The Innkeeper
chapter-1298

"By the way Giselle, meet my sister, Liz. Liz, this is Giselle, a friend of mine. We've fought a few tough battles beside each other."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. If you can fight side by side with Lex, you must be quite strong," Liz said, putting on her best fake smile. In truth, Liz had no proper reference for how strong Lex was. She didn't even see the fight he had with the other immortal. She was judging solely based on how quickly the fight ended.

Based on her education from Ventura, immortals' fights tended to last days not hours.

"Thank you. I'm sure with a brother like Lex, you yourself are quite formidable," Giselle responded. Before another awkward silence could fall between them once again, Lex thought it best to take the lead.

"I ran into some more of those Profanites. Belonged to a different Defiler though. They were up to some really interesting things. I'll tell you all about it the next time we meet."

"More Profanites? In the Origin realm?" Giselle asked, surprised. "The Henali has done a good job of rooting out all Defilers so far. If they're becoming so common now, then that could be a problem. You're right, we should discuss this, but it will have to wait a bit. I am about to commence my next tribulation."

"Oh, that sounds wonderful. Good luck!"

After saying farewell to the siblings, Giselle finally left, and Lex pretended like he didn't notice the inquisitive look Liz was giving him.

"Like I was telling you, I have a few options for you. One of them is the Shadow Talons. I've noticed you have a strong affinity for stealth. Their ability to enter and traverse the Shadow plane allows the Talons a great deal of stealth, not to mention excellent maneuverability.

"Your second option is either an eight legged horse, or a pegasus. They're both authentic, genuine Mythic beings born in this realm, but they have a bit of an attitude problem. They're very deferential towards me, but I can't force them to behave that way towards you."

"I've never met a Beast that I didn't get along with," Liz said with confidence.

"That's great, because all of these are your fallback options. My first preference for you… well, let's just say that it's pretty good."

Lex turned and looked at Liz, locking eyes with her. His casual demeanor that he had carried so far dissipated, and in its place, he adopted a resolute one.

"Your physique is unprecedented among humans, Liz, which means you're going to go try something no one has done before. Since that's the case, I'm going to help you try and bond with a Beast that's a billion times stronger and rarer than Mythical beasts. But for that, you have to convince it yourself. Don't rely on your physique, it won't work. You have to be the one to convince it that you're going to be a good partner, and that bonding with you is a good idea."

Liz, slightly apprehensive of Lex's sudden change, only nodded. Ordinarily she would have dismissed his claim about a Beast much stronger than a Mythical one. The only ones stronger than Mythic Beasts were Primordial ones, and those were all at the peak of power in this universe.

For a Beast to have been born in the beginning of the universe, billions of years ago, and for it to still be alive, it had to have achieved a level of power Liz could not even imagine. Even the Midnight Inn, as impressive as it seemed, could not come close to that level of power. So then, what else could it be?

"Lex, are you sure of what you're doing?" Mary asked, appearing on his shoulder. "There's no harm in trying. It's not even guaranteed that it'll work."

"You're right, there's no guarantee," Mary said. "But if it does work, you know you'll be painting a massive target on Liz, right? Sovereigns, as impressive as they are, able to control the universe at their will, are still not completely invincible. In fact, most Sovereigns are actually killed long before they can reach the peak of power. You remember Amber Chaos resin? It's only formed during the birth of a new realm. Can you imagine how difficult it is, then, for other kinds of new Dao level ingredients to be formed? Compared to finding them in the wild, it's much easier for a Dao Lord to find a Sovereign still relatively weak, and use their bodies to nurture Dao treasures or create Dao level ingredients. After all, even if Sovereigns can control the universe, technically, so can the Dao Lords. Unless a Sovereign's cultivation is high enough, they cannot even run away, let alone fight back."

Lex pursed his lips. Other than the Galactic Sovereign Turtle, he had one more Sovereign within his Inn, which was Nemo. The massive fish had a very friendly personality, and was extremely childlike, not to mention quite lonely.

Unfortunately, it was destined to die as things stood, for once the Chaos Sea was used up in the development of the Inn, Nemo would have nothing left to sustain its life.

"It's an opportunity, Mary. Like my system is an opportunity, so is bonding with a Sovereign, and no opportunity comes without risks. I'll let them decide on their own what they want to do. But until then…"

Since the distance to Nemo was a little far, Lex placed his hand on Liz's shoulder, and teleported both of them to the shore, far away from the Inn. Waves from the Cosmic Sea crashed into the ground in the distance, its aura intimidating Liz. Suddenly, she had a very bad feeling about this.

"Liz, allow me to introduce you to another friend of mine, Nemo. But stay close to me throughout. Without my aura protecting you, I don't think you'll be able to tolerate his aura just yet."

Suddenly, a head popped out of the waters, and a curious fish turned to look at Lex.

"I thought I heard someone call my name."