The Innkeeper

Lex's eyelids dipped while his eyes began to roll upwards, yet some force seemed to prevent him from collapsing. Such a state continued for a few minutes before he finally overcame it, at which point Lex finally had the available mental capacity to deliberate on the things that he'd heard today.

Eclipse had truly broadened his horizons, and introduced a few very important concepts to him.

The concept of precedent was not one he had even ever pondered, let alone that there may actually be forces in place to actively prevent certain precedents from forming.

He'd done many seemingly impossible things, and for creating precedent the benefits he got were far greater than what anyone after him could get. However, while that was a good thing, maintaining a habit of accomplishing the impossible may not be a good thing. Certain things may have remained impossible not just because achieving them was so tough and complicated, it was because certain forces actively tried to ensure things stayed that way. The example of Time and universal strain were merely a convenient example to explain this concept.

Speaking of which, Universal Strain itself was a brand new concept for Lex, and it was one that the knowledge of seemed to have no actual consequence in his day to day life, but Lex was certain he could somehow use this to his advantage.

As soon as he reached that thought, Lex fell into a state of enlightenment - one that was far stronger and profound than any enlightenment he'd experienced before.

While in theory, the concept of precedent, regardless of establishing precedent, and the possible consequences of trying to set precedent were more beneficial to Lex at his current state of cultivation level, his actual enlightenment was concerning the universal strain.

Universal Strain was a sort of burden on the universe, and yet the universe was so effectively using it as a protective mechanism. In fact, it was also using it to ensure the universe's continued existence.

Reality was complex, and the only thing that determined if something was good or bad was how it was used.

The curse put on fairies had nearly crippled the entire race, and yet, if Lex was clever, the curse could also be an incredibly strong protective barrier.

Jack was too busy to have an enlightenment, so Lex was the one who had it, and his understanding of reality was undergoing a fundamental shift. The entire concept of traditional good and bad was overturned, leaving behind in its place only a concept of how anything can be best utilised.

Eclipse looked at Lex oddly, unable to shake the feeling that the lesson she had been trying to teach Lex might not be the lesson that he was learning.

Not to mention, why had he entered into enlightenment in the middle of their conversation? Was she now supposed to wait for him to finish to resume their conversation? That sounded like an unnecessary additional step for her to take, and yet leaving mid-conversation was also quite rude, and Eclipse was quite particular about her etiquette.

Meanwhile, Lex continued to have completely ludicrous and absurd realisations about how to use a race curse to his benefit. Perhaps others might not have been able to pull off such a feat, but Lex, with his Karmic Bead, could do many incredible things. That naturally translated to Jack as well, since they were one and the same.

The enlightenment lasted four days, which was not really a long time for Eclipse, but it was a tremendous amount of time for Lex, considering that he was on a time limit. Also, enlightenment usually lasted a few minutes to a few hours- lasting days was not really a common occurrence.

When it ended, he found Eclipse sitting there, waiting for him to finish.

"My apologies, I didn't mean to interrupt our conversation," said Lex as he ignored his system notification telling him that the Primordial Garden had successfully linked to the Inn while he was going through enlightenment.

He also wanted to begin the Real Law replication, but he dared not start it right in front of Eclipse.

"It's no bother at all," said Eclipse, waving her hand casually. "I belive we were in the middle of a conversation about Precedent. Now, while I have already shown you how your theory might be correct, let me take this topic deeper by a level. After all, the universe is complex, so how can a concept as sophisticated as precedent be simple?

"Certain things are impossible, until they are achieved and a precedent is set - with time reversal as an example. Yet sometimes, when a precedent is set, the laws of the universe change as a result of the existing strain as well as the new precedent, making the same action impossible all over again, but for a whole new set of reasons. This is another level of protective mechanisms…"

Eclipse slowly stopped talking when she realised that Lex had, once again, entered into a state of enlightenment because of her words.

"I give up. I'll talk to the kid next time - I still have Primordial tribulation energy that I need to process."

With those words, Eclipse left Lex alone, though no one came to bother him. Fortunately, this time, his enlightenment did not last more than a few hours.

When Lex woke up this time, he found a small note stating that Eclipse had errands to run, and that she would catch up with Lex some other time.

The note filled Lex with both relief, as well as a little bit of disappointment. Conversing with Eclipse was a roller coaster, but Lex had gained much from talking to her. Yet the mental pressure of talking to the strongest Dao Lord in existence was terrifying.

He sighed, wondering if it was even possible to recover from any contamination he might have suffered. Then again, she did he that he wouldn't be affected by her much.

Shaking his head, Lex finally used Realm law replication, allowing his system to study the laws of the realm to see if they were possible to replicate. More specifically, he focused on the laws associated with the creation of the Primordial energy.

He almost expected to see a notification informing him it was impossible. Instead, he only saw a notification informing him that the Law Replication feature had been activated, with results pending upon completion of the analysis.

Considering how even the system itself wanted to absorb Primordial energy, Lex honestly refused to believe it would be so easy to copy. If even the legendary owner of Ventura was helpless, then Lex could deduce that even with the existence of precedence, this was not an easy feat to accomplish.

With that, it seemed his tasks at the garden were temporarily done. He had no way of reaching Vinei and the rest, though he could try to kill all the Kraven. However, unsure if Eclipse would find such a thing offensive.

He could try to find out, but he had too many things to do. He had a tea party to plan, some taverns to build, and a butter knife to upgrade.

He also had not forgotten that in the Origin realm, he sensed some more clones of Moon that had somehow survived his previous search efforts.

Oh, there was also the small issue of many Dao Lords visiting the Inn, leaving their Letter of Intent, all of whom he needed to meet.

Lex was suddenly almost overcome by the desire to just ignore everything and go to sleep. Unfortunately, he knew better than to do that.

"I'll be back," he whispered to the Primordial Garden. He had not even begun to uncover all that this place had to offer.

He recalled Eclipse's advice about being careful when he left the garden lest he ripped a hole in space and fall into the Void. That was not an easy warning to forget.

He completely withdrew his aura, and paid special attention to himself before triggering a teleportation back to the Midnight Inn. It felt like a long time since he had returned there, even though in truth he had been there just a short while ago.

What he was not aware of, despite being connected to the Inn and Jack, was that there had been a development in the news articles related to his kidnapping of a realm, and some poor, innocent Ventura students.

Lex returned to the Inn, taking in a deep breath, and feeling the burden his body was putting on the space of the inn.

Ordinary space was not designed to handle Primordials, and the realm needed to be highly developed before accommodating them. In Lex's case, he was not really a Primordial, merely someone who had been through a Primordial tribulation.

Even so, that was enough to make him… a strain on the space of the realm. The feedback of the system let him know exactly what to expect any time he entered a space that wasn't supported by a system.