The Innkeeper

After jogging for a couple of minutes and finally entering a busy street, Lex entered a random shop and asked to use the restroom, dropping a spirit coin in the shopkeeper's hands. The obvious bribe, along with his blood-covered face and clothes prompted the shopkeeper to quickly guide him to the restroom.

Cleaning the clothes was fairly easy, as the blood washed right off whatever synthetic material they were made from. He cleaned his sword as well and quickly checked to see if any of his other pieces of equipment had blood on them. Once that was done, Lex pulled out a first aid kit from his bag and looked at himself in the mirror. He'd never done anything like this before, and though Lex was not squeamish, he still needed to mentally prepare himself before he began.

Something like the needle failing to pierce his skin due to his increased defence did not happen because Lex had ensured to get equipment suitable for his body. While it did not pierce his skin easily, it got the job done. Having zero prior experience and only a YouTube tutorial seen long ago as a guide, Lex's stitches were not neat, but he managed to close the wound on his left temple. He put a bandaid over it to hide his shoddy work and downed a bottle of Botlam Dew.

It was convenient having a quick fix potion, and Lex planned on enjoying it while he could as once he entered the Foundation realm it would no longer be effective on him. As it was, due to his body, soul and spirit being combined, his healing capability was already slowed down. Yet Lex did not mind that at all, as had he been even slightly weaker. That thought kept shaking him every time he thought about it, and his guilt at wanting to kill those guys had long disappeared.

Maybe if he actually ended up killing someone, Lex might have reacted differently, but as it was, Lex actually found it difficult to make himself feel anything other than anger. A lifetime of watching TV and reading novels told Lex that maybe he should have been feeling some kind of negative reaction to the thought, but he honestly wasn't and he couldn't be bothered to care more about it.

Once he was done, Lex quickly put his clothes back on and left, asking the shopkeeper if there was something akin to a taxi. There was, and soon Lex found himself sitting in a flying pod that was dashing through the air towards his destination. The Air pod, as it was called, was just big enough to fit a sofa on which Lex sat, and accommodate a holographic screen in front of him.

The experience was amazing, but unfortunately, Lex had only just begun to explore intergalactic tv when the pod stopped, and opened up to reveal the Infinity Emporium. Since Lex was planning on leaving, there was no way he would leave the quest unfinished. Lex had spent some time thinking of what exactly to sell to the Emporium.

Naturally, all the items supplied by the Inn were considered by him, including even the Lotus he carried on his back, but a random idea struck him. Since the Emporium sold everything, they also likely bought everything - including information. As far as information was concerned, there were a lot of things that could be sold, including the information about the devil Loretta's father being an insanely powerful cultivator.

But, Lex did not want to get involved in selling any of his guests personal information as that might lead to problems down the road. He did, however, recall something that he once longed for. He wrote down the exact information he got from the system regarding this specific matter, and wanted to see if the Emporium would buy it.

He entered the shop, once again marveling at how effortlessly the shop separated him from the other guests, and walked towards the familiar shopkeeper.

"Hey man, I have a few things I wanted to buy, as well as a few things I wanted to sell. I was hoping you could help me out."

"I would be most happy to help with that," the shopkeeper said with an air of familiarity.

"I never caught your name last time, I'm Lex, by the way."

"How rude of me. My name is Powell Grant. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lex."

"Likewise, Powell, likewise. Now, Powell, I'm facing a bit of a conundrum and I was hoping you could help me out. Most of the things I intend to sell should be pretty easy for you to appraise," he said, as he slung the bag Tetsuya had given him off his shoulder. "But I do have something that I'm concerned you might not be able to identify the proper worth of."

"Oh? Please, do elaborate, and I'll help you however I can. I assure you, so long as the business is authentic, we never turn it away."

"See, that's just the thing. I have a piece of information I'm looking to sell, some very valuable information at that. Now, I know the information I'm selling is accurate, but how do I convince you that it is true? Because if I hand it over, and you don't believe it, that'll be quite a loss for me."

"I see your point," Powell said, nodding his head. "Normally information comes from reputable sources, but what does someone who does not yet have a reputation do? Of course, we have a few ways of authenticating information. Please, follow me."

Powell opened up a latch on the side and lifted the counter, providing Lex a way to follow him to the back of the store. Lex followed the shopkeeper into a room, but paused the moment he stepped in.

This room was like something out of a movie. Everything in the room was white, from the walls to the furniture and even the paintings that were made from different shades of white. In the center of the room were two sofas facing each other, with a table between them. On the table was a white orb.

"Please, have a seat," Powell said, his voice coming out in a whisper. That's when Lex noticed that the man's clothes had also changed color and become white. He looked down, and even his own clothes, while still being exactly the same, had changed their colors to white.

"Strange room," Lex said, and was shocked to find that even his voice became a whisper without him meaning to do so.

Intrigued, he sat opposite Powell, who had summoned a white paper cuff.

"There are two ways we use to authenticate information, both of which are employed in this room. You can wear this cuff, and put your hand over the orb and provide me with the information you wish to sell. The cuff will detect if you are lying, and will change color if you are. But that is not normally enough, as informants can sometimes be misinformed. The second judge is the orb, as it detects your karma regarding the information you provide. If anyone has tampered with you, or the information, the orb will detect it. If you pass both of these tests, we consider the information you provide to be true and accurate."

Lex put on the cuff, but before he placed his hand on the orb, asked, "and what will you do if the information is extremely valuable? Are you sure you can pay me appropriately?"

"It's an Infinity Emporium guarantee. So long as the business is authentic, we can handle it."

Lex raised an eyebrow and decided to test it. It wasn't like he was losing anything by trying this out, as he was just giving away some information that was useless to him. On the off chance that the Emporium wasn't able to buy the information he was selling, he wondered what would happen to the quest. After all, the information directly referenced Dao Lords.

"Some time ago, I managed to secretly obtain information about a unique item called the Bangle of Narn. The bangle is actually a single galaxy condensed into a bangle form, that can be worn without any harmful consequences. Everything that exists within that galaxy can be used and controlled by the wearer. The aura of the Bangle cannot be suppressed and can be easily identified by all Daolord realm cultivators within 99 million lightyears."

Lex eyed the cuff as well as the orb, but neither of them had any reaction. When he looked at Powell though, his reaction was very satisfying. His jaw hung open in shock as he stared at the orb for any signs of a lie or interference, but there were none.

But, as shocked as he was, he quickly recovered, and gave Lex a smile with the warmth and passion of a lover.

"Lex, no no, Mr. Lex, do you happen to know anything about the bangles' location? Or the owner?"

"Unfortunately not," Lex replied with a chuckle. He himself almost became the owner of it once, but as tempting as it was to own an entire galaxy's wealth, he did not regret giving it up. He tried not to dwell on the fact that even the Jotun Empire was not able to flawlessly wield the wealth of an entire galaxy, despite owning many.

"How unfortunate," Powell replied with actual regret on his face. But he composed himself quickly and returned to the matter at hand.

"Mr. Lex, the information you have provided is truly valuable, despite not having any information on its location. First, I would like to thank you for trusting the Emporium with this boon. Second, I would like to ask, how would you like to get paid?"