The Innkeeper
Chapter 1525: Sooner than expected

Oceans of flames filled the vast expanse of space as stars collapsed in the aftermath of battle. Armies of all races marched through the Void, and the realm wars that had so far already wrought the lives of countless Immortals became even more perilous.

Standing atop the head of an ancient beast, one unseen since the dusk of the Primordial age, the warbringer came. With his sword in his hand, he plunged into the chaos, spreading devastation across the universe.

The Heavens rumbled, the Hells trembled, tribulations fell and calamity rose. The Divine sought salvation, and the Profane sought redemption.

Conspiracies eons in the making, plans billions of years in maturing, rivalrives multiple lifetimes in resolving, all unfolded haphazardly. Celestial might was challenged, and Angelic rule was tested. The Humanoids faced a menacing foe, but the menacing foe faced the warbringer.

History was unfolding rapidly, far faster than it should have, and events that shouldn't have happened for Ages to come started to manifest. Amidst it all, the subtle influence of the warbringer was undeniable. Where there was war, the warbringer arrived. Where the warbringer stepped, war followed.

As the universe was blinded by the gleaming light of the warbringer, deep in his shadows, an outline of a pirate ship remained undetected, radiating a subtle aura far more dangerous than even the warbringer. Someone walked into the communal shower, and found the acolyte collapsed. The man hurried to reach out to him, but discovered that the acolyte, completely in the nude, was covered instead by some kind of invisible barrier.

He could not be touched, could not be approached, and could not be awakened. The man quickly rushed out and found the acolytes teacher, and the man quickly rushed in to find the odd scene.

The teacher, naturally with his advanced cultivation, could break through the barrier and save the acolyte. But he could also see that whatever was happening to the acolyte was slowly raising his cultivation, and developing his talents. It was just… the timing of it was unfortunate.

"Seal off this area, and don't allow anyone to come in. My young disciple has encountered a unique kind of enlightenment," the teacher said, giving an explanation as a cover.

Word immediately spread aboard the vessel about the acolyte finding enlightenment in the shower, and suddenly the demand for the communal showers rose rapidly through the roof. Everyone was taking showers in the hope that they, too, might find enlightenment. They did not, but at least the environment aboard the vessel became better.

Meanwhile, the teacher went into the acolytes room and picked up a journal and began to read through it.

"Who are you warbringer, and why are you connected to my student?" the man asked the notebook. Yet he got no answer.

Within the Midnight Inn, Lex had entered a loop of healing, cultivating, and slowly allowing his body to rip itself to shreds. Not only was such a cycle slowly making him even stronger, it was making his foundation firmer, so that there were no more chances of physical cultivation deviation.

Due to how immense his strength had grown, it would take him a few days if not a week to completely overcome his situation.

Within the Inn, excitement seemed to fill the streets, not for the upcoming Midnight Games finale, but for another event entirely.

The Death Matches between the Jotun Empire and the Fiery Mammoths had not gone as expected. The humans had shown far more strength than anyone had expected, and despite a stellar performance by the Mammoths, they were losing.

The next two fights would be the most intense. The next fight was from some noble called William, who was relatively unknown among the Empire - though within the Midnight Inn he was known as Lex's son due to some rumors that had spread. The last fight would be the emperors!

It had been a long time since anyone had seen the Emperor personally make a move against an enemy, so they were all looking forward to the fight.

Among the Inn workers, there was another news that was spreading, which was a cause for joy. Apparently, Luthor was about to return from the mission that he had been sent on. It had taken him a long time, but he had succeeded.

Everything, at a glance, seemed to be going well within the Midnight Realm. The same could not be said for the Folklore realm.

"Alright, which one of you did it?" asked Longbeard, the gnome with an eight feet long beard, as he looked out at the crew, each of them with red food smudges around their lips.

None of them were willing to answer, but that hardly mattered.

"All of them, I tell you! It was all of them who tried to eat me!" yelled an angry strawberry spirit standing behind Longbeard, waving the leaves on its head like angry fists.

"That's impossible, my lady. I'm sure there's some kind of misunderstanding," spoke Tiny-Sparkles in his deep, calming voice, though even the velvety smoothness of his voice could not distract from his usually white coat that was now covered in red.

"You can lie to me, unicorn, but you can't lie to the city police! I'm reporting you and the rest of you for your crimes! Not to mention, this absurdly large ship of yours is taking up all the parking spots."

"Fret not, my lady. We have already paid for the parking with Nether-Lily Gold. As for the police, there's no need to involve the fine, upstanding police of the city in this minor matter. I'm sure we can come to some kind of an understanding."

As the small dispute was handled, Jack lethargically looked out at the city in front of him. It was, by far, one of the most unusual cities he had ever seen to be sure. The city was clearly divided into various districts, and each district seemed to be constructed keeping a certain race or racial features in mind.

Most of the district was normally sized, though there was one for smaller races - such as fairies - and one for larger ones - such as any number of Beasts that grew too large. There were numerous other districts as well, some for fire based creatures, others for elementals only, and one even for ghosts.

The Jolly Rancher was parked in front of the district for giant races, but even then it took up the parking of multiple vehicles. But then again, what did that even matter? Parking was paid, of course, but since they could literally generate Nether-Lily Gold, what value did currency even have?

They'd paid for the spot for a month, since they did not know how long they would be here. It was in this city that Jack went up to the city council, and applied to meet with the dwarf dragons!

The procedure was actually quite simple. Since he was inside the dragon siblings doman now, he merely needed to apply for a meeting and wait to be summoned. No doubt that the Dao Lords he had sought to meet already knew of his arrival, but when they would call him was a mystery.

In the meantime, Jack had basically moved into the crowsnest on his ship. The accursed stench that haunted him was somehow growing worse each moment. In truth, it was not that the stench was getting worse, but Jack's willpower and tolerance were waning.

Since he had accidentally looked onto the Karma that was wrapped around him, Jack had neither been able to eat, sleep, rest or even cultivate.

Food tasted horrendous with that smell constantly bothering him, and no matter how he tried to, he was unable to sleep. Occasionally, he could cultivate to somehow grow his tolerance to the smell, but he could not maintain such a state for long.

Moreover, to his great dismay, Jack learned that his cultivation technique had no effect on his Karma - at least not yet. Maybe if he was in a higher realm, it would be able to absorb his Karma as well. But he was not there yet.

During this time, Jack had also been thinking about the options in front of him. If he asked the Dao Lords to somehow help him overcome the stench that was affecting him, then he would lose the opportunity to accompany them to the Artica realm.

If he did that, he wouldn't be able to surpass his cultivation realm. But, if he didn't get rid of the smell, he would go crazy sooner or later. Based on how things were going lately, it was likely to be sooner rather than later.

Jack sighed, hoping that he would get some kind of response from the city council soon.

True to his wishes, the response came soon - though it was a lot sooner than he was expecting.

One moment Jack was sitting alone on the highest point of his ship, his chin resting atop the railing, and the next he found himself dressed in an extremely regal gown, standing inside an opulent hall.

In front of him… he saw a dragon. Also, he saw the dragon looking not at him, but at his unicorn first mate who suffered from dwarfism - much like the dragon as well!

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