The Innkeeper

Chapter 1410  Forgot my wallet

As much as Lex wanted to believe in his own divination ability, and his ability to learn anything including divination, he had a feeling he should stay away from it. The feeling was not from his instincts, but his own analysis based on what little he knew of extremely strong cultivators.

If he could learn divination, no doubt Celestial immortals would have an even easier time. Yet it seemed like, for whatever reason, they did not do so. Lex was certain that the repercussions of looking into the future were far more dangerous than just simple lightning tribulations - especially if one was on a higher level.

After all, no matter what explanation they gave for divination, whether it was reading the flow of destiny, or just calculating probability on a wider scale, the truth was that it was messing with time. If there was one thing Lex had learned, it was that messing with time was a bad idea.

If there was one thing Lex had learned from his truly numerous troubles, it was to stop messing with the unknown - when possible. For now, Master Bobo would suffice.

Unfortunately, Lex did not conveniently find the temple just as his contemplation session ended, so he navigated through the asteroids for a while longer before he saw it. In the pitch darkness of space, hidden from the light of the nearby star by countless massive rocks, there was a single floating rock with a temple on it.

There was no need to describe it - it was an exact replica of the Taj Mahal, which was not unusual in any way shape or form, nor was it an excuse to avoid imagining a new temple. Lex did not question it either, although he did raise his wariness.

But a simple scan from his spirit sense revealed that there were no dangers nearby. Unfortunately, it also revealed a complete lack of any living being, whether they be projections or ghosts.

He was a little disappointed, but he was not going to give up without exploring the temple thoroughly.

There was no atmosphere in or around the temple, but the hazards of space were not really an obstacle for Lex, who placed his ship back in its spatial container and teleported over.

As far as appearances went, there was nothing unusual about this perfectly built temple on an asteroid in the middle of space, far from anything. Lex expected the Origin realm to be filled with numerous such ominous temples with no real peculiarity to them, save their existence. Who knew if a planet collapsed and broke into an asteroid field, yet through some sturdy architecture the temple survived?

Yet the moment he stepped within the temple, Lex heard the echo of his footsteps. Considering he was walking into a hall without an atmosphere, that was highly unusual.

"Hello? Is anybody there?" Lex asked, his voice echoing out into the empty halls.

It took him a moment, but he realized that though there was no air in the temple, it contained some kind of spiritual field. The echo of his footsteps could not be heard by his ears, but by his spirit sense.

That is also why when he spoke, he did not use his voice but his spirit sense, and it seemed to work.

The temple was still devoid of all light, but his spirit sense was suddenly illuminated as if a magnificent chandelier had been turned on.

"My goodness dear fellow, do you realize what time it is?" asked a projection of a horse as it slowly floated into the hall, rubbing its eyes as if it had just woken up. The horse was wearing a double breasted suit with a deep cut, and a yellow tie with smaller horses on them.

"I have put little Charles to bed already, and even the infernal crickets have gone to sleep. The gate to the Holy Kingdom has already been closed, so if you want anything, come back in the morning. And I say, keep your voice down. You'll scare the ghosts back to their living bodies if you frighten them."

Lex was confused, because the horse was switching between a heavily american accent and a deeply british accent with every alternating sentence. It was highly disorienting to hear.

"I… I'm sorry for disturbing you. I didn't know if anyone was actually here. I can come back during the day… uhh, how long till it's day?"

The horse gave Lex a disdainful look, as if he was dealing with an idiot.

"I say, this is why I don't like dealing with bodied folk. Highly unsophisticated, you lot. Listen to me boy, it's day when the sun is up. It will take about six or seven hours. Now, if that is all, I'd like to get back to sleep now. By the way, don't wait in the temple, otherwise I'll get an earful about not attending to a guest. You can wait outside."

Lex, unsure of what was exactly going on, excused himself and left the temple as he heard the horse grumbling something about not enough sleep.

The good news was that he found the projections. The reason he was sure the horse was a projection and not a ghost was because he saw the camera in the corner of the temple, well, projecting. But he also clearly felt soul fluctuations from the projection, so he was fairly certain that the projection itself was alive, rather than it just being a very high quality projection that could even transmit the feeling of a soul. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

He waited for nine hours just to be sure before returning to the temple, but as expected there was no light shining onto the temple. Yet the moment he stepped into the temple, beams of sunlight seemed to be shining through the spiritual field that encompassed the temple, as if it was truly day.

This was a fascinating place, for it seemed his eyes were less useful here than his spirit sense.

"It's you again," the horse said, trotting up to Lex, looking much more refreshed. The suit was in a much better condition, lacking any and all wrinkles, and the horse looked like it had gone through several rounds of grooming. Its hair was silky smooth, and flowed freely through the air as the horse approached.

"Pardon me for my attitude earlier," the horse spoke with a genuinely apologetic tone. "The Mrs. and I just had a couple of foals, and it's a lot more work than I expected. Don't get much sleep these days as you can imagine. Makes me a bit cranky. Are you here to enter the Holy Kingdom?"

"It's no trouble at all, I completely understand. An unexpected guest in the middle of the night can be troubling sometimes. I just came here because I heard rumors of living projections, and I'd never seen any before so I wanted to explore. I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with the Holy Kingdom you're speaking of."

"Ah, an explorer. How splendid. In that case, you must visit the Holy Kingdom. Guests are more than welcome, and it's completely safe. All of Projection Empire is connected to the Holy Kingdom, so it's also a convenient way to travel across the realm."

"How does that work?" Lex asked as he followed the horse.

As they went deeper and deeper into the temple, Lex felt the spiritual field getting stronger and stronger, and eventually had to close his eyes because the difference between what he was seeing with his eyes and his spirit sense was so different that it was distracting.

"The Holy Kingdom is called as such because of its speciality. Actually, it was made by Mama Pari, a really strong projection for all other projections, so obviously it connects to all places where projections live. I'm the toll collector for the temple you entered from.

"My boy, that reminds me, you have to pay a toll to enter the Kingdom. It's not much, but since you have a body, there's a special fare for you. Don't think I'm being discriminatory - that's just the rule."

"That's not a problem," Lex said, as he paid close attention to the horse projection. What was interesting was that, after a certain point, there was nothing supporting the projectino - it was as if the thickness of the spiritual field itself supported the existence of the projections.

Suddenly, he heard the familiar sound of a new notification.

New Notification: You have discovered a new type of environment to support the existence of specific types of guests.

New Quest: Create 3 new suitable environments to host a larger variety of guests.

Reward: Solid projection capability for Innkeeper.

Lex's eyes flashed as he read the notifications, but first he had to address something more urgent.

"By the way, how much is the toll exactly? I was recently ripped off, so I don't want to commit to something before I know the exact price?"

"Well, for an ordinary projection the toll is a single medium quality spirit stone. For a bodied being such as yourself, a single high quality spirit stone mine will suffice."

"Yes, yes, very reasonable. An entire spirit stone mine. By the way, I think I forgot my wallet in the car, I'll be right back."

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