The Innkeeper

Gerard and Lilith did not even know how they thoroughly destroyed the carefully orchestrated tension Lex and built up. They only had eyes for each other. They walked over to the grand piano sitting in the corner of the room, and Gerard made himself comfortable, and began showing Lilith how to play.

Considering her cultivation level, she was a quick learner, and in only moments there was a soft, romantic duet being played in the var. Lex sighed, though Oak mistook his expression as irritation.

"Mr. Tyrant, that's Mr. Gerard, one of your colleagues. Please excuse him, he surely did not mean to bother you."

Lex raised an eyebrow. This Professor Oak was very averse to confrontation, wasn't he? He was trying to stop Lex from getting into fights at every turn.

"Do not worry, Professor. I am naturally familiar with Gerard. I was just sighing at how relaxed he is. It is good that he is enjoying himself. After all, that's what the Inn is for. Also, you may have some misconceptions about me. I am not going to the Notknit Islands to fight anyone, and even if I do, it's not like I'm going to go about randomly killing people.

"I'm a nice guy, really. Okay sure, I sometimes have to be a little rough, but that's only against people who harm the Inn in some way first. Other than that, I'm very friendly. Honest. I've only destroyed one planet! You see how I hold myself back?"

Lex wondered if he could really take credit for the destruction of the planet where the Midnight Battalion had been trapped. Technically speaking, it had nothing to do with him. The space around them just spontaneously tore. But it was not like anyone would come to dispute him.

For the locals of the Midnight Realm, the statement of him destroying just one world was abstract, but for the older guests it definitely wasn't! They eyed him, though covertly as they didn't want to get caught.

"Haha, of course Mr. Tyrant! You're a very friendly guy! I believe you! We're having drinks aren't we? We're friends! So in that case, would you mind sharing why you want to go to the islands? Maybe I can guide you so that you might not even need to fight the eight island leaders."

"Truth be told, I'm searching for a treasure. I've heard that there's a really valuable treasure on the islands, so I want to try my luck at it."

Suddenly, a large number of people in the var turned to look at him, and their expressions were very serious. Many quickly looked away, considering Lex's aura was not weak at all, but many still continued to look.

"I feel like there's a story here," Lex said slowly, as he looked around. Gerard and Lily were literally the only ones who hadn't noticed the sudden return of the tension in the room. They just kept playing music that definitely did not suit the mood.

Professor Oak laughed even more nervously.

"Old stories. In fact, old children's stories. There's no truth to them at all! Countless people have come to the islands searching for the Chaos Crystal, but have never found it. Every few thousand years, someone claims to have discovered new clues about it, and that brings a whole new round of treasure hunters. But no one has ever found anything!"

Lex smiled in an amused manner. He knew for sure that there definitely was a treasure, and in fact, it really was a crystal! It was one of the few things he discovered that might match the resin in quality. The only thing that made him curious was how everyone else knew of it.

After all, he had knowledge of the entire realm which is how he discovered it, but what did everyone else rely on?

"Oh? Do you mind sharing some of these stories with me? If I don't find anything naturally I'll just move on, but who can resist the charm of a good old treasure hunt, huh?"

Professor Oak smiled weakly, and chugged the apple juice he had in front of him, before beginning.

"It's said, at the dawn of time, when even the Tree of Heaven was just a sapling, an eight legged horse came running from the horizon, chasing a shooting star. When it reached Menara, and just as it was about to catch the shooting star, a giant monster erupted from the Chaos Sea.

"The horse and the sea monster fought, destroying much of the land, and leaving what little remained in the form of the archipelago. In fact, even the hole that descends into the Underworld is considered to have originated from that fight. But once the fight was over, the horse had lost sight of the shooting star, and so could only return where it came from.

"Many think that the shooting star shot into the contenant somewhere, but most think that it is buried somewhere on the islands. Countless have tried searching for it, including the races from the shadowed lands, but none have ever discovered it.

"By now, one would think that the rumors would fade, but they never do. Even if everyone stops talking about it, and most forget, every few thousand years the story resurges somehow, and the treasure hunt begins anew."

"Oh? That's really interesting," Lex commented, and took a sip of his drink. "But then why is it called the Chaos Crystal if you just called it a shooting star?"

The professor froze, and so did the others. It seemed none of them had an answer to the question. The thing Lex was searching for could, indeed, be considered a Chaos Crystal, because in essence it was just the liquid that formed the chaos sea, but frozen solid for some reason.

But he was curious about how the story originated, and how they came up with the name. It seemed much too coincidental to believe that it was mere happenstance. Someone had to know about the crystal, but then why would they spread the story? Why wouldn't they take it for themselves?

Maybe they couldn't find it.

"Where did you hear about this treasure?" one of the bar's patrons asked. It was a treant, though it looked significantly different from Pinophyta.

"Oh, here and there. Why are you so surprised? It seems like everyone knows about it."

"Did you get a clue from somewhere?" asked the treant again, this time standing up and walking up to Lex.

"Maybe. What's it to you?" Lex asked, not bothering to suppress his smile since he was wearing a mask. He was hoping for a volunteer he could beat- no, eh, a volunteer he could spar with so that the rest understood not to mess with the Inn. It would serve as a small deterrent, until a big one was needed.

"The Tree of Heaven has sent 7 expeditions after the Chaos Crystal. If it were not real, they would not have happened," the treant said, finally reaching Lex, his figure towering above him. "If you have a clue you will submit it to the Treant Empire now, in service of the Tree of Heaven's needs."

"Wow, that almost sounded like an order," Lex said before taking another sip. It was remarkable how the mask did not stop the glass from passing through, but would stop anything else. Very multifunctional.

"All living beings are subject to the will of the Tree," the treant said, as if that explained everything.

"Ah, so it was an order," he said, as he stood up. "You want to take this outside? I find that I talk much better on a sparring platform."

Lex didn't bother waiting, and walked out of the manner. For whatever reason, wherever there were cultivators, there were fights, so even close to the Manor there were a few stages and platforms built where guests could spar one another without breaking the rules. Of course, both participants had to accept and the spar had to be monitored by a worker, but they were still popular.

Lex walked up to one such platform, then turned to look at the treant who was following. In fact, it seemed like the whole bar, excluding two certain individuals, had followed them.

"Why don't you convince me to share the hint with you," Lex said, as he crossed his arms and stood there. "I guarantee this is going to be your last chance, because after this, there won't be any more treasure hunts. I'll definitely find the crystal. It's a sad tradition to end, but it can't be helped."

The treant, instead of responding, directly attacked, revealing his cultivation level at the peak of the Golden core. Lex did not bother moving, and instead started to plan out his next set of actions. After the Crystal, he would go visit the other two continents. They were much larger, and contained more treasures for him to find. Hopefully, they would be useful.