The Innkeeper

The sensation of being launched out of a speeding carousel was much more enjoyable than Lex expected. Of course, that was primarily because the pressure generated from the spinning carousel didn't affect Lex at all, and secondly because he wasn't wearing anything like a skirt.

Too caught up in the novelty of the experience, though, Lex completely forgot about his cotton candy until it was about to fly away! Fortunately, he used his spirit sense out of instinct and caught the fluffy treat right in the air beside him. His spirit sense firmly locked onto it, and kept it close to Lex regardless of where he went.

Strangely, he found that in the matter concerning his cotton candy, he could maintain perfect control of his spirit sense. Maybe instead of a spiritual treasure, he should just get more of that.

Once Lex was launched in the air, he only had a couple dozen seconds to soar through the sky before he landed comfortably. He tested out trying to get off his mount, just to see if he could deviate from the flight pattern of the ride. But he was held firmly to his seat with straps, and the ride did not deviate from the intended path. After all, flying freely through the air was just an illusion, for in truth, the ride had a fixed path.

Feeling pretty good after his first ride, Lex did not wait and quickly got on another. This one was a rollercoaster with a minimum requirement of Golden core cultivators to ride. So then the question was, how was it different from normal roller coasters?

Well, first of all, instead of sitting, you were only wearing a few straps that would take you forward face first. As if that wasn't enough, the speed of the ride, the intensity of the turns, the drops and the rise were all beyond what a normal being could tolerate. Moreover, using various illusion formations, it seemed more than once the ride seemed like it was about to crash, or had broken down in the middle, or ended in the lair of a dangerous monster.

Psychological excitement melded extremely well with the physical strain the rider underwent, creating a thrilling ride, even for cultivators. Moreover, this was just one of the strategies they had employed. There were so many more!

*****

Planet Orange Bastion, Pendal System

An unusual-looking spaceship approached the planet and landed in a landing zone amidst a mountain range. The signature orange soil of the planet had made its way even here, high up on these rocky peaks, giving the snow a shade of something that had spoiled.

The cold air felt harsh to breathe in, and the wind carried with it a cold bite that could pierce the skin and freeze the blood vessels beneath. None of the inhabitants seemed to care, or rather, they were not given the luxury to care.

Chained beasts of different species walked around, doing menial labor. A small group waited by the ship, and when it finally opened, it revealed hundreds of other creatures, similarly bound. There were even some humans amongst them, and they were similarly naked and chained.

The air was filled with the sounds of whips, shouting and screaming as the group began to move out from the ship, though no one looked at them even twice.

A creature flew out of the ship from another exit and moved towards a nearby building, ignoring everything happening on the ground. The creature was 3 feet (0.9 meters) tall and had four, extremely short, thin arms and two equally sized legs. It had four thin, nearly transparent wings on its back. It had four eyes, two in front and two in the back, and two mouths, once again one in the front and one at the back.

Once inside the massive building, the creature made its way to a special chamber, where another creature of the same species was comfortably sitting in what looked like a pool of blood.

"Inform the sect leader, I've brought back valuable treasure," the creature said in a hissing voice, both its mouths speaking in unison.

"Treasure? Weren't you sent out to catch slaves?" the creature sitting in blood asked, jealousy evident in its voice.

"Indeed, I was," the first creature said, pride oozing from every fiber of its being. "But I found treasure as well. Now hurry, go inform the sect master. Someone at your station need not worry about details that are above you."

The creature squirmed in anger and hatred, but left silently. The first creature derived great pleasure from seeing the other suffer. They were not enemies. In fact, the creature had never seen the other before. But as a Diplo, the creature had sadism imbued into its very being.

The creature unceremoniously sat in the pool of blood that the other had left behind, and waited patiently for the sect master, fiddling with a small leather bag hanging across its chest.

When the sect master finally arrived, a Diplo of even smaller size, not even reaching two feet, he also took a seat within the pool.

"This better be worth it, or you'll be joining the slaves," the sect master said, its voice cold and arrogant.

The first Diplo did not waste any time and quickly took out all the items from its pouch. All of them were shiny, and all of them had auras of dense spiritual energy.

The sect leader checked them one by one with great interest - by biting each one. Most of the items crumpled under his massive jaw strength while a few survived. One particular golden key, however, broke entirely and teleported the two Diplos away.

They immediately became wary of their surroundings, but they were taken aback when they actually saw what surrounded them.

Metallic contraptions filled the air with thousands if not hundreds of thousands of slaves strapped or held in, being flung around and tortured in the most spectacular way.

"The promised holy land," the sect leader whispered as he saw a few slaves just being randomly catapulted into the air. They were not even using the slaves for work, they were just torturing them for no reason. It was so beautiful, it brought tears to his eyes.