The Innkeeper

Within the bog, for the first time, Fenrir's excellent stealth abilities failed the duo. That was because as much as his abilities could hide them from being sensed, if the pup ran across a beast's nose, then it would not need to rely on spiritual sense to find them. The problem was that this example did not carry any exaggeration at all, and was exactly what the duo faced.

At times, the bog was so completely empty that they would not come across a single living thing. Other times, the place was so packed that let alone run from in front of a beast, Fenrir directly used a beast's head as a platform to jump over.

Yet what was fortunate was that none of the creatures chasing them held any considerable threat. In fact, the reason they were chasing was because Lex and Fenrir couldn't be bothered to deal with them, as it would be too tedious. Besides, after chasing them for a while, the beasts would either get tired, or return to their respective territories.

Of course, once or twice they encountered some beasts that they could not afford to ignore. Most of the time, in such scenarios, they would choose to circle around them. If that was not possible only then would they fight. Moreover, they attacked with full force right from the get go, so they usually overwhelmed their targets.

Many times, while on their journey, they crossed by some places where Lex would feel incredible opportunities waiting for them. He felt his instincts tell him that he would benefit greatly by diverting to a certain direction, or the lenses identified some incredibly rare treasures. For example, once while running, Lex spotted what looked like a decaying tree, only for the lenses to identify them as a certain incredibly valuable herb. Moreover, the age of the herb was already several hundred years old. Among many of its other uses, the one that his lens listed that appealed most to Lex was that it could be used by Body cultivators to temper their bodies even if they were in the Nascent realm.

Such a herb was genuinely extremely valuable, and Lex even considered having it sent to the greenhouse at the Inn. But, for better or for worse, Lex had decided not to take any detours during this journey. No matter how attractive an opportunity seemed, he ignored it.

It may have seemed like a waste at first, but the longer they kept running, the more appropriate it seemed. After a day of running through the bog, Lex still felt some reluctance. Three days later, he had more or less become used to the feeling of ignoring opportunities. A week later, he was completely numb to it.

It was taking so long to travel to their destination, if he were to take small stops at every opportunity, their journey would only become that much longer. Still, he mentally marked the bog as an area where he could potentially come back if he ever needed to gather some treasures.

The tedium and monotony of their travel changed on the eighth day, when the flock of Sol birds in the region suddenly flew away. Their departure was extremely sudden and left them no room for preparation.

The darkness that followed was all encompassing, and carried a weight with it that the entire bog felt, not just the duo. All the creatures that had been chasing them so far suddenly stopped, and in fact did something that surprised Lex. They left their territories, and participated in a mass migration where no one creature harmed another. Despite their usual animosity, they traveled together in harmony.

Where they were heading was a mystery to Lex, for it was not in the same direction as him. An hour later, the bog had become the most silent he had seen since he arrived. The sound of Fenrir's running was muted due to the pups own abilities, so the only sound for them to hear was of the bog itself.

Each bubble of noxious gas that escaped a nearby puddle, the rustling of the grass in the wind, the eerie wailing and croaking of old dead trees all seemed to form an orchestra that could be heard for miles.

For a short while, they enjoyed, or suffered through, the symphony of nature that the bog orchestrated before soft, distant sound disturbed it. It was the sound of a footstep in the mushy, squishy ground of the bog. Then, a few moments later, there was another.

Slowly and steadily, bit by bit, the monsters of the darkness started to appear. But these monsters, who were born from the fresh darkness, would be the weakest, and were not worth Lex's attention. In fact, it would take weeks or even months before any monsters capable of attracting their attention could even be born.

None the less Lex remained careful, for he did not know how the creatures of the bog would react. Since they had lived in such circumstances for countless years, they clearly had a way to deal with monsters, and Lex didn't want to get swept in with them when that happened.

Through the pitch darkness, the duo continued their journey for several more days. The vast size of the Crystal realm was finally coming into perspective, for they had gone running nonstop for days without crossing through it, and this was only supposed to be a small territory.

Finally, after running continuously for two weeks, Lex decided to take a break. Even if he could continue to stay awake for longer, he thought it was best to refresh themselves so they stayed in peak condition. He was also especially concerned for Fenrir. The pup displayed no agitation or exhaustion, but this was the longest the pup had ever gone without resting or playing at the Inn, so he wanted him to get some rest as well.

The duo teleported back, and both of them went to their own abodes to clean and freshen up. Although they had already become numb to it, that did not mean that others could ignore the stench of the bog that they were reeking.

After a nice, refreshing bath, Lex came to the conclusion that the Inn needed to focus more on spa facilities.

New Notification: The Midnight Inn is not liable for the hosts' bad hygiene.

Lex froze. That was the first time the system had directly responded to one of his random thoughts with a notification. Was this a result of the system's functionality improving? He tried to test it out by thinking of a few other random but derisive thoughts, but the system provided no other notifications.

Lex took note of the occurrence but did nothing else about it. He went straight to bed to get his first sleep in over two weeks.

He was out the moment his head hit the pillow, a miracle on its own, and enjoyed a deep, restful sleep that lasted only six hours. Even that was a result of Lex refusing to wake up stubbornly. He was quite upset about his body's decreased dependance on sleep. It was one of his favorite hobbies.

Fortunately, Mary appeared to provide him with a distraction from his woeful sleep situation.

"Alexander has come back to the Inn, and has requested to meet Lex."

"Is Fenrir awake?" Lex asked, hoping the pup shared in his misfortune.

"No, he's asleep." Unfortunately, it was not to be.

With a defeated sigh, he picked himself up and teleported over to Alexander, who was once again waiting for Lex in a remote location of the Inn. After ordering an unnecessarily large amount of food, Lex approached the teenager.

"I heard you're looking for me," Lex said with a pleasant smile as he sat across from him.

"Yes. Although, I didn't think you'd arrive so quickly."

"It just so happened that I was free and available. If you had arrived a few hours later, it was unlikely you'd be able to get in touch with me."

"It appears I am quite lucky. You once offered to spar with me, saying that it would be a good experience for the both of us. Is that offer still available?"

"Yes, of course. But I just ordered some food. Why don't we eat something first before we get down to business."

Alexander looked reluctant, but eventually sat down across Lex. Lex, in the meanwhile, was reminded of something by Alexander's mention of sparring. John, who had been challenged to a fight in the Murder grounds, had still not returned. The challenger had not returned either, so there was no chance that he was dead - at least, he was not dead yet anyway. But the exceedingly long fight began to worry Lex. Was it normal for fights to last so long?

The truth was, fights between immortals really could stretch out for days, or sometimes even weeks. But in this case, the fighting was taking long, because John was slowly and steadily wearing his enemy out. Since the fight had turned out to be harder than expected, he had to take drastic measures.