The Innkeeper
chapter-857

Lex waited for four hours within the room, contemplating silently about how to proceed. He did not know how the battalion was faring, besides the fact that none of them had died yet. After all, if one of the Inn workers died he was bound to get a notification from the battalion panel even if not from the system itself.

Where they had already survived for so long, they just needed to do so for a few more days. But it was the final stretch that always seemed the longest.

Instead of dwelling on useless thoughts, Lex decided to spend the time thinking about his swordplay. Since he had already tried his hand at it, he had a sense for his natural preferences. He had immense strength, so theoretically one of the ways he could proceed was to keep his swordsmanship simple and direct, using brute strength and the inherent sharpness of his weapon as the foundation.

Later on, once he spent more time practicing and got a better handle on more complex moves could he start thinking about integrating them into his arsenal.

In his mind, he replayed the single slash he had been practicing over and over. The problem he was having was that his mind and senses had become too astute, and so he could detect the tiny, imperceptible flaws everyone else looked over.

This was just a single slash, and that too in practice. He had no idea how many flaws would reveal themselves when he actually fought or practiced with someone else properly. With nothing else to do, he began simulating a fight in his mind.

It was easy, after all, he was controlling both the parties in his mind. Before the 'opponent' even attacked 'him', he already knew what the attack was and how he should defend. It was not exactly ideal, but he just took it as practice for what kind of moves to practice later.

Every maneuver he imagined himself doing to block or dodge an attack, he would practice later on.

Eventually he lost himself in this mental practice until Powell finally returned.

"Everything has been arranged. The Blink Module has also been prepared according to the specifications of the Silent Wanderer. It should attach itself and integrate its functionality to the ship once you connect it, but just in case something goes awry, I have also prepared a detailed manual. The Kevlaha Specter talisman is also ready, and requires no manual. Once you use the talisman, the instructions for how to use it will automatically come to you."

"Thanks," Lex said, as he received the spatial ring with his latest shopping inside. He could not help but pause for a moment as he reflected on just how many times the infinity emporium had saved him endless trouble. It was really his lucky charm.

But now was not the time for sentimentality or reminiscence. He promptly returned to the Inn, and then to the ship.

He did not begin the installation of the Blink module himself. Instead, he entered the cockpit and informed Cirk about his arrangements in full detail. After all, between the two of them, Cirk was the one with the most familiarity with ships. It would be best if he took care of connecting the module lest an issue arise.

Theoretically, Lex's plan was a good idea. It was now up to them to implement it. Cirk deactivated the Hyperdrive, and parked the ship in empty space. There was no planet or asteroid near them, so having the ship float randomly was the best option for the moment. After all, the Blink module could not be attached to the ship while it was in motion.

They entered the store room, through which they entered a hidden compartment where a few extremely important components of the ship were located, such as the energy source.

There, Cirk got to work as he took the Blink drive, which looked nothing more than a square metallic box, and began to connect it to the ship.

As Lex suspected, even though the process was supposed to have been automated, it required a lot more hands-on work than Lex was qualified for. The main issue, at least for Cirk, was not connecting the drive, but ensuring that it relied on an external power source, rather than the ship's own. After all, such a module was not a part of the Silent Wanderer's original design, and thus it did not have enough power to support it for too long.

Fortunately, this was an anticipated issue, and Lex brought more than enough power sources for the module to use.

After another couple of hours, the module was connected. Suppressing his nervousness, Cirk returned to the cockpit and once again resumed the journey. He did not immediately use the module, for there were a lot of factors that determined its viability and functionality.

Basically, once it was fully charged, the faster the ship was already going, the farther they would move once the module was activated.

After twenty minutes, the ship once again activated its Hyperdrive, allowing it to approach speeds that were required for interstellar travel. Then, after a moment, Crick activated the module.

The process… was far from smooth. Lex was much too spoiled by the amazing teleportation offered by the Inn, yet even when comparing to other, lower standards, using the Blink module provided an extremely uncomfortable and nauseating experience.

But it didn't matter. What mattered was that the module worked! Or at least, it appeared to.

"Where are we, Cirk? How far did we teleport?" Lex asked, and waited for Cirk to figure out exactly that. More important than teleporting, was ensuring that they were teleporting in the right direction!

"I'm checking. We need to travel a bit so that the computer can cross check significant landmarks and celestial bodies with those on the map. That's the only way to be sure."

Lex did not say anything, and only waited for the Silent Wanderers internal computers to determine their new location.

Nearly ten minutes later, the computer determined their location with 86% accuracy.

"We deviated from the path by a bit, but the time lost from the deviation is insignificant when compared to the time gained. The module is working properly."