The Innkeeper

Baby Lex felt contemplative as he heard Cassandra' explanation. He had learnt a lot of new information that was more relevant to him than she knew, all in the hopes of explaining something that she never said explicitly.

The understanding was that in the fight to control already established mature realms, or maybe gain control of realms nearing maturity, so that the Dao Lords of each race can grow, the Temple of Fasting trained warriors who would go and fight in that war. Or, maybe, the purpose of the temple was to produce Dao Lords to take advantage of the situation?

The progress of this realm could literally affect humans across the universe by giving them a higher position on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. This benefit was far greater than it seemed, and as someone who first hand experienced it, Lex could testify to this. He had managed to raise his personal level, through various means, and it allowed him better control and perception of spiritual energy.

He also believed that it allowed him to do more with the same level of affinity than someone lower on the list would be able to do.

So basically, the purpose of this temple was extremely altruistic if they just wanted to help humans, extremely cruel if they just wanted to pump out cannon fodder, or, most likely, somewhere in between.

What Lex was wondering now, his thoughts already diverted from if he could trust Cassandra, was if his new, upcoming realm would be influenced by this war. Technically it shouldn't, since it would be a new realm, and nowhere near maturity. He needed to know more about this realm war.

"So basically you want me to trust you because your purpose is to train soldiers to die in some war?" he asked, pretending to still be skeptical. "Am I really going to be influenced by the temple's aura? Am I going to be forced to participate in the realm war?

Cassandra snorted.

"Goodness no. The temple has karmic protection. You will not be influenced by its karma, aura or anything of the like at all. As for whether or not you will get pulled into the war, I cannot say. The temple most certainly won't send you off to the war, but your background seems special. How do you know you won't one day get pulled into it anyway? You need to know, the stronger you are, the harder it is for you to avoid such things. Whether you want to or not, you get pulled into camps.

"For example, regardless of your background, as far as the war is concerned, you're already a part of the humanoid camp. That includes all races that are humanoid in nature, such as devils, celestials, elves, dwarfs, gnomes, fairies, angels and more. You'll notice how, individually, these races do not seem to have aligned interests. Devils and Angels, especially, are notorious for their animosities against one another. But, as far as the realm war is concerned, they are all in the same camp, whether they like it or not.

"The lines are already drawn, the camps already made. Too many higher powers are invested in this, and the stakes are too high, so all anyone else can do is try to get every advantage they can. The temple is one of those advantages, saved for a time when the humans are doing slightly better. If it comes out now, it will easily be destroyed, and the loss will be monumental - even greater than the loss of some of the smaller realms."

It was surprising to know that humans and devils were in the same camp. In the Origin realm, humans were used by devils to farm the production of demons. That did not seem like the action of an ally.

Lex also didn't miss the very obvious hint about how valuable the temple could be. He was sorting out his thoughts when he was interrupted by a familiar, all too welcome sound.

New Notification: Temple of Fasting linked(temporary) to the Midnight Inn!

Lex did not let his emotions show, but he was extremely pleased by this notification. The timing of it was perfect. But he was curious why the link was temporary. When he focused on it, he saw more information.

Link status: Linked (temporary). If the temple changes location again, the link will be removed, and will need to be renewed.

He understood. The temple had been revealed once, but then had changed locations to continue hiding. If it performed a similar action again he would lose the link. But what were the chances the temple would be discovered again so soon? Probably not high.

"I don't know about other things, but are you 'certain' that I won't be marked in any way because of the temple?"

"I am certain," Cassandra answered.

It all came down to how much Lex could trust her. If he believed her, then he could start bringing workers from the Inn here to train! It would be an excellent opportunity. But the greater the benefits, the more careful Lex had to be. He wasn't going to make any hasty decisions, at least until he saw Z for himself.

Visibly showing himself relaxing, Lex withdrew one of the missiles, but not all of them yet.

"Do you mind if I ask you some questions?" he asked, his tone and voice much more polite now compared to just a short while ago.

"Go ahead," Cassandra said with a hint of amusement.

"The… organization… that I am a part of is getting ready for something big. They've been preparing for a while now, and soon we will be moving to a brand new realm. By brand new I don't mean new to us, but that the realm is about to be born in a few months. Do you think… will moving there involve us in the realm war in any way?"

"You… you know where a new realm is going to be born?" Cassandra was startled for the first time. When a new realm was born it was filled with the most powerful energies in the universe, as those energies were literally creating a new realm! Not to mention, new laws were being born.

To be clear, the laws of each realm were not the same. What might be a fundamental rule in one realm, for example gravity, may not exist at all in another realm. Time was the only constant in all realms, and even then, the flow of time was not exactly fixed across realms. So when a new realm was born, it was a time wherein its laws were being created! For a Dao Lord, that was even more valuable than experiencing the maturing process of a realm, because at that time they can literally manipulate the laws themselves and the abundant energy of the new realm will automatically fix any mistakes they made!

But it was almost impossible to learn of the location of a realm before it was born. Even the highest powers could not divine it, because they were protected by the laws of the universe itself.

A certain gleam couldn't help pass through Cassandra's eyes.

"If your 'organization' can get access to a newborn realm, is that really something you should be worrying about? Even if there is a realm war, your level is too low to get involved. But since you asked, I'll tell you anyway. The involvement of your organization in the realm war may or may not happen, but it definitely won't be because of a new realm. However, they most certainly will have a war on their hands if they are unable to keep their realm's location a secret. However, I doubt that's something you have to worry about, and is something that has already been prepared for."

Lex rolled his eyes internally. He was the one who would have to do all the preparations, which meant that there were none in place at the moment. The chances the system would help him were about 50-50 as well.

Just as Lex was beginning to consider the precautions he would need to take, Cassandra broke his train of thoughts.

"Lex, do you know how many human Dao Lords there are in the universe?"

"Not many, I'm guessing," he answered slowly. It did not take a genius to tell that Cassandra's interest in his 'organization' had been piqued. He could not help but wonder if that was a good thing.

"I can't say for certain how many there are, but the official number is 0. There are 0 human Dao Lords that are publicly known," she said slowly. "There's always a chance that there are some who are just keeping themselves secret, but, honestly, that is very unlikely. Do you know why?"

"I'm guessing you are about to enlighten me," said Lex.

Cassandra smiled at him, not at all peeved by his attitude. Lex felt a little embarrassed. He did not mean to sound irritated or cocky, but it was not exactly easy to have a casual conversation while suffering from countless holes in your body. It hurt.

"Yes, allow me to enlighten you."