The Innkeeper

Space was not a living thing. Sure, there were living planets, and items, and rocks, and wind, and ghosts, and projections, and many more of such unexpected examples, but Lex had yet to encounter 'living space'. Even so, his presence had an effect on space akin to causing space to groan.

For some reason, he was heavier for the space around him even though he was far from the strongest being inside the Inn. Being affected by the Primordial tribulation had made him something more solid or distinct than everyone else for reasons Lex could not comprehend.

It had nothing to do with power, and yet the consequences were very real. Perhaps Lex would understand this much later. After all, Eclipse would have mentioned the exact reason for it if she had thought Lex could handle it - after all, she had been very open about sharing other random bits of information with him.

He tested out the reaction of space a little more by slowly unsealing his aura, and discovered that the aura of Primordial on him was far from enough to actually shatter space, even if the strain of his presence was there. However, it was likely that if he continued to face Primordial tribulations, and the Primordial aura on him kept increasing, then he might reach a level where his mere presence could shatter space in a weaker realm.

As a result, he would be cast into the Void, and Eclipse had already warned him that all things Primordial seemed to have a strong reaction to the Void. At the very least, he did not want his body to turn into a realm - that was what he took from the acorn story.

He continued his tests by attacking a few times to see if his increased energy output affected the strain, but it did not. It seemed that the only thing that affected space was his hint of Primordial aura, and only unleashing or restraining that would cause any reaction.

With his tests done, Lex turned his attention to the next series of matters he had to handle. The tavern, yes. The improvement in the Butter Knife, yes. All the Letters of Intent from the various Dao Lords, also yes. But the most pressing matter for him, currently, was sorting through the fallout of the arrival of Shireen and her eleven sisters!1

Back when he had visited the Seraphim Resort, Lex had run into Shireen and her sisters, who were not actual siblings, but partners as Valkyrie. Of their generation, the dozen angels were the most hopeful to become Dao Lords - thus the qualification as Valkyries. However, it was that status exactly which made them valuable political prisoners.

In exchange for a continued peace, the Angels who partly controlled Eden, had to give up their Valkyries as prisoners, while the Seraphim did the same.

This all happened long ago, ages ago in fact, around the time that the humans lost their final Dao Lords. It was around that time that the Angels and Devils had to give up on their plan to birth a Nephilim!

Yes, the very same title Eclipse had given Lex. The Nephilim pertained to a secret of the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum, which is exactly why the Angels had been targeted. If Lex's status as a Nephilim candidate was revealed, he would be in a world of trouble, which is also why he needed to understand more about it. Conveniently, the very people who mentioned the Nephilim to him for the very first time were also those political prisoners, Shireen and the rest, and they were inside the Midnight Inn at this very moment!

The fact that the Seraphim's political prisoners had run away the very moment that the Inn resumed its normal operation was extremely troublesome, even if it provided certain opportunities. The Seraphim controlled many Dao Lords, and had even more Dao lords as clients. Now that the Inn had, more or less, directly offended them by allowing their prisoners to escape, their relationship had soured.

In fact, Lex might not have had the courage to tolerate this sour relationship, even opting to fail his quest, if it wasn't for one particular fact: the Innkeeper's grand display of such abundant Dao Mist which had frightened the universe!

This was actually something Lex hadn't known about at the time, but had learned from Mary, as well as from certain bits of information Velma sent from the Humanoid Alliance.

Mary had informed Lex that Dao Mist was something that formed upon the death of a Dao Lord - it was, very literally, a magical phenomenon in which the Dao Lord contributed all the power of their Dao to the universe before it disappeared. In fact, Dao Mist itself was a mere result of that phenomenon, for the bulk of that dissipation happened silently and undetected. Only the very final bits of the fading Dao would manifest as mist.

From Velma he had learned that since that totally purposeful display by the Innkeeper which he had definitely done on purpose and not by accident had created an extremely strong deterrent effect universe wide. Combined with the presence of one of Wu Kong's clones, the Midnight Inn was now categorized as a Major power not to be messed with - at least by the Humanoid Alliance itself.

Considering the Inn's relatively limited scope of influence and activities, it became a member of a small group of organizations no one wanted to provoke.

Yes, all of this had gone exactly as Lex had planned it. Totally.

Before meeting Shireen and her sisters, who had mostly kept to themselves since arriving at the Inn instead of enjoying their newfound freedom, Lex returned to his office. Even more important than dealing with Shireen was understanding the reaction that the Seraphim Resort had taken.

"Mary, has Velma received the package I sent towards her?" Lex asked.

"Yeah, she should have received the Castle Tavern a while ago," Mary responded. "Why don't you try reaching out to her and find out?"

Since the territory of all taverns now counted as the territory of the Inn, all taverns became similar to embassies of the Inn, allowing Lex to spread his influence far and wide. In the case of the castle tavern, which was easy to transport and could assume the shape of a snowglobe, it allowed Lex to spread his influence in a truly unique way.

Lex used the Host Attire to reach out to the castel tavern, and discovered that it really was connected to Velma, who seemed to be working on some kind of research for the Humanoid Alliance. It seemed even they had detected Velma's talent for acquiring information.

"Hey Velma, can you hear me?" Lex asked, sending out his own voice instead of the Innkeepers.

Across the universe, inside the Artica realm, Velma paused.

"Lex?" she asked, entirely shocked.

"Yeah, it's me," Lex answered. "I'm talking to you through the tavern. Are you free to talk? I need some information from you."

Velma's jaw dropped open.

"To have a conversation with the legendary Demi-Dao Lord seducer? With the legendary boyfriend of Deities? With the kidnapper of the son of a Hellion legend - one in the middle of a Dao tribulation? I am always free!" Velma responded eagerly, but then Lex was the one who froze.

"What?" he could not help asking, even though he was meant to be focused on something else?

"I did not seduce anyone!" Lex exclaimed before he could even ask where such an accusation came from.

"But you did kidnap the son of someone taking a Dao tribulation? Don't deny it, I read it on the universal net!" Velma exclaimed excitedly. As the latest secret reporter for TheOnionNews, she could not give up this chance to get a first hand account from the latest hot topic of the universe!

However, now as a Heaven Immortal, Lex's instincts were much stronger. Even from across the universe, he got a warning from his instincts to confirm nothing and deny everything!

"Excuse me, I think if you were interested in my life, you would have sent me a letter. I can't believe I'm the only one who didn't get a letter from you. I feel so left out," Lex said, trying to change the subject, already putting the Seraphim Resort in the back of his to-do list.

"If you want a letter from me, you have to make an effort to stay connected as well," Velma said in a very matter-of-fact way. "Everyone else told me you have a polaroid you've been using to take pictures. Why haven't you sent me even one? Instead, you sent me the Midnight Tavern, and now I'm under observation by the Alliance because they think I might leak sensitive data."

Actually, she was under observation because she tried to write an article about the alliance for TheOnionNews and was immediately caught even before she wrote a single word, but Lex did not need to know that.

Shireen was first mentioned in ch 1483 if you want a refresher