The Innkeeper
chapter-1299

"Hey Nemo, how have you been?" Lex asked as he waved his hand.

"Oh I was fine. I was getting ready to take a nap. It's been a few years since I last slept so I thought it was about time. Who's your friend?"

Nemo looked curiously at Liz, with a hint of excitement as well. Lex usually didn't bring many people to meet Nemo, mostly because the system refused to temper the aura of a Sovereign, and Nemo had not learned how to do that himself yet. "Nemo, this is my sister, Liz. Liz, this is Nemo, a Sovereign. Have you ever heard of Sovereigns?"

Lex had his Domination wrapped around Liz, protecting her from the intensity of Nemo's aura. Even so, she stood completely bewildered. Even without feeling its aura, Nemo's majesty could not be denied. More importantly, her physique was going crazy.

In one instant, it was longing for Nemo as if the very purpose of its existence was to bond with Nemo. The next moment, it was as if to even be in the presence of Nemo was a blasphemy to all that was good and holy hitherto unseen by the universe. Amidst that raging battle against the instincts of her physique, she had to struggle with her own brain which was telling her that this magnificent Beast, which was beyond anything else she had ever seen, was looking at her like a curious little child, looking at a new toy. How was that possible? She had to be hallucinating.

"Hello Liz. Will you be coming here often? I like making new friends."

Lex could have given Liz more of a warning about Nemo, but that would not be genuine, which Nemo could probably sense. The only way this would ever work was if everything was authentic and genuine. Now it was up to Liz to see if she could get Nemo to bond with her. First, however, he needed to give both of them a warning about the associated dangers.

"Nemo, Liz is here to talk to you about something. But before that happens, I just want to talk to you both about something. Nemo is a Sovereign. Liz, you might not know what that means, and Nemo you might not understand its significance. In essence, what that means is that Nemo is very special, and very powerful, but he is not invincible.

"Because of how special he is, Dao Lords are very interested in capturing him. Within the Midnight Inn, no one bothers him because this is the territory of the Innkeeper. But if he were to ever go outside and be discovered by a Dao Lord… well, that would not bode well for Nemo, or anyone close to him."

Liz's eyes flashed in understanding, though Nemo still did not seem bothered by it. He did not have much of a concept for what it meant to be powerful, or to be hunted, or to be in danger. Save loneliness, he had scarcely felt anything else in his long life.

"Well then, I will give you two some privacy," Lex said, and walked away. He did not go too far, for he still needed to cover Liz with his Domination to protect her. He did not know if it was even possible for them to bond together, but Lex had a suspicion that it would work.

Liz's 100% affinity for this path if combined with Nemo's intention to make the bond happen would be enough. After all, even if Liz's physique was not actually enough to bond with Nemo, so long as Nemo wanted it to be enough, it would work.

A Sovereign's ability was completely broken, truthfully speaking. But Lex was jealous of it. Instead, he aimed to achieve such a level of power on his own one day. According to Mary, it required a Dao Lord to achieve a similar level of power. Did that mean that Sovereigns touched upon the Dao? Or was the source of their power something else?

For a brief moment, Lex was tempted to look at Nemo through the power of his left eye, which could see and understand the laws of the universe, but his instincts immediately warned him that was not such a good idea.

Lec chuckled, and sat down. He did not know how long to expect the conversation between Liz and Nemo to go, but after an hour went by and they showed no signs of concluding their talk, Lex began to focus on other things - namely, the report given to him by Jotun which included details of everyone who had been targeting Liz.

Curiously, they were human forces and families from the Origin realm, but outside the domain of control of the Jotun empire. Although the empire was the largest human force in the Origin realm, that did not mean there weren't others. The distinction was in the presence of Jotun, a Celestial immortal.

The other forces, no matter how large they were, at most had Heavenly immortals as their leaders.

Since they were not a part of Sanguis Pluvia, or some other terrorist organization, Lex could not just have them killed by the Henali. Sure, the Henali might help out Lex by getting rid of them if he asked, but then he would owe them a favor - something he was trying to avoid.

One by one, he made note of the ones he could deal with currently, and planned out how to deal with those who were too strong for him at the moment.

It was actually four hours later that Liz signaled him to return.

"Nemo has agreed to bond with me," Liz said in a solemn, almost slightly fearful voice.

"That's good. Are you sure you want to do this? It's a lot of power, but it's also an immense risk. A Dao Lord is not something you or I can face right now."

"It's only death if I fail, what's the big deal? Living in constant fear and suppression - that's what really frightens me."

Lex nodded.

"What do you need? What can I expect?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. I guess we'll find out."

Lex looked at Nemo, who was practically jumping with excitement.

"And you? Are you sure about this?"