The Innkeeper

Chapter 1683: Entering the trial under duress

There were days when Jack loved Bob. Well, not really. In truth, there were days where Jack kind of tolerated Bob’s existence a little more than normal. Then there were days where he hated Bob. Today was definitely one of the days he hated Bob.

"Give up Jack. Just hand over the divine ore and this can all be over," said the Typhoon Eagle as it clawed at Jack’s wings. A fairy’s wings were its biggest strength, and its biggest weakness, since it was the source of all its fairy dust. Should something happen to the wings, a fairy would basically be crippled. Jack was a little different from regular fairies, though, in the sense that his wings were tougher than spiritual metal.

Instead of blocking the attack, Jack used his wings like a sword to cut the eagle’s talons while he himself used the spiritual equivalent of an RPG to shoot at a crystal ship flying off in the distance. Trapped within was an unsuspecting Bob who thought he was on his way to give a seminar on why jelly mattered.

"Go find your own divine ore, there’s plenty of it to go around," said Jack, avoiding the numerous enemies trying to attack and slow him down.

"Yes, but none of it is as refined as the ore found in the shooting stars and you know it!"

Of course, Jack knew that. He was the one in possession of all the shooting star ores that had been found so far. He was also the first one to realize that the ore found within the shooting stars was purer than anything anyone else would be able to get on their own.

By now, it was fairly common knowledge that the divine ore was, relatively speaking, common enough in the Artica realm that there was no need for a bloodbath over it. The refined ore was a separate thing though.

The more refined the ore was, the more effective it was, and no one could refine it as much as the ores in the shooting stars. Well, no one within the common populations reach, so the frenzy over those pieces had taken the realm by storm.

Jack had it all handled, though, until Bob opened his big mouth. How him mentioning a realm-wide conspiracy made it actually happen was anyone’s guess, but the entire mortal level had conspired together to get the ore from Jack. Others simply wanted to kidnap Bob.

Whatever the case, neither was acceptable, which is why this perfectly perfect day had been ruined for him.

Fortunately, Jack was more than able to handle any problems that came his way. Though Jack and Lex used their cultivation in vastly different ways, the experience from Lex still taught Jack an immense amount, and vice versa. In fact, since they were basically the same person, Jack received a constant boost from Lex, gradually raising his own strength.

By now, Jack’s body was practically a weapon.

"Dammit Jack, don’t you see I’m trying to help you? Everyone knows about your plans to become an Earth immortal. Bob’s already spilled the beans. As soon as you go to the next level, you won’t be as tough up there as you are here. If you still have the ore, you won’t survive. Better to leave it down here, where you can get something in exchange."

"You’re so thoughtful," Jack said sarcastically, right before punching him across the skyline and rushing away to rescue that infernal Drama-cat.

Bob, as it turned out, was happily sharing a story about the time when he was still back in the Midnight realm and a giant snake hired him to enter into its stomach and search for the Holy Grail.

Jack had heard that story before. He initially thought that the story was about the World Serpent tricking Bob into its stomach so it could eat him. As it turned out, it was instead a bad mix of a horrendous pun and a juvenile fart joke since the snake actually wanted him to find the ’Holy Gale’ which was, as one could probably guess by now, a fart. Even mythical beings went through a middle school sense of humor phase it seemed.

That wasn’t relevant at the moment, though. Jack grabbed Bob by the ears, stuffed an extra sour jawbreaker into his mouth, and started flying towards the Jolly Rancher.

"Listen to me Bob, and don’t say anything," Jack said gravely. "We’re going to enter the trial to become Earth Immortals - the lot of us. That will take us to the next level. I don’t know how Deities cultivate or level up so you have to decide right now whether you’ll be joining us or not. Don’t speak - just nod for yes, and wave your head for no."

Bob wondered for a second if he should tell Jack that he could raise his own cultivation level at will, and didn’t need to go through the trial. But then he realized that the captain probably already knew that, and was simply using this as an excuse to spend time together.

After all, everyone knows that the real treasure is the memories they made along the way. So he nodded his head. Also, although he had decided to give up being a Deity, he established a new rule for his own faith - all Drama-cats had to become sailors and go treasure hunting. Surely nothing bad would happen from that.

Jack, still under fire, fought his way through hordes of enemies, navigated the burning Jolly Rancher through an entire armada of enemy ships, and quickly entered one of the cities, effectively ending the fight.

After all, they all knew better than to fight during the city limits.

Then, under the regretful gaze of the whole mortal level, the entire crew, along with the three ambiguous Boblings whose race and origins were a mystery, applied to enter the trial to become an Earth Immortal. Either they would succeed and reach the next level, or they would die in the trial. There was no third option.

Jack finally breathed a sigh of relief when it was finally done. The threat of death was no stranger to him, but cleaning up Bobs messes really was a full-time job. Maybe he should hire a nanny.