The Innkeeper

Before rushing down to the last floor, where he strongly suspected he would be faced with the dragon, or what remained of it, Lex took out the black jade piece that Powell had given him. If the Peronian Jade existed, the compass would find it.

In all honesty, Lex did not mind doing the man this favor. He only wished that he could have kept a small piece of jade so as to study what was so special about it. There was a strong possibility that the jade was just an item he needed to sell to another client, but regardless, the overwhelmingly favorable deal that Lex had gotten made him curious.

As soon as he summoned the jade, it vibrated and an arrow appeared pointing down. There indeed was Peronian Jade, and it was at the lowest level of the hoard! Lex subtly nodded, as if such a thing only made sense.

He put the jade away, but before he could depart, his ever present, ever reliable holographic assistant spoke up.

"Hey Lex, do you think you could do me a favor?" she asked, her voice tinged with shyness and awkwardness. It was apparent that she was feeling very uncomfortable about the request she wanted to make.

"How can I help?" Lex asked, though he suspected he knew what was coming.

"Would it be possible for you to find me a very special item present in the hoard? It… it can help me make a body."

"A body?" Lex repeated, genuinely surprised although he anticipated a request might be coming his way. "For you to get a body, wouldn't it have to be given to you by the system?"

"Yes, technically that is the proper way of doing things. But you are well aware of loopholes in the system rules, and this is one of them. If I make my own body, instead of getting one from the system, I'll have much fewer restrictions on me than usual. I'll be able to answer all your questions that your insufficient authority prevents me from informing you."

"What do you need?"

"In case the dragon down below has a child, or is about to have a child, he may have prepared a special blood altar in its private chamber to nourish the egg. If that's the case, there will be a scale inside the altar. I need that scale."

"I'll keep an eye out," Lex said, before continuing down. He did not question Mary at the moment about why she knew what a dragon might do to nurture its child, or about her desire to get a body. He felt like he wouldn't get a proper answer, and even if he did, he was currently on a time crunch so now was not the time.

He had taken a look at the floor he was in for anything valuable he might find, but this floor seemed to have nothing besides prisons holding various races and the dwarves' corpses. Neither interested Lex at the moment so he decisively left.

A few minutes after Lex left, one of the dwarf corpses moved and picked itself up. The leader, Barley. Seemed to be recovering from death itself, though he did not seem concerned with that. Instead he gaze seemed fixed on the staircase leading down below.

"Lex William?" he murmured to himself as his strength slowly recovered. He seemed to have heard the name when the creature had yelled it out earlier.

Lex, who was descending the stairs, paused for a moment and turned around. His senses were extremely sharp and detected some kind of sound, although he was not sure what it was. A sense of urgency filled his heart.

The first dwarf that Lex had seen, Terrol, had mentioned that elves were on their way for news of the dragon's demise had already spread. Others could also be arriving even as he waited descended.

No longer holding back, Lex began to rush to the bottom of the stairs, though he did not drop his guard. If there was one strange creature here, there could be more. Moreover, the King was supposed to be here somewhere, though the fact that the sounds of Lex's fight had not attracted him was unusual.

Lex wiped sweat off his brow one more time as he neared the entrance to the final chamber. By now, not only were the effects of Dragons Might causing Lex minor problems, but the heat was also causing him to sweat nonstop. If he failed to wipe his brow, whether by hand or spirit sense, the sweat would get into his eyes, making it hard for him to see.

When he finally reached the last step, he had already entered the final chamber. There was no door or barrier, and the entrance appeared instantly even if it could not be seen earlier.

The moment Lex entered, his knees buckled and he crashed into the ground with full force, causing the ground to tremble. He had not been dropped just to his knees, but his chest had also been pushed down to the ground, his face smacking the floor.

He had not been attacked by anyone. Instead, the moment he entered the chamber, he was hit by the full force of the Dragons Might. Irrespective of his unwavering pride, and the immense strength packed within his body, when he finally came face to face with a dragon outside of the Inn, Lex had been forced into nearly a prostrating state.

"What… the hell…" he said with gritted teeth as he slowly brought his arms beside himself and pushed himself up. When he was finally able to lift his face off the floor he looked forward, and suddenly went blank. The sight of the dragon before him was like a clap of thunder in his mind, making him blank and causing him to fall onto the ground once more.

When he finally recovered, Lex was struck by endless disbelief. He… he could not even look at the dragon without suffering, since its aura was completely unrestrained. It was only now that he was beginning to understand how massive a role the Inn played in neutralizing the effects of cultivators natural aura. If it were any other Golden core cultivator instead of him, they may have already been seriously injured or even died!