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Chapter 816 Gamer dragon

After spending some time together, Lex felt like he had developed a bit of friendship with the group of three. But with the addition of Sohee, Kenta's new wife, the group became extremely awkward and silent.

Any time Kenta would try to talk to Sohee, or even talk at all, she would say something that would shut him up. She would say things like, 'if I had to be replaced by someone, I at least hoped it was someone competent,' or 'I'm glad to see that even after getting married you can be such good friends with the princess you were caught flirting with'. Honestly, Lex had no idea how he could remedy the situation.

Although he tried a few times to smooth things over, it seemed like Sohee was just in a very bad mood right now - not that Lex could blame her.

Ultimately, Lex could not take the awkward silence anymore. He told the group that their stay was sponsored by him, to make up for the fact that… he had kidnapped them all. He also let Kenta know that he would help him talk to someone from the Inn, and if he could impress them then maybe he had a chance of opening a restaurant there.

Then he informed them that he had some work to do, and he disappeared as quickly as possible!

"Mary, inform Velma about the 'unique' situation with Kenta, Asami and his wife. I'm sure she will be extremely intrigued. At the same time, have her judge if Kenta is a good cook. If he really can cook well, there's no harm in having him as a cook. It's always better to find people who have a passion for such things."

He had two days before he needed to return to Tilaiya. He did not expect Hix to find Barley any time soon, but checking in once in a while was not a bad idea. In the meantime, he would continue his cultivation sessions.

The more of the blade of grass he ate, the more he built an affinity for it. That meant he could eat more of the grass while having to endure less pain afterwards. Moreover, although for now the change was very subtle, he could tell he was healing much faster than before.

The best part was, Lex no longer needed to blindly guess why this was happening. With Pel around, he could ask him questions and receive adequate answers. Although the ring had a majority of its memories still sealed, what it recalled was enough for Lex for now.

"How come I'm healing quicker after gaining an affinity for the healing law? Am I developing some kind of new bloodline? Or am I mutating into another species?" Lex asked Pel during his next cultivation session.𝙡𝙞𝓫𝙧𝙚𝓪𝒅.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Neither, although becoming a new species is somewhat closer to the answer than your other guesses. In cultivation, up until the Nascent realm, with each new realm your strength grows a definite amount. That means, irrespective of your own personal skills or attributes, the new realm itself gives you new and greater strength. However, that changes once you step into the immortal realms.

"From the immortal realms onwards, a majority of a cultivator's powers comes from their tenets or laws, and tenets basically rely on laws anyway so they don't really count. That's an oversimplification of the situation, but you can take it as such. Anyway, in that realm cultivators actively use those laws to bring about various effects. Your body, by gaining an affinity for those laws, is not biologically becoming better able to heal. Instead, it uses those laws passively, to a very minute extent, and somewhat allows you to touch upon those laws before you actually reach a sufficient realm to do so.

"In simple terms, you have a cheat. For example, you look at things in the form of a video game. Imagine you are at level one, but gain a weapon that's level 10. You can't really use it, because you're too weak, but sometimes just holding it is enough to gain benefits from its passive effects."

Upon hearing all that, Lex became stunned.

"Don't tell me that in your previous life you were a gamer?" he exclaimed. Why was a former dragon turned spirit realm giving him examples from video games?

"In my previous life I lived for millions of years. In my previous life I had indulged in pretty much every kind of entertainment and time pass that was ever invented."

Lex was stunned, but upon consideration, figured that it only made sense. Moreover, with that much time on his hands, he bet Pel grinded all games until he got 100% achievements. Suddenly, Lex gained massive respect for the dragon.

He was still going to use its living corpse as a cultivation mat, but that did not change the fact that he now felt massive respect for it.

Like that, he spent the next two days either cultivating atop the dragon to raise his cultivation, or raising his affinity with the laws of regrowth by eating the blade.

Once enough time had passed, and he was about to return to Tilaiya, Lex paused to see how his recovery was going. It was difficult to tell, but he swore he could see a faint layer of skin forming below the scab that had covered his entire body.

But, once that was done, Lex could no longer ignore the one painful thing he had been trying to avoid. He finally checked in on Kenta, his wife and the rest, and was immediately stumped. Why was the situation so different?

Velma, Sohee and Asami were riding a rollercoaster and laughing as they giggled to one another, while Kenta was buying groceries at the Guild room. Aoi was in the greenhouse talking to Zen, the small patch of grass that had gained sentience and become an immortal all at once, despite having an extremely frail body.

Aoi and Kenta were acting within his expectations, but since when had Sohee, Velma and Asami become such good friends?

Chapter 817 Ended before it began

"Mary, has anything strange happened with the group while I was cultivating?" Lex asked. It was not that he had a bias against Sohee, but that their first meeting was genuinely too awkward. He did not blame her, for she had probably been forced to marry the very elf who replaced her as the heir to such a powerful force. It was only normal for there to be some bitterness and resentment.

Mary, who appeared above Lex, this time dressed as cupid, opened her mouth to speak, but paused. After some hesitation, she simply said, "Velma is very extroverted, as you know. Plus all things related to romance excite her to no end. As a result, she is very good at dealing with such things. She cleared up all the misunderstandings between the group, and now Asami and Sohee at least are good friends. Kenta and Sohee have also decided to work on their relationship, for it won't really benefit anyone if they stay at odds."

She gave Lex an odd look, but then disappeared before he noticed anything. It may not seem like it, but Lex was extremely perceptive, especially when it came to things related to himself. At least that's how he was with the system and all things related to cultivation. Other, simpler things seemed to go over his head.

With Mary's reassurance Lex relaxed, and decided to teleport over and ask them if any of them planned on returning with him. As much as he liked hanging out with the group, this was probably the last time he was going to have an opportunity. After all, he had to use his time wisely and cultivate as much as possible.

When he teleported over to Kenta, the elf boldly declared that he did not plan on returning to Tilaiya for the next few years while he fulfilled his passion for opening up a restaurant. Anyway, he was already married now, so his adopted father could be relieved that there was someone to watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He was not really needed for anything special for a while.

Aoi, likewise, claimed that she wanted to spend some more time here. She was trying to get the turtle to acknowledge her as a student, but the turtle itself was a baby. How could it focus on teaching? All its attention was focused on playing around. Well, that's what Lex thought but he did not say that aloud.

When he approached the three girls, however, he had an odd interaction. Sohee stared at him intently, as if studying him, while Velma giggled a little. Asami, the princess, accepted his offer to return with him. After all, she had disappeared without warning. Although she was enjoying the Inn, she needed to go report to her family and continue with her duties.

After saying farewell to Asami, Sohee glared at Lex once, before turning away. There was definitely something wrong with her.

"How did you get over the awkwardness?" Lex asked, unable to contain himself.

"It was a delicate matter. I could not outright say that I disliked Kenta to her, as that would be insulting her husband in front of her. Yet I had to assure her that I had no interest in him either. Velma made the process easier, and once all the misunderstandings were cleared, we became good friends. Honestly, Sohee is quite nice. She's just slightly cautious because she's lost her position before, and so doesn't easily feel safe with her new circumstances. Once she opens up, however, she's a nice person.

"You should also take the chance to get to know her. Perhaps you could read her some of the poetry you wrote. That might make her more amenable to you. Though, I don't recommend the one about the Blood Rose."

"Haha, I don't really have much experience writing poetry," Lex confessed. "That was the first time I actually did so. I don't really see myself writing any more any time soon either."

"That's a shame," Asami said simply, and looked at Lex from the side of her eyes. In her mind she could not help but think how apt his poem was. The two could become friends, but not lovers. Their station and destinies lay elsewhere, thoroughly dividing them. He said he only wrote it casually, so then why could she feel the emotions in that poem so deeply herself?

For the briefest of moments, Asami felt weak. But the moment passed, and she collected herself.

"Shall we go?" she asked.

Lex nodded and said, "You only need to think of returning. You will immediately be teleported back."

The two, an elf and a human, a princess and a universal entrepreneur, disappeared at the same time, and reappeared in Kenta's room. Though they journeyed together for this brief period, their paths were ultimately diverging. It was unknown if they would even have the opportunity to meet again.

"I have to report to my family," said Asami, her voice oddly gentle. "Let us part here."

"In that case, farewell. If you come to the Midnight Inn again, you can try looking for me. Although I'm usually busy, I also spend a lot of time there."

The princess simply nodded and walked away.

Lex stood there for a moment and watched her leave. He was not completely oblivious to what was happening, and considering the newfound friendship between Asami, Sohee, and Velma, he could somewhat understand why Sohee was glaring at him. But somehow, the relationship between him and this princess ended before it even began.

Honestly speaking, Asami was indeed very beautiful, and they did seem to hit it off during the short time they spent together. But just because she was beautiful, or just because they got along, did not mean that he would become desperate to be with her.

Lex scratched his head, but then turned his attention elsewhere. He did not have the luxury to think about romance with danger looming over his immediate future.

The princess, who was walking away, contacted her family and filled them in on what had happened the last couple of days. Before she ended the call, she requested a patch of Blood Roses to be grown in her personal garden - the ones Aoi had altered so that they could grow anywhere. The princess had become fond of them.

Chapter 818 Inscriptions

With the princess departing on her way, Lex could now proceed towards the heir's father. He did not need to go looking for him, for an attendant already stood there waiting for Lex's arrival.

"Mr. Lex? I have been instructed to bring you to the guests' library when you're ready."

"Lead the way," Lex said, allowing the attendant to lead him through the palace. While he crossed the unnecessarily complicated pathway, Lex could not help but think that he had been to quite a few places, labyrinths and ancient lairs. The grandeur of the place no longer seemed to affect him.

Yes, everything was rich and fancy and giving off extremely pure spiritual energy and tinged with a lovely aroma. So, the basic standard then. That was not to say that the palace wasn't spectacular. It just didn't grab Lex's attention the way these things used to.

He passed the indoor garden, behind the waterfall of spirit water, through the corridor that seemed to contain miniaturized stars as lights, above the…

Wait, what?

Lex stopped and looked up, finding it hard to believe what his senses were telling him. No, those were not fairy lights on the ceiling, they were actual stars that had been shrunk and placed there! Alongside a dim, gentle light, the stars seemed to be giving off extremely pure yet mild spirit energy.

Alright, he admitted it, that was a new one.

When he finally reached the library, he discovered that he was not the only one waiting there. Beside him, there was the dwarf Lex had seen previously, the one he felt a threat from. As if that was not enough, accompanying the dwarf was someone from a race Lex did not recognize who also gave off a threatening aura!

Besides those two, there were a few others, but Lex did not pay attention to them. He felt a strong urge to go and challenge the swarf immediately to a fight. His body started heating up and his heart started beating faster, but just before the urge overwhelmed him, Lex looked away.

In his right eye, a faint image of a sword had appeared, though it was diminishing now. Lex had realized that his reaction wasn't normal, and immediately picked out that he was being influenced by the sword again. A worthy challenger seemed to stimulate the sword, but not enough to make Lex lose himself.

He went and sat down in a corner, closed his eyes, and began to meditate. He didn't like the fact that there was something that could affect his mind, but since there was nothing he could do about it for the moment, he would treat it as training his mind.

One by one, the people in the library were called, and each of them were escorted to different rooms. It seemed like this was the waiting area for anyone who had an appointment, although Lex doubted that all of them were going to meet the Celestial immortal.

Whatever the case, it had nothing to do with him. He was focused on maintaining a steady mind, right up until an attendant arrived and escorted him further. When he left the room, the dwarf finally looked towards where Lex had gone. He was sure that Lex was about to challenge him, as the dwarf had felt a very fierce aura targeting him, before it withdrew on its own. Not that he was afraid.

When Lex was finally brought to the heir's father, he was surprised to see that the immortal was sitting cross-legged inside a formation, with a smaller formation placed in front of him, seemingly prepared for Lex.

Not only did the formations look extremely complicated, and expensive, but he could tell that there were a number of spirit items active in the room as well, though he could not determine their use.

"Sit," the Celestial immortal said without opening his eyes, only raising a hand to indicate that Lex should sit within the prepared formation. "I have a few questions for you before we begin. I hope you understand that I am not prying, but that this is necessary information."

"Please, ask," said Lex as he sat down. It seemed like… these inscriptions were an even bigger deal than he assumed. He thought that it would be a simple task for someone so strong to remove the inscriptions from him. It seemed he was wrong.

"First, are you aware of who put these inscriptions on your body?"

"I cannot say for certain," confessed Lex. "Although if I had to guess, I would say one of my parents."

"Do you know the cultivation realm of your parents?" he asked, but then realized something and didn't give Lex a chance to answer. "Wait, you are a human. If you suspect that your parents did this, is Jotun your father?"

"Eh, no, he's not, although I'm most likely related to him. His brother is my family's ancestor. As for my parents' cultivation realm, I am not sure. We have a… complicated relationship."

The immortal could not help and open his eyes as he looked at Lex, countless unknown thoughts running through his head.

"It seems the human race is prospering more than I was aware. Based on your answer, I take it you do not know any details of the ones who put this inscription on you, yes?"

"That is correct. I did not even know about these inscriptions until senior Zuri informed me of them."

The immortal pondered for a moment before he spoke again.

"The reason I am asking all these questions is that the more I know, the easier the process shall be. What language these inscriptions are in, what is the logic behind them, and how they were placed are all secrets even from me. They are most ingenious, as they have been placed in such a way that they have become a part of your body itself, just as much as your heart and brain are a part of you. Removing them… without harming you will not be a simple task."

Chapter 819 Thanks for the meal

𝙡𝙞𝓫𝒓𝙚𝒂𝓭.𝓬𝒐𝓶

Lex's mood dropped as he considered the ramification of the immortal words. The inscriptions had become a part of his body, and at the moment were not really harming him in any way. It was only if he tried to become an immortal that they would pollute his body, according to what the Celestial had informed him previously.

Yet at the same time, even for a Celestial, it was not simple to remove them. No wonder the system had never picked up on them. Even his tumor, although a part of his body, was actively harming him.

"But worry not," the immortal continued. "Although it is not simple, all it requires is a little preparation. I can still do it. Actually, if I wasn't concerned about not harming you, it would be easy to remove the inscriptions. They are not that strong. It's just maintaining your health that is the complicated part."

"Well I'm glad you are concerned about my health," Lex said wryly. It would be quite problematic otherwise.

"Remove all your clothing, as well as all items and jewelry and set them aside. I will begin momentarily."

Lex froze for a moment, but then he had no choice but to comply. He took off his clothes without any hesitation, as if he was not feeling extremely awkward and embarrassed. Though he could not decide if it was being naked which was embarrassing him, or the fact that he was skinless!

He folded everything and put it neatly on a table, before taking his place inside the formation once again.

"Brace yourself, this is going to hurt."

Before Lex had an opportunity to respond, the formation was activated and Lex felt an unquestionably massive force gripping his body, preventing him from moving. Then, the force entered his body.

"HOLY-" Lex was not able to complete what he was saying for he fell unconscious, a defense mechanism of his body.

The Celestial activated another formation the job of which was to act as life support, but then realized that Lex's body was actually quite tenacious, and despite the immense pressure it was under, showed no signs of collapsing or shutting down.

"The mystery deepens," the immortal mused, before turning his attention to the inscriptions.

Based on what he could tell, all the inscriptions were a form of protection for Lex. He could not determine what the one on his forehead did, for it had deteriorated on its own, but the one in his heart seemed to be hiding an innate feature of his body. The one on his neck seemed to be a tracker.

He could not decide which one to remove, for all three of them were in extremely delicate places where even the slightest deviation of energy could kill Lex. Whoever placed these there in the first place was extremely skilled.

The immortal spent some time trying to decide which one to remove, and ultimately decided on the tracker. Of the three, the one in Lex's heart was the most difficult to remove, while the one on the skull had already deteriorated on its own. In a few years, it may even vanish entirely. That only left the one on his neck.

Once decided, the immortal did not hesitate. Although Lex's body did not require the life support formation, he activated it nonetheless, and began the process.

Slowly, ever so slowly, his own energy seeped into Lex's body, traveled through his meridians, and reached his neck. His energy simply wafted the inscription, before moving on.

He was supposed to channel the energy out of Lex's body as it was not contaminated, but something unusual happened. Before he could take it out, the energy was absorbed directly by Lex's body!

Just as the immortal was alarmed, and even considered stopping the operation lest something unexpected happens, a spirit sense connected to his mind and transmitted a message.

"Thank you for the meal, senior!" said the Lotus, who had been roused from his slumber due to the delectable energy coursing through Lex' s body.

The Celestial trembled.

"Who the hell are you?" he could not help but utter, before he quickly shut his mouth. His stupid curiosity was what got him in this situation, so it was best to keep it suppressed lest he land himself in more trouble.

The unusual auras he had felt on Lex's body earlier had let him know that Lex's background was absolutely not simple. When he learned of the Midnight Inn, he more or less confirmed that Lex had some connection to that entity.

But even being a janitor counted as being a part of the organization, which would allow Lex to come in contact with those various auras. But, regardless, he did not want to leave any chance for someone to create any trouble for him, so he offered to remove the inscription on his own.

But now it seemed like Lex's connection to the Midnight Inn was not as simple as a normal member. Or else, why would there be a hidden guardian inside Lex's body?

Due to his unfamiliarity with the Lotus on Lex's back, simply due to how incredibly rare it was, the Celestial had misunderstood the situation. He thought the simple thanks from the Lotus was a subtle warning for him not to try anything, not that he had any intention to do so from the beginning.

The immortal became extremely serious, and decided to complete the removal as quickly as possible without endangering Lex. The Lotus, who was suddenly being fed even more energy, became even more ecstatic. This was a rare delicacy.

Of course, the Lotus also knew how to share, so he used some of that energy to begin healing Lex's body as well, slowly regrowing his skin.

The procedure, despite its complexity, did not last long. A few hours later, once he was done, the heirs' father teleported away, no longer willing to be involved with Lex. Maintaining his neutrality was becoming a real hassle these days.

Chapter 820 What next?

Before he felt anything else, Lex heard himself groan. Slowly, sensation returned to him and he felt that his entire body was incredibly stiff. At the same time, he felt incredibly bloated, as if he had been eating nonstop for days.𝓁𝑖𝒷𝑟𝘦𝒶𝑑.𝒸𝘰𝘮

He groaned again as he slowly brought his hands to wipe the sand from his eyes.

"What the hell happened?" he managed to mumble as he opened his eyes, and discovered that his vision was blurry. He was disoriented, nauseous, and his neck was killing him. It felt like he was back in college.

Unfortunately, he got no reply to his question, so he could only hold on while his body recovered.

Fortunately, his debilitated state did not last long. In a few minutes his vision cleared up and all his ailments seemed to fade.

He slapped his hand onto the floor to pick himself up, and to his great surprise, he noticed a very pale and extremely see-through layer of skin covering it.

"Mary, how long have I been out of it?" he asked, his gaze fixed on his hand. Normally, it would take him weeks to recover so much.

"A few hours at most," she responded, to his delight.

He looked around and saw that he was still inside the formation, though the immortal was gone. All his clothes and items were on the side, neatly folded and untouched.

He picked himself up and put on his clothes, flexing his arms and legs as he did. The more he moved, the quicker he recovered, though the unusual bloated feeling was not disappearing.

"Thank you senior," Lex said out loud, and bowed. Although the immortal was not there, Lex was sure that all his actions were under the immortal's supervision. If he wanted to meet Lex he would have. Since he had not come, then that was a form of farewell.

After waiting a moment to make sure that the immortal was not responding, Lex turned around and left. Outside, an attendant was waiting for him to guide him outside the palace. Although it was quite thoughtful, the attendants' eager attitude to lead Lex outside almost made him suspect that they wanted him gone. But how was that possible? They had quite a good relationship! Lex actually counted the Celestial immortal amongst the list of his personal contacts, though admittedly he did not know his name yet.

Whatever the case, Lex had his own tasks to complete, so he did not delay either. Once he left the palace, Lex made his way into the capital city and rented a room in a hotel for a day. Once inside, he finally checked the card that was given to him by Hix. Unfortunately, there was no indication of any progress in searching for Barley.

Lex frowned and considered if he should consult one of the oracles inside the Inn. After all, he only had a few weeks left till the Inn was sealed. Afterwards, even he would be trapped outside if he remained out, so he had to conclude all his business by then.

But the problem with that was the Destiny level protection around the Inn. It would prevent divination for anyone inside the Inn. Based on that logic, it should also prevent anyone inside the Inn from divining anything outside, right? According to the scale he knew, if someone wanted to break through the Divine level formation, then their divination would have to be of the Death level, which was the level after Destiny. Lex did not understand what this scale was based on, but he at least knew the names of the levels.

Shaking his head, Lex teleported back to the Inn. He had no way of knowing if his inscription was really removed or not, but he trusted that it had been done.

Once back at the Inn, the first thing Lex did was check his own status to see why he was feeling bloated.

Condition: Due to extremely high level spiritual energy passing through them, your meridians are swollen. They will recover on their own within 24 hours.

Remarks: You're so used to being pitiful, good things make you sick.

Extremely pure energy… considering his physical condition, Lex decided not to cultivate for the next few days to let his body recover. Although the system said he'd be fine in a day, he didn't want to risk it. Besides, Vera's event was coming up. He could spend the next few days watching over that. He could also try out Kenta's cooking as Leo.

More and more ideas kept coming to him for how he could prolong his rest from his cultivation sessions. This was the kind of creativity that usually only hits someone when they're trying to study for exams, but their brain keeps thinking of various fun tasks to do.

Teleporting to his office, Lex pulled up all the information about the upcoming event. To be entirely honest, even though Lex wanted to do a lot with it, it was Vera's event, so he could only do what she asked.

The event would last five days and was not too exciting. Basically, Vera had booked a venue, and all attendees would enter the venue at the beginning of the event, after which it would be sealed. The venue would only open five days later.

The only actual responsibility Lex had was sealing the venue and doing the advertising once the event was actually over. Of course, there was nothing sinister planned, as all attendees would be informed beforehand that the venue would be sealed. To enter or not was entirely up to them.

That was it. So technically, Lex should not have paid such an event any attention at all whatsoever. The problem was, the number of expected participants was massive in the millions. Moreover, all of them were either oracles or diviners, or basically had some profession that dealt with predicting the future. He would feel like he would be missing out on a massive opportunity if he did nothing. The only question was, what could he do?

Chapter 821 Relaxing just a little

821 Relaxing just a little

The next few days passed calmly for Lex. The first thing he did was plan how to get some sleep. Although he did not feel particularly tired, he was aware of the fact that his body had been under extreme stress. Not only had he not healed completely yet, but the process of removing his inscription was far from simple.

Just thinking back to the pain he felt before he blacked out made him tremble. Lex had tolerated pain before, both in his body and soul, yet that was a different experience altogether. It was as if his very being was becoming undone.

He spent some time in the Hot tub room, and even found time to go to Harry's barbershop. Yes, he did not have hair. But Harry had long transcended the simple grooming he used to do back in the day. Although, of course, if that's what a client wanted, that's what they would get.

But Harry could relieve the stress accumulated in the body, mind and soul, among other things. One of his most popular new attractions was the Soul Pond, which could sustain or heal broken souls, though admittedly its healing effects were extremely minimal. Its primary use was to nurture soul treasures, techniques, and to support soul based cultivation methods. His own Glamor Sorcery was one of the types of soul cultivation techniques.

Lex just had Harry alleviate the accumulated stress in his soul and body so that they could heal better. A part of him could tell that the shock he had experienced to remove the inscription was not simple.

After experiencing both the Hot tub and Harry's treatment, he stopped by the Patisserie where he got himself some cupcakes and hot chocolate. If there was a way to relax even more than this, he had not discovered it yet.

Once all this was done, he was finally ready to sleep. Just to be safe, he asked Mary to wake him up if he slept longer than a day.

The last thought he had right before he dozed off was how he was still using a simple bed whereas he could be using some supreme, ultra sleep treasure that created the perfect sleep environment. He did not know what it would entail, but when he thought back to all the palaces he had been visiting lately, he was willing to bet a dragon that they did not use simple beds.

Lex had not realized that a simple bed would not be able to support his considerable weight at all. During the many star level raises, all his furniture had also been nourished, and subsequently evolved.

Just as he feared, Lex had become too cozy. That, accompanied by his wounded state, led him to sleep continuously for a day. It even took Marry considerable effort to rouse him from slumber, because every time she would wake him, he would mumble 5 more minutes before dozing off again.

But he never realized that by saying that, he was literally making her wait five minutes before trying to wake him again. If he simply asked to be allowed to sleep longer, she would let things be. But since he kept asking for five minutes, she had to keep waking him every five minutes!

Eventually, a grumbling Lex got out of bed. Although he knew a day may have passed, he only felt like it had been mere minutes.

After a very large breakfast, Lex decided to check in with Vera first. If divination could really help him find Barley, it was worth a shot. Although he was fairly certain that whoever had Barley, or wherever he had escaped to, he should have taken precautions against divination by now.

Just as Lex approached Vera, who was sitting with the same group as last time, he paused. He immediately realized that everyone around Vera was staring at him with greedy eyes, as if he were a valuable treasure that they wanted to scoop up.

"You have become quite famous in our circles, Lex," Vera said with a smile. "The help you provided Leslie was unbelievable, and now the entire divination community wants to get their hands on you. Of course, the only reason they haven't is because no one can divine whether or not that's a good idea."

"Is your entire community dependent on a simple prophecy? If so, I can give you one now. If anyone tries to mess with me, not only will they not get my help, they will severely regret it."

Lex was smiling as he talked, but the weight of his words was not to be underestimated. He had not realized how a simple action could land him in trouble.

"Worry not, no one will harm you. If that were the case, I would never have publicly asked you to help out Leslie. I would have done it in secret. Since no one was able to divine anything about you, everyone came to a consensus. We'll make it official during the upcoming event, but basically, if someone wants your help they can offer you a price, but they cannot coerce you."

"You know, this is not my day job, right? I have my own things to do, not to mention helping Leslie was far from simple. My hands got burned quite badly if you recall."

"That's the whole point," Vera said giggling. "All that happened is that your hands got burned. Normally, anyone who tries to touch tribulation lightning that is trapped within someone else's soul ends up suffering from the same predicament."

Lex glared at Vera. She had not mentioned this to him before he tried, although admittedly he had not taken the request too seriously when he heard it either.

"Don't worry. It's up to you if you want to help anyone. No one will pester you if you don't want to help, although it's an easy way to make friends. Some of the people here are very well connected, it could be worth it."

Lex took in a deep breath, and tried to ignore how he was trying to be used.

"Well, if anyone wants my help, you can start by first finding Barley Holdinson for me. I wouldn't mind helping someone out after that."

Chapter 822 Another blade

Lex did not need to explain who Barley was since finding him was one of the recent popular requests for oracles in the Origin realm, right behind finding Lex. While initially finding Barley was easy, it had been a while since he disappeared from both public view as well as from the effects of divination.

But unless he was using an abnormally powerful protection measure, such as the formation within the Inn, there would always be ways to find him. For example, most means of protection from divination only target the more common or mainstream methods.

More unique methods, such as Vera's, can often circumvent such protection measures. For example, as long as Barley met Vera in person at some point in her life, she could divine her own future and find him, or predict where and when he could be found at that time. After all, the target of her divination is herself, not him.𝑙𝘪𝒷𝓇𝑒𝑎𝑑.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"I'll spread the word," Vera said, without drawing any conclusions. After all, almost everyone knew why Barley was famous, and the fact that he had mentioned a 'Lex' in his video.

"How is Leslie doing?" Lex asked, since he didn't see her in the group.

"With the lightning removed from her soul, she is doing much better. She can start divining again, but more importantly, she can start cultivating again. I can't really say you got off easy, since what you did for her was nothing short of incredible, but don't underestimate her divination. She is one of the most sought after oracles of the upcoming generation. It was actually because of that very fact that she attracted a client involved in things she was too low leveled to learn about. She won't be making that mistake again."

Listening to her words Lex frowned. Originally he had planned on spending more time getting to know the oracles, but her premonition of his deep regret left him feeling worried. She had told him the key to avoiding his regret was a blade in his possession. He had assumed that it was the blade of grass containing laws, but he also could not discount that it may very well also be the sword or 'blade' hiding within his soul.

"If anyone gets any leads on him, you can just inform someone from the Inn. They'll find me," said Lex before turning away. Since he was taking a break from absorbing the blade of grass, he might as well focus on learning sword intent.

"Mary, how is Xeons' progress studying the ships?" Lex asked. Since his mind had been diverted towards the topic of strengthening his combat ability, he may as well check up on all his projects in this field.

"He's asked for the millionth time to be allowed to dismantle the Silent Wanderer to study it, but I keep telling him no as per your instructions. He's enrolled in numerous classes on the Henali portal, but that's a gradual process and you can expect him to become an expert overnight. Especially since he's also focusing on refining his body to become a full-fledged dragon.

"He has designed a few weapons that can be attached to ships, though, again, I am not letting him experiment on the Silent Wanderer or the Flying Day care. Speaking of the Wanderer, Captain Cirk has finished going through the manual for the Silent Wanderer and is confident he can pilot it. He's been undergoing simulations in the Henali portal, but if has an opportunity to fly the real thing, it'll be better practice."

Lex looked up and easily found the massive spaceship that was hovering right above the Inn. Lex had to buy a massive plot of land where the ship could hover over so that it doesn't block the sky for the main areas of the Inn. The plus point was that the area under the ship became a 'shadowed' area, where those guests who preferred the dark, or were sensitive to light, could reside.

"For now, I can allow him to test out some of the features of the Wanderer within the Inn. When I get the chance, I'll take him out with me so he can try flying it in space. But I don't see that happening anytime soon. How's the training for the 300 from the new battalion going?"

"It's going well, and they're growing fast. In a few years, they'll be a considerable fighting force."

"They're only the first batch. The Inn will require a lot of strong warriors, so we have to refine our training methods as we go through them. Have someone compile a report on their progress, I'll look at it later."

Lex discussed various projects with Mary, right up until he reached the Midnight mountain. To be more specific, until he reached the sword slash within the mountain. He had been here before, but at that time he was wearing the Host Attire, so he did not feel the true weight?of the sword intent gathered here.

Now, standing there without any protection, he was finally exposed to it in its full glory. It was heavy, yet sharp at the same time. It was not cutting his body, but he could tell that the sharpness was imbued within the aura of this place.

To put it in other words, the way a dragon's aura contained an oppressive might, the aura here was honed like a razor. He felt like his thoughts themselves were being cut through.

This was Qawain's abode, in a sense. Qawain, the sword that had gained sentience, gave sword lessons within a small cave at the heart of the sword slash, but first you would have to cross the artificial valley that was filled with this sword intent.

Some saw this as an obstacle, but Lex, who had no experience with sword intent at all, saw this as an opportunity. He summoned a simple, double-edged sword he had bought earlier on from the Guild room and gripped it tightly.

Since he had never formed an intent before, and was not sure how to form one, he would just have to brute force it. He would experience the intent in the valley with his body, and try to recreate it on his sword.

Without any hesitation, he took his first step.

Chapter 823 Level too low

Lex had too many concerns lately, but he put them all aside for now. With a clear, focused mind, he entered the Sword Valley, and immediately he felt the resistance of the sword intent that filled the area.

Compared to Dragons Might, which threatened to crush his body and soul and extinguish them, even this sharpness that threatened to cut his body felt like nothing. No matter what, Lex knew that within the Inn he could not be hurt by aura alone and so that element of danger vanished, regardless of how difficult it was.

Back then, in front of the dragon, if Lex had relaxed for even a second, or given up, the danger to his life was extremely real. He would have had to escape to the Inn to get away with his life intact. It was akin to the plank challenges that used to happen back on Earth, but the only difference was that if you give up, you would die.

It was like putting a gun to an ordinary person's head and asking them to plank for ten minutes. Even with all the adrenaline pumping, it was unknown if they would be able to make it. Compared to that, regardless of how threatening this sword intent felt, it was nothing. Not to mention, even if the threat was real, Lex would not hesitate.

The information about intents flashed through Lex's mind. Before one can learn intent, they must first gain a certain level of competency in that field. Asking Lex to become a sword grandmaster overnight was too much, but he had to start with somewhere.

Lex focused on the sharp feeling that was pressing against his body, visualized it as something that was coating his own sword, and then slashed forward.

Predictably, Lex's sword was not coated in any real intent. Despite the expected result, Lex frowned. Since his mind was much sharper than before, Lex noticed a multitude of things he would have missed before. By ordinary standards, his slash was normal. It was pretty good even. But Lex noticed that as he extended his sword during his slash, his balance was somewhat impacted.

He immediately adjusted for it so that his slash was not slowed down, or so that it would not deviate from its intended target. Yet he was not satisfied by the fact that his balance was affected to begin with.

He repeated all the previous steps, visualizing the intent coating his sword, and slashed again, though this time he adjusted his footing a little beforehand so that there would be no imbalance. The slash was better, faster and delivered more power, but Lex frowned nonetheless.

The difference was practically imperceptible, yet Lex noticed anyway. Due to his readjustment of his feet, the range of his attack had been minutely reduced.

He tried again, this time keeping the desired result in mind, but then encountered a new problem.

Like this he kept trying, his initial focus on sword intent already forgotten. With each new attempt, he would take a step deeper into the valley, but the ever-increasing sword intent seemed to not bother him at all.

The issue was not that learning the sword was hard, but that Lex was too perceptive. He would detect issues with his moves that even ordinary sword masters would not be able to detect. In a sense, it could be said that as far as the ordinary slash Lex was performing, he was already better than many sword masters. By that standard, he was already at the level to manifest sword intent.

The problem was that in Lex's mind he still had flaws in his swordsmanship, and as such would not be able to manifest sword intent. At this point, his own dissatisfaction with his level was the only thing preventing him from manifesting basic sword intent.

Deep in the valley, Qawain was watching Lex's progress with interest. Although Lex's level was abysmal, Qawain liked the standard Lex was setting, and how seriously he was taking it. After all, as a sword himself, he would definitely like those who seriously respected the sword and swordsmanship.

He was also intrigued by how Lex did not seem to be bothered by the sword intent at all. To test things out, he increased the pressure around Lex, and only Lex.

The sudden increase in pressure caused Lex's slash to falter, which made him frown again. He was not blaming the sudden increase in pressure. After all, in real combat, the situation would be dynamic. Sometimes he would face no pressure at all, and at other times, the pressure would be astronomical. Therefore, he should be able to perform in any situation.

Lex almost growled due to the immense irritation he was feeling, but then suddenly paused. His emotions were getting agitated again. He used his sword to look at his reflection and saw the faint image of a sword in his left eye. It was just as he suspected.

Lex closed his eyes and almost immediately entered a meditative state, taking deep breaths to calm himself down. He allowed his emotions to slowly fade, and pushed away all distractions. It was as if he was in the state of Flow, except that he was not becoming cold and emotionless. It was as if he was gaining all the benefits of that state without the side effects.

When he opened his eyes, Lex had calmed down completely, and renewed his focus. He slashed forth once again, this time getting much better results. He had assumed that since he had calmed down and taken control of his emotions, the sword image in his eye had vanished. But in truth, it had become even clearer once he calmed his mind. With each slash, it became clearer still, until eventually it began to shimmer.

It was as if the image was trying to manifest a sword intent of its own. Unfortunately, Lex still thought his level was too low, and so did not manifest it.