The Innkeeper

Before Lex could clarify the situation, Gerard came back, holding a picnic basket. It didn't matter, he'd said what he needed to say, and somewhat understood her situation. But just because she thought that her father who was a Dao Lord did not pay attention to her did not mean that was what the situation was.

It still required some caution, but it was not like he was going to stop Gerard. After all, maybe this was a way for Dao Lord to build connections. Now that Lex had a better understanding of the power Dao Lords had, he knew that the distance between realms was no real gap to them, and it should be even more so when keeping track of their progeny.

There was a chance that the Inn's Destiny protection kept them from looking in on their kids, but considering that the system was barely functioning at the moment, that was hard to imagine.

The dinner went nicely, and since they were all seated together, instead of only talking amongst themselves, Gerard and Lilith included the other two in the conversation as well. They were both so in sync that it felt like he and Cindy were being hosted by the couple.

Afterwards, Gerard took out some smart phones from the picnic basket and gave everyone each. The phones were connected to the Midnight Inns own portal, which was basically just like its own internet. As of right now there wasn't much on it, but at least they could communicate with each other as long as they were in the Inn.

With time, more and more features would be added to it. Lex eventually planned on spreading this across the entire realm without disclosing its origin, and eventually launching various services through it.

He once read a novel about a universal internet of sorts that could do everything from teleportation to mail delivery to selling goods and services across the entire universe. He did not expect for his portal to reach the level of a fantasy novel, but it would be pretty cool if everyone started using it.

Then he too could be a proper capitalist and do evil things like steal user data. Enh, no, he meant, improve the user experience after reviewing usership logs.

The group exchanged contact information and even created a groupchat, before finally heading back towards the Silent Wanderer.

The date was both mentally and emotionally exhausting for Lex, so he was glad when it was finally over. He wanted to say something like kids grow up so fast, but he was for certain taking his time with his body growing up.

But Lex had a rare break waiting for him now. Since the system was absorbing the newborn system, and he still had to figure out his plan for getting the remaining resin before actually going to get them, he allowed himself a break.

After all, as a baby, he was supposed to be getting regular sleep and eating three times a day, both of which he had been ignoring. So finally, after a long time, Lex took a steaming hot shower and threw himself into bed.

By now, he had gained some level of control over his ability to divine in his dreams, but he wasn't in the mood to put in work while sleeping, so he used the technique, and then went to sleep.

What followed was a strange experience because Lex was clearly asleep, but at the same time, fairy Lex was awake. So… he was both asleep and awake at the same time. Should he synchronize when they both sleep to avoid the strange sensation?

Even if he did that in the future, he couldn't right now because fairy Lex was undergoing the trial to gain the friendship for the Shadow Talons.

It was actually quite straightforward. They brought him, through the shadow plane, to a spot in the actual Midnight realm that was far away from where he actually entered. It looked like an Island in the Chaos sea, surrounded by the liquid that seemed to contain endless stars.

But the island was fairly small, not even a mile across, and was completely bare. The only distinguishing feature of the entire island was a hole in the ground that looked particularly menacing.

To pass the trial, all he had to do was go to the end of the hole, grab a pearl from one of the Null clams, and bring it back. The fact that Lex could not specifically recall anything about this island or hole meant that it should not be too prominent. It didn't help that he had no idea where it was.

But he went in. Of course, the hole was far from simple. It was not the dangerous monsters, traps or pitfalls that gave Lex trouble though. It was how strangely space was behaving in the hole.

The hole had many twists and turns, and branches that split off and went in different directions, so it was fairly obvious that most of it was dark. Lex's fairy dust was not exactly helpful either, since the darkness here was strange and oppressive, but only towards light. Every grain of fairy dust he produced seemed to be smothered by the darkness, fizzling out just as it was born. Lex himself remained unharmed, and if he really tried to produce light the darkness could not prevent it, but it did fight against the light.

Since Lex didn't really need light to see, he continued on without it, as he got the sense that he was earning the holes ire by summoning light on his own. But that's where the second issue came in.

Moving in a straight line did not mean he actually traveled in a straight line, and there were times where he felt like he had been transported through space entirely, yet the hole always looked the same so he couldn't tell.

It was becoming an issue, because only once the other Lex went to sleep did fairy Lex realize he had been in this hole for days.