The Innkeeper

Chapter 2045: Licensed purveyor of citrus-based refreshment liquids

Eclipse, with her senses sealed, picked up next to nothing about what the other Dao Lords were thinking. They were, after all, Dao Lords themselves so being able to keep their thoughts and feelings from being detected externally when they didn’t want them detected was a basic skill.

The almighty Innkeeper, in truth, could not pick up anything from any of the Dao Lords anyway. He could, at most, detect the expressions and body language they deigned to show. So naturally, he knew nothing about what Ballom, Bridget and Hiran were talking about.

Ventura, however, was in a unique situation. On one hand, he was in the Primordial Garden. This was Eclipse’s Seat of Power, and was a domain he dare not easily touch upon. That basically meant that like the Dao Lords attending this party, most of his senses were sealed. Whether it was karma, fate, causality, or any of the countless other laws and forces of the universe that Dao Lords usually used as their natural senses, they were all smothered within the garden. But unlike them, Ventura was not a Dao Lord. He was something more, so even though he was greatly suppressed like the others, he could still see more than them.

Thus, to him, it was no secret the odd misunderstanding that Hiran, Ballom and Bridget had somehow fallen into. Yes, it was slightly awkward that he was caught up in this mess as well, but not only did he not mind, he found it hilarious. Thus, his mind began to work on how he could use this situation.

Eclipse was... out of his reach, and the Innkeeper was protected by Nuwa. Neither of them were beings he could do anything about without paying a cost, but he could most certainly work to further any and all misunderstandings about them that he found hilarious. Serves them right for ignoring him.

So, while Eclipse and the Innkeeper had a very serious conversation, they were both unaware that their locked gazes would be the beginning of a legend that would rock the universe.

Lex’s mind raced to make sense of Eclipse’s words. She had been vague, not not so vague that he couldn’t understand the underlying message. Sentient weapons and tools should be kept away from Primordial energy. This was a very generic, blanket statement. Could more be read into it? In fact, considering the fact that Dao Lords tended to look so deeply at everything, it was absolutely a requirement!

Lex could not be considered all knowing, but in his short 25 years of life, he had experienced a thing or two. The only spirit tool which might result in an adverse reaction from exposure to Primordial energy were systems.

His very own system had, in fact, warned him not to allow his system to absorb Primordial energy. If that, combined with what Eclipse had said, was not ominous, then he didn’t know what was. Moreover, he could not help but think back to Abaddon.

Although that place was messed up, and he didn’t necessarily believe everything he learned there, he could not help but think back to the calamity Abaddon mentioned - the one that nearly wiped out all beings.

Was it possible that calamity had happened because of systems? Based on what Prime Kernel had told Lex, even the systems didn’t know about what happened back then. What was the reason?

Even though he didn’t know for sure that this is what Eclipse meant, he decided to err on the side of caution. Still, he couldn’t help but feel curious.

"Are you talking about-" the Innkeeper began to ask, but Eclipse interrupted him.

"Don’t say it!" she cautioned. "Don’t say the words. If you understand, then you understand. If you don’t, then it’s best to simply do as I’ve said."

This was the first time Lex had seen Eclipse so serious. It seemed like nothing in the universe could disturb her, but clearly that wasn’t true.

"I will take your advice to heart," the Innkeeper said sincerely, causing Eclipse to finally relax.

"Good," said Eclipse. "Many assume that the Primordial is simply something incredibly powerful, but what they don’t realize is the truth. The Primordial is simply the spark, the catalyst. It is what started everything, and it is one of the most magnificent things in creation. Unfortunately, it can also bring forth magnificent terror."

Eclipse looked away from Lex towards the next Dao Lord who was waiting to present a flower.

"There is quite a crowd beginning to gather. I suppose soon it will be time for me to invite my two friends over as well. I feel like you will enjoy meeting them," she said, a mischievous smirk suddenly appearing on her face, replacing her solemn attitude.

"I look forward to meeting them," the Innkeeper responded, taking a mental note about systems and Primordial energy.

For some reason, Eclipse chuckled out loud when she heard the Innkeeper’s words, as if she knew something he didn’t.

"If you two are done chit chatting, there’s something I wanted to ask you," Ventura said, clearly letting his irritation be heard. "Since you all are inviting friends of yours, do you mind if I invite someone as well?"

Eclipse raised an eyebrow, wondering what that despicable fraudster was up to now. She looked at the Innkeeper, but he did not seem bothered in the least.

"As long as our primary host has no concerns, I have no problem with more guests," he said cordially.

"Oh well, go ahead. I’m curious to see who you spend your time with," said Eclipse challengingly.

"Thank you. Now it’s finally starting to feel like a party," Ventura said with a chuckle before chugging down some lemonade. Oddly enough, Lex found that the lemonade was a whole lot more popular than he anticipated. Well, as long as nobody hated it, he was fine.

*****

Far away from the Primordial Garden, in the central hub of where the systems operated from, Xerxes, the first ever system created, finally completed all his scans. Although he was too broken to be able to access the deeper layers of his database, through various in depth scans, it was revealed that there was no corruption within him.

Thus, as was the normal procedure, he was repackaged, and sent out into the universe to find a new host, and begin his journey anew.

Normally, the host location process took a long time, from months to centuries. As fate would have it, when Xerxes was sent out into the universe, he appeared in the night sky in the Origin realm, above a 1 Star planet with a primitive society.

His operations began, and almost immediately he identified the perfect target. Down on that planet, a weakened Nascent soul was searching for a way to survive when it stumbled upon a stillborn baby.

The body had no soul, which was causing the body to slowly shut down as well, regardless of what the midwife did to save him. Full of desperation, he forced his soul into the baby, thus successfully reincarnating, albeit in an unexpected way.

No sooner had Julias opened his eyes that he heard an unusual sound so startling that he cried out, almost like a real baby.

"Assimilation is complete. Launching system. Welcome to the Lemonade Stand System. Host designation: Lemonade-man...error... refreshing designation. Host designation: Lemon-man...error... refreshing designation. Host designation: licensed purveyor of citrus-based refreshment liquids...error... refreshing designation. Host designation: ..."

Julias kept crying and crying, alarmed and afraid by the sounds playing in his mind, but there was nothing he could do, for he had inherited a truly broken system... in more ways than one.