The Innkeeper

It was yet to be determined if getting some kids to help calm down other kids would result in absolute total chaos, or if it would help to a degree. Well, he would personally intervene if the situation got out of hand. But that meant this was one more area he'd need to keep his attention focused on.

He was just about reaching his limit on multitasking at this point. But he persisted. This was a critical period for the Inn. He could not afford to make any mistakes right now.

For the next few hours, Lex continued to handle many small and big crises and kept cropping up. But fortunately, as time went by, more and more workers began to wake up. Almost all of them had reached the Golden core realm by now, which greatly boosted their strength and capabilities.

That also, automatically, placed them near the peak of the entire realm. That automatically ensured their safety, to a point. Besides that, though they had not spent a lot of time training at the temple, they at least began brushing up on the basics of combat.

This assured Lex that they would be able to face any and all challenges brought about by the random animals in this realm.

Once they began soothing the many newborn, and brought the situation somewhat under control, Lex finally felt like he could go out and begin scouring his territory now. He had little over nine days left, before he lost the Host Attire. He had to make the best of his opportunity.

"John, I'd like to continue helping you out," said Lex in his meditation room. This entire time, Lex had been helping John communicate with the soul inside the dragon, who had been named Pelvaillin Jr.

"But I have received another task from the Innkeeper. Will you be alright on your own? I'll be gone for a while?"

"Yes, don't worry. I won't need your help again until it's time to send the technique to junior. Now I just need to continue studying to finish up my technique."

Lex nodded, and then disappeared. He was ready to begin his search. He had even narrowed down his starting point. But that is when something went amiss.

The entrance to one of the Minor realms that had not yet been discovered by his guests burst open, resulting in a massive explosion. A small crater formed around an open portal, which was fidgeting as if on the verge of collapse.

Lex raised an eyebrow. This was highly unusual, for the Minor realms should have been extremely stable. The only possible answer he could think of was that the entrance was forcibly opened by someone from the other side.

But the Minor realm had not been explored yet. Who could be on the other side?

The answer arrived before long. A legion of heavily armored bipedal creatures marched out of the portal in a highly organized fashion.

They immediately spread out and began scouring the surroundings, looking to secure the location as more and more of their kind emerged.

Lex frowned. Was he facing an invasion? This was not good, even if none of the emerging creatures were particularly strong. They were all in the Qi training realm, with a few in the Foundation realm. But their numbers kept growing, and soon the soldiers were followed by machines and vehicles of war.

Fortunately, this happened in one of the realms far away from his settlements so there was no damage caused, but he could not overlook something like this.

Just as he was thinking about how to handle the situation without unnecessary bloodshed, some more important figures emerged from the portal.

"This is truly a paradise," one of them said as they stepped out. "Like we suspected, this is a blessing from the Holy Emperor. Virgin lands for the expansion of the empire. And to think, such a place would have remained undiscovered if there hadn't been that recent flood of vital energy. What do you think, Dr. Narin?"

"It's too soon to declare this a paradise. We have yet to ascertain the dangers here. Stop acting like we've already won, and begin securing the area. I do not plan on dying because of your lax security."

"Fret not, doctor. There are no threats in the universe that can stand the might of the empire."

Lex stopped listening as he realized something. The energy from the new realm had entered all the Minor realms as well. Not only did that mean that the Minor realms would undergo a change, but if any civilizations existed within, then it was completely plausible that those civilizations would try to find a means to escape.

His mind went to the hundreds of thousands of Minor realms left unexplored, and he began to develop a small headache. This was going to be tedious.

He looked at the new emerging army once more. No matter what, he was not cool with some random people blasting his territory and trying to expand their empire. But at the same time, he didn't want to waste time on dealing with them himself.

He would send Luthor with some instructions to deal with them later. Within their realm they could do whatever they wanted, but out here they had to obey his rules. If they had an issue with that, then Lex had no intention of being shy with his power. After all, they were the ones who showed up with an army first.

But while he dismissed them, for now, he had to delay his departure nonetheless. He had to start checking all the Minor realms, starting with the ones which had their entrance in Immortal Bastion.

He didn't want to face any more unexpected invasion. Of the many problems he had anticipated, an army coming out of the Minor realms was not one of them. Fortunately, Minor realms could not usually support very strong beings, so it was not too much of an issue.

But with the energy from the new realm, that might change.