The Innkeeper

The healing process this time was nowhere nearly as quick as what Lex experienced previously, but at least he was numbed to the pain. At first Lex spent some time conversing with Mateo, but the longer he spent wrapped in this leaf, the drowsier he got. Suspecting that sleep would shortly arrive, he practiced the technique to keep himself from divining anything, and then allowed himself to drift off.

The gentle sounds of the water around him kept him company, lightly rocking the lily pad he was in, and allowed him to fall into an exceptionally deep sleep.

By the time Lex woke up, he felt incredibly refreshed and ready to seize the day, but the leaf had not unwrapped itself. He considered whether he was supposed to open it on his own, but fortunately reached out and asked Mateo first.

Apparently, he was feeling great not because his body had finished healing, but because the leaf had subdued all his pain. The healing process was taking longer this time because the effects of corrupted divine energy were not so easily removed, and to avoid any hidden injuries, they were being extremely thorough.

Lex could have gone back to sleep, but instead he decided to cultivate instead. He had decided to break through to the Nascent realm when the new realm was born, taking advantage of all the rare and potent energies available at the time. For that, he would need to be at the peak of the Golden core realm, and make sure he was in the best condition to move up.

Lex had expected that by cultivating now he may pick up some immunity to corrupted divinity, but instead, his technique started adapting to the lily pads. It started to mimic their conditions as well as its effect and began absorbing them.

But if Lex wanted to completely replicate the effects, he would need to spend months in this environment, but he was satisfied, as is.

He could also feel the growth of his Golden core. Growth was an ironic word to use, since the size of his core shrunk the higher his realm went. He could tell that soon, it would be no bigger than a piece of marble.

Cultivating was, by far, one of the most addictive feelings, and Lex did not miss any opportunity to spend some time doing it. Unfortunately, the healing session was completed before he could reach his limit, so he had to stop prematurely.

"Now, I'll bring you to the observation room. From there, you will be able to sense Z, and even communicate with him. However, I strongly recommend that you only 'observe' and do not distract him."

Lex had received similar warnings enough times to understand that Mateo and even Cassandra highly valued whatever change Z was going through. Lex did not promise anything, however.

He would judge for himself Z's condition before deciding whether to interrupt the process or not. This would be the last determining factor in whether Lex decided to trust the temple or not.

Fenrir was still healing, so Lex let him be as he followed Mateo.

"The reason you have to go to the observation room is because Z is currently in the innermost layer of the temple. You do not have the necessary clearance to go there, and you have no way of getting it either. The tests to move through the layers only get you so far. After reaching a certain level, the only way for you to get access to the more of the temple is to receive an invitation from someone high up in the temple, or to have sufficient achievements.

"Neither Cassandra nor I qualify to give you that information, so there is nothing that can be done about that for the moment. Now, I have to warn you," Mateo said, while stopping right outside a door much larger than any previous ones he had seen in the temple so far.

"Besides Z, there are a few statues in that room. Each statue represents a great figure and contains a lot of history. Be careful when you look at them. Do not be in a rush to observe them with any amount of great scrutiny. It is entirely possible to get hurt if you are overwhelmed.

"The observation room was specifically designed to filter out as much of the influence of the statues as possible, but it can only do so much. People with great comprehension and observation are at a greater risk."

Lex only nodded. He understood that they were trying to impress upon him the importance of this room, and more specifically, of not disturbing Z, but he was only beginning to get exhausted from the repeated warnings.

As if sensing Lex's mood, Mateo stopped talking and finally, but hesitantly, opened the doors.

It almost seems a shame that massive doors of this size came without the usual creaking that Lex would expect from them, or the ominous gusts of wind from the room within. He stood in place and looked at the room through the door, but the observation room itself was not so impressive.

It was a fairly small, rectangular room with three rows of seats, each one at a fair distance from the next. They were all facing a blank wall, which Lex assumed would be used as a projector screen, or perhaps would turn into something like a massive television screen.

He turned to look at Mateo, realizing that the projection was not moving in.

"You're on your own for this. When you enter and get seated, the door will close and the wall will show you what is currently happening within the final temple room. It will become something like a portal, so you'll feel like you're in the room as well. As for what you can expect. Well, I've pretty much told you all there is, and I have a feeling you no longer want to hear about being careful, so there's nothing else. You'll get what I mean when you actually experience it."

Lex swept the room with his spirit sense and took a good, long look at it with his left eye, but discovered nothing of note. With nothing interesting about the room to distract him, Lex went and sat down in the front row and made himself comfortable.

As promised, as soon as he was seated, the doors began to close. Mateo stood in the middle of the frame so that his anxious face was the last thing Lex saw before the doors completely shut. It seemed he was very concerned about this.

Not ignoring his many warnings, Lex disabled the peculiar vision of his left eye, and withdrew his spirit sense as he waited for the wall to transition.

But before the wall changed, a number of formations were activated around the chairs, creating a soft barrier. The formations seemed like they were designed to protect the seated from something.

Now Lex was taking the situation even more seriously. He activated Domination, and instead of spreading it, simply coated his body with it, creating a sort of armor using only aura.

The room underwent a few more changes, though besides a nice smelling incense and some kind of purification, Lex could not determine what they were, before finally the wall Lex was faced towards began to change.

It seemed to become an open window, peering into a massive marble hall. Lex saw nothing else, for he had to close his eyes as a result of feeling sensory overload. It was not painful, but it was reminiscent of the way one would usually turn down the volume in the car while driving through heavy traffic. One's brain could focus only on so much.

Somehow, just being exposed to the air in that room was overwhelming his brain. Listening to the sound of silence in it was nearly driving him crazy. To have his eyes open and actually look at the hall would have rendered him unconscious.

He felt the surrounding formation vibrate as it negated the effects of the hall, and slowly he felt the pressure on himself reduce. He entered his Overdrive state and peeked his eye that he barely opened.

Just that small peek which allowed him to only see the mixed shades of white in the marble floor threatened to overwhelm him again, and so he paused, to allow the formation to activate once more.

The formation vibrated even more fiercely, signaling that it was approaching the limit of its ability.

This unusual oppression was such a strange experience that Lex almost considered beginning to cultivate here. But first he had to sate his curiosity.

Without opening his eye any wider, he carefully looked around the hall. Finding Z was easy. He sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, and appeared long before Lex saw any of the statues.

For a time, Lex observed him closely. He tried to check if he was suffering in any way, or had suffered any harm. But from the look of things, he was fine.

Lex frowned. Visuals could be deceiving. He was not satisfied with just seeing him be fine externally. If Lex was suffering so even while being so thoroughly protected, he could not imagine what Z must be experiencing. He had to somehow learn more.