The Innkeeper

With four minutes to spare, Lex finished his first version of the castle for the tavern, and wiped the sweat off his brow. It was not the heat that made him sweat, although the fires were so hot that they started to destabilise space!

Just like how Lex could use brute force to break space, if he used a bit of his space affinity or spatial laws to target the space, the accumulated heat in the forge reached such an intensity, not just in terms of temperature but also spirituality, that the Midnight realm was unable to tolerate it.

Lex had to actively strengthen the space around them to continue the forging process. Lex had thought that the small amount of diverted attention would have made the castle weaker by the smallest amount, yet it was while he supported space and simultaneously forged that he had an epiphany.

He suddenly gained a tremendous amount of insight into how the various aspects of forging a treasure affected one another, and so he immediately summoned Fenrir.

His most loyal pet, and technically protector of the Inn, had been sulking a lot lately. The clone of his sister really bothered him, and as of late he had started to run out of cloning facilities he could find. To make things worse, he hadn’t found any leads on his sister either.

But sulking had not made the pup lazy. Instead, he started to train with a ferocity Lex had never seen in him.

Although his cultivation level was still below Lex’s, his strength had started to grow rapidly, unlocking more and more bloodline abilities. In fact, Lex had started to detect traces of divinity in him.

But the traces of divinity were not like that of an actual Deity. Rather, it was like an offspring of a Deity, his body baptised and enhanced by divine energy.

So the reason Lex had called him was to make use of his new abilities. It was not divinity that Lex was interested in, rather his latest ability.

Just as the forging process was about to be completed, the pup unleashed his newest technique: Iceage!

It was a formidable technique, using law manipulation that Fenrir would never be able to do on his own at his current level. That was the benefit of relying on bloodline techniques.

With the finishing touches done, and the forging complete, Lex allowed the fires to dissipate and looked at his castle.

Trapped in clear crystal with falling snowflakes, what appeared in front of Lex looked like a snowglobe of a castle covered in fresh snow.

In the final minutes for the quest was initiated, Lex submitted the snow globe to the system for analysis, and found it sufficient for a tavern.

New Notification: Castle tavern unlocked.

It was a simple notification, perhaps the shortest he had ever gotten. Yet it was exactly what he needed at that moment.

He dismissed everyone who had helped with the forging, just in time for a series of notifications to drop in.

Joint quest Initiating!

Quest parameters establishing…

Quest details: In the pits of Abaddon, lost in the desolation, protected inadvertently by the locust armies, lays the Chalice of the Abandoned, containing decillions of condemned souls. Yet one among those souls is undeserving of his torment.

A million armies set off on a journey to rescue Xerxes, Hero of the Forgotten Age, yet only one of them remains. The Reaving Dread have known no rest, have known no aid, have known no solace.

Trapped in a part of the universe that should not exist, they must succeed, or die trying.

Quest Objectives ->

Main objective: Bring the Midnight Tavern to Abaddon, providing sanctuary to the army of mercenaries whenever they need. While they rest in the tavern, provide them with protection and ensure that their experience is up to the full standard of the Midnight Inn!

Optional objectives:

1. Assist the Reaving Dread in rescuing Xerxes.

2.Discover the secrets of Abaddon’s existence.

3. Discover the secrets of the Forgotten Age.

4. Discover the origin of the Chalice of the Abandoned.

5. Locate the Well of Forgotten Dreams.

Additional Information: Abaddon is a place that defies the logic of the universe, existing outside the laws that govern reality. From across the universe, a small percentage of dead souls are somehow attracted to Abaddon through means unknown, and then sent to the Chalice of the Abandoned, the Well of Forgotten Dreams, and potentially to numerous other unknown areas.

All knowledge of Abaddon is forbidden, and exists only as long as those who witness it live. Should the members of the Reaving Dread die, all knowledge of Abaddon, including its name and even existence, be erased from the universe until it is discovered again. As such, a majority of its secrets remain unknown.

Within Abaddon exists armies of abominations known as locusts, though they bear no resemblance to the insect species. They are infinite in number, and exist at all power levels. Their most prominent trait is that they are only attracted to those souls within the same cultivation level as them, hence the only surviving members of the Reaving Dread are Earth Immortals. To bring anyone stronger would be to invite stronger foes, and to invite anyone weaker would be to condemn them to eternal damnation.

The locusts do not die, and they do not end. They are a plague without start or finish, a curse upon the living, and a blight upon the dead.

Quest requirements:

1. Midnight Tavern

2. Midnight Battalion

3. Minimum of 500 staff members

Lex read the most detailed quest outline he had ever received even as more information flooded into his mind. He was immediately faced with multiple difficult decisions, since he could feel that if he did not, the decisions would be made for him at random.

Lex immediately selected the Castle tavern to fill the requirements of the quest, informed Leonidus that his Battalion of 300 soldiers was being deployed for an external mission, picked 500 staff members, as well as a few members of the Inn he felt would be able to help a lot.

The quest told him that he shouldn’t take anyone weaker than an Earth immortal, but he also didn’t have 500 Immortals to take as staff. But, at the very least, he likely wouldn’t be facing Celestial immortals.

The next moment, he disappeared from the Midnight Realm, and so did everyone else he selected.