The Innkeeper

"A what?" the soldier asked, breaking free from his shock.

"Oh, sorry. A slingshot. Do you have any slingshots heading back to the realm entrance?" Lex reiterated, recalling the name of the ide he took to the pagoda in the first place.

"Oh yes, of course. There will be a ride back in about 30 minutes that you can take. Would you uhh… would you like some clothes while you wait?"

"Sure, if you have any to spare I'll take them."

"Follow me, I'm sure I can find you something. By the way, there's a voluntary questionnaire for anyone who enters the pagoda. Would you be willing to go through it? Like I said, it's voluntary, so there's no obligation to do so. But we're collecting information to compile a pagoda guide book. If you go through the questionnaire, you become eligible to receive a free copy of the guide once it's published."

"That doesn't sound too bad, sure I'll take it," said Lex as he followed the soldier. He hadn't ventured too deep into the pagoda anyway and he did not think his experience was too unique. Of course, that did not mean he would be giving out information about how he overcame each floor. But it wouldn't hurt to answer a few questions. That guide could end up being helpful when he sent his workers to the pagoda.

The soldier led Lex to an impromptu barracks they had set up and handed him a fresh pair of military fatigues which, Lex had to admit, were surprisingly comfortable. The questionnaire afterwards was not a piece of paper on a clipboard, but rather involved Lex meeting with a dedicated team who brought him to a different room where they asked him several questions.

He was pretty honest in answering the questions, including the fact that he met up with Alexander on one of the floors. Even if he did not answer, he expected that Alexander himself would reveal that they ran into each other. After all, unlike him who was answering voluntarily, he did not expect Alexander would have much leeway considering he was a part of their army.

He finished just in time to catch the slingshot heading back.

"How's the event going?" Lex asked Mary while he waited. He expected that the fishing event would cause things to calm down for a bit, though Lex wasn't complaining. There was no shortage of things for Lex to do, not to mention that he hadn't forgotten he was waiting on a reply from the Henali. Although he had given a proposal, they had yet to accept.

He also had to catch up with Aegis to see what progress he had made into discovering the secrets of the Crystal realm. In fact, he should start spreading the golden keys around the Crystal realm and focus on getting the upper echelon to come to the Inn. That would be a much easier way to spy on- eh, no, much easier to establish better relations, and by happenstance learn various secrets about the Inn.

He also had to get around to confronting his family, which was a tedious chore he did not feel like doing at all. He also had to check up on procuring the Shining Irisberry for the turtle.

Lex could not help but release a sigh. Yeah, a small reprieve at the Inn would really be welcome.

"The event is a huge hit. A number of guests who were participating in the first round fished up some incredible treasures, including one old man who inherited a mind-blowingly amazing cultivation technique that caused an anomaly at the Inn! He might not be able to continue in the competition, since he immediately absorbed the technique and began cultivating. I don't think he'll exit in time for the remaining event, but he's already received countless recruitment offers from nearly every organization present at the Inn. It's already too late for more people to register for the event, but viewership has gone up to 13 million and rising."

Lex's eyes widened in shock as two things suddenly crossed his mind. The first was that the reprieve he was looking for probably wouldn't come. The second was that he couldn't believe he himself never tried the fishing well! If he had known it was that amazing, he would have fished in it everyday!

*****

While their infiltration had been easier than Larry expected, the anticipated resistance eventually showed up. Other than himself and Marlo, there were four others who had accompanied them, all of them in the Golden core realm.

On earth they could have been considered an elite fighting force, yet they were heavily pinned down by the prison guards. In fact, if Marlo hadn't been attracting most of the attention they would have likely already been eliminated!

Smashing away the last of their attackers, Marlo looked back at them without concern for whether he was living or dead.

"Larry, you follow me. The rest will split up and create diversions. We have a 10 minute window where most of the defenses are down. Once the 10 minutes are up we have to retreat, regardless of whether the mission is complete or not."

Everyone nodded, as they all already knew the plan, and began moving out. Larry moved at his fastest speed to keep up with Marlo, and even then he was being left behind as they navigated the halls of the building they infiltrated.

It was eerily empty, which is not what Larry had been expecting, but he wasn't complaining. The less resistance they faced the better. As for how Marlo knew the route, and the destination, Larry didn't ask. The stopped for a brief moment as Marlo set down a small black pouch on the ground before he kept running. Larry didn't inquire about the pouch, or anything else for that matter. At the moment, his thoughts were completely focused on what was about to happen. He was finally, FINALLY, about to get some answers, as well as his revenge.