The Innkeeper



This time, when Lex woke up, he was feeling much better. He was still not back to his best state, but sleeping for another two days in the Recovery pod had done his headache wonders.

Though he still felt physically weak, at least his mental state was back to normal. It was not the best condition for his return to the Crystal realm, but he couldn't afford to delay any longer. He didn't know when and how the Henali would respond to his letter. The best case scenario would be for him to already have his own realm before his deployment orders even came. That way, he wouldn't have to go to war at all. Probably.

The way for him to get his own realm was to complete the quest he got in the Crystal realm, which required him to discover the anomaly in the realm. There were no hints as to what the anomaly was, but Lex had long suspected that the Kraven had something to do with it.

Actually, it had all but been confirmed that the Kraven played some sort of role in the anomaly. But considering the fact that the anomaly, whatever it was, caused Lex to be pulled from the Origin realm to the Crystal one, he did not see clearly what the Kraven could have to do with it.

Additionally, he had learnt that the various nations were in fact, not putting all their strength in defending against the Kraven invasion. In fact, Lex had reason to believe that they were actively allowing the lands to fall to them. This was a conclusion he came to after talking with Aegis, the crown prince of the Hum nation.

Unfortunately, Aegis, due to his own unusual life, had little to no knowledge of the inner workings and plans behind whatever was happening.

But that was fine. All he had to do was learn more secrets, and then make his way to a city called Valesco, where an old member of the Crystal race was waiting for him. For every secret Lex had managed to discover, he would share another one. Of course, he also had another route, which was the Noel family back in Babylon, the town where he had built the Midnight tavern,

Considering that Babylon was in their territory, and that Lex had managed to build a good relationship, Lex expected he could make some use of them. If nothing else, he could go around the realm and search for old ruins or Minor realms which contain secrets of what actually happened. The old man from the crystal race already told him that all such information had been wiped clean, and he would need to find some old ruins with as of yet untouched records to learn the truth.

With his new and improved intuition, he firmly believed it would be much easier for him to find them. He did not need to rely on luck to bump into them.

But before he did that, Lex needed to make some preparations. His gear was, naturally, already taken care of. But he had requested some additional supplies at the Infinity Emporium which might be helpful.

Lex originally wanted to get his hands on teleportation talismans and items which would allow him to traverse large areas quickly. Unfortunately, while such items were available, teleportation talismans weren't really accurate or easy to direct. The longest range teleportation talisman he got his hands on could teleport him 100,000 miles (161,000 km) in a straight line. But which direction that straight line was, was something he could not control.

He also got his hands on some extremely potent medication which would boost the body's recovery. He got his hands on massive and powerful illumination devices, which could be used if he ever encountered a situation where the Sol birds went away.

He had already received the Fancy contact lenses, so he didn't need to procure those. Instead, he got a lot of gear for Fenrir.

He planned on using the pup as a mount while he traversed that land, and keep the dog as company. Not only would it be good to have someone with him, the pup would continue to gain experience, not to mention the fact that it had some useful abilities.

Its stealth capabilities were beyond what Lex could achieve, and over long distances, the pup could move faster than Lex. It only made sense to take him along.

As unusual as it might seem to see a pup wearing armor running around, the Crystal realm was a dangerous place and Lex didn't want the pup left unprotected. It had a few augmentation features as well, that could heighten Fenrir's senses when activated. There was also a backpack for it which would stick close to its body and not bounce around regardless of how it moved. Lex left that mostly empty, but put a few talismans inside.

Although such preparation might seem lackluster, as Lex barely addressed other needs, such as travel equipment or emergency food supplies, it was enough. Mostly because this time, his connection to the Inn hadn't been compromised. He could travel to and from the realm to the Inn at any time, so if he ever needed anything he could come back and get it then.

With his preparations done, Lex mentally went over the situation at the Midnight tavern. The workers and residents there never felt Lex's absence, for he had been using his remote presence for a few hours every day to check in.

Big Ben was as popular as ever with the locals, which served more to deter trouble than actually using any intimidation. After all, a Sol bird had recently returned to Babylon and the darkness had disappeared. The Pvarti family was busy rebuilding the town. It was too important strategically to abandon the location, so there was no other choice.

As a result, while the tavern was no longer as crowded as it used to be, it continuously saw business. Rick, his handyman at the tavern, was always busy with repairs or miscellaneous work and Roan, the bartender, had slowly developed a network amongst the locals.

While the stories of the achievements of the tavern during the darkness still permeated the town, things had been quiet for too long so people stopped thinking about it as much.

Hopefully, things would continue to stay that way even after Lex returned.