The Innkeeper

Chapter 1730: A lead

"Hey, cut me some slack, I don’t go around learning the whole Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum," said Lex.

"You really should," said Kaemon. "About every thousand years, a list of the top 100,000 races is released by a number of organizations and news agencies. The lists are never completely accurate, but they’re close enough estimations. It’s pretty useful stuff, especially for businesses and entrepreneurs. Or basically anyone with an inter-realm clientele."

"I’ll be sure to buy a magazine when I return to the Inn," said Lex as he rolled his eyes. "What can you tell me about the Zai race? Although I defeated him, right before dying Kreel launched some kind of attack towards me. I’m not sure what it did - I can’t sense much, but there’s definitely something there."

Kaemon looked at Lex, his gaze studying the human’s body deeply, as if searching for an answer.

"I am not the expert in this matter, nor am I qualified to say what the Zai might have done to you, but I can venture a guess. According to the Cosmic Gazette, the Zai race is a master of the Spirit. Not only are they extremely adept in matters of the mind, they actually depend on their spirit to sustain their souls instead of their bodies.𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"In the interesting facts section, it was noted that almost all Zai race members have many slaves who follow them around everywhere. A lot of people speculate that the Zai feed off the slave’s spirit somehow, since they don’t really need others to fight on their behalf. No one would actually write down the known weaknesses of an Elder race.

"What was written, however, was a warning. The Elder races are powerful, there’s no doubt about that. But that power comes at a cost. Despite being identified as the most powerful races in the universe, on a universal level, most of them are not dominant because of a very severe flaw.

"The birth of any of the top races requires either very specific conditions or extremely valuable and rare resources. That makes it easy to counter the top races, for all the powerful organizations of the universe need to do is block those resources. They don’t even need to actively fight against the top races. Just blocking what they need to procreate, they slow down the growth of the top races. After all, their threat is too great. They cannot be ignored.

"Predictably, to protect their own interests, most of the Elder races tend to band together. One of the ways in which they do that is by leaving a mark on any who kill them."

Kaemon did not continue to speak, but it was clear what he thought might have happened. Lex actually relaxed visibly. As long as it wasn’t some kind of curse that would actively harm him, he didn’t mind. He could take his time and figure out how to remove that mark, or maybe even assimilate it entirely.

"So you think I’ve been marked," said Lex, leaning back into his chair.

"You look relieved. That’s not what I expected from someone who is meant to accept guests from all across the universe," commented Kaemon.

The Magma Lion and Lex had spent decades together in Abaddon, and so had become extremely familiar with one another. Their friendship was also quite deep, even if it remained a level of formality.

"Better than some unknown curse that’ll pop my brain one day randomly," commented Lex. "Besides, for now, we’re in Abaddon, and I doubt we’ll meet many other people here. What I want to know is why he would sacrifice all his slaves for a useless suicide attack."

Kaemon shrugged weakly.

"Who can say? At least we still have one Gon captured. I can slowly interrogate him once I recover."

Lex nodded.

"Speaking of which, let me know once you all recover enough to move. I have a bad feeling about the massive hole in the ground next to us, and I’d rather put some distance between us than watch something crawl out."𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Kaemon nodded, a very serious expression on his face. Even Lex had learned never to underestimate Abaddon, so even if there was no current danger, it was best to treat it as if a danger was forthcoming.

"I also got a lead on the Well of Forgotten Dreams," said Lex, slowly.

According to what Kaemon had told him, the Well of Forgotten Dreams was a treasure that was created at the same time as the Chalice of the Abandoned, and were mentioned together in the ruins that he visited. As such, there was a small hope that discovering one might lead to the discovery of the other.

"I think we should hold off on any such exploratory adventures until we have fully recovered fully. I expect exploring the Well to be a difficult endeavor."

Lex was about to nod, but paused. Something had happened inside the Midnight Inn. To be more specific, something had happened inside Obsidian! Someone was trying to complete the quest to provide a way to deliver items to Abaddon!

But the person had a requested amendment to the quest. They wished to send the items to Abaddon himself rather than providing a method!

Regardless of who delivered the items, if something could be sent to Abaddon, then finding the Chalice and finding the Well both might be within reach!

After all, while he had a tough time finding an item that might be able to send him things in Abaddon, he had found countless items that could help him find what he was looking for. As it turned out, sending things to Abaddon was a lot harder than Lex originally expected.

Even so, he didn’t get his hopes up just yet. He had to see if the things could actually be sent to Abaddon. There had been many who had tried before to complete the same quest, but none of their means ever worked.

As such, he didn’t update Kaemon yet. He’d wait till he actually got the items.

"How long do you think it’ll take you to heal?" Lex asked.

"To move from here? If I really had to push it, we could go tomorrow but I’d prefer to wait at least a month. How long till I recover enough to attempt finding the Well? A couple of years."

Lex merely nodded, and increased the list of things he wanted to send to Abaddon. Some really powerful healing items would be needed.

"Well, you just focus on healing up. Don’t worry about Jeziah - we have an expert interrogator of our own here," Lex said, turning his thoughts towards Luthor. He wondered how effective his means would be against a Heaven Immortal.

He’d have to find out.