The Innkeeper

"What direction?" Lex asked the Lotus in his mind.

"In the distance, where the light from behind the mountain is coming from."

Lex nodded and approached Cwenhild.

"Cwen, I'm not sure if this helps with taking control of the Minor realm but there's a massive energy source in the direction of those mountains."

Cwenhild was genuinely surprised at the information that Lex provided, for those mountains were miles away and it should have been impossible for any of them to detect something so far away unaided. Regardless, she still could not determine if what they were searching for was there, but it was a good guess.

"Jovi, any day now," Cwenhild yelled with a hint of impatience in her voice while she looked at the man. An inexperienced person may look at the members of her group and assume that Jovi was one of the weakest and most useless members, whereas that was far from the truth.

Jovi was a synergist, a profession adopted by those who dual cultivated the soul and spirit paths. Due to his extreme sensitivity towards life as well as energy, he was able to greatly bolster his allies. Based on his strength and skill, he could even directly double someone's strength.

"Give me a moment… done!" the exasperated Jovi yelled, before his body started to emit a yellow light, enveloping the group.

The moment Lex felt the subtle warmth of the light fall on him he felt his speed pick up drastically. The entire group's strength had increased, and they changed their direction towards the mountains.

Running in a bog was frustrating to say the least, and while their combined teamwork should have allowed them to fight off most enemies, there was no point in wasting their energy doing so. After all, it had to be remembered that while they entered the realm early, others would also enter in a few hours. While a majority of them would simply be hunting for anything valuable, some may also have the same objective. It would be best to take the greatest advantage of their head start.

"Tim, do your things," Cwenhild yelled, and the tall man nodded and stopped running, getting left behind. No one questioned it, for they were all familiar with Tim. He was a body and spirit cultivator, and though he did not have a unique profession to set him apart, he had a strong bloodline that made him a demolition expert, as well as extremely capable in setting up traps.

A few minutes later he caught up, looking slightly pale. But his face showed only a satisfied expression, and only a few moments later when an earthshaking explosion took place, his smile grew wider.

Whatever had been following them stopped after that and the group encountered a massive boulder, jutting out of the ground, giving them a dry place to rest for a while. Not that any of them other than Tim needed a rest. The real reason they stopped was so that Patrick, a soul and spirit cultivator, could scan the realm using a special beacon.

Looking at this group might cause one to begin doubting the rarity of dual cultivators, but it had to be remembered that even to be qualified to have Cwenhild consider them, they had to be the best in their respective fields. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were each one out of a million. In fact, it was probably an underestimation.

Regardless, what set Patrick apart was his unusual cultivation technique. For various, complex reasons, all originating from that technique, he had developed his spiritual sense prior to the Golden Core realm. In exchange, until he reached the Golden core realm, his body would be very frail, and could not take strenuous exertion. But the advantage that he gained in reconnaissance abilities with the help of various equipment was too great to give up.

The rest took this time to check their equipment and keep an eye out for any more trouble. Lex similarly remained vigilant. There was no doubt that his instincts would warn him should any danger approach, but that did not mean he should become complacent. His own experiences were enough to let him know that there were always exceptions to anything you might think is a concrete rule.

A few times, he sensed some creatures approach them beneath the murky water. But each time, after sensing the strength and vigilance of his group, the creatures would retreat. He had not yet actually seen what form the creatures in this realm actually were.

The fact that they hid in the water so far may be one reason, but considering the only light source in this minor realm was very dim, he may as well have missed a few creatures passing by in the distance.

"The scan is complete," Patrick said after some time, attracting the attention of the group. "The approximate size of this realm is around 100,000 acres, though with areas that large it becomes difficult to get an accurate guess. There are several, distinct biomes all beside one another. More importantly, there seem to be signs of large ruins in many areas, all of which may contain valuable treasures, or perhaps records about the origin of this realm. There's a lot of interference around the mountains, so I can't get a detailed reading, but I can vaguely detect large structures there as well. There's a good possibility that the largest, or perhaps most intact ruins are there."

Cwenhild considered the possibilities for a moment, then had Patrick chart out a path for them towards the mountain while exploring any nearby ruins. With slight detours, they would be able to fit two different ruins on their journey.

"There we go, we already know what to do. This conquering minor realms stuff is a lot easier than you said it would be," said one of the group members called Ness. Lex's lip twitched as he looked at the girl raising death flags.

Ness was… not the brightest person Lex had ever met. Even trying to be reserved with his judgement, she could only be called dumb. In fact, when they arrived at this realm, Cwenhild had to stop her from drinking the murky bog water from which the poisonous gas was being released. But, for everything she lacked, she was perhaps the most dangerous person Lex had seen at the Foundation realm. To be fair, he had yet to see Cwinhild fight seriously.

But Ness, who followed the body path and a rare and dangerous path called Tino, which was also actually a form of the body path, was extremely fast, strong and vicious. He just hoped that her strength would help her combat the endless death flags she was raising, for even as they left the boulder and headed towards the first ruins, she kept emphasizing how boring this was turning out to be.

After an hour more of jogging Lex couldn't help but admit that the journey had, indeed, so far been much easier than anticipated. Maybe visiting multiple realms and absorbing energy won't be such an ordeal after all.

No sooner had Lex completed the thought that the ground erupted from beneath them, with no forewarning whatsoever. By the time Lex's instincts kicked in, he was already flying through the air, a sharp stone like spear stuck in a large dent in his armor.

In the air, with no sense of what was happening to the rest, he quickly pulled his legs up to his chest, just in time to dodge another rock spear.

Despite the surprise attack, Lex wasn't at all injured. This wasn't a result of his sturdiness, but rather of his preparations. He had used Ripple shell, a defensive technique that covered his body the moment he entered the minor realm. The best part was that the technique would stay active until disabled or defeated.

When Lex finally landed, he quickly leaped aside, in case anyone was attacking his landing spot, and took note of the situation. The enemy was… it looked like some kind of sentient rock that could manipulate the minerals in the ground around it. He took note of the clothes and found that Jovi, Sohee and Patrick were hurt, with Patrick in the worst condition.

Without wasting a moment, he employed Hearts Marathon to boost his speed and sprinted right into the fray. With the element of surprise lost, and with his instincts fully working, he dodged each of the stone spears launched his way with ease.

Without a thought for attacking the rock, he grabbed all the injured and promptly retreated from the fight. This was not cowardice, but the simple fact that if he attacked, he would interfere with the coordinated attack the rest were performing. In any given situation, he would first follow his training, and only take the initiative to make different decisions should a drastic change occur.

Just as he retreated from the combat zone, and set the three down, the ground behind him burst once again, and a barrage of stone spears flew at him.