The Innkeeper

Chapter 1253  Old friend

Lex studied the clearing clouds for a while more, even using his left eye but saw no traces of anything unusual. For a second Lex wondered if he had been mistaken, but then immediately dismissed that idea. Let alone the fact that Lexʼs senses were incredibly sharp, even if he were an ordinary immortal, it would not be so easy to fool his senses, and it would be even more unlikely for him to mistake nothing for something.

That meant that, somehow, Lex had momentarily cut open a path to another place with his sword. He wondered if the key to doing so again was just a random cut, or if he had to cut tribulation clouds.

Verifying it would require some testing, but Lex had no interest in doing that at the moment. Not only was he occupied with other matters, he had no idea what might be waiting for him on the other side. Since he suspected that this was something which could be accessed through cutting apart tribulation clouds, he could do some research on the topic first. It was unlikely that he was the first person to ever discover something like that.

He made a mental note to look into whatever happened, but it was not a priority at the moment. Fortunately, he had not triggered a sixth tribulation, which was great. He closed his eyes, and felt his body healing for a moment.

Despite taking some medication, he was far from completely healed, not to mention that his body was still catching up to his realm. Technically speaking, even his immortal body was still being formed.

Lex flexed his shoulders causing his bones to crack. He was a little stiff, but that was mostly because his muscles were cooked. They would heal soon enough.

”Mary, let everyone know,” Lex said, cracking his neck. ”Were waiting on word from Lilith. As soon as she gives the signal, all teams are to be deployed. But call back Dr. Best. I have an idea thatʼll require his help.”

Mary appeared in front of Lex, this time wearing a judo uniform with her hair tied in a pony.

”You know heʼll be cranky if you do that. Heʼs about to…”

”Yes, yes, I know. Thatʼs exactly why I want him to stop. Trust me, itʼll be worth it.”

Mary shrugged and disappeared.

Lex turned and looked in the distance where the purple dragon was watching, and raised an eyebrow. The dragon was stronger, though not by much. It was not enough to be a threat to Lex, but it was a little absurd for him to grow stronger for no reason at all.

Lex had to deal with him but, yet there was something else he had to deal with first. He sensed a familiar aura before from a strange metal ore he hadnʼt recognized, yet now he finally recalled where he had sensed it before.

Lex teleported over and looked at the shiny metal.

”Itʼs been a while Larry. Where have you been? Hiding from your girlfriend? Sheʼs not expecting, is she?” Lex asked casually. For a moment the metal was unreactive, but then there was a loud audible sigh, and the metal began to change form, turning into Lexʼs old, perverted friend.

”Single people shouldnʼt make fun of couples,” Larry said, his face forming before his body which was still forming. ”It makes you seem like youʼre jealous.”

Lex grinned as he sensed Larryʼs aura. He was at the peak of the Nascent realm himself, almost ready to go undergo the immortal tribulation himself. If this were back on Earth before everything happened, heʼd be the strongest human on the planet. Unfortunately, too many things had changed since then.

Before Lex could continue his banter, Larry threw Lex a vial full of green, liquid metal.

”Donʼt ask me what it is or where it came from, only Rafael knows that. But with this, you should be able to track down Jeffrey - at least thatʼs what Rafael told me.”

Lex raised an eyebrow. He was suddenly reminded of how Jeffrey hadnʼt been able to leave the zone because of a green glow on him. Was that Larryʼs doing?

”Just… do me one favor. Can you… can you find out about my family from him when you catch him?”

Larry didnʼt let his voice waver, but how could Lex not sense the immense pain in it. Unfortunately for him, Lex had already looked into that.

Without saying a word, Lex extended his finger and placed it on Larryʼs forehead, transferring some information via Mindmeld.

Jeffrey had already killed all of Larryʼs family long ago, but took DNA samples of all of them, and had clones of them made which he used as slaves for manual labor. He had suspected that he would meet Larry again, since he knew about Larryʼs ability to grow by absorbing metal.

His plan was to repeatedly kill Larryʼs family in front of him whenever he met Larry again, slowly agonizing him until he broke his mind. He had quite a comprehensive plan on how he would do that.

To Lexʼs surprise, Larry let out a sigh of relief as he closed his eyes.

”Itʼs better to know than to not know,” he said, explaining since he knew his actions would seem strange. ”Do you think I can come with you? To… to avenge them?”

Lex shook his head.

”Itʼs too dangerous for someone at your level, trust me. Even Iʼm a little weak for whatʼs about to happen next.”

”If I find any of the clones… what do you want me to do?” Lex asked.

Larry shrugged, and turned away.

”Let them be free and live however they want to live. Even if theyʼre clones, theyʼre not the same people. I… I have to go help Rafael with some things. Iʼll drop by the Inn when Iʼm free. We can catch up. It really has been a while.”

”Iʼll look forward to it,” Lex said, and let Larry go away. He felt sorry for his friend, but he also felt very curious about what Rafael was doing. There was more to his old teachers son than he realized.