The Innkeeper

Lex woke up feeling extremely well rested. There was no stiffness in his body, no bed sores and if anything, he felt thoroughly reinvigorated. He drowsily picked himself up and stretched while letting out a massive yawn that forced him to close his eyes.

When he was done stretching, he wiped the accumulated sleep dust from his eyes. He just felt like he just woke up from the best nap of his life. He looked at his fair, spotless hands and felt there was something strange about them. It took him a moment to realize he had no hair on his arm. Had he waxed recently?

Just as he tried to recall, memories of what he had last experienced came flooding back. The emotions he felt from being boiled in lava were still locked away, so after impassively going over everything, Lex focused on the next important thing. He checked how much energy he had managed to accumulate after all that hassle, and was pleasantly surprised to discover a huge 2.5% accumulation!

The accumulation was not bad at all, but in the process he had also lost a lot. The Heavy Harley was gone, the Fancy Monocle... that one really hurt Lex. More than once the monocle had directly saved his life, and it had helped him tremendously otherwise as well. In fact, had it not been for the monocle, he would have never found the tunnel leading to the spirit well in the first place.

He would need to figure out some other way to detect or scan things. He had also lost basically every other personal item that he had. The expensive inks he bought for using arrays...

Just as Lex was wallowing in the losses he suffered, the white curtain around his bed was pulled aside and a familiar, smiling face welcomed Lex.

"Good morning sleepy head. I know I asked to see you again, but you can see me too without coming in as a patient," said Honey, the nurse that took care of Lex the last time as well.

"I'll keep that in mind for next time," Lex said with a smile, but his hoarse voice ruined the effect he was trying to create.

Honey giggled as she approached Lex and started giving him a check up.

"You've recovered quite well. I thought it would take months, at least, but it's barely been a few weeks and you're as good as new."

"A few weeks?" Lex asked, suddenly realizing he had no idea how much time had passed.

Honey stuck out her tongue, realizing she had made a mistake, but then slowly explained Lex's condition on arrival, the treatment he received and how long it had been.

Throughout the course of treatment Lex was kept unconscious on purpose to relieve him from the pain he would feel during the healing process.

Many things that Honey told Lex surprised him. Learning the true condition of his body surprised him, because honestly, he genuinely didn't feel like he was on the verge of death like everyone kept claiming. This matter went beyond not being able to feel pain because of lost nerve endings. As a cultivator, he had an inherent understanding of his body and the seriousness of his wounds.

He could only attribute the situation to how his body was a combination of his body, spirit and soul. He was much more resilient than it seemed.

The matter that shocked him most, however, was how quickly he healed. This was contrary to his understanding of his body, and genuinely confused him. He didn't even need to ask to know that it wasn't the system that helped him for that was not how the system worked.

But, even with his relatively quick healing, when he calculated the amount of time he had spent, Lex could not help but let out an audible sigh.

Honey, who was doing her best to give Lex her cheeriest smile and keep his mood positive, couldn't help but look at Lex with compassion. She could not even imagine what he must have gone through to get so gravely wounded. Surely he also lost a few partners in the endeavor. It must have been tough.

She squeezed his hand a bit and warmly said, "hey, what's with the sad look? I haven't even told you the best part yet. Apparently, you've accrued quite a reward. I was told to let you know not to break through the Foundation realm before you see Instructor Vernan - he has something for you that should help with your breakthrough."

"Huh?" Lex was confused by what she said until he paid attention to his cultivation. His body currently contained 76 Qi, which was almost the limit of the 7th level of Qi training. But, more importantly, he did not feel the usual bloatedness that came with filling his body with the maximum amount of Qi he could hold. Had his cultivation somehow... grown? Did he really grow stronger by getting beaten up? Was he going to have to walk down the path of a masochist?

Lex pushed away all his thoughts, he was not thinking clearly, and turned his attention to Honey.

"So what's my situation now? Am I good to go?"

"Almost. Your results are all clear, and you've almost completely healed, but we'll keep you under observation till tomorrow. After that, you're good to go. Why? Is there anywhere you need to be?"

"I was thinking we could go and grab some lunch, and I could show you what I'm like when I'm not a patient."

"Hah!" Honey laughed loudly, despite trying to control herself. "My time off work is very precious, Mr. Lex. You're going to have to try harder than that if you want to see me off work. Although, if you're hungry, I'll get someone to bring you some food."

Lex smiled weakly. He was not actually trying to ask Honey out, as nice as she was, for he was too preoccupied with working to get back to the Inn. A part of him was also sure that Honey wasn't actually interested in him, but just had a friendly personality.

Whatever it was, after conversing a little more, she left him to go check on his other patients and Lex properly organized his thoughts while feasting on... he had no idea what he was eating, but it was some kind of soup.

After some deduction, Lex only came to one conclusion about why his body had healed so quickly.

"Hey Lotus," he said, once again lightly tapping his tattoo. "Did you speed up my body's reconstruction?"

"Yes, Mr. Innkeeper. I sensed that you were reconstructing your body, and so I helped a little. I sensed that the makeup of your body was too... wasteful, and too inefficient, so I made some alterations. There was a special alloy in the tunnel that was extremely malleable, and very good at conducting spiritual energy, so I remade your meridians with that. Previously, your meridians were made from some carbon-based material which was very fragile. I sensed the remains of a special lense that had great optical features, so I integrated that into your left eye. There was some metal..."

The Lotus very excitedly told Lex all the alterations it made to his body, like a child showing a parent some macaroni art. In its opinion, it was only flexing its natural instincts to create just a bit, for compared to what its abilities would grow into, it truly was unskilled at the moment. However, unskilled as it was, it had completely altered the makeup on a living being without affecting its life, or abilities in any negative way whatsoever. Lex had no idea if the reason all the Lotus' alterations were successful was because of the unique state of his body, or because it was just that skilled, but his gut feeling told him it was the latter.

He refrained from actually letting the Lotus know that it had helped heal Lex instead of helping him 'reconstruct' his body, as it assumed he was doing. He only commended it on a job well done before he turned his attention to other matters.

Internally, he was both horrified and amazed. As long as he had the Lotus with him in the future, any time he got injured, he could take its aid in healing him. He just had to keep in mind that, even with the Lotus' help, he could not heal overnight as it had still taken him weeks to recover this time. Though, that was the extent he planned on relying on the Lotus, for he did not know if extensive alterations to his body had adverse effects.

Next, he turned his attention towards the Inn. With 2.5% energy, he could now implement some of the changes he had planned earlier that would help him in the long run. He also had to plan for his latest two employees, the sword and the lich.

In the time Lex was unconscious, the sword had also managed to complete its trial and became an employee, though based on its condition, Lex could surmise that it had barely done so.