The Innkeeper

Before he did anything, Lex took a mental note of all that he had to do, and how much time he had left with the Host Attire. In total, he should have around 7 days left. Within this time, he needed to not only fix the Inn and prepare for any future needs it might have in the short term, he also had to verify that the resin actually worked to upgrade the system.

If, by any chance it did not work, the land covering the Inn still had countless other mysterious and valuable items he could try out.

Considering his progress, and the speed with which he could reach places now using teleportation, he felt like he could spare an hour to experiment.

He let go of Space Warp, and allowed the ball of black energy to flood back into the open, Blinking away before it could reach him. From a safe distance, he activated his left eye so that he could study this strange black energy.

Immediately, he learnt a few things. The black energy seemed to be some force of corruption or corrosion, as it ate everything it touched to grow. Its energy reserves were only rising, not diminishing, as it ate the countless corpses on the field. But that did not mean this black energy would become a massive new problem.

This was because while its energy reserves were increasing, its existence was being whittled away. Whatever law this black energy was associated with did not naturally integrate with this area, and so was slowly being acted upon by the natural laws that existed in this place. Once it crossed a critical threshold, it would all immediately disappear.

But, conversely, the black energy was acting on the local laws as well. If there was enough of it, it could forcibly make itself a part of this place. Unfortunately, since its source was gone, that was not destined to happen as a lot more of the black energy would be needed to bring about such a change.

Lex also couldn't help but notice that the pattern or arrangement of bodies seemed perfect to feed this black energy, and allow it to grow. It was too coincidental. It seemed like there was more at play with the appearance of this creature than it seemed. But, for the moment, Lex could not be bothered to investigate.

First of all, he only had a vague idea of where he was. Secondly, while he had received a lot of information about this realm, it was mostly pertaining to the realm itself and not its inhabitants. Only very few, extremely notable inhabitants were included in the information, as if they were a part of the realm. Such as the massive tree in the middle of this continent, of the strawberry monsters.

So he had no information about the two races that were battling, their history, or the real reasons they were fighting. He also did not want to get involved.

He held out his sword and coated in it pure sword intent and nothing else. Holding the sword through his spirit sense, he sent it forward to stab into the black energy and studied the reaction.

He had little to no experience controlling a sword with his spirit sense, but he still had enough control to gently stab at the black energy. For a fraction of a second the sword intent and the energy clashed, and then his sword intent failed.

Quickly, before the sword could suffer any damage, he withdrew it. He was not too surprised by the outcome. After all, compared to his realm, his sword intent was too ordinary. But the momentary clash, instead of total lack of opposition, meant that sword intent really could be used against laws. Or at least, this law, as long as the intent was strong enough.

This time, he coated his sword with his spiritual energy alone, and stabbed it one more time. Although his own unique affinity was not a law, it contained a mix of affinities for numerous laws. He wanted to see if it could have any effect at all. Unfortunately, it was even more fragile than the sword intent.

Lex continued to experiment with the energy, even going as far as attacking it. He used Inferno Blade without the sword intent, Evisceration, and a number of other attacks. But all of them brought negligible results. Only through the use of certain abilities associated with laws, such as his spatial abilities or sword intent, even put up a fight.

Though, oddly enough, when Lex drew a drop of blood from himself and threw it in the black energy, it had a purging effect on it! His blood turned out to be more potent against this black energy than even spatial laws!

In the end, he was unable to suppress his curiosity, and stuck his hand within the black energy. He told himself he needed context for how dangerous such law attacks were against him, though perhaps a reluctance to admit his defense was falling behind played a part in it as well.

The effects were instant, though not severe. His entire hand was covered in an itchy rash that was spreading along his arm at a noticeable rate. The skin around his nails began to dry and started to lose color. Although there was no actual damage yet, Lex felt like if he kept his hand in the energy too long, it would rot.

He channeled his energy within his hand to see if he could fight off the decay, and even used a number of defensive techniques. But, once again, they proved to be of little use.

Then Lex tried to use his Domination, and he was taken aback by how effective it was. The energy retreated wherever his aura spread, as if it too was afraid of the Dragons Might it emulated.

That… as unexpected. Lex then used Impervious Hands and channeled his aura into the technique, then once again reached out towards the black energy. This time, instead of penetrating it, Lex touched it, as if he were touching smooth silk.