The Innkeeper

It was a few agonizing hours, but eventually it was completed without incident. To look at, Z appeared an average 15 year old boy who had just had the work out of his life. His body was covered in copious amounts of sweat, but other than that he seemed completely normal.

The incredibly powerful healing agents had made it so that not only were there no remaining signs of his various drips and injections, but any cuts or deformities he suffered during the process.

He was breathing heavily and his eyes were closed. It all seemed perfectly normal. That was if you did not look at the rest of the room. The floor was red with blood and guts. There were unusual impurities which had been removed from his body, mostly in the shape of black grains but some had come out in the shape and size of pebbles.

Although that was far from what Z had suffered through, it was as much of the process that Lex was willing to recall.

He walked up to the table with Z lay, and bent down.

"The process is complete," he said softly. "You can get some sleep."

Z tried to speak a few times, but he was breathing too heavily to be able to do so. In the end, he just nodded, his eyes still closed, and finally allowed himself to relax. Despite his out of breath state, he fell asleep in just a few seconds.

"Keep an eye on him," Lex said to the nurse, while handing her a book. "When he wakes up, ask him to see if he can learn this technique. It's a very simple one, and its only real purpose is to check if his spirit energy has space affinity."

Lex then turned to Luthor.

"If he's succeeded, you can begin allowing anyone who volunteers to undergo the same process. Space affinity is an incredibly powerful tool that can help greatly during the upcoming battles."

Without waiting for Luthor to reply, Leo disappeared. Although he had read that the process was going to be difficult, it was only after watching it that he realized just how difficult it was. Yet he didn't let that deter him or change his mind. An unfortunate truth he had learnt the hard way, time and time again since he began cultivation, was that the universe was not a friendly place. One had to be ridiculously tough to survive in it, and tolerate endless ordeals.

He appeared near the greenhouse, this time without his Clark Kent glasses. He was crossing out his tasks, and as much as he wanted to avoid it, he could not ignore the favor Zuri asked of him.

He did not enter the forest, but instead only walked to the edge and started to speak, "I would like to speak to the turtle please."

Although he did not address anyone specific when he spoke, he knew that while Young McDonald had its roots all beneath the Inn, it paid extra attention around the greenhouse. Once upon a time, Young McDonalds job was to act as security for the entire Inn, but more and more, such a thing was infeasible. Young McDonald had hit a growth slump upon reaching the Golden core realm, and it was mostly just focused around the greenhouse.

Speaking of which, the quality of food had really drastically improved at the Inn. Lex didn't pay much attention to it, but it seemed the combination of the turtle growing stronger, and the Inn getting some farming focused features really boosted the Inn's food production capability.

Lex was able to spend a couple of minutes imagining the various delicacies the Inn had to offer, and what new alien food he could try out soon, before the turtle arrived.

"How can I help you, little human?" the turtle asked, as it brought its neck down to Lex's height. Did the turtle get even taller since Lex saw him last?

Unable to answer, he instead focused on more important things.

"I have been requested to ask you a question…"

Lex began explaining the situation to the turtle, all the while setting the conversation up in such a way that Lex would easily be able to convince the turtle to stay if it wanted to leave. As it turned out, he didn't really need to do any such thing.

"Oh dear, such a generous offer. But if I leave, all the children will feel lonely. I cannot leave them. At least until they grow up a little bit."

As if on cue, Little Blue flew up behind the turtle, and looked down curiously at Lex. Unable to find anything interesting, it continued to fly away. Fenrir, too, came running out of the forest. It stopped to acknowledge Lex, but then quickly continued to run. It was chasing after the whale once again.

"I understand," Lex said with a smile, suddenly feeling grateful for the turtle's knack for adoption.

With these few minor chores out of the way, Lex finally teleported out of the Inn. But he still did not return to the Crystal realm - at least not yet. Instead, after a very, very long time, he reappeared on the planet Vegus Minima.

He had incredibly fond memories of nearly fighting to the death against endless hordes of zombies on this planet. Ah, how he missed being weak and feeble. He would just have to make do without almost getting killed at every corner.

Before his thoughts would end up jinxing him, Lex diverted his attention towards how the world had changed since he was last here.

It did not look like it was the site of a centuries long war at all! Tall buildings filled the sky line, with familiar looking ships flying across the sky. In the ground, there were fewer vehicles because most of the ground level was left to accommodate a lot of flora. Trees filled the streets, with grass instead of sidewalks upon which the locals were walking.

Some kind of air trains seemed to be transporting people through the city, for those who did not want to travel by ship, or unusual looking walkways built on the sides of the buildings up a few stories high.

The town… eh, city… eh, massive metropolis that Lex was looking at was completely bustling it. The size of the crowds would make even New York City seem like a secluded city, yet everything was done beautifully and in an ecofriendly way.

It was mesmerizing to see, but the greater wonder was how all of this was built in less than a year. Sure, he expected the empire's capabilities to be far beyond that of earths, but wasn't this a little too much?

Lex strolled through the city as he took in the views, and absorbed everything he saw. He had heard that originally the people of Vegus Minima relied on gene manipulation to grow stronger instead of cultivation, and once the zombies invaded they relied on their cores for body cultivation.

Now, it seemed like they had completely adopted the orthodox way of cultivation within the empire. It was fascinating how many phases and cultures a single planet had been through.

As much as he enjoyed his return, Lex had actually come to this planet with a purpose. He made his way to a Public Services and Security office, an organization set up by the empire to assist the recovery and rehabilitation of the locals.

Once there, he merely handed over a card given to him by Alexander to the receptionist, who immediately wore a serious look.

She glanced at Lex, as if he were some big shot, but began to work furiously on her computer, as if she was afraid she would be the one responsible for wasting his time.

A short while later, a group of military personnel appeared to take Lex to a private and secure facility.

That facility, though, ended up being quite far. In fact, the journey took a few hours as he had to be escorted out of the city he was already in.

At first he thought he would be taken to some hidden base or secure location, but he was instead taken to an even larger, more impressive city. In fact, if Marlo were here, he would recognize not the city, for it had changed too much, but the cliffside near it. This was where he had fought his battles so bravely.

But the speed of his ship was too fast. Lex had no time to admire the capital of Vegus Minima. After only catching glimpses, he was already brought to an in-building parking space where the ship landed, and a number of personnel stood waiting for him.

"Your teleportation formation has been primed and is ready to be used," said one of the soldiers, speaking as if he were talking about the most grim thing in the world. "Before we proceed, however, we will need to enter your details into our system, is that alright? It's protocol."

"Sure, no problem," said Lex.

He was on his way to the planet Alexander needed his help on. He wouldn't stay there for long, but he needed to at least reach the planet so he could teleport there when Alexander needed help.