The Innkeeper

"Come in," Alexander said casually, as if unsuspecting of anything. He pretended not to notice Greg squeezing his stress ball even harder. Internally he was amused quite a bit - should a would-be assassin really be using a stress ball? In fact, what he did not know was that Greg was constantly in a lot of pain, as he was not inherently a Gu cultivator.

Gu were similar to spiritual beasts, but instead of beasts they were insects. Gu cultivators nurtured the Gu in their own bodies and shared everything from nutrients to spiritual energy. It was quite a rare form of cultivation, and was widely frowned upon not only because of how dark the practices were, but also because most people found it too disgusting to let Gu enter their bodies. Nevertheless, Gu allowed people with low inherent cultivation talent to easily surpass their natural limits as their cultivation depended on the Gu instead.

The door opened and an elderly man entered followed by two bodyguards. The old man had a slight hunch and snow white hair, but his eyes were energetic and warm.

"Senior Hammad" Alexander acknowledged, slightly surprised, as he quickly got up to greet the old man. This old man was actually quite old, at around 230 years. Although the average life expectancy for a Golden Core cultivator was 250 years, it was rare for them to actually reach or come close to such an age as 250 was considered the maximum and not a necessity. If Golden Core cultivators had a weak foundation or suffered from injuries their life expectancy would naturally be reduced. Which is why his long life was a surprise to many people as he was a war veteran from one of the last cultivator wars to take place on Earth. Naturally as someone with status this senior had crossed paths with Alexander's family before, even though they had never met themselves.

"Sit, sit, there's no need for formalities. I just had to come see you when I recognized your voice, I hadn't realized that you had come to Cairo."

Since Alexander was standing, Greg and Helen had stood up as well and stood behind him respectfully. They bowed to the senior but didn't say anything.

"I came on vacation with my friends. We're celebrating my breakthrough."

"Ah yes, your breakthrough!" the old man said, taking a seat. His two bodyguards stood behind him with their backs against the wall. "Congratulations! My boy, congratulations! What an age the world has come to, what an age! Back in my day, one could not even dare to imagine entering the Foundation realm before the age of fifty." The old man's eyes stared out into the distance, as if reminiscing.

"Indeed," Alexander agreed, taking a seat as well, "with space travel and terraforming technology, we have access to more Spirit Stone mines than ever before. In fact, we have already started preparing for asteroid mining as well as planning to explore Jupiter's moons. In the future, things will only get better."

"Phenomenal, what a time to be alive. But as they say, an age is built by the men of it's times. I have no doubt that you'll be setting even more records soon. Not to mention, you've even gotten your hands on those two inheritance keys from the Goddesses village." There was a subtle change in Hammad's voice at this point, and an air of tension filled the room. Hammad was still smiling, and the body guards had not moved, but Alexander sensed a stir in the natural flow of spirit energy in the room.

Spirit energy was like air, it seemed to be present everywhere in the world. When something interacted with it, the spirit energy tended to develop a flow, similar to the wind. But random things did not cause a stir in spirit energy, meaning a person walking through a room would not affect the spirit energy in the room. But if there was a person meditating in the corner of the room, spirit energy would flow towards that person, and the people sensitive to spirit energy would feel that flow similar to how a person could feel wind on their skin. Currently, it wasn't the spirit energy of the room that was moving but rather of the general area.

"Well so far there is no telling what the keys are. They may turn out to be nothing more than decoration pieces. Otherwise the owner would not have sold them."

"True, true, there's no telling what their use is yet. Still, you were quite decisive in the way you bought both of them. Some people may think you may know what they're used for."

Alexander smirked internally. He was giving the man respect due to age and achievements, but that did not mean it gave the old man the right to interrogate him. Who could question what Alexander did? But all this was only an internal monologue, he still wanted to see the performance that had been prepared for him.

"A friend of mine took interest in the keys so I am only acquiring them for her. I have no personal interest in the keys, nor do I know much about them."

"How fortunate it is to be your friend," the old man remarked and let out a chuckle. Before the conversation could continue there was a knock on the door, and a smartly dressed lady walked in with a briefcase.

"Your keys," she said to Alexander with a warm smile and handed over the briefcase before quickly leaving. At this time, all eyes in the room were on the briefcase in Alexander's hand. Even Helen, who had so far maintained a calm expression, wore a worried look.

Alexander, though, pretended like he did not notice at all and calmly opened the briefcase to take a closer look at his prize. The truth was, the mysterious girl had only asked for one of the keys but he had gotten both because he wanted to know what was so special about them. On a closer look, Alexander could immediately tell they were not 'decoration pieces'. Even without touching them he could feel them radiating warmth, and they seemed to have an alluring shine to them. Though what was a little strange was that while the auctioneer said that they had a healing effect, Alexander's instincts were telling him otherwise. He felt like a wider horizon awaited him so long as he took hold of the keys.

How was he supposed to know that the key affected everyone differently? It was just that the spirit energy on Earth was scarce, not to mention polluted. Most cultivators here carried injuries due to improper cultivation, which is why the key always gave them a feeling that it could heal them. Alexander, on the other hand, had been guided and taken care of by numerous professionals. Even when he sustained injuries or made mistakes in cultivation, his recovery was always assured. Which is why the feeling he got was not one of healing, but of freedom. Although he was not constrained anymore by his training and had the freedom to live how he wanted, the freedom was relatively new and he had not had a chance to taste it yet, so naturally that is what his heart still yearned for.

"May I take a look?" Hammad asked, waking Alexander from his reverie. His voice was no longer as soft as it had been, and his expression not as gentle as it was. Alexander looked at the old man with an amused look, but handed the briefcase over. Helen and Greg both looked tense now, though they sat behind Alexander so he could not see their faces. The atmosphere in the room had become even more tense, but Alexander maintained his calm as if he had not noticed.

The old man stared at the keys with evident greed in his eyes, and slowly crept one of his hands closer to the keys. Just as it was about to touch the key, however, he stopped himself and quickly withdrew his hand.

"It's a shame I didn't know the keys would be auctioned sooner, or else I might have prepared to buy them as well."

The old man closed the briefcase and held it out for Alexander to take back. The young man reached forward to take it, and just as Alexander took it back it happened! The old man, a late Golden Core stage cultivator, launched a dagger at Alexander, who was only a few feet away from him. The dagger was not a normal dagger, as it had the special function of being able to piece through any kind of spirit energy shield. But that was not all. At the same time that the old man attacked, the walls of the private room exploded and it seemed several projectiles shot towards Alexander, and even Helen as well as Greg.

All this happened in a moment, and in less than a tenth of a second the old man's dagger had reached Alexander's throat.

*****

While a momentous event was taking place on Earth, Lex found himself soaking in a bath in one of his free guest rooms, drinking a Pina Colada. Figuring out how to make MP was really too stressful, and coming this close to potentially dying was way too much for him to take right now. So he decided to take a little break - to give his brain rest so that it could work better later! That was totally the reason! It definitely wasn't because he discovered that the Inn also provided bath bombs should a guest ask for one, and wanted to try it out! He took another sip of his drink - from a paper straw of course - before mentally adjusting the temperature of the water and raising it by a few degrees.

He should think about adding some hot springs to the Inn.