The Innkeeper

Chapter 1937 What is absurd and what is normal?

Shireen had raised her hand, almost as if to stop Lex from leaving, yet it was too late. She was left there, standing with her arm raised and mouth open, frozen. Among all the people working there, for some reason, she was the only one who seemed taken aback by how Lex just assigned them work and then disappeared.

What was even more astounding was how Lex had told Z to look after her if she needed help, and the young boy had actually responded as if a bunch of work had been dropped in his lap.

They were Angels! Not only were they able to wield divine energy, allowing them to create miracles, but they were Celestial Immortals as well, capable of harnessing tremendous power. That did not change the fact that they were being looked down on.

Shireen turned her gaze towards Z who was working fastidiously, yet had a very exhausted expression on her face.

“Don’t take it to heart. It’s not Lex’s fault really. Generally, he’s a well rounded person – it’s just that sometimes he judges everyone else according to his own standards. He forgets that we’re not all secretly suppressing our cultivation.”

The last line, Z murmured under his breath, meant only for himself, yet naturally everyone heard him. A few of the workers nearby chuckled. Naturally, with hundreds of thousands of workers at the Inn now, it was impossible that everyone had met Lex personally or for any length of time at all. Yet they had all heard about him enough to know what he was like.

The funny thing was, Luthor was the one who had the title of assistant to the Innkeeper. In fact, Luthor’s official office was the reception desk outside the Innkeepers office. More often than not, however, Lex was the one doing the Innkeepers bidding.

“It’s impossible for Lex to have hidden his cultivation,” Shireen said, shaking his head. “He was a guest at the Seraphim Resort, where his cultivation was checked by Dao Lords. If his cultivation level was higher than he stated, the perks and benefits he received by the Resort would have been different.”

Z raised an eyebrow, looking very much like Lex when something aroused his interest, and looked at Shireen with a hint of amusement in his gaze.

“What if Lex himself was a Dao Lord?” Z asked. “One really good at hiding? Couldn’t he hide his cultivation level then?”

Shireen was stumped.

“That… wouldn’t make sense. What would even the purpose be for hiding his cultivation level then? Wouldn’t it be much more convenient to display his power and get more work done. It would be both inefficient and impractical. The power of a Dao Lord is so vast that even most Dao Lords cannot easily control it. For him to have such effortless control over his power that no one could detect it, he would have to be a tremendously powerful Dao Lord – but that would make hiding his power even more pointless.”

Z just shrugged.

“It doesn’t have to make sense. I’m just saying… you know what, never mind. When you spend enough time at the Inn, you’ll naturally understand what I’m talking about. In the meantime, just help as much as you can and don’t worry about anything else. If the project is lacking, the others will make up for the shortfall somehow””

Despite their obvious strengths, Z was not expecting these Angels to make up for the shortfall in time and manpower that was needed to complete this project in time. Even so, Z was not worried.

In truth, after working with Orin for so long, the Inn staff had discovered something incredible. The Regalia Bloom bloodline, which allowed the user to channel energy through any tools or equipment they used, made them amazing swordsmen, archers etc. But even more than that, it made them excellent forgers.

As a result, countless workers had started learning this art, specialising in this, working under Orin to improve their skills.

None, however, could control their bloodline as effectively and precisely as Gerard. Although the man was much too busy to dabble in forging, he was expected to come and help with this project soon. When that happened, Z was sure they would be able to complete this seemingly impossible task easily.

Shireen could see the similarity between Lex and Z, as well as the other workers. The casualness with which they treated difficult tasks was actually an incredible mindset. It was one they specifically nurtured in soldiers so that they would not cower in the face of a formidable foe.

While she was admiring his mindset, Shireen’s eyes suddenly expanded as she looked at Z in shock.

“You! I recognize your bloodline. No wait, your bloodline seems to be different, but you are from the line of Zarek, the human king! How is that possible?” Shireen exclaimed.

Z, himself, was surprised that Shireen was able to recognize the connection. It was not something he mentioned to most, even if he still occasionally inherited the memories of that ancient king.

“It’s not a big deal,” Z said casually. “If anything, it gets in the way of my work more than anything else. How could you tell though?”

“What do you mean it’s no big deal? The bloodline of all Human Kings was severed long ago. I fought in war alongside the descendants of Zarek, so I can recognize them anywhere. You… if you can find your way to the Lost City of Berail, you could acquire the legacy of the Human King!”

Shireen was stunned. She was looking at someone who could inherit the legacy of a deceased Dao Lord – and a genuinely powerful one at that. Such a thing was incredibly rare and yet… Z looked the least bit interested.

She could not help but recall Lex’s words. The Midnight Inn was full of anomalies who could not be enticed by secrets or legacies. Was this what he meant?

Z just shook his head when he heard Shireen’s words.

“That sounds like a lot of unnecessary work,” Z said. “I’d rather use my free time to hang out, or maybe play an instrument. A legacy sounds like it would take up all my vacation time for years on end.”

Shireen resisted the urge to drop her jaw at how serious Z was. Was this some kind of joke? Did the Midnight Inn secretly have an even more powerful legacy than the literal human kings who brought humanity to its peak?

She had lived long and seen much, but the way Z was treating her was as if she was a bumpkin getting shocked and surprised at every lamp post and light in

the big city.

“Alright, that’s enough chatting,” Orin said over the sound of his hammer beating down on ore. “You Angels can wield Divine energy right? I need you to start working instead of yapping. We’re going to use divine energy to decrease the amount of time these ores need to rest after refinement before they can be used. One of the taverns we’re working on will be a three story house with a 3,287,956 square mile internal space, so the external frame needs to be extremely solid, and preferably made of high grade Void wood.”

Z nodded and turned towards Shireen.

“In case you don’t understand those units, that’s roughly the size of 1.19 billion football fields, 2.8 trillion grand pianos, or equal to one Brazil.

Shireen opened her mouth to tell Z that she understood none of those metrics, but then closed her mouth. At this point, speaking more would just continue to make her look bad, so instead she should focus on work.

The twelve angels stepped forward and began to work under Orin’s guidance, using their divine energy in the most absurd way that it had ever been used. But they no longer questioned it. What was absurd and what was normal… was a distinction that was difficult to make inside the Midnight Inn.

*****

While the Angels were working on the taverns, Lex had shown up in front of

the one Inn staff member who could help him enter Arch-Heaven. He had shown up in front of Zagan, the monster who had been in the process of undergoing his Heaven Immortal tribulation for years.

To be specific, he had actually already completed his tribulation some time ago, and had already achieved the Heaven Immortal realm. However, his Spiritual tribulation had been special. Just as the Farham had shown up in Lex’s spiritual tribulation, they had shown up in Zagan’s spiritual tribulation, causing him to see endless, realistic illusions. As a result, despite actually having passed the tribulation, and becoming a Heaven Immortal, Zagan was under the impression that his tribulation was still ongoing, and treated this as an illusion as well.

Back when he had joined, Lex was both fearful and excited. A Heaven Immortal was a big deal for him back then. With Zagan under his control, the Inn would have been a lot safer. Instead, this monster had just spent years and years just sitting there, doing nothing. Well, technically he was doing stuff, but, well, it didn’t matter anymore.

Zagan was finally going to contribute to the Inn in a meaningful way by helping Lex enter Arch-Heaven, even if that meant increasing the difficulty of his next tribulation, which Lex would help him induce. It would be fine… probably.

“Zagan, wake up,” Lex said calmly, though his voice echoed in the monster’s mind, waking him up from his deep meditation.

Zagan was under the impression that he was caught inside his Spiritual

Tribulation, and that everything that was happening was an illusion. All he needed to do was keep his heart calm and face everything with a steady mind. As long as he did that, in a few million years, his tribulation should be complete and he could finally enter the Heaven Immortal realm!