The Innkeeper

contemporary romance

Ignoring the weight of all existence, crushing down on him was much easier than it sounded. Lex was really too experienced in being uncomfortable, extremely comfortable, from being cooked alive to having no skin, to let some weight stun his mind - once he got over the initial shock.

He was entirely focused on bonding with Lotus, and the process was longer than it had seemed. When Lex bonded with Pelvailin, he had to put in a lot of effort, but this required even more!

At least he did not need to supply the energy to facilitate the bond on his own, or else he would have gone broke. The liquid, which had by now filled half the tub, stopped increasing, and then eventually began to drain.

As Lex built the bond, Mateo explained the reasoning to him. The projection spoke not through spirit sense, which had the potential to distract Lex, but through some other means that touched a much deeper part of Lex's mind, automatically transmitting the information to him.

"The reason why so much energy is required to bond you with the lotus is because of the fundamental difference in life levels. This is not a difference that can be easily overcome by cultivation. Even if you became an Earth Immortal, the status difference between a single human and a planet that can support endless lifeforms, a myriad of environments and countless rare and exotic materials is just too great.

"This bond will not give you too many immediate benefits, as most of the energy is used in ensuring that you both are safe even after being connected by the bond. That means the bond is very complex! But it will give you some benefits, nonetheless.

"For one, your body will be able to tolerate any energy that a typical planet can tolerate. So that, for a human, means you will be able to absorb about 100 million more types of energies from the environment. In short, your cultivation speed will skyrocket!

"Second, it will be much harder to curse you, although it will also be much harder to augment you. It's a bit of a double-edged sword. But we can make use of this feature in your training, so don't worry.

"Third, and most importantly, you will experience a massive gain in status. Essentially, you're like a walking planet. So, you will become immune to many of a low level deities' abilities! I can sense that the deity in the temple is severely weakened and injured, even after its recovery, so suffice to say, you can benefit from this advantage.

"Fourth, and you will like this one, the sturdiness of your body will increase by a lot. This does not translate into actual sturdiness or defense, but as someone who wants to increase his spatial abilities, it will be tremendously beneficial to you.

"Fifth, your vitality will experience a massive boost. The lotus will benefit by being able to spend longer periods awake, and you will benefit by becoming much harder to kill. The fact that you already survived as meat-paste before this upgrade should mean you're practically unkillable in the same level.

"There are many more benefits you will get over time, but for now, we will actually focus on developing the lotus instead of you. This is because with your low cultivation level, you can not take full advantage of the boons you will receive. So, for now, it's more efficient to raise the level of the lotus so that when you finally do benefit from it, you can tolerate greater returns!'

From time to time, Mateo would talk to Lex in this manner. Although it was educational for Lex, the projections real purpose was to ensure Lex's mind remained stimulated lest he mess up the process.

If the bonding process was short, this may not have been necessary, but it took Lex nearly five days to absorb all the liquid and complete the bond!

It was strange, Lex immediately felt all the benefits Mateo informed him of. But, more importantly, he felt like there was a massive burden placed on him. This burden was not physical, but mental!

About 50% of his mental energy suddenly became occupied as it tried to grasp certain esoteric abilities and concepts that his body was exposed to. This was the first time a power up made him feel tired instead of energized.

Mateo immediately noticed the unusual expression on baby Lex's face. Despite now having cheeks that looked like dumplings, the subtle frown could be detected through the mountain of cuteness that was Lex's expression.lights

When Mateo asked Lex what was wrong, and he explained, the projection felt lost and confused. Nothing like this had ever been recorded before. It wasn't as if Lex was the first person to be bonded to something equivalent to a celestial body, so the process was well documented.

The projection suggested Lex get some sleep, which he agreed on. After being escorted to a nearby dorm room, Lex did not even hesitate to fall into bed and doze off. It seemed like he was extremely tired and even snored lightly.

Mateo made a note in his logs that perhaps having a baby's body had affected Lex somehow, and that the process would require further study.

In reality, his cultivation technique had made his mind extremely malleable in a way human brains just weren't. Even though he himself had not experienced it yet due to his low level, such a change would allow him to study laws more easily when he leveled up.

For now, though, it was allowing his brain to study some of the lotus' abilities on a subconscious level.

When Lex woke up, he was feeling much better, so they moved onto the next project: fixing Pelvailin!

Once again, Mateo provided him with a technique to help him repair the ring, as well as some very valuable material that could be used in its repair. It looked like honey, and did not seem too special even when Lex touched it.

But the moment Lex dipped the ring in it, he could feel its potency through his bond, and immediately began using the technique that would repair it.

"So you mean to tell me that an actual dragon - like a real life living dragon - had a part of its soul merged with a budding reassure spirit, was absorbed, and then resulted in this strange spirit-dragon amalgamation that believes it was a dragon in its previous life, but retains none of the arrogance or usual personality traits of a dragon?"

"Pel is quite timid actually," Lex said. "I'm still very careful not to make the ring too strong in case it can support the entirety of the dragon's soul, so no accidents happen, but no actual incidents have happened with the ring so far. Having a former Heavenly immortal with you is quite informative. I bet he even has a few ways I can fight the deity as well. Although the last time I fought Ra, I didn't really need the help."

Mateo was resisting the urge to rub its forehead as he absorbed this information. He had never felt threatened in his ability to guide someone before, but he was not so sure he could do better than a Heavenly immortal. After all, he was simply one of the floor managers at the temple. There were countless others like him.

"Well, that's good for us, at least," he said once he got over the shock. I will teach you a technique that will forcefully absorb the deity's aura into the ring, depriving him not only of his aura, but also any affiliated techniques. I know you said you can resist the usual pressure of a deity's aura, but do not underestimate their abilities. They are always more versatile than any other race. They can do more with their auras than even dragons."

"Yeah, but that won't overcharge Pel, will it? I don't want to risk giving too much power to a former Heavenly immortal. There's no guarantee that he suddenly won't flip his personality once he's strong enough."

"In the long term, it will. But not immediately. When it initially absorbs the aura, the spirit will actually be suppressed. Moreover, I will also give you another technique to strengthen your bond with the ring. Then it won't be so easy for it to rebel against you, should it ever decide to do so."

"I… well, let me look at the techniques. I'll decide for myself when I face Ra if I need to absorb his aura."

"Tell me more about your Fenrir. With such a rare pet, if you had gone down the path of Beast Master instead of cultivation, your progress would have been astounding. But even as it is, we can make use of it. You may not know this, but the original Fenrir was actually a deity! It somehow transitioned to the cultivators path, in ways that to this day remain a mystery, and ingrained all its previous divine powers into its bloodline. It's the universe's foremost race in hunting down deities and angels!"

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