The Innkeeper

Chapter 2395: Such a softie

"What the hell just happened?" asked Ventura as he finally recovered from the time freeze that had affected the whole universe. While the Dao Lords of the universe weren’t able to sense the effect of that thought, he certainly could.

More importantly, even he hadn’t been able to resist the influence of that time freeze, which could only mean one thing! Whoever caused it was even more powerful than himself and the seven others who were hiding all around this universe.

Could there be... a ninth?

An especially grave expression fell upon his face as he considered his actions. If he wasn’t injured, there were many things he could have done. But since he was injured, he could only do one thing really.

Without hesitation, Ventura reached out to a Dao Lord known only as Speaker of the Senate. Naturally, the senate in question was the Dao Senate that worked for Eclipse, with their sole purpose being to complete her every whim and keep her happy.

As much as Ventura would like to directly talk to Eclipse, these were very sensitive times and it was best to avoid any misunderstandings his sudden appearance may cause.

A projection of the speaker appeared in Ventura’s very room, and though the speaker seemed surprised by the sudden summons, he did not seem surprised by who had summoned him. This was not the first time something like this had happened, clearly.

"I need to speak with your Queen, urgently," said Ventura, lacking any and all of the friendliness and casualness he usually carried when around Eclipse. "This matter cannot wait. If you are unable to connect to her, then I will have to pay a personal visit, in which case you should inform Harriot of my arrival."

The speaker was silent for a few moments, and then finally responded.

"No need to trouble yourself, Lord Ventura. The lady has accepted the meeting request. She seems to have been expecting you," said the speaker before bowing and disappearing.

A short while later, a projection of Eclipse, Nulli and Harriot appeared in front of Ventura, much to the academy owner’s irritation. She was never alone - a restriction of sealing all her powers - and that meant that he would have to share his news with others, even if he’d prefer to keep the conversation private.

"I don’t know if you felt it, but someone just made a move," Ventura said directly in a somber voice. "It’s not any of the other seven I’m familiar with, so this might be an unknown ninth who had been in perpetual hiding. I suspect... remnants and refugees from Pentagal might be behind the ongoing war. This level of power... it was too great to be one of us."

Eclipse did not immediately respond, instead she continued to itch Harriot’s neck as if he was a real pet dog, while she thought to herself about the situation.

"If the enemy is Pentagal, then we’ve been preparing to face the wrong foe. In that case, it’s best you withdraw your forces from the Dream realm lest they get caught in some trap."

Ventura nodded.

"I’m already doing as much, though I can sense that both Death and Destiny are increasing their activities instead of withdrawing. There is a chance that this could be a distraction."

Eclipse chuckled, as if the news was of no consequence to her whatsoever.

"Don’t worry about it and just withdraw your forces. Maybe use this opportunity to capture a few more Major realms and keep them from being destroyed. I doubt we’ll get caught in the crossfire if we stay away from the main conflict zones."

Their conversation was short, but it was enough. The projection disappeared, and Ventura began to act immediately.

Meanwhile, within the Primordial Garden, Nulli looked at Eclipse with a mischievous smirk on her face.

"You’re such a softie," Nulli said to Eclipse, who only rolled her eyes in response. Neither of them seemed at all concerned by Ventura’s news.

Within the Gilded Hollow, entirely unaware that he had, once again, accidentally influenced the universe, Lex stepped into the room at the peak of the pyramid - the one containing the flower.

The Double Yang Disaster Rose was massive, with each single petal of that rose being far greater than Lex in size. The remarkable thing, though, was that the flower really did look a lot like a rose, except this one was of a deep, orange color, as if made of roaring flames.

Lex could feel that the thing was beginning to release its original aura once again, which was naturally at the Dao level. Regex had, incidentally, told him how he could avoid being affected by the aura of the Double Yin Death Metal Rose, despite its high level.

He had a strong feeling that wouldn’t work on this one, though. Moreover, he had taught Lex a special technique which he could use to harvest the rose without harming it at all.

This one, though, was all up to him to figure out. As it happened, Lex had an idea of how he could do just that.

"Bob help me, because I must be crazy for doing this," Lex muttered to himself as he grabbed the Primordial Farham egg shell in his hand and took a step towards the flower.

Within the necklace, he still had plenty of Genesis Dew left. Based on his understanding, that Dew could help him absorb and refine materials - including Dao materials. His plan was to wrap the flower with the shell - completely disregarding the fact that the flower was way bigger than the egg shell - and transport it into the necklace wherein he could use the Dew to absorb the flower into his necklace.

Honestly, this was an extremely dangerous task to undertake while on his own. There were, however, a few reasons why he was taking the risk.

First was the strange lethargy that the universe was showing. If he could take advantage of the fact that the flower wasn’t at full strength yet and absorb or process it, he could directly bypass the most difficult part of handling the flower.

Second was the fact that the egg shell seemed to be working perfectly - even against the slightest bit of Dao radiation that had begun to emerge.

Third, he was depending on what the Fortune Lord told him about the flower being in tune with his own fortune. That should make it easier for him to get it.

The last thing he was depending on was his knowledge of the Double Yin Death Metal Rose. Although these two were not the same, and were in fact dire opposites, Lex was depending on the fact that they were of the same species. Their behavior should follow the same rules and limitations, meaning that he could use what he knew of the Death Metal Rose to extrapolate the behavior and specifications of the Disaster Rose.

Still, it was a huge risk. Normally, he avoided risks. But he was now at the stage in life where playing it safe could no longer help him. If he didn’t grow drastically stronger, dying at the hands of a more powerful enemy was only a matter of time. So, instead of merely delaying his own death, he wanted to remove that possibility altogether by growing much stronger, much faster. That, unfortunately, required that he take risks.