The Innkeeper

Lex knocked on the light-brown walls that rose to eternity, and they were pretty solid, as expected. When he tried to look at the laws associated with it, all he saw was an endless abyss, and felt an incredible strain on his eye, causing him to close it.

This place was obviously far from normal, but then again, it would have never been a part of the tournament if it were ordinary.

In fact, considering how unique this place was, Lex could not even imagine what had been left in store for the main tourney. Of course he had learned some details but that did not mean he knew everything.

Lex looked in both open directions, trying to determine which way he should go. His instincts weren't guiding him specifically anywhere, which meant that there was no underlying threat or danger to him in the area. But he didn't need there to be such a thing for his instinct to act.

He focused on the thought of a tower in the middle, and tried to get his instincts to focus on that. Yet, unexpectedly, it failed.

Unsure if the walls were interfering with his instincts, he put some distance between himself and the wall, yet it still did not react in any way. But when he tried focusing his instincts towards something else, for example food, it worked just fine.

With literally no hint towards how to solve the maze, Lex cautiously started to teleport in one direction. He kept his spirit sense spread, searching for other contestants or any sentient native beings. But all he found were numerous beasts and wildlife, none of them even remotely threatening. The strongest of them was in the Golden core realm.

But that did not mean he thought for even a moment that this place was safe. If it were, it wouldn't have been saved for the tournament that included the Origin realms best.

Yet as Lex continued to teleport, randomly picking a direction whenever he came across an intersection, minutes blurred into hours without him not only not encountering any danger, but anyone else either.

"This is not working out," he finally said after he had spent six hours teleporting continuously. He could not tell if he was making any progress at all as there were no markers or distinct features. The only way he even knew that he was not just running in a circle was because the ground of the maze was filled with various different landscapes.

He started out in a forest, but had already crossed deserts, oceans, islands, plains, mountains, and many more. It was as if the ground of the maze was one endless world, almost entirely populated by beasts.

After a moment of consideration, Lex decided to do something different. He tried using his instincts as well, but this time, instead of searching for the tower or for food, he was searching for other contestants.

The results were immediate. His instincts immediately began pointing him towards dozens of other people, though they were all incredibly far away. Yet instead of being relieved, Lex was troubled. Dozens seemed too few a number. In each of his previous trials, there were thousands. Lex tried again, but instead of searching for other contestants, he searched for one in particular: Giselle.

He was not looking for her because he wanted another chance to create a good impression on her or some such nonsense. Instead, he recalled how she had gotten to the pyramid before him back in the Temple of Frozen Dawn. She also had that mysterious watch which he hadn't been able to detect.

Clearly, she was extremely well prepared, and knew certain things about the trials. If he could work with her once more, then the chances that he could expedite the end of this trial would be much greater than they were.

As soon as he visualized her in his mind, the guidance from his instincts faded, leaving him feeling disappointed. She would have been a good ally to work with.

Yet just as he was about to search for the nearest contestant, he realized that the guidance from his instincts had faded, but not completely disappeared. It was as if there was something blocking her from being sensed, but it wasn't completely effective.

Not only did Lex not find that odd, he was reassured by it. Clearly Giselle was not simple, and the fact that she could nearly block his instincts from acting only supported that premise.

With a clear direction to head towards, Lex stopped holding back and increased the distance he would teleport to.

The odd influence of the walls which sucked away all abilities actually greatly diminished Lex's teleportation range at every intersection, but other than that he could move around freely.

As Lex watched the various landscapes underneath him change he thought it was a bit of a waste. He would have loved to explore this maze properly, but he had no time. He swore to himself that once he was strong enough not to worry about things, he would take his time and explore everything that the universe had to offer.

After all, the whole point of being strong was so that he could do the things he wanted. If he didn't have a whole list of things he was being prevented from doing because he was too weak, what would be the point in getting stronger?

Surprisingly enough, even with Lex teleporting with the greatest distances that he could manage, it still took him hours before he approached Giselle, which only spoke about the vast range that this place offered.

Yet once he arrived at the location his instincts were guiding him towards, they stopped working. It was as if she was in the vicinity, but his instincts couldn't find her. Beneath him was a vast, green plain covered in tall grass, shrubbery and a few clusters of trees here and there.

There was nothing specifically interesting about this place where he could start looking, so he began sweeping the general area with his spirit sense. He even stayed floating up in the air so that he was visible from afar, so that Giselle could spot him.

Yet his strategy was bound to fail, since Giselle was not in the plains, but in a ruins hidden underneath them.

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