The Innkeeper



Silence followed Lex's question. He was not in a rush and waited a moment, thinking of other ways to enter the forest.

The trees were thick and tall, with the shortest of them being at least 80 feet (24 meters) tall and 5 feet (1.5 meters) thick. The bark, if there was even a bark, was completely wrapped in seaweed making it impossible to see. But the seaweed also grew between the trees, like the grass on a forest floor.

Lex had suspected…

"Why are you so goddamn polite!" a voice suddenly echoed in Lex's mind.

The forest groaned, as if each and every tree was frustrated, but then quickly returned to the normal state. The fish had all been startled and began swimming out in droves, which frustrated the forest even more.

Lex smirked. He had suspected the danger he was feeling was because the forest was actually a Trelop, and it seemed he was right. It was safe to traverse, so long as he had permission. If not, then he could face great danger.

"Isn't it natural to ask for permission before entering?"

"What do you goddamn mean, natural? Down here, ain't no goddamn thing has any etiquette, which is the whole reason I moved here. I ain't on anyone's territory, so I can goddamn do as I please."

"So if someone is impolite and enters recklessly, you punish them?"

"Well that all depends on my mood now, doesn't it?"

A massive goldfish made of seaweed emerged from the forest and swam around Lex, as if inspecting him. Since the Trelop-fish was inspecting him, Lex saw no reason not to reciprocate. He used his targeted scan ability.

Name: Toro

Age: ??

Sex: ??

Cultivation Details: ??

Species: Trelop

Remarks: Since its not yet a guest, it can be classified as a seaweed wrap.

The targeted scan only revealed partial information, and was not very consistent in what it revealed, but that was fine as lex was no longer totally dependent on the system. Based on his own experience, as well as his intuition, alongside some basic inference, Lex could determine that Toro was an Earth immortal. He was all too familiar with the unique pressure that immortals radiated, and his intuition gave him an appropriately severe warning for Lex to be able to determine it was an immortal. Not to mention, it was unlikely a weak Trelop could survive underwater where it was likely to encounter monsters.

Sure, the humans cleared this area often, but who could really predict when an immortal level monster might show up? Hadn't Zagan passed through here just a short time ago.

"So what about me?" Lex asked. "Can I enter now that I've asked politely?"

"What do you goddamn want by entering?" Toro asked, irritated. He had been looking forward to punishing the stupid human for its insolence. But the feeble being was so inconsiderate that he had even asked nicely, leaving Toro with no good excuse to punish him.

Sure, Toro didn't really need a real reason if it wanted to harm Lex, but that would be breaking the rules of its own game. If he broke the rules, then the fun of the game would disappear, and he would turn into a mad tyrant instead of a discipline instructor, as it thought of itself.

Lex considered whether to answer truthfully or come up with an excuse, but eventually decided that there was no use in lying. He could not hide his activities with the Trelops territory, so lying would instead get him in trouble.

"I can sense something valuable in your territory, so I came to investigate."

The goldfish bared its teeth as if it did not like Lex's answer.

"Of course you goddamn sense something! I'm the one using the lure!"

The goldfish started twisting and turning in agitation, squirming in frustration.

"Why are you so bloody goddamn freaking honest!"

The fish continued to throw a tantrum, and Lex just stood there, watching in amusement. Eventually though, Toro calmed down and glared at Lex.

"Follow me," he said bluntly and swam into the forest. Lex followed and was surprised to discover that all the water pressure disappeared, not that it bothered him to begin with. But he quickly realized why it was so necessary.

There was a tribe of some race Lex had never seen before living in the forest, worshiping the seaweed fish. In merely a few minutes Lex saw thousands of those creatures which looked like… humanoid squids.

Despite their massive numbers, Lex could sense that not a single one of them were stronger than the foundation realm. They probably depended on the forest to project themselves not only from the water pressure, but from the monsters as well.

"Quite the community you have here," Lex commented appreciatively. He had begun to gain an understanding of Trelops. All the Trelops he had seen before had a massive number of beasts and sentient and semi-sentient creatures living within their territories, not to mention the unique personalities they had.

If what Toro said was right, he had released the aura of whatever it was holding in its territory itself to attract others. Despite his strange obsession with wanting to hurt trespassers, Lex suspected he wanted more inhabitants for its territory.

"There was an earthquake some time ago and it revealed this pool of a strange liquid I've never seen before," Toro suddenly started to explain.

"Its aura is extremely attractive, but the moment I tried to touch it, it began corrupting my body. The same happened with any other creature that touched it. Originally I thought I'd just seal off the area, but the pool is beginning to grow and I cannot seal it. The reason I allowed its aura to spread was so that others could come and I could see if anyone had a solution. If you had been impolite, I would have let you access it without the warning I'm now giving you."

Lex frowned. His intuition was telling him he was heading towards something extremely valuable, but could he be wrong? It wasn't so easy to trick his intuition. What could this be?