The Innkeeper

While four goons were down, four more stood by Darius, who had gotten up from the ground, holding a hand over his forehead where Lex had shot him. His face was entirely red, though you could not tell if it was from pain or anger.

“I’ll kill you!” he roared as he gave Lex his ugliest and most despicable glare. Yet Lex did not give him the reaction he wanted. Lex did not cower in fear or beg for forgiveness, but just gave him a sneer. Though blinded by rage himself, Lex was cognizant of the fact that this person had not come here to simply rough him up.

Let alone that he was smacked directly on his head by a metal bat using the full physical strength of what Lex assumed was a peak Qi training realm cultivator, but the end of the bat was covered in sharp pikes. He could distinctly see blood only on one of the spikes, and was aware of the fact that he had just gotten extremely lucky that the spike hadn’t been able to puncture his skull. Otherwise, Lex would be dead.

When that thought went through his mind, Lex was enraged even more. He holstered his gun and reached his hand into his bag. Since Lex was able to sense spirit energy now, he was better able to gauge the realms of those near him. Just based on the sheer magnitude of the pressure that two of them gave off, Lex knew they were Foundation realm experts. But so what? Since he had started traveling across planets again, he had taken precautions for even if he faced Golden core experts, let alone two Foundation realm ones.

Of course, neither Darius nor the others intended to give him the time to retrieve whatever he wanted from the bad and attacked him.

While Lex was still able to keep up with the speed of the other goons and dodge them, there was nothing he could do to keep up with the Foundation realm ones, so he immediately deployed the Talisman shield. The shield was one and a half foot wide and four feet long, and hovered around Lex freely. Once activated, it would block attacks on its own, and would last as long as the energy in the Talisman didn’t fade or until Lex dismissed it. Activating and dismissing it were easy, but they both required Lex to consciously choose to do so.

Fortunately, this Talisman shield Lex bought from Chen was actually a Jotun product, and was quite strong. This was because the two foundation experts’ attacks landed as soon as he deployed the shield, hurling Lex back.

But even as Lex fell back, he was not distracted, and pulled out a few tiny cylindrical items from the bag and flung one of them at the goons.

The strongest two goons immediately realized the threat and retreated, but the rest were not so fast and were struck by a spiritual blast. The two Qi training realm goons were directly knocked out as their bodies flung into the air. Darius was protected by some kind of treasure once again, but even that could not stop him from falling backwards.

Just as Lex was about to rush forward to continue attacking them, he ran out of Qi! All the techniques he was using immediately stopped, and exhaustion hit Lex like a sledgehammer. This was the first time he had been completely drained of Qi since he entered the realm, and he nearly blacked out from the shock of running out of Qi and his techniques being forcefully stopped.

But while he managed to keep himself awake, his state of rage fueled flow was broken. But while Lex was suddenly out of breath, and it took a great deal of effort to use his brain, and he was almost entirely physically drained, he could still continue to fight. As if making a decision, his face hardened as he reached into his backpack one more time to search for something.

But before the goons could attack him again, and before Lex could continue to fight, another person appeared in Lex’s sight. He wasted no time and smashed a brick against the goons’ heads, knocking them out, before kicking Darius in the face to reach the same result.

Lex recognized this new person immediately, it was Tetsuya. Up close, he looked even more ordinary than he had on the screen, and Lex couldn’t help noticing that his cheeks had a slight dip, as if he was starved and malnourished.

“Not a bad performance,” Tetsuya said casually, and he reached down and started patting Darius and his goons. Lex was momentarily confused before realizing… he was robbing them!

“You were a little heavy-handed on the Qi usage, which was a mistake. Always try to leave at least 30% of your Qi reserves to run away. If you dip that low and the fight hasn’t ended, it’s time for you to run away.”

“I could still fight them,” Lex said hoarsely.

“Yeah, I noticed,” he said, as he eyed Lex’s backpack warily. “But I suspect anything you did now would kill these guys. Don’t misunderstand me, I have no love for these guys. But, as much as I want to, I can’t let this guy die.” Tetsuya said as he stripped Darius of all his valuables.

“Why?” Lex asked, ignoring the increasingly frustrating headache he was developing. The ringing in his ears had only gotten worse after he ran out of Qi, and while he was slowly catching his breath again, it was very irritating.

“You see, this little brat has a great enmity against me. It’s no secret that he’s moved against me both openly and under the table. The problem with such a situation is that, should anything happen to this runt, I will be the first person blamed. That will make it impossible for me to ever leave this planet. So, as long as I am on this planet, I have to take care of this idiot.”

“Why don’t you just leave?” Lex asked, confused. But Tetsuya didn’t reply, and only smiled at Lex.

“I take it you’re a foreigner here, since you were stupid enough to bet on me. In that case, I’ll help you a little. While this kid and his family can be considered local big shots, it’s only in this city. If you stay here, they’ll come back for revenge unless you find a backer. But if you leave the city discreetly, then they’ll be hard pressed to find you. Also, while I don’t really care about the rest, my suggestion is that you don’t kill them. That way, the local police will be forced to start an investigation.”

Lex looked at the various goons laying on the floor. Now that his anger had disappeared, his inclination to kill them had also gone as well. In fact, he was feeling a little conflicted about how easy it was for him to decide to kill them. Tetsuya saw the hesitation in Lex’s eyes, but did not comment on it.

“Since I only came at the end, I won’t take much. This is your share of the loot,” he said, as he neatly put an assortment of seemingly random items in a bag and handed them to Lex. He did, however, easily recognize the few dozen spirit stones and a pouch full of spirit coins that also went in the bag.

With that, Tetsuya grabbed Darius by the leg, and began pulling him away with a casual smile. It was as if he didn’t take the situation seriously at all.

“Wait, take this,” Lex called out, as he threw a golden key at the man. “Take it as a thank you gift for helping me out. Crush it, if you’re ever in trouble you can’t handle.”

Tetsuya caught the golden key, and observed it carefully. He had noticed Lex using various weapons, so he assumed this was just one more and put it in his pocket. Lex had used some powerful weapons, weapons that weren’t so easy to get on X-142, so he took his words seriously.

“If I were you, I would get on the first ride out of this city. There’s a train station nearby, so if you have nothing holding you back, that’s the destination I would suggest for you.”

With that, Tetsuya left. He had already spoken more to Lex than he did to most people, and his social battery was running dry.

Lex, who stood there for a couple more moments, let out an exhausted sigh as he turned and started jogging away with two bags on his back. He regretted paying rent at his hotel already, but this wasn’t so bad either. Why should he spend his time on this planet cooped up in a tavern? No, Lex would take on the role of a tourist, and explore.

Once he had left, some people finally stuck their heads out of the shops nearby, and quickly started sharing the videos they took of the fight. It wasn’t everyday you got entertainment like this on X-142.