The Innkeeper

"You're going to stink of blood," Lex said with a frown, though Fenrir didn't care about that. In fact, he was distressed that Lex was taking away his pool!

"Woof woof woof!"

"Fine, I'll leave the blood alone. But check the pool if there's a scale inside, I need it."

The pup immediate;y plunged deep inside the pool, anxious to find the scale lest Lex continues to drain the blood.

A gleam flashed through Lex's eyes. Although Fenrir was sometimes silly, he was actually very intelligent. If it was so attached to the blood, it must be benefiting it greatly somehow. Lex naturally would not covet an opportunity gained by Fenrir, but that did not stop him from contemplating if the blood would be helpful to the other beasts inside the Inn.

He did not think the Galactic Sovereign Turtle needed any help, but Little Blue had been a part of the Inn for a long time. Although Lex did not have too much of a personal connection with it, that did not mean that Lex did not care about it.

A moment later, Fenrir came out of the pool with a remorseful look on its face.

"Woof woof!" the pup said.

There was a scale at the bottom, but it was too heavy for the pup to move. The pup was scared that Lex would drain the pool to get to the scale, so it mentioned that the blood was actually nice and warm and didn't feel bad.

Lex sighed, and then jumped in. The warmth Fenrir mentioned was actually scalding hot, to the extent that even Lex's freshly upgraded body turned red with subtle signs of a mild burn.

The pool was much deeper than Lex expected, and he sank for about 300 feet (91 meters) before he reached the boot.

He naturally could not use his eyes to look around, and his spirit sense wasn't working either so he could only feel around to look for the scale. It was easier to find than expected, for it covered nearly the entire bottom of the pit.

He did not experiment with the weight, despite his curiosity for how much it weighed, and simply placed it within his drum. Nothing unexpected happened, so Lex swam back to the top and exited the pool safely.

He was half expecting his body to absorb the blood or something along those lines, considering that Fenrir was so excited about it, but it had no effect on him.

"Are you sure you want to stay here?" Lex asked with hesitation when he couldn't figure out the benefit of the blood, but Fenrir was adamant. He only nodded, and left the pup up to his devices.

He quickly began going through the remaining halls. He encountered a greenhouse filled with various potted plants. Lex could not put them in his spatial equipment so he had to consider whether it was worth it to waste time teleporting to and back to the Inn every time. After all, for him to return to the Inn was not instantaneous and would take a while.

Ultimately… he decided it was worth it. Anything at this level would be unbelievably valuable. He grabbed as many pots as he could manage and teleported to the Inn, instantly dropped the pots in the greenhouse near the turtle. Before the turtle could even realize what was happening, Lex had already disappeared.

But the time the turtle analyzed the first pot, a dozen more appeared. A tinge of excitement was born in the turtle's eyes as he began to salivate, and looked from one plant to another. From time to time, more pots appeared, stimulating the turtle's heart.

Each and every potted plant he saw was supposed to have gone extinct! That was the information on plants it was inheriting from within its bloodline, so the fact that he saw even a single sample was unbelievable let alone multiple different extinct plants!

He could possibly… bring these plants back from extinction if only the circumstances were right. Ambition suddenly took hold of the young turtle's heart, and the horn on its forehead began to glow without its knowledge.

All of this was unknown to Lex, who took an entire 10 minutes to transport all the plants to the Inn. Without wasting a single breath, he dashed to the next hall, and the one after that, and the one after that.

Despite the amazing auras each of them had, Lex did not pause to study them. He had been hoping that any one of them might turn out to be a system, but unfortunately he was disappointed.

Like that, he made his way to the last hall. But upon entering Lex paused, for the hall was empty. He frowned. He was sure Fenrir had not been here, so where could the contents of the hall have gone.

He used his spirit sense and even tried to listen to his instincts but was not able to discover anything, despite the obvious pedestal that had been prepared for an individual item. Whatever it was, it was gone. Lex turned around and left. Although he was curious, he could not waste time to sate his curiosity.

What he failed to notice was that as soon as he left, a ring made of wood reappeared on the pedestal, as if it had always been there.

With all the rooms and halls explored, there was only one item remaining here that Lex felt was incalculably valuable. It was the massive chandelier hanging far up above. It was not made of glass or crystal, and bore no elaborate stone or metal work. Instead, it seemed to be made entirely of molten rock, held together through some mysterious means. Moreover, it was the primary source for the heated spiritual energy within the hall.

Lex did not need to understand what this spiritual energy was to know it would obviously be valuable, so bent down and jumped up, causing his body to go soaring up into the air as if he could actually fly.

He grabbed the chandelier and pulled it free from the ceiling. That's when things went horribly wrong.