did not seem perturbed by the questioning though, and responded calmly.

"I had intentions to make amends to those that I have wronged. Anakin suggested that he knew a way that would allow me to make up for my sins. Since I lacked any ideas of my own, I decided to stick around."

Anakin nodded firmly, as if proud of his role in making Souta stay. Lex was unsatisfied with the answer, but he didn't press on. It seemed like he would have to take a more direct approach if he wished to get real answers. For now, that would have to wait.

"Before I share mine," said Rafael, once silence fell between the group and it was obvious that Lex had no more questions. "Why don't you share the source of your information first? That way, when I explain my part, everyone will have a clearer picture of the situation."

Lex looked at Rafael silently for a moment. Of the entire group, he was the one who gave Lex the most trouble. Even Noman's ability didn't put as much actual pressure on him. He did not at all behave like Lex expected. For a brief moment he wondered if someone had reincarnated in Rafael's body the way Ming Jie had reincarnated in the mountain. But he dismissed the thought the moment it entered. If he started suspecting everyone he met of something so absurd, he himself would go insane.

"My source is fairly simple," Lex said lightly, as if it wasn't really such a big secret. "Have you seen the Midnight news building? Well, if you've been inside you'd know that other than what they sell on the newsletter, you can also purchase additional information. This file is available there."

"Impossible," Rafael said, shaking his head. "If news like this was being sold so openly, everyone would know about it. I haven't been to the news building, but I'm positive they wouldn't be selling such news. At least, it would not be so simple to get one's hands on it."

Lex flashed Rafael an amused smile, and then eyed Noman. His meaning was clear. Noman had not mentioned he was lying, so clearly it meant it was the truth.

Yet Lex did not mean to leave things at that. It was clear that everyone in the group had intentions of their own with the group. Anakin wanted to make money, Larry wanted revenge, and Rafael clearly wanted something too - though he didn't know what that was yet.

Even Souta must have had some other ideas - he was sure of it.

But amongst them all, Lex was perhaps the person with the most to gain. Not only did he want to hire them at the Inn if they showed potential, he was about to use them to link his multiple identities together.

"Well of course that's not the kind of stuff they sell to the public. That kind of news is only available to the Inn's staff. Like me."

Lex summoned his Clark Kent glasses and put them on. "Let me introduce myself again. My name is Leo, and I run the Gamer's Den."

Chapter C479 Showing Off

"Let me introduce myself again," said Lex, wearing a casual smile. But it was not his usual handsome face that wore the smile. Instead, the face appeared slightly more mature, with deep-set eyes and a jawline sharp enough to cut through steel. His voice also changed, becoming slightly heavier and lower.

The faint glimmer of amusement in his eyes and the teasing tone in his voice matched his new persona well. The face he wore looked like it was on the verge of causing mischief at any given moment, but at the same time, presented a trustworthy and reliable facade. He looked like the kind of person who would be forgiven even if he caused trouble all the time, just because everyone knew he never meant any harm.

Yet even if he did mean harm, what could anyone do anyway?

"My name is Leo, and I run the Gamer's Den."

From the distracted Larry, to reclining Noman, to the slouching Anakin, to even the ever proper Rafael, everyone in the room suddenly sat up straight as goosebumps covered their bodies. With wide eyes and chaotic minds, they looked at the man who was now sitting amongst them and tried to wrap their head around the news they had absorbed.

It was not just a matter of Lex actually being an Inn employee, which was mind blowing enough. No, instead the shock was because not only was he a worker of the Inn, he was the mysterious employee who had seemed to pop out of nowhere.

A single worker appearing or disappearing, amongst the numerous that worked in the various areas of the Inn, should not have been worthy of any interest. In fact, besides a few prominent workers, such as Z, who made regular appearances at the arena, most people did not know any of the workers.

So then why was the reaction to Leo so strong? And why was he described as mysterious?

It was because no one had heard of him, or the few that knew him had seen him so long ago they forgot he even existed. Yet, one day, he suddenly popped up out of thin air, and as a Foundation level expert, single handedly defeated over 300 Nascent realm cultivators!

This was not an insignificant accomplishment! In fact, Lex himself had no idea of the impact that single action had made. Earth alone was ruled by 5 Nascents for decades. The entire planet and all its countries and armies were vassals of those 5 people. Yet Lex fought off over 300 of them at the same time! HE DID THAT WHILE HE WAS IN THE FOUNDATION REALM!

Now, he sat amongst them, as a newly reached Golden Core level expert. Not a single one of them took Lex's strength lightly, from the extremely strong Larry to the system wielder Souta, to the much experienced Rafael.

There were simply no words to elaborate the insanity of the achievement properly. The fact that Larry fought Suzuki for days before being able to kill him spoke of the difficulty involved in a fight at a higher level. Yet Lex had taken a few hours, if at that.

"Access to news like that is just one of the perks that the Inn's employees get. You'll understand if I maintain my silence about some other details relating to the Inn. What's more important is that you understand that the information I got was directly from the Inn's sources. Some time ago, I had Marlo deliver the file to Fernanda. I had hoped that whoever was really behind all this would treat this matter seriously. After all, according to what I know, they were very particular about civilian casualties in cultivator matters. But either there is a holdup I'm not aware of, or they don't really care as much as I had expected for some reason, because no new action has been taken against the prisoners. At least as far as I know. This is not exactly an easy situation to investigate."

Lex looked at the bewildered Larry and then at Rafael. He gave the fellow a teasing wink, but said nothing else. He had said his part, and now it was the others turn to explain.

Rafael took in a deep breath as countless thoughts ran through his mind. This Lex… or Leo, whoever he was, could be phenomenal help to his own cause in the future.

A confident yet sly smile appeared on the man's face as he looked back at Lex.

"Well, your source is pretty good. I guess now it's time to tell you mine," he said, completely giving into Lex's incessant goading. He wanted to show off his own secrets as well. But regardless of how impressive his own secrets were, just by wanting to show off, a chink in his previously impenetrable armor appeared. He was finally playing according to Lex's tune instead of maintaining his composed state.

After all, the mere thought of wanting to show off would end up causing him to reveal a lot more than he might originally have planned to. The more he revealed, the more leverage Lex would gain.

"Actually, my source is fairly straightforward as well. My own memories are my source. You see, I am from the future, and I have already lived a very long time on Earth. It was only at the moment of my death that I was able to use a special treasure to travel back into my own body, so many years into the past."

The inception of this chapter's publication is linked to n(0)vel(b)(j)(n).

The previously confident Lex was startled and nearly fell off his chair as he looked up at Rafael in shock. Then he turned to Noman, expecting him to whisper something. Yet when he didn't, he looked back at Rafael with eyes wide.

Rafael didn't show it, but internally he was greatly satisfied by Lex's reaction, and continued to elaborate.

"Actually, it's not so impressive. The future has already drastically changed for the entire earth just because of a few minor changes that happened. But some things… some things will not change no matter what happens on earth.

"I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but the solar system is in a region called the Dead zone. Dead zones are regions of space which suffer from a severe lack of spiritual energy. Yet in a few years, the deadzone in which the solar system exists will spontaneously undergo a change, bringing back spiritual energy in a flood. While that seems like a good thing, there is a prisoner being held on Earth that is akin to a Goddess, known as Bastet."

Lex displayed an unusual expression at the mention of the name, but Rafael only assumed it was feedback at his news, further satisfying him secretly.

"With the return of spiritual energy, she will escape the prison. Such a thing is not really anyone's fault, but a few years later that will cause problems too. But, what's more relevant to your question of how I know the empire won't act against whoever rules on earth, comes next. With the return of spiritual energy, the earth entered what everyone assumed would be a prosperous era. But that couldn't be farther from the truth.

"While earthlings enjoyed the abundant spiritual energy, what no one knew was that there were a number of alien races that had been dormant for god only knows how long on numerous planets, moons and asteroids all across the dead zone."

Rafael paused, and his previous smug appearance disappeared, replaced by a somber one.

"The first race we came across was called the locusts - at least by the earthlings. It was not because they looked like insects, which they did. No, it was because they came like a calamity, blotting out the horizon with their vast numbers. Starved for hundreds of millennia probably, they ate anything and everything that contained spiritual energy, leaving nothing in their wake. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. One by one, they devoured the planets in the solar system, starting from the furthest out."

He paused again, lost in memory for a few moments.

"That was the first time I experienced hopelessness. They came from all directions, with the sun as their target. Any planet that stood in their way was nothing more than food. If they had come from a single direction, maybe we could have made a stand with the earth as a battlefield to block them. But no, from all directions, as well as up and below, they swarmed, blotting out the stars in the sky.

"Fortunately, no matter how powerful they were, they could not cross the distance between the planets and the sun in a short time. That gave us just enough time, not only to wallow in our impending doom, but also to be saved. That was the first time I heard the name of the Jotun empire, when their fleets suddenly appeared one day surrounding the planet, getting ready to eliminate the invading enemies.

"That was also when I learned that… the earth, for thousands of years already, had been the private property of some noble family in the Jotun Empire."

Rafael looked back at the bewildered 'Leo' and took great pleasure in his surprised expression. How could he have known that while 'Leo' had said not a single word, he had put on that entire display or surprise to entice Rafael to say more. In truth, Lex had long gotten used to encountering world redefining things, so how could a little time travel take him by surprise?

He also discovered another way to take advantage of Noman's ability and presence.

Chapter C480 Uncertain Future

After a few moments of acting taken aback, Lex had recomposed himself. After all, over acting was a thing, so he couldn't act like he was surprised by everything. Or at least he had to pretend like he was trying to regain composure.

A part of Rafael was disappointed to see him retreat behind his unreadable expression, but it was to be expected.

"I don't want to delve too deeply into the matter, but suffice to say, the empire played a big role in how events progressed in the future. The battle was not an easy or a simple one, despite the advanced technology of the empire, and lasted a few years. You may not be surprised to learn that many from earth were conscripted into that war - we had the most to lose, after all. I don't know if the empire couldn't send more forces our way, or just didn't think it was worth it. What I do know is that, after the war had been won, the empire left much in the same manner they arrived - silently and without warning. They did not reform the planet, despite its severe mismanagement, the way they had done in the Vegus system. I suspect that had a lot to do with the nobles who owned the planet.

"But though the war was over, and the majority of the locusts had been killed, many had still survived. It was those remaining few locusts that became the bane of earth's existence for the next few years, until, eventually, the next alien species that had been dormant finally revealed itself."

Rafael closed his eyes and took a deep breath in. So many things happened back then, and since he was involved in all of them, he never really had the time or energy to think too deeply about them. So many things didn't make sense, and hinted at the fact that there were secrets hidden behind them. But even if he had realized those things back then, he was just a soldier caught up in endless battles. How was he supposed to have discovered those secrets anyway?

He reopened his eyes and looked at Lex.

"So you see, the empire will not interfere because earth is already a part of the empire. Moreover, I don't know how much of a role the 'owners' of earth play in allowing the prisoners to wreak havoc, but I definitely know that at least for a time, earth will have to depend on them."

"So you want to just ignore whatever is happening on earth for the sake of the future?" Lex asked, his irritation evident in his voice. But he calmed down quickly without Rafael even having to give a response.

Some people may argue that Lex had weak morals, but that was far from the truth. He was just not an idealist, and he could see how antagonizing these people might be worse than just letting them be. After all, even if he became much stronger very quickly, it would not be to the level where he could protect the entire solar system depending only on himself, let alone the fact that Rafael said that there were other issues that earth faced.

"Alright, even if we avoid challenging them, for now, it does not solve Larry's problem. We can't just ignore the very real threat to his life."

"These are things I have no prior knowledge of from my last life. All I can say is, hope that whoever your target is, is not too important. Or at least he is someone whose death can be accepted."

"Let's hope," said Lex blandly. He had no intention of relying on his luck anymore, so that was a terrible idea, but he wasn't going to argue with Rafael needlessly over it.

"And then what about the various problems you saw in the future? I get not wanting to share that you know the future with anyone. After all, I can see how anyone you tell might want to target you because of it, and there's no guarantee that anyone would even help. But if you tell me what other problems you foresaw, we might be able to work out solutions to them."

Rafael shook his head, as if it was pointless.

"Too much of the future has changed, and too much is too sensitive to change. I can't be sure what problems might still happen, and I'm not sure what problems might change or become worse if I share information about them. I'm making preparations of my own, and keeping a close eye on all events. As soon as I can confirm the situation is heading down the path I recall, I can react, or share the information with you. But if I give you warnings, there's a very decent chance something you might do to prevent the situation makes it worse. On this, all any of you can do is trust me."

Lex remained silent, and looked the other people in the eye one by one. None of them seemed too surprised by what they heard. It seemed they had already had this conversation with Rafael before. Well, that, and for Noman it made sense since he had no affiliation to earth at all.

"That brings us back to Larry's issue. Ignoring everything else, we still don't know who the actual perpetrator is."

"If we can bring the prisoners to the Inn, we can easily discover the truth using Noman," said Anakin.

"Easier said than done. One of the reasons it's been so hard to check if there have been any changes with the prisoners is because they've stopped coming to the Inn. Their golden keys must have been withdrawn at some point."

"Alright, so we somehow deliver the keys to them, wait for them to escape from their prison to the Inn, and then use Anakin to discover who is the person targeting Larry. Once we know that, back on earth, we can take care of them. Or, if they're stupid enough, we challenge them on the murder grounds."

"To deliver the keys, we will need to know the location of the prisoners. I'm sure that's not so easy to discover," said Larry as he looked around the room. "Even if we discover the location, it is surely being guarded and it won't be so easy to overcome"

"Let's take things one step at a time," said Lex. "I'll try to see if I can learn where the prisoners are being held, and if it's possible to get a golden key to them. If I can't find a good solution, we can brainstorm a few other ideas. In the meantime, Rafael, why don't you go ask your dad to meet Fernanda and have an upfront conversation? Having a direct source of what their stance is will be much better for us than guessing on our own. Who knows, maybe she'll even be open to some negotiations."

"You want my dad to… confront Fernanda? You know how that'll probably go, right?"

Lex just shrugged and said, "not really. I'm tempted to say that he'll just go and fight her, but Marlo is a King and an extremely successful businessman. If he didn't know how to maneuver difficult situations, he wouldn't have had much success in either field."

Rafael shook his head, but said nothing.

"Is there anything else?" Lex asked, taking off his glasses. It would be bad if Leo was seen exiting the chamber with everyone while Lex had been the one to enter with them.

"Say, hypothetically speaking, one wanted to become an employee of the Inn. How would one go about doing that?" Anakin asked in a seemingly very casual manner.

Lex smiled, but did not immediately reply. He looked at everyone sitting in the room in their eyes to try and gauge their interest. All of them seemed to be paying attention.

"You have to attract the Inn's attention, in the right way. If the Innkeeper sees potential in you, he might give you a platinum key which will allow you to take a test to see if you're worthy to work for the Inn. You can try giving the Mystery trial a go as well. Just to be clear, the trial won't get you hired, but there's a chance your performance might attract attention. I won't say anymore than that. Learning potentially sensitive information might not be the best thing for you."

No one asked any more questions about that, so it seemed like it was time for them to leave. Right before he got up, however, Lex looked at Rafael and said, "since you're adamant about keeping the future hidden, I won't try to persuade you otherwise. But you should know, Bastet has already been a guest at the Inn and, while I can't say for certain, I suspect she has already left the Earth."

Lex did not wait for Rafael to respond and just left. Rafael himself, though, was greatly startled, and even paled a bit.

If Bastet had already left… that would seriously affect his plans for the future. After all, in his previous life, the treasure he got to travel back in time was something he got with her help. In this life, however, he seemed to possess it already inside his body. What was going on?

Chapter C481 Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong

Estonia, Earth

In Tallinn, the capital of the country, a man entered an inconspicuous house. From the outside it seemed to match every other house in the neighborhood, and in fact, the interior seemed ordinary as well. But the facade was broken when the man reached a particular storeroom and, in a practiced fashion, unlatched a trap door in the ground and began to descend into a hidden basement.

He was not greeted by a dim hall or makeshift construction, but a brightly lit hall with remarkable ventilation considering its depth. The marble floors, the patterned wallpapers and beautiful paintings did not give the impression that the man had descended into a secret layer, but rather the lavish home of a rich man.

Further down the corridor were a series of doors, but the one the man entered opened into a large laboratory that had numerous computers as well as testing equipment, as well a chair hooked up to a number of medical equipment.

"How was it?" asked a middle aged man who had already been present in the room, talking to a number of scientists.

"The transaction went through without a hitch. I have the program, and he made sure to destroy all the equipment used to design this in front of me," replied the man as he produced an ordinary looking USB.

"Excellent. Begin testing immediately. Once we've run all the diagnostics, we can upload the program."

With his orders given, everyone in the room began to work. Despite the secretive nature of the operation, nothing sinister was being done in this underground lab. The man giving the orders was called Adrus, and was one of Will Bentham's partners in the Rose Society.

Despite his advanced age, the man was stuck in the early stages of Qi training. No matter how much money he had or spent, he was unable to speed up his cultivation. The matter became even worse when he discovered that his own kids shared his ineptitude in the way of cultivation.

Even the appearance of the magical Midnight Inn did not seem to improve his situation much, though if he had participated in the star rating upgrade ceremony things might have been different.

But he was not resigned to such a fate. As a highly educated man of means, he created his own solution instead of relying on others. Investing heavily in the medical and technological sectors for many years already, the man ultimately reached his end goal.

As he sat down in the chair attached to numerous medical equipment, he couldn't help but feel excited. Soon he would be put to sleep, and when he woke up, his life would be completely different.

Using the most advanced technology earth had to offer, alongside the numerous advances inspired by alien technology, he had designed an implant that would be attached to his skull and linked to his brain. The implant would be run using the latest and greatest artificial intelligence on earth, ChatGDaddy!

The A.I. only had one directive, despite its advanced capabilities. It would run Adrus' cultivation technique for him all the time, maintaining peak efficiency, allowing Adrus to raise his cultivation quickly.

This was completely a good thing, and couldn't possibly lead to anything bad at all.

*****

The moment Lex exited the chamber of secrets, his connection to the Inn was fully restored, but at the same time he felt himself forget a lot of information. He remembered clearly what he had shared with the group, as well as the discussion about how they would all proceed next. Yet he forgot everything relating to whatever secret Anakin and Rafael had shared. Souta hadn't shared much to begin with, Larry hadn't shared at all. For Noman he could clearly remember his ability to tell the truth, as well as the fact that he had discovered a curse on him. This was because Noman himself volunteered to allow them to remember this information.

"Hey Lex, if you're free, why don't I introduce you to my girlfriend," said Larry, whose usual grin had returned. No one was better than him at masking his emotions, Lex included.

"I have a few things I need to take care of," said Lex with an apologetic smile. "But I definitely want to meet her. How about we all meet up when you find that spiritual treasure for me?"

"Sounds good," Larry said, and waved goodbye.

Although Lex himself had forgotten many things, the rest had also forgotten about his identity as Leo. That did not, however, go against Lex's plan to drop a few hints about his identity all over. Any hints he had to drop had to be extremely subtle, as if he had been genuinely trying to hide his identity. After all, anyone who would try to investigate his identity at the Inn would need considerable discretion as well as skill. Such people would also be very intelligent, and would detect obvious hints in a heartbeat. But if they had to work hard to discover a lead, they would not suspect that it had been planted, and instead would feel like they had outsmarted the target.

"Lex, there are some guests here who want to meet you," told Mary as her hologram appeared beside Lex.

"They can wait a bit, I have a few things I need to do," said Lex, before teleporting to his office.

While there were many things he forgot, he remembered clearly that the empire was no longer a suitable target for help regarding the matter on earth. Even if Lex found the fact that they had to give up on interfering with earth acceptable, which he did not, there were other things that required his attention. While he had forgotten Rafael's secret, he clearly remembered the scale of importance he felt that his secret had. It was quite high.

Higher than Rafael, though, was Anakin. Due to his ostentatious personality and non-serious display, it was easy for people to underestimate him. But Lex had made too many mistakes to easily underestimate anyone. The fact that he seemed the most forgettable of the entire group… made him the most dangerous and valuable, potentially.

Lex opened up a diary and began taking notes. If he was going to analyze his entire interaction with the group to try and determine what their secrets were based on that, he would need to write down everything.

C482 Recently Deceased

Lex twirled a pen in between his fingers as he looked at the page filled with his notes. It hadn't taken him too long, an hour at most, to list everything he knew about them completely and try to analyze what secrets they hid.

Larry's was pretty straightforward, especially since he had seen his fight in the Murder grounds. Perhaps it was his affinity, or maybe his cultivation technique, or something else entirely, but it was obvious that it had something to do with metals.

Using the clues that he had, as well as the nature of the universe to do absolutely absurd things, Lex concluded that Larry's entire body had either turned into metal or was in the process of it. He had complete control of the metal within his own body, as well as potentially complete control of great influence on external metals. He could heal his body using metals, and there was a huge possibility that he could also cultivate by absorbing metals as well.

A single glance was all it took for Lex to locate the various metal extraction requests he was doing through the Guild room. That information only reinforced all the guesses that Lex had about him. In fact, he further went out on a limb and guessed that the whole reason Larry was being hunted, and that his family had been targeted, had something to do with his metal related abilities.

It was very standard protagonist stuff, with extreme potential for growth. If Lex could provide him with a continuous supply of metals, he had the potential to become a great worker at the Inn.

Next was Noman. His utility need not be explained, and Lex valued him a lot as a potential worker. His curse was a potential risk and a threat, and would require Lex to do some research on it.

With Rafael, Lex was unable to guess his secret, but Lex firmly concluded that his personality had already developed greatly, and that he was a man with a goal. It would not be easy to influence him unless it related to his goals, so regardless of how valuable his secret might be, he was not a good candidate as a worker.

That left behind Anakin and Souta. Anakin seemed easy to approach, but he hid his true intentions deeply. Or at least that was Lex's conclusion. As a result, it was best to observe him some more before making a decision.

Souta, on the other hand, was very straightforward despite his secrecy. Lex only needed to find a single way to penetrate his wall of secrets, and then everything that he was hiding would be displayed openly for Lex to see.

He took a few more minutes to stare at the page while he devised a plan of action, before turning his attention back to his festival. More or less, things had been going well so far. Now it was time to plan for the series of events that would kick off at the start of the third week.

Lex smiled as he pulled up the proposals brought forth by the planning division. There were 3 main things that would occur during the next few weeks, and two of them would require a major redesigning of the Inn - even if it was temporary.

The more he looked over the designs, the more Lex smiled. The latest proposals had even sought to include the endless shower of lightning tribulations at the Inn into the next two events.

It was bold, and Lex liked it. He began working to finalize all the changes and configure them so that they would automatically be initiated at the start of the third week.

While these two events would cater to the common, or less adventurous guests, the third and final event was targeting those who had more of a taste for risk and reward.

The minor realms that had been connecting to the Inn had reached 337 in number, and there were still more that were being connected. While Lex could completely control the opening of the gates to the minor realms, as well as their locations, he could not look inside of them. As a result, he really had no idea of how dangerous or safe they were. But they were a part of the Inn now, so it wasn't like he could ignore them either.

The third event would include a hunt to first locate the entrances, which Lex would hide across the Inn's landscape. Then, after signing a disclaimer stating that the Inn was not responsible for any danger or harm that befell them if they chose to enter, the guests would be allowed to explore the Minor realm freely.

This way, not only did Lex get a great event that could entertain guests who weren't particularly interested in festivals, he could begin to gather information about those Minor realms. Once he knew what those realms actually contained and the amount of danger they wrought, he could incorporate them into the Inn regularly, and charge guests to enter and explore. That would happen after the event was over, of course.

"Hey Lex," said Mary, who appeared beside him. "You remember that area you were planning on building for your spirit guests specifically?"

"Yeah, I remember. I'm planning on focusing on it once the festival is over and I have free time. I want to research it properly before I establish it. Why?"

"Well, I think you may want to establish it a little sooner," she said with a shrug. "Pretty much everyone who died trying to overcome tribulations is turning themselves into a spirit. We already have 12, and at the rate that things are going, I think that number will only increase."

Lex was surprised at what he heard. He scanned the Inn to see what he could find, and just as Mary said, found a total of 12 permanent spirit guests. What she had failed to mention was... 11 of those spirits had fit themselves inside a trench coat and some jeans - God only knew where they found those - and were walking around the Inn pretending to be a normal man.

Was this really the kind of behavior someone recently deceased should have?

Chapter C483 Wait And Watch

Lex observed the spirits in trench coats for a while, but when they did not seem to be doing anything suspicious, he let them be. He did, however, turn his attention to the lightning tribulations. After isolating the abodes, Lex had not paid much attention to the tribulation, for they never really struck anyone other than their main target. Even the massive spaceship did not seem to be an obstruction, as wherever the ship was an obstruction, the lightning clouds would just form under it.

But it seemed like he could not just let them be. After all, since he was instructed to create a tribulation room, and it would become an eventual facility, he should get it done as quickly as possible so the maximum number of guests can benefit from it.

It would be so convenient if he could just look up the information on tribulations on the Henali portal so that he could prepare for them, but unfortunately, no information showed up when he searched. He suspected this was, once again, something he would need to raise his permission or authority within the portal to search up.

But all was not lost. Since he couldn't research it online, he instead paid the utmost attention to it in person.

At the moment, 4 guests were undergoing the lightning tribulation. That was a ridiculously high number, and was a sight even the most prosperous of nations would never give birth to. Yet it had to be remembered that the Inn had been flooded by devils in the millions, many of whom were at levels too high for Lex to even see.

It was no surprise that many of them were undergoing such tribulations then, for the devils had sent anyone who could come under such short notice and was near someone with a golden key.

This only benefited Lex, for he observed the tribulation from every possible angle from start to finish. He saw the formation of the lightning, gathering power within the cloud, to how it struck down and hit the target. He saw how various targets would deal with the lightning. Most devils let it fall onto their bodies, for their resilience was formidable. Others, however, had employed protective formations around themselves, or straight up tried to attack the lightning with their own attacks.

Each tribulation was very long and took anywhere from a couple of hours to a whole day, depending on how successful it was. As such, Lex spent the next 30 hours carefully studying the tribulations.

Perhaps it did not require so much time studying, but considering how success or failure would literally determine the life or death of his guests, he wanted to get things right. In the end, it was a good thing he paid attention for so long, because the fire tribulation, which was a lot less conspicuous than the lightning tribulation, would start a few hours after the lightning one ended.

But any and all who underwent the fire tribulation never actually caught on fire, or interacted with flames in any visible way. Despite that, however, black smoke could be seen escaping the cultivators' orifices and their skin would often crack up. The unlucky ones who could not survive were often only left as a husk while their insides literally evaporated away with the smoke.

It was... disturbing, to say the least. He could not understand what exactly the fire tribulation involved, and so wasn't sure how to combat it. After all, while the lightning tribulation could be blocked using attacks or arrays, it didn't seem like the cultivators made much preparation for the fire one.

During the time Lex was studying the tribulations, he also allowed a portion of his mind to check up on the rest of the Inn. He finally got around to looking up who the guest was who wanted to meet with him. It did not take him long to figure out that the man in question was literally the emperor of the Empire!

Instead of feeling a rush to go and meet with him so that he wasn't left waiting, Lex instead decided to make him wait even longer. After all, he absolutely could not meet someone of his caliber if he didn't have his spirit sense in control.

He also 'accidentally' spied on Larry and discovered that his girlfriend was a Neko, meaning a cat-human!

'Kinky,' was all Lex was able to comment.

Like this, Lex remained satisfied that he wasn't ignoring anything too important happening at the Inn while he studied the tribulation. When he finally concluded his study, it was time to turn his attention to the Room Design.

But, worried that he might not be able to use the feature effectively, he decided that his first official room would be for his spirit guests. After meditating for a short period to calm his mind and help him refocus, Lex began to work.

*****

On Main street, there was a massive gray cathedral that could even be described as gothic! The various gargoyles and demons displayed as statues all over the building built an ominous atmosphere, while the stained glass depicting angles made it look holy.

It stood out from all the other buildings on Main street, not only because of its appearance, but because of one other very special reason. Although there was no official facility attached to this building, as even when guests entered they would not be offered anything special or experience anything out of the ordinary, it needed nothing extra to attract guests. All the guests needed to know was that the giant wolf pup, which was commonly believed to be the Innkeepers pet, had made a home in the cathedral.

While such a thing would normally attract many guests, currently only a flying whale was found inside. Little Blue had gained in cultivation as well due to the recent upgrade, but its breakthrough had been easy. Fenrir, on the other hand, seemed to be going through immense pain!

Its once massive body had shrunk down so that it could fit perfectly into the black marble bowl in the center of the hall. His body was being bathed in the diluted divine energy of the hall, and bit by bit, it was replacing the spiritual energy in its body.

The flying whale flew in circles around it as it tried to suppress its anxiety. If only the turtle was here to look at the pup, but it was also locked in cultivation. All it could do now was wait and watch.

Chapter C484 2 New Rooms

Spirits were beings that were extremely sensitive to any kind of energy fluctuation, mostly because they could interact with energy directly with their souls! This was very crucial information to keep in mind when designing a room for them. But the question was… how was Lex supposed to actually use it?

The first thing he did was use the feature of the meditation room to gather spiritual energy and multiplied its effectiveness. But was just raising the concentration of energy enough? That was unlikely, or else spirits would all just congregate in areas of high energy concentration. No, there had to be something more. Something soothing. Something warm and comfortable. Something like… a hot tub!

Lex then used the hot tub room and… turned the entire room meant for spirits into a hot tub. But instead of water, the tub was instead filled with extremely concentrated spiritual energy. Considering the fact that the Inn was now in a 2.5 star ranked realm, that was the easy part. Not only had the ambient spiritual energy increased, it had become cleaner and purer as well.

He couldn't really think of any other features to add to the room, for now, as every further addition would need to be extremely important. That's because the more complicated he made a room, the more expensive it would be to use, as well as to create.

That was because, unlike previous rooms, which were completely calibrated by the system, these would require him to calibrate himself. While he had a theory for how the two features of the room were supposed to work together, he had to make sure they operated according to his theory, which was a delicate process.

Furthermore, there were a few different configurations he could reach for the room balance, but some might cost more than others, so he had to be sure.

Ultimately, he ended up creating a room he was satisfied with, though it was somewhat expensive. The room cost 860 MP a day and literally was just a hot tub of energy, so Lex decided to charge 1000 MP a day for a profit of 140MP.

He placed the room in the village and then had the system send all the spirits a message about the room to notify them.

There was one massive flaw in this plan, which was that spirits would have already expended all their wealth to turn into spirits. Lex had no solution for that. It wasn't even as if the 860 MP was a single time expense which could be shared by all the spirits. That just covered the energy expense for one spirit to be in the room. Were that not the case, Lex even thought about just having the room running for the spirits at all times, but if he had to pay for each individual spirit, it would quickly become infeasible for him.

But whether the spirits used the room or not, Lex was satisfied with the results, so he turned his attention to the tribulation room.

He already knew what features he wanted to add after 30 hours of study, the real trial would be calibrating the room to work as expected. He didn't even care about the costs this time, and would only consider lowering them if everything else already worked as he intended.

The first feature Lex added was a dampening formation. That was a kind of defensive formation that was available for the Inn to use. It would not block any attacks from entering it, but it would absorb a great deal of energy from anything that crossed the boundary of the formation as fuel to keep itself running.

Forcefully absorbing energy, ironically, used up a lot of energy so the formation would never have a surplus of energy. The benefit of this formation over one that would attempt to block the attack directly was that this one would stay in effect as long as the tribulation lasted. Otherwise, if it directly started blocking the lightning, it might last a few hits, but then would eventually break. Moreover, Lex was unsure if the lightning carried any beneficial effects, which is why he didn't dare to block it out right.

The second feature he added was the effect of the meditation room which helped the user concentrate and focus more easily. The third feature was that of the recovery room, which accelerated the natural healing of the user, allowing the cultivator to start healing even as he was being injured. The final feature he added was one he wasn't exactly sure would be beneficial, but he added it anyway.

It was a chilling formation which had to be manually activated. Once it became active, it would rapidly cool down the room to an extreme amount. He was not sure how else to help combat the fire tribulation, for he wasn't able to get an in-depth read of it. He hoped the drop in temperature would be able to provide some kind of relief.

There were only four features, but balancing them out and making sure they work together was far from a simple ordeal.

The real issue was that each feature worked in a certain way. The way the system created an environment that boosted concentration might clash with the way the system promoted self healing. When these two features, which were supposed to exist together, clashed against one another, the simplest way the system resolved it was to brute force it, which would result in an explosion in the price of the room's function.

Lex's part came in when he could reduce or increase the activity of each feature, hoping to create a balance where they don't necessarily clash with one another. It was manageably complicated with 2 features, but with 4 it was a massive headache.

It took Lex another 12 hours of working with full concentration to get the room working, and reduce the price as much as possible. Still, the room cost 74,000MP a day to use. Lex rounded it off to 100,000 MP and sent out the notification. Besides the MP cost, a cultivator would need to have prestige level 3 to use it, though for the duration of this festival, that requirement had been waived.

Now, it was time to see if it was actually helpful or not to begin with. But first, he needed sleep. Just in case, however, he told Mary to wake him up if anything went wrong with the tribulation rooms.

Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

Chapter C485 Vacation

When Lex woke up on his own, completely well rested and refreshed, the first feeling he had was of relief that no problems had occurred. It wasn't as if he was suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but actually yes, that's exactly what was happening.

He stretched in bed, producing several cracks from his various joints. His body no longer did that naturally, as there was no need, but due to his increased control over his body, he could do it anyway. There was just something so satisfying about it.

He spent a couple more minutes in bed, allowing his brain and body to relax a little. Even if nothing was wrong, the moment he stepped out from the comfort of his bed, he would be inundated with work and would have no time for rest.

But the peace eventually had to end. Besedes, it wasn't as if he dreaded all the work he did at the Inn. It was quite enjoyable in fact.

"How long was I out?" Lex asked Mary as he finally let his feet fall out of the bed and slip into his bathroom slippers. Considering that he had worked continuously for over 2 days without rest, and had been allowed to sleep till he naturally woke up, he expected that he had logged in quite a few hours.

"Just over 3 hours," Mary replied, appearing in front of him. This time she was dressed as an astronaut, with her visor open, showing her little face.

Lex froze. 3 hours? Wasn't that... too little? But he was feeling so refreshed. How could it be?

Lex shook his head and just accepted the fact that with his advancing cultivation, his need for sleep would be greatly diminished.

"You received a hologram message from your friend, Larry. Do you want me to play it?"

"Sure," said Lex as he walked into the bathroom to take a shower.

The message was merely him providing an update, letting Lex know that his treasure would arrive the following day.

"How are the tribulation rooms performing?" Lex asked from within the shower. For some reason, he was feeling a little lazy today. He didn't feel like working so much. He just wanted to enjoy the Inn, so he decided to push back any less important plans for the day.

"Not bad at all. Every single person about to undergo a tribulation is using them. It's still too early to tell how effective it is, but it seems to be well received by the guests."

"Makes sense," was all he said. He had not received the quest reward yet, which probably meant it would wait till one or a few guests used the tribulation room to determine its effectiveness before rewarding him. After all, since the reward was based on his performance, the effectiveness of the room had to be determined first.

After a nice, warm shower, Lex checked his closet for some of his old clothes. It had been a long time since he wore anything that he hadn't bought from the system, but since he decided to relax today, he wanted to wear some of his own clothes.

His attire wasn't phenomenal, but there was just a level of comfort a man's favorite pair of jeans delivered that even more comfortable clothes just could not. Instead of a usual T-shirt, he went into vacation mode by putting on a Hawaiian shirt, with large floral patterns.

All dressed, he teleported out of his room as himself, and in the garden behind the Midnight Manor. It did not matter to Lex that the emperor was in the vicinity - what did he, Lex, have to do with the fact that the emperor wanted to meet the Innkeeper?

He sat down on one of the free lawn chairs and ordered an entire buffet's worth of food. That would serve well as his appetizer. After all, with his new cultivation, the rate at which his body digested food was phenomenal. Moreover, he had to make up for quite a few missed meals.

It was a sad fact that since Lex was so busy, and his body did not develop any sensation of hunger, Lex had completely forgotten to eat multiple meals. It was likely he would do more of the same in the future. But for now, he would feast!

Lex closed his eyes and lost himself in the sensation of the warm sunshine falling on his skin. He felt the wind blow through his hair. A few other guests were sitting nearby, though they had employed sound isolating formation bubbles so the sound of their conversations didn't carry over. Instead, it was the sound of moving animals that Lex heard.

A gray cat came up and started rubbing against Lex's foot. That was strange. Lex remembered bringing in various animals, but did he bring in cats?

Lex didn't think about it for long, for the workers started bringing out the food and laying it on a table in front of him.

"Hey, you mind if I join you?" asked the cat with gleaming eyes when it saw the food. Lex looked at the cat and was about to scan it, but decided not to. He was on vacation. He would act like any normal guest. Besides, the cat sounded like a small child.

"Sure, drag a seat," said Lex, already cutting through a plate of sausages.

Excitedly, the cat transformed into what looked like a young boy of maybe four or five years old, and quickly dragged a lawn chair. He climbed up, with some difficulty, and turned around only to realize the table was too high for him on that seat.

Lex chuckled and asked one of the workers to bring a highchair for the kid. Lex noticed that even in this form, the kid had cat ears and a tail. Was he a Neko? He had to be, right?

Lex didn't think about it much and instead looked at his watch. It was less than a minute until noon.

"Hey kid, want to see something cool?" Lex asked in between bites.

The kid only nodded, though his eyes never left his plate of nuggets.

"Look up," Lex said, just as the clock hit 12.

Just as the child looked up, the third week of the festival officially began. Fireworks lit up in the sky, though they were severely outmatched by the flashing lightning nearby, and buildings began to appear.

The Midnight Inn had thousands of acres of land, though most of it was undeveloped and was covered in various plants. Now though, for this specific period, that would change, as various roller coasters and slides and rides began to appear in the entire undeveloped areas of the Inn.

Moreover, in between the sprawling amusement park that was beginning to appear, was a racing track that was also spread out across the Inn.

The next part of the festival was all about theme parks and golf cart racing! Lex smiled at the magnificent sight, though the smile didn't last long. He had to eat, after all. He couldn't waste time grinning when he could be chewing!

Chapter C486 I Believe I Can Fly

The kid completely missed the dramatic revelation that Lex timed for his eyes never left his plate. Lex only shook his head and continued to eat as well.

Planning this portion of the festival had been harder than Lex had imagined. The idea of theme parks was great, and Lex could easily come up with various ideas that the system would allow him to implement, which would have been too hard to do normally. But the issue was that while all the ideas Lex had would be great fun and excitement for mortals, they would lack the element of thrill for cultivators. Moreover, the greater the cultivation realm, the lesser the excitement would be.

Of course, such a situation only lasted a short while. Not only did he task the planning division to look into if there were any amusement parks or the like for cultivators, he himself had spent some time on the Henali portal doing some research.

As it turned out, the solution was simpler than expected. All he needed to do was throw money at the problem and watch it solve itself. Or, well, in his case, throw MP at the problem.

While a majority of the rides were for everyone, some rides would require the rider to be of a certain cultivation level at least. This was because, alongside the usual pattern that rides followed, various formations could be added to the rides for added effect! Moreover, since these were temporary formations accessed through the event panel that had nothing to do with offense or defense, there was a much greater variety.

Illusion formation, formations designed to disrupt a sense of direction, formations that increased the sensation of fear or excitement, formations that could slow or speed up the perception of time, and many, MANY more formations were used throughout the theme parks to make the rides as diverse and entertaining as possible.

Moreover, the idea of using formations made it so that the rides for mortals became more unique as well.

As if that was not enough, there was also the race course! There was one, massive race track that spanned the entire Inn, as well as a few smaller ones here and there. Of course, simple race tracks would be boring so the tracks were not only bizarre, they were full of unexpected traps, treasures, hidden shortcuts, and dead ends!

Individual races and smaller tournaments would begin as early as today, but a main racing event was also planned that would only begin a week later. To even enter the main racing event, the participant would have to first win one of the individual races or tournaments. This way, when the main race began, most of the drivers would already be well known and have a following.

As for the vehicles used in the race? They were, of course, golf carts.

Some who were familiar with traditional golf carts might complain that golf carts were too slow for a racing tournament. They were not wrong. But there was nothing normal about this race to begin with.

One of the reasons the participants were required to win a race first was so that they would become familiar with the technicalities of the race, for Lex had drawn a lot of inspiration from one of his favorite racing game: Marlo cart!

In the distance, Lex could already hear the sound of the race commentator that Lex had hired. While he had originally planned to delegate this job to one of his workers, while he was planning the event, he came across a guest who seemed perfect for the job. Since Lex didn't want to go through the hassle of having him go through a proper text and actually hiring him, Lex just hired him as a temporary worker.

The commentator was named Awry, and the vigor and charisma in his voice would no doubt excite all the countless viewers the races would gather.

"Hey kid, do you have any parents or guardians with you?" Lex asked as he looked at him from the side of his eyes. Soon, the lavish meal would end and Lex was planning on going to the theme park to take in a guests' experience. He wouldn't feel right about just leaving the kid alone though, which is why he was asking.

"Yeah, I do," he replied, pausing eating just long enough to get those words out.

"Well, where are they?"

"They told me to go scam a sucker while they cultivate," the kid responded, not even taking a second to think about what he was saying.

Lex suddenly regretted asking in the first place.

When he finally finished his meal, he looked at the kid again, who was still busy munching, and shook his head. Informing a worker to keep an eye on the kid and let him know if anything was wrong, Lex left towards the nearest theme park.

"Hey Mary, I know he didn't request it, but let Gerard know he can take time off to participate in the races," said Lex just as he walked up to his first ride.

It was simple enough as it was a merry-go-round. Except that the speed of the ride would slowly and steadily continue to increase until, eventually, it launched the rider alongside his seat into the air! Of course, the ride was supported by the system and the landing location was guaranteed. This was just a festival version of a train or taxi. Why waste time walking from one place to another when the commute itself can be a part of the ride?

That was the philosophy he planned this ride with, alongside many others.

Grabbing some cotton candy on a stick, Lex got on the ride and strapped himself in. He could not suppress his smile when he saw all the other excited guests get in as well, though many of them were also actually quite nervous.

"Hey," Lex called out to one of the riders sitting near him, a young girl who looked both excited and scared.

When she looked over, Lex asked, "do you believe you can fly?"

She was confused for a moment, until something clicked in her mind and she responded, "no, but I'm definitely going to touch the sky today."

Oh, that reminded Lex. Silently, he gave instructions and had Captain Cirk raise the hovering height of the ship. Theoretically it was too high for any guest to reach it with any of the rides, but Lex didn't want to take chances.

Chapter C487 So Beautiful

The sensation of being launched out of a speeding carousel was much more enjoyable than Lex expected. Of course, that was primarily because the pressure generated from the spinning carousel didn't affect Lex at all, and secondly because he wasn't wearing anything like a skirt.

Too caught up in the novelty of the experience, though, Lex completely forgot about his cotton candy until it was about to fly away! Fortunately, he used his spirit sense out of instinct and caught the fluffy treat right in the air beside him. His spirit sense firmly locked onto it, and kept it close to Lex regardless of where he went.

Strangely, he found that in the matter concerning his cotton candy, he could maintain perfect control of his spirit sense. Maybe instead of a spiritual treasure, he should just get more of that.

Once Lex was launched in the air, he only had a couple dozen seconds to soar through the sky before he landed comfortably. He tested out trying to get off his mount, just to see if he could deviate from the flight pattern of the ride. But he was held firmly to his seat with straps, and the ride did not deviate from the intended path. After all, flying freely through the air was just an illusion, for in truth, the ride had a fixed path.

Feeling pretty good after his first ride, Lex did not wait and quickly got on another. This one was a rollercoaster with a minimum requirement of Golden core cultivators to ride. So then the question was, how was it different from normal roller coasters?

Well, first of all, instead of sitting, you were only wearing a few straps that would take you forward face first. As if that wasn't enough, the speed of the ride, the intensity of the turns, the drops and the rise were all beyond what a normal being could tolerate. Moreover, using various illusion formations, it seemed more than once the ride seemed like it was about to crash, or had broken down in the middle, or ended in the lair of a dangerous monster.

Psychological excitement melded extremely well with the physical strain the rider underwent, creating a thrilling ride, even for cultivators. Moreover, this was just one of the strategies they had employed. There were so many more!

*****

Planet Orange Bastion, Pendal System

An unusual-looking spaceship approached the planet and landed in a landing zone amidst a mountain range. The signature orange soil of the planet had made its way even here, high up on these rocky peaks, giving the snow a shade of something that had spoiled.

The cold air felt harsh to breathe in, and the wind carried with it a cold bite that could pierce the skin and freeze the blood vessels beneath. None of the inhabitants seemed to care, or rather, they were not given the luxury to care.

Chained beasts of different species walked around, doing menial labor. A small group waited by the ship, and when it finally opened, it revealed hundreds of other creatures, similarly bound. There were even some humans amongst them, and they were similarly naked and chained.

The air was filled with the sounds of whips, shouting and screaming as the group began to move out from the ship, though no one looked at them even twice.

A creature flew out of the ship from another exit and moved towards a nearby building, ignoring everything happening on the ground. The creature was 3 feet (0.9 meters) tall and had four, extremely short, thin arms and two equally sized legs. It had four thin, nearly transparent wings on its back. It had four eyes, two in front and two in the back, and two mouths, once again one in the front and one at the back.

Once inside the massive building, the creature made its way to a special chamber, where another creature of the same species was comfortably sitting in what looked like a pool of blood.

"Inform the sect leader, I've brought back valuable treasure," the creature said in a hissing voice, both its mouths speaking in unison.

"Treasure? Weren't you sent out to catch slaves?" the creature sitting in blood asked, jealousy evident in its voice.

"Indeed, I was," the first creature said, pride oozing from every fiber of its being. "But I found treasure as well. Now hurry, go inform the sect master. Someone at your station need not worry about details that are above you."

The creature squirmed in anger and hatred, but left silently. The first creature derived great pleasure from seeing the other suffer. They were not enemies. In fact, the creature had never seen the other before. But as a Diplo, the creature had sadism imbued into its very being.

The creature unceremoniously sat in the pool of blood that the other had left behind, and waited patiently for the sect master, fiddling with a small leather bag hanging across its chest.

When the sect master finally arrived, a Diplo of even smaller size, not even reaching two feet, he also took a seat within the pool.

"This better be worth it, or you'll be joining the slaves," the sect master said, its voice cold and arrogant.

The first Diplo did not waste any time and quickly took out all the items from its pouch. All of them were shiny, and all of them had auras of dense spiritual energy.

The sect leader checked them one by one with great interest - by biting each one. Most of the items crumpled under his massive jaw strength while a few survived. One particular golden key, however, broke entirely and teleported the two Diplos away.

They immediately became wary of their surroundings, but they were taken aback when they actually saw what surrounded them.

Metallic contraptions filled the air with thousands if not hundreds of thousands of slaves strapped or held in, being flung around and tortured in the most spectacular way.

"The promised holy land," the sect leader whispered as he saw a few slaves just being randomly catapulted into the air. They were not even using the slaves for work, they were just torturing them for no reason. It was so beautiful, it brought tears to his eyes.