The Innkeeper

Chapter 2417: A facial

The Dream Master was humming a splendid tune while working. Their plan, which had been in the works for over an Age, was going along smoothly. In fact, due to several unforeseen incidents, the plan was going even smoother than they expected.

Instead of interference from Sage races, like they expected, their progress was actually sped up because the Sage races were using this opportunity to forward their own plans. The Primals had let Elizabeth loose, and the rate at which she killed Dao Lords contributed greatly to the reduction of the strain on the universe.

Then there was that whole incident with the Innkeeper, and his teleportation which caused the Path of Chaos to develop a means to isolate the universe from his reach. That had really helped them hide traces of their activities far better than they had planned.

While on the surface, it seemed like the destruction of the Major realms was causing the Dream realm to become weaker, what people didn’t know was that a majority of the living beings from those destroyed realms were being funneled into the Dream realm.

The Dao Lords were being put to sleep and used to manufacture Dao Essence, which was helping them move their plan along even further. The Dream realm had really thought that planning against the entire universe would be a whole lot harder than it actually turned out to be. Heck, no one had come even close to figuring out the Dream Master’s identity, origins or motives.

It was no wonder the Dream Master was humming. Yet suddenly, the Dream Master looked in a certain direction in surprise.

"Oh?"

It couldn’t be helped. All beings from across the universe were trying to figure out ways to exit the Dream realm. This was actually the first time the Dream Master had seen someone break into the Dream realm, and in such a spectacular fashion as that.

"Shall I go take care of it?" asked a shadow that appeared behind the Dream Master. After a moment, though, the Dream Master shrugged. A single glance was enough for the Dream master to understand the intricacies involved in Lex’s actions.

"Nah, it’s fine. It’s just some children playing. Besides, he’s doing a good job at distracting the Humanoid Alliance, not to mention he’s the son of the Innkeeper. Just let him do his thing."

The shadow disappeared, though a box of popcorn appeared in the Dream Master’s hands. There was no reason not to enjoy such a good show.

Within the Joro realm, River and Pearl had finally gotten settled into a Humanoid Alliance base, but they could hardly focus on that. They, much like everyone else, looked in the direction of the energy storm that had shaken the whole realm!

Just like everyone else, they were looking up Lex Williams, trying to figure out who this person really was and why he was so strong. At the same time, they could not help but take stock of his amazing strength. Time and time again, he had told them that their results were unsatisfactory, but they just assumed he was just trying to motivate them to work harder.

Now they finally understood that they really did need to work harder because... the standards of their teacher were far beyond what they could hope to achieve by normal means.

Within the Midnight realm, an army was getting ready. From deep within the halls of the Midnight Tailors, the sounds of an evil, maniacal laughter could be heard while in other corners of the Inn workers prepared themselves to go to war.

Moon and Velma were supposed to have a meeting, but that had been paused because too many of them had sensed the same thing. Lex was doing something big. While they didn’t know just yet what that big thing was, it was good to know that he was alive and well.

While these few did not know what was happening, Marlo looked up at the massive screen in the middle of the stadium and watched an image of Lex appear, getting smashed in the face by a lightning bolt.

"Oh lawd, did he just try to eat that lightning? Doesn’t he know that lightning is not food?" asked the Drama-cat sitting on Marlo’s right shoulder.

"Nay, my ill informed companion, he is not partaking in the consumption of lightning. What you are seeing is a medical procedure called a ’facial’ which is meant to rejuvenate and energize the skin on the patient’s face," said the other Drama-cat.

On the screen, when the smoke around Lex’s body disappeared, what was revealed was half his skull with his skin burnt off, and the other half with some skin still left. Of course, the skin was also rapidly growing back - looking fresh and energized, just as the Drama-cat had claimed.

Marlo, as usual, ignored the other two and just looked at Lex on screen. Suddenly, he couldn’t help but feel like his own path of Prime wasn’t nearly as impressive as he had originally thought.

He could not help but think back to that one time he had been invited to join the Inn. If he had accepted back then, instead of rejecting, what would things be like now? Would he also be... that strong?

Lex, of course, knew nothing about what all the others were thinking or doing. He had accompanied the karmic storm as it empowered his Major tribulation into searching for his body. But there was one issue.

The momentum of the storm was too great. The tribulation was further empowered by the karmic storm so it struck the very first moment it detected him, and alongside that lightning bolt came his necklace as well.

When the lightning bolt broke the barrier around his stalker, Lex immediately regained control of his original body. He used that opportunity to kick his stalker in the face, both to vent some of his frustrations, and also to build a bit of distance between the two of them.

The distance was the real important thing, because when the lightning came, what had truly caused it to turn maroon was his own necklace. The thing that slammed into his face, and burnt off his skin, was not the lightning bolt, but the force of his own necklace slamming into his face with the momentum of a storm that had transcended realms!

Yet when the necklace and his body finally reunited, Lex immediately absorbed the necklace into his own body. It was no longer useful as a hidden backup since its existence had already been exposed. In that case, the best use for it was to absorb the necklace, and to strengthen his main body alongside it.

The moment the fusion took place, the absorption rate of the Double Yang Disaster Rose skyrocketed! Lex’s connection to the phoenix aspect of his own being began to increase, and fortunately, that allowed him to heal the burnt off skin on his own face.

Now, it was time for some payback.