The Innkeeper

Regal Embrace had given Lex detailed instructions on what to do to absorb the elixir. He would first start using his cultivation technique, and only after he had used it for one complete cycle would he take a single sip from it, while continuing to run his technique.

As soon as he took the sip, his cultivation technique would stop absorbing spiritual energy from the air, and instead use the elixir to increase his cultivation. The actual process of what happened next was quite complicated, but all Lex needed to do was ensure he didn't stop cultivating.

As soon as he took the sip, and his cultivation technique began using the elixir to affect his body and infinity, Lex was hit with a sensation he hadn't experienced in quite a while. He needed to use the restroom, and he needed to use it now!

The urgency of the situation nearly interrupted his cultivation, so he immediately entered the Flow state to ensure he did not mess things up. This way, he teleported to the restroom while still running his cultivation technique.

What happened next was… disastrous. There was no mexican food on earth mexican enough, nor spice strong enough to devastate Lex's stomach the way it was now. If Lex was not in his Flow state he definitely would not have been able to continue cultivating.

The gurgles in his stomach were like rolls of thunder. If Lex were not at the Inn, and had been elsewhere, earthquakes would have rocked the area around him.

Although the method was… unconventional, Regal Embrace was using the laws in the elixir to perfectly stabilize his body, so that the laws he contained would be in perfect equilibrium instead of being a random hodgepodge. Moreover, although laws were incredibly powerful and definitely beyond Lex's level, thus increasing his strength drastically, not all laws were suitable for him.

Due to his breakthrough while the Inn was undergoing a star level increase, a random assortment of laws had been absorbed into his body. While he had survived the experience, it did not mean that those laws were actually helping him. In fact, many of the laws that made up his body were going against the natural foundation he had built up since he started cultivating.

It was the difference between randomly getting a power up through the use of treasures beyond one's level, and a conscientious effort using the most optimal resources to systematically increase your power. While both would give you a power up, one would leave you unable to grow further, while the other would not only give you a higher power ceiling you could achieve within the same realm, but also make your final destination much higher than before.

In a way, Lex was already on the path to transcending the original description of the Regal Embrace. That did not mean his defense would be even higher than it should have been. No, the cultivation technique had already aimed for the highest possible achievable defense right from the get go. Instead, besides the ridiculous defense, Lex would also gain other incredible attributes.

For example, besides Lex's abnormal affinity for defensive techniques, he may gain an affinity for other types of techniques as well. Since he could learn defensive techniques at a glance, and even upgrade them, imagine if he could do the same for movement techniques? Or offensive techniques? Techniques based on the applications of space?

Lex could only use such thoughts to distract himself as his cultivation technique slowly and effectively removed the unnecessary, or even obstructive laws that his body had. In their place, the laws within the elixir were being used.

Although he was once again undergoing a fundamental change in his body's make up, he was more embarrassed than in pain. No, he couldn't continue to dwell on the matter or even his state of flow would be broken.

He turned his thoughts to something else that had occurred to him when he found out about the elixir, but didn't have time to contemplate on. The elixir was formed when there was an instability affecting the realm.

It was not a big jump to assume that whatever anomaly he was supposed to be investigating was the very same instability that had put the Crystal realm on the path for destruction. He did not know how much the local powerhouses of the Crystal knew about the anomaly, but he was fairly certain they didn't know that the realm was on the path to destruction.

According to his original guess, they were using the anomaly and the Kraven to fulfill some grand plan, or perhaps they were farming some extremely rare resources. All in all, there was some secret plan they were exploiting the Kraven for. But if they knew that their continued exploitation had likely put their realm on the path to destruction, he doubted they would behave so audaciously.

This piece of information was more than sufficient for him to venture towards Valesco and meet that Crystal race elder. In the meantime, there was also the chance that he could learn more from the Noel and Phillips family.

Lex could feel that he was incredibly close to solving this mystery.

While Lex was busy thinking every possible random thought he could to distract himself, there was a certain area of the Inn he had purposefully blocked off all news from to himself. No matter what happened there, for now, Lex would not know.

There was a simple reason for that. The Midnight Inn was a closed system, meaning that everything that happened there, stayed within.

The remnants of the laws that were being… released from Lex's body were not mysteriously vanishing. No, they were being recycled, and then transported to the special area that Lex had blocked all news from: the greenhouse!

"Oh dear, such potent fertilizer," commented the turtle as bags of fresh fertilizer were being teleported to the greenhouse. These would be extremely useful in helping the vine growing beside the Fire Temple.