The Innkeeper

Lex opened the system and was surprised to find that it looked quite different. Not only were there many more options available to him, but the system was much more flexible in how it operated. This meant that, for example, if Lex wanted to start a service that wasn’t officially offered by the system, he could have the system design it.

An example of this was how the barbershop was something Lex designed on his own, but it wasn’t inherently a part of the system. He could not upgrade the shop the same way he could upgrade everything else. Yet now he was able to ask the system to design a barbershop, and not only would the system create it, but it would automatically give it various perks.

The downside to this was that every time Lex used one of the system features that were above his normal authority, the energy consumption from that would come from his pool of energy that he was building to return from this realm.

Speaking of which, there was a progress bar in the system detailing the amount of energy built up for that exact purpose. Currently, it was at 0%, and should Lex leave it up to the system to gather energy on its own, it would take exactly 100 years.

Ways in which Lex could contribute to the energy build up included but were not limited to, absorbing energy on his own – which would barely help – or deposit a large amount of spiritual stones or other treasures which had a high concentration of energy, go to areas with a general higher concentration of energy etc.

Lex spent the night planning ahead, and went over some of the more advanced features of the system he wanted to use. Although using them would slow down his return, god only knew when Lex would actually be able to return, and using these features would help him tremendously. Of course, he needed to wait till he had at least some energy at his disposal until he could use them.

With his planning done, Lex decided to try something out. Since one of his most immediate priorities was to absorb energy, there was a possibility that he had the perfect helper for that.

“Hey, World Seed Lotus, are you awake?” Lex whispered, as he rubbed his hand across the tattoo on his back.

‘Yes, Mr. Innkeeper, how can I help you?’ Lex heard a drowsy, infantile voice in his head. He also noticed that the gentle stream of energy he was always receiving from the tattoo became slightly warmer. Maybe that was an indication of when the Lotus was awake or asleep.

‘I’m looking for areas or items with a very high energy density,’ Lex replied in his mind. ‘You think you could point them out to me if I come near one?’

‘Okay Mr. Innkeeper,’ the Lotus replied, followed by the sound of a yawn. Once that was done, the tattoo returned to its normal temperature, indicating that it had returned to its slumber.

Lex didn’t know if the Lotus would be able to help him, but he could only hope. Once he was done, he went to sleep, as tomorrow would be a long day.

He was woken up early in the morning by the nurse, who took him for a checkup. After answering a number of questions, and ensuring the nurse that he was fine despite the fact that ‘his memories did not return’, he was escorted to a doctor’s room. The doctor, an old man rifling through a horde of papers, mumbling to himself, eyed Lex once he entered the room and told him to stand on the silver platform.

The technology in this realm was quite advanced, but did not progress in the same way as humans on Earth who relied on a version of science lacking any understanding of spirit energy, and fueled by electricity. Here, not only was their understanding of science more complete, their technology was fueled by spirit energy.

As soon as Lex was positioned on the silver platform correctly, the doctor turned it on. Small grains of light started floating upwards from the platform, and every time one would touch Lex, his body would absorb it.

After a few minutes, the platform stopped releasing light, and the doctor indicated Lex to take a seat as he pulled up a hologram of Lex’s body.

“A detailed report indicates that your spirit is still slightly injured, and you have a minor wound on your left temple. Neither of those are a major concern. I’ll write you a prescription, and you should be as good as new in a couple of days. These wounds should not prevent you from undergoing the assessment, so I’ll have the nurse discharge you.”

Lex was surprised that his left temple was still wounded. It was, of course, from the injury he had received back on X-142, but while it seemed his skin had recovered, his skull had not yet fully healed.

Once Lex was discharged, the nurse returned all his personal items he had when he was admitted into the hospital, including his backpack, weapons and clothes. After that, she led him to a train that would lead him to the assessment center.

“Once you register for the academy, feel free to look for me if you’re feeling under the weather,” the nurse said as she winked at Lex. “My name’s Honey, from the School of Medicine.”

Before Lex could reply, the nurse had run off, giggling. Lex was dumbstruck. Had she been flirting with him the entire time, or was it just now? Completely unaware that he was grinning, Lex climbed onto the train, still thinking about Honey. She was definitely very pretty, and her voice was like a sweet melody. But this wasn’t a good time to get caught up in a relationship. Or was it?

As wonderful as it was catching the eye of a lovely lady, Lex snapped out of his stupor as he arrived at the assessment center. To be clear, Lex was currently inside the academy, and it was bigger than any campus or university Lex had ever seen back on Earth. Considering he had to take a train while still within the Academy was a clear indicator of how large it really was.

Lex admired the architecture of the building in front of him. Unlike Earth, where buildings often repeated squares or rectangles in their design often, the buildings here rarely had sharp corners. Instead, they were melded into the environment so naturally, Lex could have almost believed that the buildings were natural traits of this world. Heck, since this realm operated under its own rules, that might actually be the case.

Lex walked into the building where a number of hosts were standing at the ready, asking those who entered the building for their purpose, then guiding them into the appropriate line. Things were operating so smoothly and efficiently that, as a New Yorker, Lex was slightly freaked out.

As Lex had been told he needed to report for an assessment before officially starting at the academy, he was brought to one of the shorter lines. Only a few minutes later, Lex reached the front of the line where a lady in uniform was registering everyone.

“Name?” she asked, not looking up from the silver pad in her lap. Lex could not see anything on the pad, but then again, maybe that was a security feature.

“Lex.”

“Sponsor?”

“Excuse me?”

“Who sponsored your entry into the academy?” she asked with irritation evident in her voice.

“I’m not sure. I woke up at the hospital, and the nurse told me to get assessed.”

“Woke up at the…?” The woman was startled as she quickly looked up and seemed to recognize Lex.

“Oh, you’re the survivor from Gristol? Please follow me. Your registration will be handled by someone else.”

Lex felt it strange that people knew about him. What the nurse told him made him think surviving an attack by Kraven was a common occurrence, but special treatment meant something else. Whether this was a good thing or bad thing was yet to be determined, mostly by how much it would interfere with his plan. He was hoping the academy would be a good source of information, not just about cultivation and stuff, but about this world… or realm, whatever the correct terminology was.

He was led into a room where a man in some kind of military uniform had been waiting. When he saw Lex he blatantly observed him, but refrained from saying anything, and only took the silver pad from the lady before she left.

“Now let’s get started, shall we,” the man said with a glaring smile. Somehow, his smile only made Lex nervous.