The Innkeeper

Alexander was not expecting to hear news that was so contradictory to what he knew, so soon after he made the claim. The fact that Lex claimed to have insider news related to the Inn was an even more bold claim that deserved a lot of speculation.

"How can you possibly have inside news on the Inn?" Alexander couldn't help but ask. A relationship to the Inn would clearly explain his ridiculously sturdy body.

"What does it have to do with a relationship? Haven't you heard of the Midnight news building? All you need to do is have a high enough prestige to access a lot of confidential information."

Alexander had naturally heard of the news service, and he knew about prestige as well. He himself had quite a high prestige level, and so did his family members. Yet they had not heard of anything that allowed them to claim to have insider news. Either Lex was lying, or there were ways to raise your own prestige other than spending MP.

"What's the news?"

"Well, it's not confirmed yet, but if the situation on earth gets much worse, and the refugees become completely displaced, they will be allowed to purchase private Minor realms to move into."

Alexander immediately sat forward as the insinuations for such a claim ran through his head. The first thing that came to his mind was that… for the Inn to plan for such a situation already, they expected the humans to lose the planet. This was after he stated that the Earth was actually a part of the empire.

The Earth being a part of the empire was surprising but conceivable for him. He was exposed to enough dirty secrets back on earth to know how secretly the upper echelon behaved. Sometimes, the more unexpected or unassuming that something appeared, the greater the chances that they were to act upon it.

Instead, the loss of the planet, and the potential for relocation hit him harder. He was not one to get sentimental over trivialities, but it felt hard to ignore the attachment to a planet he had spent so much time on.

Then again, his family was already planning on moving to Vegus Minima, so he was able to accept its loss. Still, his mood had deteriorated somewhat.

"Let's talk about something more immediately relevant. Earlier, you proposed a trade. Why should I have this trade with you when I'm already being trained by the empire? How can you help me beyond what the empire is already doing for me?"

This was a good question. Truthfully, Lex needed Alexander more than the other way around. Until the pagoda, when he saw Alexander performing better than him despite his weaker physical strength and defense, he realized that he could not compete with such skill and expertise. Although he had trained, and still took some time out to practice regularly, he was nowhere near Alexander's level.

In return, he couldn't really offer much since most opportunities he had availed could not really be replicated. The few that could, for example, the Divine Essence, were already being shared at the Inn.

Even the soul sense he told Alexander about, despite being good bait, could not actually be materialized, for Lex had no idea how to awaken the soul sense in someone else. All in all, Lex had nothing to give right now.

That did not mean, however, that Lex felt he was the weaker one in this situation at all. Even if he didn't have anything to offer now didn't mean he wouldn't have something to offer later. Even if he couldn't offer tangible results, information was often just as important. Lastly, by having Alexander reach out to him, he had established a psychological advantage in the situation. Alexander's move of starting the interrogation was a good one that would allow him to steal Lex's momentum, but only if Lex was unable to respond correctly.

"Isn't it obvious already? The opportunities the army is giving you is based on a systematic approach, fueled by resources that they can regularly farm and use. Yet the opportunities I have availed are rare and cannot be found under normal circumstances. You either jump at the chance, or miss out.

"You already saw me back at the pagoda. But back then, I hadn't updated my techniques to suit my new realm. Now that I have, I wouldn't be surprised if I can breeze through a dozen more floors without breaking a sweat."

Alexander found Lex's claim to be difficult to believe, yet it was undeniable that his unusual performance was one of the main reasons Alexander had even bothered to reach out.

"Lastly, and most importantly, the reason you need me is because, regardless of how intensively the empire trains you, if you follow their established path, your growth will be limited to the peak their program can achieve. If you want to surpass them, instead of being just one more 'elite' that they can train at any time, you'll need to do something out of the ordinary."

For a time, Alexander said nothing as he mulled over Lex's words. Normally, Alexander was a lot more charismatic and friendly. The reason he was being so reserved with Lex was that he could not gauge Lex. As someone who shared a home planet, he knew how limited Lex's growth should have been. Yet despite the fact that he had no background of significance, he had achieved something beyond almost everyone on their planet.

"And what do you want from me?" he finally asked, unable to contain himself.

"It shouldn't be that hard, actually. I don't know if you can tell, but I'm mostly self trained. Although I've studied under many various teachers, ultimately my growth has been too haphazard and too quick. I haven't been able to completely master my own strength. But you are a master at such a thing. I don't think I've met anyone who has such a perfect and precise control over their strength as you. I doubt you can make me reach a similar state in a short time, but some guidance would still be great."

"That's fairly simple. Do you really need me for all that? With the kind of relationship you have with the Inn, you should be able to find someone more qualified, right? Not to mention, someone you don't need to pay back using rare opportunities."

Lex could not help but lament. It was so much easier when he did this as the Innkeeper. No one dared to question him then. But as Lex, he had not established any credibility. Not only was his capability being questioned, so were his motives!

"Call it a gut feeling," Lex said, not in the mood to explain too much. For some unknown reason, he was beginning to get anxious though he had not noticed it yet. The irritation it had resulted in even caused him to give up on the more convincing answer he was going to give.

After a few seconds of silence, where Alexander had to wrestle to accept such an answer, he finally asked, "So when do you want to start? And what opportunities do you have for me right now?"

"For you, I have two suggestions, though they're not nearly as rare. First, after consulting with the empire for the potential solution in case you're not compatible, I advise you to absorb the Divine Essence at the Inn. Second, if you're familiar with the hair stylist Harry, go to him. He is about to unveil something called the Soul pond. Go take a dip in that, it'll help you a lot.

"As for helping me, my schedule is usually very hectic. It might be tough to coordinate times when we're both available. Why don't you start by creating some kind of a training regime for me based on what you've seen. Once I try that out for a while, I'll give you the appropriate feedback. Moreover, we can spar with one another from time to time. Not only will that give you a better idea for how to train me, it might do us both some good."

Alexander nodded as he noted down the advice. He was just about to respond, when he saw Lex frown.

By now, Lex had finally caught on to his growing anxiety. Something was terribly wrong. He was considering whether he should promptly exit and teleport to his office, when his personal hologram appeared, and delivered a message only he could hear. Coincidentally, at the exact same time, Alexander received a message on his personal hologram as well.

Miranda had finally found the information he was looking for on his family, and was requesting a meeting. The timing of the news was too unusual, and had arrived just as his anxiety was peaking. It didn't take a genius to guess that it wasn't good news.

"Excuse me, something has come up," said Lex as he stood up. Alexander nodded. He too needed to go. Apparently, he had a new mission.