The Innkeeper

Chapter 2333: The Pocket Calamity

His recent actions were quite different from the way Lex normally operated. While hunting for treasure and valuables wasn’t something new to him, he hardly ever provoked anyone on his own. However, things were different now.

Previously, he had the massive behemoth known as the Midnight Inn, not only offering him perpetual safety but also an endless stream of resources and connections. Although it wasn’t always possible to get the best or most valuable resources, with the backing of the system he always had an abundance of opportunities to encounter high value resources.

Now, however, his main body was captured and wounded, he was cut off from his system and Inn, and he existed in the form of a fairy and a necklace.

To say his existence was in threat would be going too far, since even if he lost his original body he would still be alive. However, that was a loss he was unwilling to accept. A part of him had considered employing his most dire survival plan.

As long as he was alive, all other things could be reclaimed. Thus, his most critical plan in case his life was in danger would be to either send the necklace or Jack into a highly safe and secure location, and slowly rebuild strength.

He then dismissed that plan entirely. Logic and reason dictated that he have further contingencies in place while he attempted to retake control of his main body. However, Lex was not an emotionless A.I. operating solely on logic. His emotions and drive were not weaknesses, they were one of the foundations of his strength.

Instead of wasting time, resources and opportunities on alternatives, he’d rather focus 100% of all his resources on the plan for his return. His tenet was of supremacy, and although Lex was hardly ever ruthless or merciless in his actions, he didn’t necessarily view supremacy as being the same as a ruthless dictatorship.

Now that he was provoked, however, not through his friends and workers being in danger, but himself, Lex had been exposed to a side of himself he had never experienced before. When the Midnight Battalion was trapped, Lex had been consumed by fury. Heck, he’d even threaten the damn Henali alliance itself inside the Origin realm with Earth Immortal level missiles, putting his own life at risk along the way.

When Almira was trapped, Lex had once again been infuriated and acted with extreme prejudice.

Now that he himself was trapped, oddly enough, he was not overcome with a blinding fury. Instead, the spark of his ambition had been lit into a roaring inferno. He hated not Stalker, his enemy, but reflected on his own shortcomings. Ever since reaching the Heaven Immortal realm, his cautiousness had decreased and he had been bolder in his actions.

That in itself was not a mistake. The mistake was that he felt himself strong enough, and his efforts to strengthen himself had remained steady. What he should have done, instead, was increase his efforts manifold. After all, the amount and extent of training he could endure as a Heaven Immortal was far greater than before.

His strength had increased, his vision and perspective had evolved, but his drive to reach new levels of power had stayed the same because he felt that he was good enough. Well, reality had reminded him of just how mistaken he was.

Thus, while he did not usually provoke others for no reason, things had changed. Lex had a new plan for how to grow stronger, and he would follow it through! If getting his hands on even more divine ore could help that plan, then he would do so.

Not to mention, absorbing divine energy trapped within that ore was somehow strengthening his paladin powers, which was in contradiction to Lex’s understanding of the paladin path. Only by experimenting further on it could he fully understand why that was so. For both of those reasons, Jack did not hesitate. Yes, provoking countless Deities was not the smartest play. However, this was the Folklore realm - one of the strongest and strangest realms in the universe. Even Deities had to tuck their tails and behave here - especially if they were foreigners.

Jack conveniently ignored the fact that he, too, was technically a foreigner. With a crew filled with locals, and his connection to the seven Dragon Dao Lords, he was basically the equivalent of an ’immigrant’ who had acquired the ’passport’ of this realm and become a citizen through back channels.

"Do you realize what you are doing?" roared an angry missionary as he stared at the Jolly rancher with eyes filled with anger and hate. He was not alone. In recent months, the Jolly rancher had been stealing from all followers of all foreign Deities, offending many. Fortunately, they only stuck to stealing and not killing.

As a result, however, of offending so many, the Jolly Rancher was now surrounded by over a hundred missionaries from different Deities, all of them at varying power levels. One of them was even a Celestial Immortal! As it happened, the Celestial Immortal was the head of this proselytization mission, and was also the one who had screamed.

Jack, who stood at the bow of the ship, however, only smirked as he looked at the missionary, not a hint of fear on his expression.

"Why are you getting so angry?" Jack asked casually. "I thought that as a follower of Oracle, you were meant to be calm and logical at all times. Such an absurd display of emotions... isn’t it blasphemous to Oracle himself?"

The missionary was suddenly embarrassed, and filled with conflicting emotions as he realized his mistake. Yet before he could respond, he felt a connection from Oracle, and quickly gave over control of his body to his lord.

"Pirate Jack the Pocket Calamity, for what reason have you chosen to make enemies of us?" Oracle asked through the body of his missionary, maintaining a cold and emotionless voice.

Jack’s lip twitched. The Pocket Calamity? What the hell was that? He didn’t remember getting such a ridiculous nickname. The utterance of such a nickname elicited a far greater reaction from him than the actual encirclement of his ship.

"Enemies? I don’t see my actions as making enemies of you all. If that were the case, I would not have spared your missionaries to inflict maximum damage to your operations," Jack responded calmly, despite the agitation he was feeling.

Within the ship, Bob watched his captain and engrained his every action in his heart. Bob had merely wanted to destroy his enemies, but the captain had taken the slower, more ruthless method of slowly draining them dry by allowing their missionaries to live, turning them from assets into liabilities that needed to be protected.

Such tactical genius was truly magenta!

"You have disrupted standard proselytizing operations, stolen high value, irreplaceable treasures and affected the spread of all faiths. If such actions do not qualify as treating us as enemies, what exact category do you place them under?" Oracle asked, not feeling the slightest bit of astonishment at the blatant audacity of the Pocket Calamity.

"Naturally, I consider it free and fair competition for limited resources in a free market," Jack responded with a hint of disdain in his voice, as if he was speaking to an amateur. "The resources you covet are followers and their unwavering faith. The resources I need are the treasures made from the divine ore and their contained divine energy. While it seems that puts us at fundamental odds, in reality I am giving you a platform upon which to acquire more followers.

"Promises without demonstration or tangible feedback won’t get you much in the way of followers - at least not in the Folklore realm. But with a formidable opponent to overcome, you can expand the limits of your associated fables within this realm.

"In simple words... right now, you’re nothing more than talk. If you want to succeed in the Folklore realm, you need your own legends that were crafted within this realm. If you can’t even overcome me, then you’ll never be able to establish a foundation in this place.

"So, the way I’m looking at it, I’m providing you with an invaluable service! Without my help, you’d never be able to properly embed yourself into the fabric of this realm. No need to thank me for my services, your treasures will be enough."

Within the ship, Bob wiped his tears with his baguette as he memorized the effortless way in which the captain infuriated those blasphemers. It was too beautiful.

Outside, Oracle observed Jack for a few silent moments, emotionlessly judging the content of his words, not minding his shamelessness.

"Very well, then," he finally said as his consciousness slowly began to fade, allowing his priest to retake control. "Let us carry out this so-called ’free and fair competition for resources’."

That was the signal for all the missionaries who began their assault on the Jolly Rancher. If this was free and fair, then it was time to put it to an end. Jack, however, merely smiled. How could he be worried about this attack when he had put so much effort into making sure it happened?

Going around stealing treasures was all well and good, but making all the loot come to him was the hallmark of a true pirate- eh, no, he meant, he would continue to assist these Deities by serving as a formidable presence in the fables of their associated faiths for years to come.

"If the flap of a butterfly’s wings can cause a tornado, do you want to see what my wings can do?" he asked softly, not that he was expecting a reply.