The Innkeeper

Chapter 1689: Coming back with a bang

Tinker was pressed against the base of her cage as it flew out with the raging lava, breaking through the many barriers in its path, until eventually it reached the open air of hell. The volcanic plume rose 3000 miles in the air, or roughly 15.84 million rice cookers. So, it was easy to say that the eruption was clearly visible across the landscape, attracting a lot of attention.

But Tinker didn’t think of any of that as she laughed out manically in her cage. Her body was burning, albeit much slower than Jacks had been, but she didn’t bother with that either.

So much worse than the endless torture she had faced was the hopelessness that filled her very being as she thought about the fate of her race. But when she saw Jack, a kindle of hope had been reignited.

He was heroic, or brave, or awe-inspiring, as one would expect from someone with the potential to rescue an entire race. Instead, he was deceptively intelligent, yet used that intelligence to fuel his idiotic tendencies. But maybe, that’s what the fairies needed. After all, they were not brutes who needed the brawn to hold off a charge of enemy armies. They were fairies, the mischievous and joyful little fellows who treated the universe like they’re playground.

Tinker got up and flapped her wings a bit, producing some fairy dust. But it was faint, as if nearly exhausted. Or maybe, it just needed a little push.

Tinker looked at the pillar of lava that was still rising in the air, and the spreading devastation the eruption had caused.

"Talk about coming back with a bang," she said, her sweet, melodious voice carrying far and wide across hell. Then, from up in the sky, she saw hell itself shudder. Simultaneously, her wings began to produce fairy dust once more.

A twinkle sparkled in her eyes.

*****

"You must have faced incredible odds," the old fairy said as he waved his hand and began to heal Jack. Looking like a chicken finger didn’t really suit him.

"You have no idea," said Jack, his voice hoarse. "I faced my nemesis from another life. Let’s just say we had a... fiery reunion."

Jack tried to chuckle, but ended up only coughing.

"That sounds difficult," the fairy responded seriously, missing the joke entirely. Or maybe he didn’t acknowledge the joke on purpose.

"By now, you must have realized that the difficulty of your trial was set to be impossible. It was something someone of your level and ability would normally never be able to do. That is because the difficulty of the trial is directly linked to the difficulty of your ascension. For you to become an immortal, you must overcome an impossible barrier - at least for yourself.

"But since you have completed your trial, and you have even returned alive, then the hard part for you is over. Now, you need to merely recover to your peak strength, and the Challenge realm will take care of the rest."

"Oh no, you leave the resting to me," Jack said. Somehow, he felt like there was someone somewhere in the universe begging him to stop. Of course, it was just his imagination.

Neither of them spoke after that, for the old fairy did not deign to acknowledge Jack’s joke, and Jack was literally suffering from burnout.

But with the realm slowly healing him, it did not take long for Jack to recover, though he fell asleep as soon as the pain reduced to where he could ignore it. When he awoke, the pain was entirely gone, and he was as good as new.

"When you are ready, the process will begin," the old fairy said. "Though, there is a critical question you must answer first before that."

"What is it?" Jack asked, sitting up and stifling a yawn.

"You can be raised to the Earth Immortal realm, but you are presented with two options for that. One is an ordinary ascension, where the realm will provide you with what you are lacking, and raise you up. There is nothing wrong with such an ascension.

"But on your person, you carry a certain item which can help your ascension greatly. It can make your foundation stronger, and do something that is otherwise impossible - it can continue to provide you with a path to higher levels.

"You must understand, if becoming an Earth Immortal was deemed impossible for you, then for you to rise from Earth immortal to Heaven Immortal is doubly impossible. Yet the divine ore in your possession - more specifically the purified, refined divine ore in your possession can make use of divine energy to make the impossible possible. It can act as a substitute for the things you need to reach higher levels. But to do that, almost all of the refined ore will be used up."

Jack was surprised at what he heard. This was too coincidental, wasn’t it? He’d gotten just enough ore to help him build a better foundation? Well, whether it was a coincidence or not, if it helped him, he would use it. Although the original plan was to improve the Jolly Rancher with that ore, he could always fix the ship later on. His own cultivation was the most important.

"Use the ore," Jack said firmly.

"Good. Just so you know, that will cause a bit of a ruckus. If I use the ore, your ascension will not go unnoticed, though the Challenge realm will shield you from any and all detection so no one will know your identity or where you are. They will, however, know that a fairy has reached the Earth Immortal realm."

Jack shrugged.

"That’s fine. I’m used to it."

Wasn’t it normal to have a pretty noticeable phenomenon during one’s breakthrough? It might not be for others, but it always had been for Lex, so it only made sense that the trend continued with Jack.

Not to mention, he was literally trying to cause as much of a universal ruckus as possible. He had to get access to that Nexus point, so the more upheaval there was, the better it was for him.