The Innkeeper

Chapter 1840: Maro-14

After having Almira heartlessly taken from him, Lex had nothing more holding him up. He took Giselle to eat at Kenta’s restaurant, ordering from the recovery menu. Although the food would not heal her immediately, its rejuvenating effects would last a long time, accelerating her recovery and preventing her from suffering any more injuries in the near future.

As for the system he’d been studying earlier? Well, he’d reached the limits of what he could learn from it without any major upgrades to his mind or spirit sense. Fortunately, he’d also concluded that the system wouldn’t magically disappear, so he put it inside the museum in his apartment.

"If you want me to teleport somewhere else, you’re going to have to bring me some material from that planet," Lex told Giselle as the two of them discussed their plan.

"It shouldn’t be a problem," Giselle stated, taking a large bite out of her club sandwich. "Our destination is a remote star system called Maro-14. It’s technically connected to the Jotun Empire, but no one from the empire has governed or managed that place in thousands of years, so it’s more or less abandoned. There are two life supporting planets in that star system, and the Defiler has left traces on both of them.

"We need to figure out where he is, what he’s there for, and how we can track him down. None of those is going to be easy. At the same time, the situation on both planets is unstable. The strongest ruling body on each planet is a single Earth Immortal who alternates his time between both planets, while everyone else is in the Nascent realm or below.

"Yet lately they’ve been suffering invasions from an unknown enemy, that I suspect are profanites. It’s a precarious situation, yet if I report it, the Defiler will surely run away. Although the locals have sought out help from the Empire, considering the location of the star system, it’ll probably be months or years before a star ship can make it to them. So basically..."

"Basically the fate of two worlds rests in our hands. Got it," said Lex, before taking a massive bite out of his burger.

His nonchalance was slightly exasperating, or maybe Giselle was still worked up about how he had intended on treating Almira. Fortunately the baby’s mother was a smart woman, so she would take care of things.

Then again, in everything besides babysitting, Lex had continuously proven himself.

"While finding the Defiler will be a task unto itself, defeating him will be an exceptionally challenging ordeal. Most people aren’t even able to challenge Defilers at all, as the most common way to fight them is to use Divine energy against them. It is one of the only types of energies that remains unaffected by the corrupting influence of Profane energy. But, it is not the only way to fight them.

"Profane energy itself can be a weapon against them, but it’s not the most effective weapon. So, I’ve honed my mastery of Time to use against the Defiler. It is the one thing effective against all, and the hardest to resist because while there are things such as fire immunity and lightning immunity, there is no such thing as Time immunity. All that exists is susceptible to the influence of Time.

"Now, what remains is to decide how you will combat the Defiler, if you’re forced to. Even if you have to simply hold off the Defiler until I come, you need to be able to do that, which is easier said than done. Profane energy, when used by Profanites, is impressive. When used by a Defiler, it is downright horrendous.

"It warps anything and everything it touches, or at least tries to. Very few things can resist the corrupting nature of Profane energy, and even fewer things can completely block it out. Your normal techniques, your normal implementation of laws, all are susceptible to Profane energy. You either need to find something resistant, or have your level far surpass a Defiler. For example, a sword intent that is equal to that of a Celestial Immortal would be able to resist Profane energy for a long time, but that of a regular Earth Immortal would not even last long enough to harm the Defiler himself..."

Lex listened patiently as Giselle explained everything in detail, not bothering to tell her that he had done his own research on how to combat Defilers. Profane energy? As long as it was energy, it could be consumed by Lotus. Corruption? The haughty dominance of a dragon would never accept being influenced by others, so Domination was also a lethal weapon.

Of course, the latest weapon in his arsenal, karma, too was an extremely formidable option since it was largely immune to the effects of Profane energy. As for his third form? A mere Defiler was not worthy of revealing it just yet.

He didn’t tell Giselle any of that - or at least he didn’t interrupt her. He would wait till she was done explaining, and then ask her if karma would work. It wouldn’t do to embarrass her right before a big hunt.

The duo planned for a while longer, until Giselle was satisfied, and then she teleported away to bring him something from the planet. Although Lex didn’t show her, he bought a ticket to connect the Inn to the planet Maro-14, and then teleported to it.

With the upgraded Inn, it would take him a day at most to connect to the planet - which might be a very good thing. As soon as Lex arrived on the planet, he could tell... a proverbial armageddon was on the horizon, and the planet was on the verge of being destroyed.

"I think I know what the Defiler is aiming for," Lex said to Giselle as he looked up at the sky and saw an endless sand storm that threatened to envelop the whole world. Within the storm, the occasional bolt of lightning could be seen, each one so devastating it caused an earthquake.