The Innkeeper

Lex could not help but groan as he looked at the ceiling, a food coma on the verge of descending. Since he had begun body cultivation, he rarely ever felt full, let alone on the verge of overeating. But at the moment, his condition was worse than if he had been attacked by a hundred enemies.

He felt a couple thousand pounds of weight inside his stomach, and it was difficult to even raise his head let alone move his body. His drool slid out of his open mouth and down his juice stained cheeks.

Had food always tasted that good? He could not remember, because even his brain was lagging under the weight of the amount he had eaten.

Cassandra appeared beside him, holding a familiar clipboard, and was making some notes.

"It seems I overestimated your stomach capacity by 3%," she said out loud, so that Lex could be informed of what was going on with him. "But that's fine, I will make adjustments along the way. The next few days of rest that you will be taking will also allow me to refine the effectiveness of your training plan to a millionth decimal place as I study your body.

"Some of the food that you consumed is actually supposed to be quite poisonous for humans," she commented, her voice never veering out of her neutral tone. "However, that is not the case for you. In fact, some of the foods you ate are also quite bitter and unpalatable for most people. But the reason it all tasted quite amazing to you is because those are exactly what your body needs!

"Cultivation does not magically just create matter! Even as a cultivator, your body needs numerous minerals and vitamins. In fact, you need even more than when you were a mortal. Since I have never seen your body prior to its recreation I cannot comment on it, but I assume that you never had a proper rest and nutrition plan, and just assumed plain cultivation will take care of everything for you.

"You do not need to feel ashamed for not doing it. This is a common misconception - one that we regularly correct at the temple. It's ironic that the Temple of Fasting often focuses on feeding people. That's because 99.99% of those who enter the temple are not qualified to use the fasting feature of the temple. You are also not qualified yet. But pay no mind to that. I will now assign you some light exercise to help with digestion, as well as some herbal tea which will put you in the right psychological and physiological state for your next sleeping cycle. Follow me."

Lex wanted to groan once again, but he could not bring himself to do it with someone else watching. He had never felt so gluttonous in his life, but he could not deny that it felt good.

"Where are you getting all these foods from? Can I get some seeds to plant? It will help me tremendously if I can continue to maintain a healthy diet after leaving the temple," he stated.

For the past few days, he hadn't really talked to Mateo, and now Cassandra, outside of talking about training. It wouldn't hurt to get to know them better, especially since Cassandra was supposed to be one of the 'strongest' humans.

"The temple has a vast storeroom, beyond your imagination. Although we are using our resources on you freely, it mostly considered paying you in advance for taking your help in removing the deity. As such, while it is not a problem to use them on you, we cannot give you seeds, saplings or other aid. That is because while nurturing humans is a part of the temple's mandate, it is restricted to only their 'being' and not their material wealth."

Well Lex's hopes of boosting the Inn using the temple were quashed, but he did not feel too disappointed. The Inn was doing excellent, and he did not believe he needed any hand holding on that front.

"If the temple's mandate is nurturing humans, can I bring in other humans for training if I do it without exposing its location?"

"Previously, the temple opened its doors because it had already been exposed, as well as due to the unique connection your companion had with the temple. Do not expect it to do so again. But if you do, somehow, manage to bring in more humans, the temple will perform its function and train them."

Lex nodded. The connection between the temple and the Inn had not formed yet, despite him using the token so long ago. But since he would be here for at least another month, he was not too concerned yet. Moreover, it made sense that it was not easy to connect to something as mysterious and secretive as the temple.

But for Lex's purposes, the temple was absolutely perfect. He had been thinking about how to train his workers for a long time. He did not want to have them enroll in Ventura, and finding skilled and knowledgeable teachers was not exactly easy. He had been making do with some manuals from the emporium, and using his more high leveled workers as teachers, but now he would not have to.

"Here, this will be simple enough. I want you to walk along this path all the way to the end. That's all you have to do for now. Take as much time as you need, and go at whatever pace suits you," said Cassandra as she approached a new door.

Intrigued, Lex approached and looked inside, and was surprised by what he discovered. He understood that he was supposed to be taking it easy, and that his body required rest. In fact, considering how amazing he felt after listening to Cassandra, he believed she was absolutely correct.

Still, did he really have to stroll through an endless sea of flowers, covering rolling hills that seemed to stretch out into the horizon?