The Innkeeper

Chapter 1678: Good news and… good news?

When dawn finally arrived, the mercenaries were ready to march out, and a majority of the Inn staff were also ready to move forward. There were just a couple of issues. The first issue was the small matter of a hundred chimeras within the castle dungeons. They couldn’t exactly be made to march out in the open, and while technically they could be left inside the castle while it shrunk to its snow globe form, that would drastically weaken the castle, making it much more likely for the chimeras to escape.

But this was a foreseeable problem that everyone had already been working on resolving even before dawn arrived, so it couldn’t really be called an issue. It was more like an irritating inconvenience.

The second, much more unexpected issue was that Lex was laying in a hot tub, muttering to himself, unwilling to come out. When he had been told that they were ready to leave, he simply requested Kaemon come and visit him first.

This unusual behavior from Lex confused many, but they weren’t too concerned about it either. They simply informed Kaemon, who quickly arrived in the Hot Tub room.

“No lava bath this time?” Kaemon asked as he entered the room and looked at Lex.

“Well, technically, ice can be classified as a rock, in which case water can also be classified as lava,” said Lex while staring up at the ceiling. His voice sounded strained, which concerned Kaemon.

“Are you okay?” the Magma Lion asked, ignoring the absolutely absurd claim that water was lava. In that case, couldn’t mineral rich magma just be called a warm electrolyte drink? Wait a minute… as a Magma Lion, he did drink those to help him replenish critical minerals after exerting himself. Could it really be true? No, wait, he was getting distracted.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” said Lex, waving his hand. “I just have a migraine from staring too long at something I shouldn’t have been looking at. More importantly, I have an update on my research into the space of Abaddon.”

“That’s great news,” Kaemon exclaimed. “No wait, is it great news? Is the reason you’re in your current state because you discovered something terrible?”

Lex turned and looked at Kaemon with an amused smile.

“No, nothing like that. Who knew you had such an active imagination? What I discovered… Well, there’s a piece of good news, and another piece of news that could be considered either good or bad, depending on one’s point of view. Which do you want to hear first?”

“The good news,” Kaemon said firmly.

“I’ve found a trace of a pattern. It’s buried in laws that only Heaven Immortals can usually perceive, but due to my unique situation of resisting the tribulation to the next major realm, I can see hints of those laws as well. Given enough time, I should be able to discern exactly how to locate the constants within Abaddon – a constant being a fixed, constant place, such as the jungle or ruins. I think the chalice should be in one such constant place.”

“That’s not good news, that’s great news! So then, what’s the bad news?”

“Well… as of right now, I can only see hints of those laws. But the longer I resist the tribulation, the stronger my ability to see those laws will be. The stronger my ability to sense those laws, the quicker I’ll be able to learn how to interpret those laws, and then fully comprehend the pattern hidden within the constants. It might take me years, maybe even decades to fully discern the pattern.”

“Mere decades to see through Abaddon sounds like good news to me. Why would that be bad news?”

“Spoken like a true immortal,” Lex scoffed. “I’m only 25 years old. Spending decades here is akin to spending time equal to my entire life here. More importantly, the Pineapple on my forehead has only 29 years left. If we don’t finish before then, my next major tribulation will arrive and I’ll be forced to enter the Heaven Immortal realm. If that happens, then the kinds of enemies we’ll attract won’t be as simple as the ones we’ve been facing so far.”

Kaemon’s expression finally changed as he understood that they were on a deadline of some kind – if they were to depend solely on Lex. If someone else could find a quicker way to find Abaddon, then maybe they could find it even sooner. Unfortunately, he had no idea how he might be able to do that.

“The only good piece of news is that the flow of time here is so messed up that even decades here might just be a few months, or at most a few years back in the Origin realm. That’s if nothing else changes in Abaddon, and the flow of time here remains like it has been so far.”

“In that case, I propose a change in strategy,” Kaemon said. “Instead of searching for the chalice, let’s begin searching for treasures that can increase your comprehension speed as well as increase your mental strength so you can endure the burden of looking at the higher level of laws longer. This way, we might be able to speed up the process of you understanding the pattern.”

Lex sighed once again. It seemed like no one cared about his passing youth.

“Yeah, I guess that’s a good strategy,” he said, and then got out of the hot tub. “I suppose we should start as soon as possible. Each second counts.”

While Lex was lamenting the possibility of being trapped with Abaddon for years more, Skipping changed his posture, sleeping upside down, wiping the drool dripping down his cheek as he did. The constant sound of flowing water, and the dense, energy rich environment made this the coziest sleep he’d ever had. He could probably continue sleeping for years if no one interrupted him.

His prize stamp, which allowed him to teleport items anywhere in the universe, sat silently within his system inventory.

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