The Innkeeper

Standing in front of a metal door, Lex felt a distinct lack of nervousness. The previous test he took which evaluated him was hardly a challenge. Even if what he was about to face was much harder, Lex was also much stronger than that.

In fact, if Mateo had not specifically stated that Ra had recovered his powers and was a challenge to face, Lex would have suggested directly just walking up to him and finishing the job he had left incomplete. But regardless of how awesome he felt about himself, Lex was not about to underestimate a deity!

Even though things had worked out last time, it was mostly because of how overconfident Ra had been in his own powers. Lex was not about to repeat Ra's mistake, which was why he was willing to train and improve himself.

Besides, it wasn't as if he had anything urgent going on at the Inn. As long as he returned before the transition happened in a year, he was good. But just to be safe, Lex gave himself a deadline of ten months.

There was also the threat that whatever Ra did was somehow going to endanger the Origin realm, but for whatever reason, that threat did not feel too real to Lex. He did not feel the urgency that Mateo was trying to convey.

Maybe his prophetic instincts were acting up, or maybe Lex knew he himself would be safe since he was leaving the realm. But that last one did not sound much like him. He would not abandon everyone and run when the stakes were so considerably high. Even if he were not a hero, when it concerned the life of so many, he felt a sense of obligation. Or, he should have felt a sense of obligation according to his personality. But he didn't.

Maybe it was just because he had the body of a baby. Babies didn't really care about the end of the world.

He summoned forth the eight feet long massive sword and walked forward, prompting the metal doors to open automatically.

Mateo had told him that the tests would become progressively more complex and difficult, but the first one should be easy. It would be a one on one fight against an automated armor at the same realm as him. He'd already done that, so there was no suspense.

The temple was focused on nurturing humans in general, not just warriors, so there were other test formats. But Mateo told him to stick to the combat format for tests because that would affect the kind of authorities he would unlock.

Lex paused when he finally saw the suit of armor.

"Oh," he said, looking at its size. "That makes more sense."

The armor was still humanoid shaped. It even looked identical to the ones he fought earlier. The only difference was that it was massive. Standing at 30 feet (9.1 meters) the suit of armor looked a bit intimidating. It did not help that Lex was also smaller, so everything looked massive as it was.

"Let's get this over with," he said with a sigh.

"DO YOU WISH TO BEGIN?"

Words appeared in the air in front of him in a language Lex did not recognize, but could read anyway. Without hesitation Lex pressed the 'Yes' button, causing a red fire to appear in the helmet's eyeholes.

Lex did not wait for the armor to make the first move and launched himself at it and swung his sword. Lex had used his full strength and speed so he was expecting to decapitate it, but surprisingly the armor reacted fast enough, and bent backwards to dodge.

Using his affinity, Lex hardened space briefly, creating a platform for himself to jump off of while in mid air, and launched himself at the armor again. It still tried to dodge, but this time Lex was mentally prepared so his sword still nicked the helmet.

Due to the angle at which Lex had launched himself the second time, he immediately reached the floor the moment he crossed the armor so he had to land and roll forward to contain the impact of his landing.

By the time he turned back, the suit of armor had already leaped backwards to establish some distance between them and was pulling out its sword.

Lex smiled, as if slightly amused. The battle was not difficult, and the armor was not too strong or sturdy. But it was quick for its size if it could continue to dodge Lex's attacks despite its size.

If Lex stuck just to using his physical abilities it could take some time to finish, but he was confident he would win within the hour. Unfortunately for the armor, Lex began using his spatial affinity to warp the space around the suit, trapping it where it stood.

He could see how this would present a challenge to typical cultivators, but it could only provide him momentary amusement. Maybe if Mateo hadn't reduced the difficulty, it would be more fun.

The suit of armor immediately noticed the warping space and began to resist. Red lines began to appear on its armor, similar to the fire in its eyes, and it was clearly activating some kind of ability.

But before it could make any real progress, a baby appeared in front of it. Held down, the suit could not dodge, so a single strike was all it took for Lex to cleave it through the middle. Immediately the fire disappeared, and so did the armor's aura.

A congratulatory notification appeared in front of him, alongside the sound of celebratory bells. But Lex did not stick around to revel in his victory. Mateo had appeared to guide him to his next test. He still had three more to go through today, and the projection had promised that they would begin to get challenging soon.

A dim image of a sword appeared in his right eye, but quickly disappeared before Lex could notice or suppress it.