The Innkeeper

Chapter 2507: Living and dying

Lex froze, and shifted his gaze from the badge to Liz. He was not overwhelmingly shocked - not shaken to his very core, as Liz would have preferred to see him, but the surprise in his eyes was good enough.

Truthfully, everything Liz had told him before the lake had already proven how valuable the badge was. Even if it wouldn’t be immediately useful to him, the badge would inevitably come in handy over the next few years. Even if he could access the Dream realm with the tavern, that would merely lead him to a random location inside the realm.

Whether he could even locate the places that contained those special privileges was in question, let alone whether he could access them. Yes, technically, he did know the big boss behind the scenes. But Lex was never one to hang on coattails and ask for excessive favors.

Only in extreme situations or when someone’s life depended on it would he depend on external help like that.

After all, even if he had Eclipse’s favor now, it did not mean that he could not lose it if his behavior changed.

So yes, the badge was extremely useful. But if it could help him form a Dao Heart... whatever that was... when he needed it, then the value of this badge was unestimable.

"Damn, that’s crazy," said Lex, letting Liz feel the satisfaction of a job well done. "It’s genuinely insane that you could get your hands on something like this. Thank you. You finally did something right for once."

Liz was basking in the glory of her accomplishment, all until Lex’s last sentence.

"What do you mean ’for once’?" Liz demanded but Lex had already tuned her out and was, instead, focusing on the badge while considering his future training schedule. Reaching the peak of the Celestial realm was not an issue for him, but honestly, Lex did not want to trigger any tribulations while the universe was transitioning.

Who knew what might happen? Certainly not him, though he was willing to bet that his tribulations would never be normal even in ordinary times let alone now.

The Dao Heart would have to wait, but it was very useful to know that this option was available to him. It did not surprise him at all that such an insane treasure would belong to Eclipse. In truth, he was certain that this was merely what she chose to expose to the public.

"Thanks for this," Lex said, finally putting the badge away, ignoring the fact that Liz had been screaming at him a moment prior. "This will be very useful for me. If you need anything from me, you just need to ask."

Liz froze in between her rant, and then simply snorted, unwilling to admit that she felt good hearing those words.

"How was your mission, by the way?" Lex asked. "More importantly, how was your combat strength and survivability? Are you used to your new strength yet?"

Liz thought about her mission for a moment, and then couldn’t help but shake her head.

"It was a nightmare from the very start. The entire team struggled merely to survive. The Dream realm... can be very scary when it wants to be. You don’t need to face any other opponents - the realm itself is enough to destroy you.

"Luckily, my survival training from Ventura came in handy, even if I never attended the Immortal level classes. Nemo was also a big help. My fusion state, as brief as it lasts, played a big role in my survival. But that’s basically all I did - survive. There was not much of anything else going on, and I didn’t really even win one fight."

Liz spoke in a very matter-of-fact way, and though her words seemed like she was demoralized, Lex didn’t think so. Consoling her would have only made her feel worse.

"Surviving is good enough considering you were facing stronger enemies, but we need to develop some kind of training program for you," said Lex. "The Temple of Fasting is temporarily off limits since the Origin realm doesn’t want us transferring any immortals in. In the future, we may face even more uncertain situations and you won’t always be so lucky."

Eclipse’s warning flashed through Lex’s mind, and after a moment’s deliberation, he decided not to hide it.

"Someone very powerful hinted at the fact that someone close to me might die. Honestly, I was born thinking immortality is a myth and that we’re all going to die sooner or later, but I would really prefer it if it were later rather than sooner. We really... haven’t returned to anything even remotely normal."

Liz rolled her eyes, though she understood Lex’s concern. Much like him, she was not overly attached to the concept of living forever. For so long, she had lived focusing only on survival, and then once she bonded with Nemo, she was focused on finally enjoying her life and growing stronger while at it.

She had never really given any thought to what she wanted out of life in the future, nor did she think that there was anything wrong with that.

"I don’t need you to remind me - I never gave up training even when I was having fun. Besides, normal is overrated. But, I get your concern. I’ll work harder. You, on the other hand... need to realize that you’re not responsible for everyone’s life."

Liz paused, and her tone softened.

"Even Immortals die, Lex. Even Dao Lords die. Actually, I think everyone will die sooner or later - immortality just makes it harder to estimate when that will happen. If you get too caught up on trying to keep everyone alive... one day you’ll burn out, because this is not the kind of thing you can stop."

Lex did not respond, and silence filled the room. She wasn’t exactly wrong but... but it wasn’t time yet to let anyone go. The universe was vast, there was so much to do, so much to see, and he wanted to share all of that with the people close to him. Yet he also understood that he couldn’t control everything.

Conflicting feelings filled his chest, but they didn’t last long. There was no point in dwelling on problems that didn’t exist yet.

"I can’t keep everyone alive forever, but that doesn’t mean you should just roll over and die either. Arguing won’t get you out of training Liz. Sheesh, there has to be a limit for laziness."

Liz rolled her eyes once more, but before she could respond, Lex stood up.

"Come on, now that we’re done with the serious topics, let me show you around. You can tell me if something in the mansion needs changing. You should really make the most of this time to enjoy yourself, because once I bring back Belle, she’s not going to be nearly as chill as me."

Liz froze, and for a moment conflicting emotions filled her chest. Belle was, among the siblings, the most serious one. She was focused, hard working, dedicated, hardcore, and also extremely protective.

She was also the one who had always done her best to protect all of them, while there was no one around to protect her.

So no matter how serious or daunting Belle was, Liz would never run away from her or avoid her.

"When are you getting her?" Liz asked. "How did you find her?"

Lex began to walk so Liz was forced to follow him. He had already anticipated how Liz would react.

"I don’t need to do anything special - I can feel our bloodline connection. Wherever she is in the universe, I can find her. The same is true for you and Moon. There’s just a small issue with the Inns’ teleportation, but as soon as that’s resolved I’ll be on my way towards her."

Liz raised an eyebrow.

"What’s wrong with the Inns teleportation? I thought the Innkeeper shut that down himself," she said, and Lex nodded.

"Exactly. The Innkeeper shut it down, and it’s not like he’ll turn it back on just because I need it. I’ll have to see what I can manage. That’s my headache. The problem is... I have no idea how she’ll react once she’s here. It’s been too long since we were together, and I have no idea what she was up to.

"You know how hard it is to convince her of anything, so I’ll need you and Moon to help out with that."

Liz nodded, this time taking Lex seriously.

Afterwards, the conversation turned towards lighter topics as Lex showed off his mansion. Truthfully, there hadn’t been so many things inside the mansion, but he was expanding and adding to it in real time, making sure that Liz could not tell. After all, it would be too embarrassing if his tour was tiny.

The two siblings spent the afternoon together after a really long time, and it was quite enjoyable. Also, this was Lex’s way of ensuring that Liz didn’t spy on Moon during her reunion with Z.

While he could stop Liz, he did not even try to stop Velma from spying on them at all.