The Innkeeper

The Inn was once again sealed, and Lex breathed a sigh of relief. He had an innate ability to attract trouble, and he'd always come out on top, but it wasn't always good to tempt fate. Without any emergency quests or urgent tasks waiting for him, Lex could finally take his time to develop himself and the Inn.

Yes, in the long term it would be better if he trained in the Temple of Fasting rather than by himself, but since he couldn't just drop everything, sealing the Inn once more was the best option.

Lex pulled up his interface and looked at the quests given to him by the system. Lex extended his finger and, underneath them, began writing something. He was not adding a quest to the system interface, but rather just using an illusion to make it look like he was adding quests.

On top was mastering Inferno blade completely, following by improving his sword intent. Then came finding ways to hide his physique. For whatever reason, William and Jotun thought he had a bloodline rather than a physique, but even that knowledge was too dangerous. He did not ask them why they knew, nor did they mention it. It didn't matter.

Then he added the five year deadline Vera had given him. It was technically a little less than five years now.

One by one, he kept adding his objectives to his quest log. On Nether, the largest continent in the Midnight realm, Jack made a similar list of objectives for himself. He decided ultimately to not leave the realm right now. He would improve his survivability before doing any of that, not to mention make the Jolly Rancher tougher. It would be sad if it broke while adventuring.

Last but not least, he wanted even his clone to absorb at least one piece of resin as well. If he was going to have a clone, he wanted it to be the best!

By the time Lex and Jack both finished their lists a considerable time had gone by, not that it mattered. The more extensive their list was, the better. With nothing but a lot of free time on the horizon, it was finally time to catch up on all their plans.

Jack Daniels unfurled the sails to his ship, taking off from the ground as he began his journey towards resin. At the same time, Lex turned his attention to the tavern. It was time to begin the epoch of the traveling tavern.

A period of rare peace and tranquility arrived for the Inn, with much fewer guests than they'd had in a long time. But that peace was not wasted, for the Inn grew and changed during this time, as did its workers.

The Midnight realm, on the other hand, underwent a tumultuous change, as the absence of the Tree of Heaven brought about greater changes than anyone could have imagined. At the same time, rumors began to spread that a monstrous behemoth exited the Chaos Sea and entered the Inn.

Empires rose and fell. Various beings were born, and even more fell. Stories of the great adventurer Jack Daniels spread across the lands and the seas, and there seemed to be no place that remained untouched by his legends.

One day, much like that tumultuous period where the Tree of Heaven fell, a phenomenon encompassed the whole realm, though no one knew what triggered it. A brilliant light of pink and purple shone throughout the realm, promising good tides and fortune. Many thought a new treasure had been born, and a great age of treasure hunting came to rise.

In the lands of Menara, the human race once again made its appearance, under the leadership of a great sect called the Simple Life sect. Their sudden appearance challenged many existing powers, and the ensuing conflict knew no end.

In the Origin realm, meanwhile, time passed much slower. The war between Jotun and the Fiery mammoths continued, with no end in sight, encompassing hundreds of star systems. The Henali became more active in the eradication of the Fuegan, and so the number of battlezones increased. At the same time, anticipation of the Champions tourney also began to rise, as its initiation came ever closer.

After a couple of years, something unexpected and unprecedented happened. The dead zone, in which Earth was trapped, suddenly welcomed the return of extremely abundant spiritual energy, changing the planet from a rating of below 1 star to above 2 stars!

But with the return of that spiritual energy also came a swarm of insects that attacked not only the deities who were trying to take over earth, but the AI as well. They were immediately recognized as the insects that had also invaded Polebitvy, under the influence of the terrorist Jeffery.

But then, without warning something unexpected happened that rocked the entire Origin realm, and brought away the attention from the resurgence of a dead zone. A human immortal, in partnership with an emissary of the Henali court, discovered evidence that a full fledged Jorlam had been nurtured by Fuegan forces!

A Jorlam was an entity that could easily destroy an entire galaxy with little effort once matured. But they had not discovered the Jorlam, only the destruction it had wrought before it was discovered.

The matter was so serious that the Henali deployed their own members, no longer leaving the task of finding it to their subordinate races. If the Fuegan could hide an entire Jorlam under their noses, what else could they possibly hide? The answer was simple: a lot!

The discovery of the Jorlam was both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing, because it forced the Fuegan hand before they were completely ready. It was a cure because the entire Origin realm was suddenly embroiled in an unprecedented civil war.

Countless races which had up until now sworn loyalty to the Henali turned sides and retaliated. Empires were fractured, and all hell broke loose.