The Innkeeper

Chapter 2382: Can I ask you some questions?

Romulus seemed to be in a real rush, which is why Lex was barely able to keep up with everything that was happening. He already got the item that Pelagor had wanted? But he’d gone through the entire hassle of collecting the Primordial Farham egg shell just so that he could get it and now... it was pointless?

He couldn’t even indefinitely save the egg shell for long because its power was constantly albeit slowly draining over time. Although he couldn’t say for certain how much longer it would last, it definitely wouldn’t be long.

But... he had the item Pelagor wanted regardless of how he got it. As long as he handed it off to the whale, it didn’t matter how he got it - he’d be fulfilling his side of the bargain.

He didn’t rush to hand off the item to Pelagor, though, for he turned his focus to the screen while he checked his body.

Before going to sleep, his soul had been severely hurt, not to mention he had sacrificed a tremendous amount of mass from the necklace as well. Now, though, as he checked his soul and the necklace, he found that both were in optimal states.

He was no stronger than he was before, but he had healed perfectly, while the necklace was also back to its original state before it was corrupted. As far as Lex could tell, there was no other interference to it.

Since he’d already suffered because of it once, Lex began to refine everything he had absorbed into the necklace and began to work on its internal structure while a part of his focus remained on watching what was happening outside.

Refining everything wasn’t hard, it was simply time consuming. Working on the internal structure of the necklace, however, required not just time, but also a great deal of his focus and attention.

To be honest, the value of the resources Lex had absorbed could not be understated. It wasn’t just that everything was valuable because of its potential to be used as material for the actual reinforcing and refining of the necklace. No, each item also had its own set of individual abilities and effects which is something he needed to monitor and use appropriately.

The plus side was that finalising his fake realm was more or less a confirmed thing. Heck, even Earth Immortals could form basic minor realms while relying on the laws of the actual realm they were in, not to mention build storage devices.

Although it was tougher, they could also build storage spaces where living pets, beasts, livestock and so on could be stored. The higher the level, the more complex something like this could be built.

Creating a Minor realm that was attached to the necklace was actually not difficult at all. The difficulty came from the fact that Lex wanted to control the laws that operated within the realm, effectively achieve a Sovereign state within it, suppress other Sovereigns within it, and achieve a level of controllability within this realm equal to what he had as the Innkeeper inside the Midnight Inn. That was also why he called it a Fake realm rather than a minor realm.

So yeah, the task was slightly complicated. But he wasn’t about to let that stop him. Using the ink he got as a reward from the legacy Karev had, he began laying down the most fundamental and broadranged framework of how he wanted the necklace to interpret external laws within.

Simultaneously, he began to embed various formations within the necklace for more permanent aspects of the realm he wanted to create, while also creating a system to automatically create and implement a set of pre-recorded arrays to use in a case by case situation.

Basically, he began treating his necklace like his newest world in Mindcraft as well as a new development project from his coding days.

All the while, he watched what could only be considered a blur as Romulus practically zoomed through the Gilded Hollow, with pleasant music playing in the background. Lex was basically certain that the Fortune Lord wasn’t listening to a lofi tavern music playlist while traveling - that was probably something that was in place for him. Or maybe it was to keep him from listening in on his conversations. Or...

"Excuse me, do you have a moment to answer some questions?" asked a pleasant and soothing voice from behind him. "I have been waiting a long time for you to wake up before I could conduct this exclusive interview."

Lex turned around to what could only be described as the perfect imitation of a stereotypical news reporter from the 1960s. That was to say, the man appeared in black and white, as if he stepped out of an old tv, with a loosened up tie, fedora and an unlit cigarette tucked above his ear while he held a small notepad and a pencil that would have appeared yellow if it weren’t also in black and white.

Lex had no way of knowing this for real, but he had a very strong feeling that he was talking to a system user with a very interesting system. It wasn’t even his instincts telling him that - just his experience.

"Yes of course, go right ahead," Lex responded, as if this was the most natural thing in the world, and that there was nothing unusual about the location or timing of this interview.

"Excellent, excellent. Now I already have your basic information recorded down here, so I’m just going to ask you a couple of generic questions so that the readers feel like they really know you, you know? Like, so that they can get a feel for the kind of guy you are outside of your exciting life. That good? Good.

"Now, the first question. What are your thoughts on the highly controversial global sports game final happening right now?"

Lex blinked, unsure how to answer. Wasn’t that question too generic?

"I’m joking, I’m joking. That’s not the real question," the report said with a laugh. "That was just to lighten the mood. Now, I’d like to ask you what you know about the cult of Hemzy and its followers who have named you as a one of the perpetrators in trying to kill their cult leader?"

This time, Lex was even more dumbfounded.

"What? This is the first I’m hearing of this," he answered truthfully.

The news reporter began to nod as he started taking down notes with his pencil.

"In that case, let me update you on the situation. Basically, the Cult of Hemzy is a cult obsessed with being more productive by performing dopamine detoxes. However, certain reports claim that such detoxes cause constipation in some animals.

"Regardless, you have been claimed as enemy number 2 in the fight against dopamine. Tell me, are you a dopamine junkie, or are you addicted to triggering dopamine in others? Or do you, perhaps, just have a disdain for a dopamine cleanse?"

Lex gulped, feeling like this interview was going to be a lot harder than he originally expected.

Author’s Note: Hello all. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, this newsreporter is going to play a big role in a small experiment I’m going to run soon, so I hope you like his style. Stay tuned to learn more!