The Innkeeper

"Bearin, cover me," yelled a woman who leaped into the air and fell behind her cohorts, her focus already on another task she was completing. As it happened, she landed furthest back at the group, directly behind Jovi, the synergist, and Lex, the all around survival expert of the group.

The group was locked in combat, fighting against a pack of Raila's. Raila's were actually parasites that often took over hosts' bodies and used them to fight, most commonly affecting slimes. In exchange for completely destroying the body in a short time, they would be able to exert power countless times more than the actual strength of the original body's owner.

The pack they were facing had, as usual, taken over slimes, but that did not mean that they were weak. On the contrary, every drop of a slime's body was energy rich, making the Raila's particularly formidable.

Bearin, one of the main combatants of the group, moved to intercept the Raila's attack, but missed it by mere centimeters. He could not be blamed, for the orange beam moved at inhuman speeds and with devastating strength. The target of the attack remained Sohee, the girl who had yelled, but since she had fallen back, and the attack seemed to have adjusted to follow her direction, it lined up perfectly to hit Lex instead.

Too quick to block, or even yell out a warning, the group could only watch as the beam struck Lex. It wasn't like Lex was a weakling, or that he couldn't fight, but that his role in the group was as a safety and survival advisor, and had proved himself capable in that regard. As for fighting… it was generally understood that combatants were better trained and stronger than noncombatants, so in a situation where Lex suffered a surprise attack, they expected him to be gravely injured.

When the group recovered from the bright flash of light and looked towards Lex to investigate the degree of Lex's injury, they were surprised to find him unharmed. He remained standing in the same spot, a rather bored look on his face and not a single ruffle on his clothes, with his left hand extended out and his palm stretched out, as if to block the attack with his bare hands.

In truth, he had employed the technique Talk to the Hand, but since the barrier erected was invisible, no one noticed. It truly did seem like he blocked the attack with his bare head.

"Don't get distracted, keep blocking," Lex said, breaking the group from their reverie. His tone was instructive, as if he was still continuing his job as a safety advisor.

Too busy to feel embarrassed, the group continued to defend, while Lex continued to stand there, putting his hands in his pockets as he observed the fight. Cwenhild had already informed him that he was not expected to fight, and each member of this group was as elite as they got, which is why he did not really feel bad about not helping out.

A short while later, Sohee, the girl taking cover behind Lex, finally finished her task. Her hair turned purple and her pupils took on a lilac hue. She took in a deep breath and, after looking towards the main group of Raila's, shrieked. As if the sound of her scream had become visible, purple zigzagging streaks ran through the air, doing no harm to her allies but directly crushing the parasites inside the slime bodies.

A few still survived, but having lost their numerical advantage, they were quickly crushed. As soon as the fight finished, the group gathered around Cwenhild, who had been silently observing the fight from the side.

By now, Lex had learnt a number of things about her. First of all, she was not at all as amicable as she usually was with him. No, she was extremely decisive and firm, and took great pleasure in bending others to her will. That did not, however, mean that she was arrogant or incompetent. In fact, she was quite capable, which is where the issue actually originated from. She assumed, rightfully most of the time, that others could not match up to the standards she held for herself, and so gave little to no importance to their opinions. After all, their perspectives on any issue would end up being vastly different. Most would look up to something as an achievement to something she would consider a failure.

Secondly, he had finally heard about her dropping her name, as well as the statement she gave when doing it. It was quite unfortunate but Lex could now determine that she did not at all believe his story about not being a child of the Kings, and instead felt that both of them were in the same boat. He also learnt about why their party was only 12 people instead of more.

Yes, this party was made up of the elite of the elite, but even if Cwenhild was limited to only foundation realm cultivators, there was no need to stop at 12. The reason was since she publicly dropped her name, certain people had started targeting her as a form of punishment for her arrogance. No one would have the gall to actually harm her, since the presence or absence of a name did not change her lineage, but many could not swallow the insult to the King her actions had wrought.

Fortunately, no one knew her actions were prompted by his hypothetical advice or he would have attracted a whole host of trouble for himself as well. The members of her party, or at least the two that were targeting him, did have some suspicions about him though. They assumed that Lex was trying to win her heart, which is why they wanted to remove him.

Initially, Lex was ready to retaliate lethally if her two followers dared try anything over the line. Now, however, he could not see them as any more than little kids fighting over a crush.

"Good job on the block, Lex. After this group session, I'll have to have your defenses tested. If they're adequate, you can serve the perfect role as Sohee's defender while she readies her spells."

Sohee, the girl who yelled, was a witch, meaning she had a special profession that made use of spiritual energy and soul energy combined. Indeed, she was a dual cultivator. In fact, everyone in Cwenhild's party other than Lex was a dual cultivator, hence their status as the elite.

"It was nothing. I always anticipate Bearin's incompetence," Lex replied casually. Bearin, one of the two guys who always tried to pick on Lex, glared at him, but he dared not say anything in front of Cwenhild. It was not just her temper that was scary, but her strength as well.

"Sohee, good job with your spell. Jovi, if you'd been faster with augmenting Bearin's speed he wouldn't have missed that block. The rest of you, good job, you've been performing excellently. Tomorrow we'll take a rest, and instead of practicing, I'll be providing all of you with your gear. Day after tomorrow, as you know, the Minor realms open. We'll be facing the real deal, and the fights won't be as tame as the ones we've been having."

A rare compliment invigorated many of the group members, but Lex had diverted his attention towards the Inn while Cwenild spoke. He was not paying attention to the pageant, or the many guests, but instead his attention was on Midnight Mountain.

Velma was sitting opposite to the dragon and… drinking tea? No, it was Boba tea. As long as he was paying attention, the dragon did no more than grunt, but Velma was not at all bothered by the dragon's dismissive attitude and kept regaling it with tales from different worlds.

As if that was not odd enough… Gerard was bringing with him, pulled by the strength of his upgraded golf cart, a thirty foot long tea cup up the mountain. Were they… about to offer the dragon tea? Where did they get the massive cup from? Oh, it was a standard cup for massive guests, Mary informed him.

Once the empty cup was in place, Velma put a ladder against the cup and climbed, all the while holding an ordinary sized tea kettle and continuing her story. When she reached the top, she tilted the kettle to pour, and a thin, unending stream of tea came out, filling the cup with unusual speed.

After he recovered from the shock of what was happening, he felt proud. Yes, this was the Inn. Why should his workers feel intimidated by dragons, or extend less courtesy?

Once the cup was filled, and Velma climbed down, the dragon finally opened an eye and looked at the little human girl.

She looked like a teenager, barely 16, but her eyes contained only an innocent curiosity, and were distinctly lacking fear.

After a moment, it extended one of its limbs, and picked up the cup. Lex could not help but notice the pinky equivalent of its claw extended as it took a sip. How fancy.