The Innkeeper

After leaving Miranda, Lex had returned to his office and sat there, seemingly looking at nothing. His connection to the Inn through his attire and his chair kept him updated on everything that was happening, while he tried to address his current mood. Truth be told, he was feeling ambivalent.

His family had not deigned to include him in their secret, yet here he was, searching out for his sisters. Although he didn't blame his sisters, he also could not help but feel betrayed. A part of him just wanted to go and confront William and get the truth. But a part of him also just stopped caring.

This was because… while he would not give up the search so easily, his time searching on earth had already given him a vague premonition. Lex was unaware of how to channel his intuition towards specific things accurately, but focusing on a task certainly seemed to help. For some odd reason, it felt like his intuition was telling him that whoever he was searching for was not on earth.

Lex had immense trust in his own intuition but, at the same time, he wanted to verify the truth. He would stick to his search until he had an answer, but he was already beginning to build an aversion towards earth.

He had always told himself that he couldn't possibly go out of his way to help everyone he came across in the universe. It was simply impossible, for there were too many in the universe suffering from unfortunate circumstances, and he was only one man. If he tried to help out everyone who needed his help, he'd soon run out of resources, and be unable to even help himself.

Yet he had already intervened one on Vegus Minima when he acted against the demons and devils, and now he was propping himself up once to help earth against these unknown enemies.

Lex couldn't help but sigh. He knew what he had to do. He had to cut himself off from these additional attachments, and focus entirely on developing and securing the Inn. It wasn't as if he didn't have troubles of his own cropping up now and then.

"This is the last time," he told himself audibly. "At least until I'm strong enough not to fear retaliation."

It wasn't as if helping was a bad thing. He just had to make sure to be able to protect himself first.

He turned his attention to the Inn. The refugee fund had gained a few more donors, and the refugees themselves were being settled well enough.

The immortal bastion was attracting more traffic. Some of it was because some guests simply liked it, but most of it consisted of soldiers and citizens of the empire.

The fishing event was going well, though Lex had not had the time to personally watch the event yet.

The ship… Lex paused. On top of his ship, there was an unconscious Sol bird!

"Mary, why didn't you tell me about this?" Lex asked as he investigated the bird.

Name: -

Age: 6

Sex: Male

Cultivation Details: Nascent realm

Species: Sol bird

Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1

Bloodline: Emperor Swallow

Condition: Suffering from severe energy depletion. If untreated, and the bird is unable to recover on its own, the condition could become fatal. The Inn has no medical facilities able to treat this species.

Remarks: If the turtle were not cultivating, he would have adopted this one too!

"The situation is not as pressing as it seems," Mary said, appearing on his shoulder. For once, she was wearing a suit similar to the Host Attire, making her look both formal and elegant.

"The bird has woken up a few times, but always chooses to continue to nap here. It's a pro bono guest, so its expenses are not a concern."

"But according to its condition, it's suffering from energy depletion, and it doesn't seem to be getting better."

"That's a difficult situation to address. The Recovery rooms that you have are geared towards healing and treating only a very narrow range of species. While it has been working for most humanoids and beasts, any creature with even the slightest expression of any element is incapable of using it."

Lex did not ask what she meant by expression of element, for he already knew. The Sol bird, for example, seemed to have its entire body lit aflame. Another example was a beast he saw a long time ago from a race called Mercury Gloubin. It's entire body appeared to be made from a silverish liquid Lex could only guess was mercury.

Addressing the lack of machines that could heal these outliers was a concern, but not an easy one to address. It would be much easier to get a talented doctor instead, as the machines that could treat a broad range of races weren't really all that effective.

"I have an idea," said Lex, dismissing his unrelated thoughts.

He teleported himself and the bird over to the Fire Temple, which was situated right over a lake of lava. He didn't know what kind of energy the bird required, but he wondered if he could get it from the lava.

The unnamed Sol bird instantly woke up when it was teleported, but didn't seem to have the energy to react. It merely watched the Innkeeper with eyes that did not fully open.

"Hey, does that look like an environment that would suit you?" Lex asked, pointing down to the lava. When the bird looked down, it did react positively. In fact, it even became excited. But its eyes were fixed on the Fire Temple, not the lava.

That was not the reaction Lex was expecting, but it was good enough.

Lex summoned Fredrich, the first ever Draconian Apostle he had ever summoned. The Draconian Apostle were the second race of workers that Lex unlocked, but they could only survive in extreme environments, which is why he had never needed their assistance before.

"Take this guest to the Fire Temple and take care of him," said Lex to his worker that looked like a massive honey bee.

As he watched the bee-like worker carry the flaming bird away, he could not help but agree with the system for the first time. He had a strong feeling that if the Sovereign turtle were not cultivating, it would try to adopt the bird, just like he had done with the baby whale.