The Innkeeper
chapter-1134

Lex almost forgot he could fly, but as he had teleported in the diving position, the moment he appeared in Dunya, he almost fell to the ground. Instincts kicked in, and he managed to prevent himself from landing flat on his face, though he did notice that flying was slightly more strenuous here than anywhere else.

Gravity was much stronger here than he was used to. If Lex had to guess, he would say it was about fifteen times stronger than earth.

The spiritual energy was also extremely dense on Dunya, but most importantly, he could feel the weight of the laws around him. They were much heavier and much more complete than any laws he had ever felt before.

They saturated every inch of the world around him, and he could feel them covering his body as well, bringing him under the influence of the laws of Dunya.

Surprisingly, Lex felt a seal placed around his ability to teleport. Even though he had not lost his control over space, he could no longer use it to teleport. It seemed that only sanctioned formations could handle teleportation across the entire planet.

He even felt a number of other restrictions seep deep into his body, restricting his strength greatly, not that Lex minded. He discovered that the suppression of Dunya acted like the third seal on his body, which was still removed, so it stabilized his power a lot more.

Lex got up and looked around. He was in a landing formation, which was a formation that accepted teleportations, within what looked like a large tree. Beside the formation was a tall man, nearly eight feet tall, with big bulky arms showing through his sleeveless shirt. A beard that grew down all the way till his waist obscured much of his figure. The only other significant feature about him were his horns that looked like they were made of wood.

"Welcome to Dunya," the man said in a gruff voice. "I see here that you are registered as a VIP guest. If you'll follow me I'll help you go through immigration as quickly as possible. By the way, I don't know if you've been informed of this so I'll just give you a small heads up. Cross species fraternization is strongly frowned upon in Dunya, so do not try to flirt with the nymphs. The last VIP I brought through was quite surprised when he was forcibly married to a nymph and made to follow local laws regarding responsibility. It didn't go over so well with his first wife."

"I'm too young to date anyway, don't worry," said Lex as he followed the druid past many lines where other travelers were waiting.

"I'm looking for Keto's Ranch, ever heard of it?" Lex asked.

"No, but once you've registered yourself, you'll get free access to the local map for 24 hours. You can find it there easily, I'm sure, and then avail one of our many public transports to reach it. Dunya boasts a rich export, so we get a lot of visitors looking for some of our local produce all year around."

Lex nodded as the man brought Lex to a massive humming bird that was at least six feet tall who began questioning Lex.

"Do you have anything to declare before entering Dunya?" the hummingbird asked, looking Lex up and down.

"Uh, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to declare. I'm looking for a ranch to purchase something."

"Are you carrying, on your person or in a spatial tool, anything that can be considered dangerous, corrosive, or extremely volatile?"

Lex could feel that he was standing in a formation that would detect lies, which was awkward because the contents of his spatial bangle were varied.

"Uh, just a few," he admitted honestly.

"In that case, if you are planning on selling such items in Dunya you will need a tax exemption certificate. Please visit the Ministry of Imports and Exports to get the proper documentation. Please note that if any venomous or corrosive materials you sell need to match your claims or you are liable to face legal action.

"Now, moving on, are you involved with any terrorist or revolutionary organizations?"

The hummingbird and the druid looked at Lex, as if waiting for him to elaborate.

"No, no, of course not," Lex began to say, but the ground underneath him turned red. "Uh, I mean, there is a terrorist organization that is after me, but I myself have not participated in any terrorist activities."

The ground underneath him became even more red, if that was possible. Lex was stumped. He was not sure what exactly the formation was referring to. Did killing off two deities count as terrorism? Technically speaking, he had only killed one and severely damaged one. Or was it because he triggered a massive war between the monsters and Kraven back in the Crystal realm?

"Let me change the question," the hummingbird said as she watched Lex struggle to answer. "Do you plan to engage in terrorist activities while on Dunya, or facilitate any acts of terrorism while you're here?"

"No, no, of course not," Lex answered, and almost wiped the sweat off his brown when the red light disappeared.

"Do you intend to engage in any religious rites or rituals while on Dunya? That includes but is not limited to conversions, curses or irritating unaffiliated people with pamphlets?"

"No, not much of a religious guy," Lex answered truthfully.

"Are you coming to Dunya with the intention of giving birth here in the hopes that your child becomes a natural citizen of the planet?"

"What? No! I'm a guy! I can't give birth!" Lex exclaimed, but the hummingbird did not respond. It entered a few things in its computer and then waved a wing at the druid, who brought Lex away.

"You had me worried there for a bit," the Druid said jokingly, and brought Lex outside. "Have a pleasant stay, and don't forget to register at the ministry if you want to avoid taxes."

Lex swiped his sweat and stepped out of the tree. That was nerve wracking for some reason. He looked around and found that the place looked like a man made forest - or Druid made probably. Each tree was an incredibly large trunk, making them seem like actual buildings, and was situated at a specific distance from one another. The equal spacing and relative absence of shrubbery made it look artificial, but at the same time very pleasant.

He saw countless large animals walking by, as well as Druids, each minding their own business. But when he saw a large duck transform into a Druid, he finally realized that maybe everyone he had seen so far was a Druid.

Since each tree acted as a building, the forest was probably a city, but Lex did not dwell on that. He found a way to get his hands on the free map he was supposed to get, only to face something he was all too familiar with - the tourist tax.

The locals always tried to rip off tourists with higher than normal prices and exaggerated deals, but apparently Dunya, this 5 star world, also engaged in such practice.

But, recalling his immediate needs as well as promise to Powell not to cause a scene, he paid for the "free" map and went on his way.

Then he began looking for the public transport the Druid had told him about, only to discover a long snake that was nearly half a mile long and dozens of feet wide. There were countless wooden booths hung over the snake's body where everyone could ride. The snake was not really moving fast, or on a fixed path, but apparently moving any faster would break traffic laws and this was the best public transport available.

Becoming less and less impressed by Dunya, Lex climbed up into a booth, paid the price for a private booth and closed his eyes. As long as the snake was heading in the correct general direction he would keep going. When it deviated, he would stop.

Another reason why Lex was being so amenable was because the snake was an immortal, and so were about ten percent of the Druids he crossed. Ten percent did not seem like a lot, but that already meant that in the few minutes he had been here, Lex had already walked by hundreds of immortals.

Moreover, many of them radiated very powerful, very threatening auras. This place was obviously not simple, and Lex did not want to trigger his super power of being sucked into some kind of unexpected trouble. So he sat silently with his eyes closed. He did nothing extra, and did not even spread out his spirit sense lest he offend anyone.

Even so, he was waiting for things to go wrong. He knew something would eventually go wrong. It was impossible for there to be no issues, and yet, that is exactly what happened.

An hour later, Lex got off the snake scratching his head. Maybe Dunya suppressed whatever law was getting him in trouble. He better not take it for granted though. It was best to get his hands on the feathers as soon as possible.