The Innkeeper

Chapter 2352: The wrong script

It only took a few years, but peace became a distant memory none could hope for. There was no end in sight for the unfolding devastation. The universe had existed for too long, giving too many forces enough time to build up countless forces and accumulate inexhaustible reserves.

Most lines of communication across the universe broke, leaving Major realms isolated. Regardless of the level of organisation, traversing the Void became too dangerous. Not only were the Void Dwellers becoming stronger and more aggressive, the Spirit Tribulation Fiends began to parasitise the Void Dwellers, providing them the perfect disguise.

They prowled the Void, searching for any signs of universal sin.

To be clear, conventional sins were not a target for these Fiends. They seemed only interested in those that had sinned against the universe itself!

It seemed that in a span of just a few years, the universe became shrouded by an impenetrable darkness. Those who had ventured to foreign realms for war became stuck there, and were forced to find a means of survival there.

This level of disconnectedness brought back an old, forgotten fear that had long been relegated to mortals: the fear of the unknown. The battlefields of the humans became disconnected, with no way of knowing what was happening there. Most news agencies had nothing to report, and even if they did it was too difficult to reach out to their subscribers.

Suddenly, many began to regret forcing the Midnight Inn to cease its activities. Were it still open during this time, it would have become the central hub for travel across the universe.

The Humanoid Alliance began to regret their sudden lack of access to the Midnight Taverns.

Now, in the universe, there were only a very few forces who could still reach anywhere they desired, yet none were available for public or general use.

The Garvitz realm, owned by the Devils, became one of the realms which could reach all others - though it required the devils to be summoned to the targeted location by a local. The other realm which could access anywhere across the universe was the Dream realm!

Only now were many beginning to understand why the Primal race had been so furious. The Tribulation Fiends had literally, singlehandedly toppled the universal order!

Not even the Path of Chaos was happy about this level of chaos, for they too were suffering from it tremendously. It was at this time that the upper echelon of the Path of Chaos began to realize that someone had been using them, turning them into targets while they harvested some unknown reward, or forwarded some unimaginable plot!

The few who seemed to be benefiting the most from such a situation were the Deities. An air of fear and doubt created the perfect environment for them to prey upon the helpless, offering them a guiding hand and welcoming them into the warm embrace of their faiths!

Within the Folklore realm, even Jack learned bits about what was happening across the universe, though he heard more rumor than fact. He could not ascertain the actual situation, but there was no one to blame for that as isolation had naturally brought about a lack of information.

He could not help but think about the Midnight Inn. He was sure that, even now, the two Rhinocentaurs would continue to receive updates about what was actually happening. Velma also had a tavern she could use to communicate with the Inn, providing it with whatever information the Humanoid Alliance had.

Theoretically, the Midnight Inn should be safe. The realm was too minor, with too few guests, most of them that were too weak to attract the attention of the Tribulation Fiends. Still, he could not help but worry. Even if something was going terribly wrong, there was nothing he could do about it!

What the hell was happening to the universe? Why was everything deteriorating so quickly? It didn’t make sense at all! Not even Dao Lords, heck not even beings above the Dao Lord level could cause the universe to suffer as such, so who exactly was pulling the strings from the back, and for what purpose?

Unfortunately, worrying could not give him any answers, so he focused even harder on building his formation and upgrading his level. These were uncertain times, and he needed all the strength he could muster to survive it!

Lex within the Gilded Hollow was about to reach the Dao materials he had been waiting for, and didn’t let his worries distract him. His situation was too precarious for such thoughts.

Unbeknownst to him, the Midnight Inn system was displaying a type of notification he had never seen before!

Status Update: Unable to connect to Host. Entering dormancy mode, limiting all non-essential system functions, diverting excess energy towards self repair. Estimated time to full repair: 52 years.

Besides that, there was another, critically important notification that would have horrified him if he would have seen it.

The Primordial Energy scale, a scale of the amount of Primordial energy absorbed by the system and kept in reserve for a specific purpose, began to slowly, yet undeniably decrease. It wasn’t that the energy was being dissipated or lost, but that the system began to absorb it to facilitate its self repair.

While Lex had already removed a large amount of Primordial energy from within his system, he hadn’t had the time to remove all of it. Slowly, but surely, the scale started to head towards 0!

Within the Midnight Inn, all the guests suddenly received an unusual notification. Most of the Inn’s services would soon be shut down, leaving only the most basic and essential services functioning.

Of course, most of the guests couldn’t be bothered by that at all. After all, within the Midnight Inn something was happening that would have shocked the whole universe!

Since the Tribulation Fiends were summoned by the universe itself, no realm, regardless of how safe, or well hidden, could avoid them. The Midnight realm was no exception to the rule either.

It was just that, well, things didn’t seem to be going according to the regular script.