The Innkeeper-Novel



The dwarf was an inch short of four feet (1.2 meters) but his stature did not deprive him of a powerful presence. His body was thick with muscle, that much was clear even under all the hair that covered him, and his braided bear that was nearly as tall as him radiated an impressive aura of its own, as if a hidden power lay within.

The dwarf was in the Golden core realm, and Lex could tell that if he were in his prime condition he would be a level above normal human Golden core cultivators. But Lex was not a human cultivator to begin with, let alone the fact that the dwarf was now completely drained of energy as well as thoroughly beaten.

The dwarf looked at Lex and grimaced, the dirt and blood on his face only serving to make him look more detestable. Lex, on the other hand, began wondering why he once again found himself in a situation where he felt like a villain. Did he have some kind of affinity with being evil? Should he give it a try?

"Me bones are shattered, and if I don't fix them soon the weight of the Dragons Might might just end up killing me directly. If you want anything from me, you're gonna have to fix me first," the dwarf finally said before aggressively spitting out some blood.

Lex raised an eyebrow. Well, at least it was a start. He quickly thought of how he could help the dwarf. He had learned some very basic healing techniques that could be used on others, but they were just barely enough to save someone's life in a critical situation. They could not be used to actually heal.

He had a few boxes full of painkillers in his spatial bangle now, as he had decided he got injured all too often despite his ridiculous defense and no longer wanted to deal with a lot of pain. He had a few herbs that could serve as a healing agent, but their effects weren't too strong…

Shaking his head, Lex decided to keep things simple. He threw a high quality spirit stone at the dwarf, indicating he should replenish his energy a little so he doesn't immediately die, and simultaneously began to form an array.

"There's no need to be so grumpy. It's not like we're enemies or anything. I just have a few questions. I can help you out as long as you give me answers."

The array was completed, and was one of the simplest ones he knew for healing purposes. It did not actually 'heal' at all, but just added a bit of vitality to a being, allowing their body to naturally heal itself, or to not die so quickly based on the circumstances.

"What do you take me for?" the dwarf asked angrily. "Give me proper medicine and-"

Before the dwarf could complete its sentence, he found a foot pressing down on his throat, and Lex's amicable smile had withdrawn. Instead, Lex now wore a look of complete indifference as he looked down on the dwarf, a trace of an oppressive aura leaking from him despite the Dragons Might destroying all auras in the area.

"Do not take my politeness for subservience. If you do not want to cooperate, then I see no reason to let you live."

His tone was placid and uninterested, as if the dwarfs' life or death meant nothing to him. In actuality, Lex was just trying out the 'evil' persona he had been wondering about earlier. Although Lex did not see himself as a villain, or an evil person, his recent experiences in the Crystal realm made him realize that, to a degree, being civil and polite sometimes made him seem like a pushover.

When he was in Valesco, no matter what, if he had had enough deterrence that Crystal race member would not have attacked him. Similarly, when the Kraven attacked his tavern all of his workers and many of his guests had been injured, but the Earth immortals he had been meeting with never really bothered to lend him a hand, and the two birds even began negotiating with the Kraven right in front of him. Although things had ended well for him eventually, that bitterness and frustration had lingered, if only just a bit.

So, while Lex had no real interest in being harsh with others, he also wanted to try and do things differently, and see what the results were. After all, he was just 24 years old, and it was alright if he was still figuring himself out.

The dwarf was not an easily intimidated person, usually, but looking at Lex's eyes, he really felt like the other would kill him without any hesitation if he tested his limits. Although getting answers might be helpful to him, it was not important enough that he would tolerate the dwarfs misbehavior.

The dwarf felt a chill in the back of his spine, and he suddenly stopped resisting. No matter what his identity was normally, right now he was just an injured dwarf held down by the other person's shoe - he needed to adapt to his new reality quickly.

"Ask… ask your questions," he said hoarsely, before he finally felt the pressure from the others' foot on his neck decrease.

"That's more like it. Let's start with something simple. What's your name?" Lex asked, a hint of a warm expression returning to his face.

"Terrol… Terrol Folkinson," the dwarf said, hoping that the other might recognize his name, but alas, Lex knew nothing of dwarfs, and so the name meant nothing to him.

"See, that wasn't so hard now was it?" asked Lex as he removed his foot from the dwarfs neck completely.

"You look pretty beaten up Terrol, and your friends didn't look much better either. What happened?"

Terrol clenched his teeth as the recent memory filled his mind, tormenting him.

"The… the Frigal royal family was supposed to be gone. This level of the castle was supposed to be clear, as, theoretically, no one else could get this close to the dragon. Unfortunately… we ran into an unexpected problem. The King has a bastard child who inherited the royal family's genes, but he's too weak to go out into the field. He was staying here, which should ont have been an issue, but the King had assigned him a royal protector for some reason.

"We ran into the kid, and a fight with the protector erupted. Fortunately, since we were not interested in the kid, we were able to escape. The protector didn't follow us either, since he had to stay with the child. But even so, escaping was not so easy."

Lex nodded his head. Not only was he studying the dwarf using his instincts and sixth sense, he also used the Fancy contact lens to completely analyze the dwarfs equipment. Despite his relatively low cultivation level, his gear was no joke. If he had been reduced to such a state in spite of all his preparations, that protector must have been quite powerful. Either that kid was very special to deserve such a powerful protector, or the level of the royal family's guards was very high.

"It seems to me like you guys have made a lot of preparations for your trip, Terrol. It's not so easy to resist the Dragons Might, and there's something unusual going on that messes with the spirit, and causes one to be completely lost in thought. Do you mind explaining to me how you resisted both, and especially what the latter is?"

The dwarf grit his teeth. This was all valuable information, and revealing it might get them in trouble later. But if he died right now, there would be no later to worry about, so he had no voice but to divulge all that he knew.

"Resisting Dragons Might is not all that hard. The dwarves and the elves have been enemies for many millennia, but they recently buried their bitter hatred to join hands together to face the domineering and deadly dragons. With dwarven engineering, and elven enchantments, we have designed many treasures specifically designed to take on dragons. The chestplate that I'm wearing has an enchantment that will erase or reduce the effects of Dragons Might, as long as I have enough spirit energy to feed it.

"As for the spirit pull… it's a common phenomenon that occurs with any treasure that a dragon obsesses over! The influence of a dragon's attention is far from simple, let alone the effects of its obsession. All dragons are natural born treasure hunters, and any place they call home is bound to be full of treasure.

"But, although this planet has valuable ores, it is nowhere near valuable enough to attract a dragon. The spirit energy is poor, and it is far from a star and so is cold. Considering the overall poor quality of the entire planet, there must be some exceptionally valuable treasure here that attracted the dragon, and now has been tinged with the dragons obsession, affecting one and all!"