The Innkeeper

"Very eloquent way of avoiding the answer," Lex said, not letting his thoughts show. Of course, internally, he had already decided. Whatever long-term goals Vernan had meant nothing to Lex, for if everything went according to plan, he would be long gone by then.

This was because there was one very important detail involved in this transaction that was not mentioned, because it was considered common knowledge in the crystal realm.

Since everyone, at least in the academy, was a cultivator, they had a much longer average life expectancy than humans from Earth. The average academy graduate was a golden core cultivator, who normally had a life expectancy of around 250 years. Keeping that in mind, the average student spent well over 15 years in the academy before they graduated - since the course was much larger than then.

Vernan paused, then smiled. The more wary Lex was, the more Vernan liked him.

"The ideal situation would be for you to join the army," Vernan said finally. "But I can see that you don't like being forced, which is fine. My ultimate goal is to create as many experts at the highest level as possible, so long as they help the nation. Even indirect help from a single immortal is often worth more than a million Nascent cultivators efforts."

Lex did not immediately reply, and furrowed his brows as if he was considering something difficult. Internally, though, he was already planning on what classes he wanted to take. Vernan too was gloating in his mind for as far as he was concerned, his only objective right now was to have Lex drop his guard and agree to him once. So long as a precedent was established, getting Lex to follow along in the future would be much easier. His true purpose would be fulfilled then.

Eventually, Lex relented and decided not to keep the matter hanging too long.

"Fine, that is acceptable," was all he said before they began hashing out the details. Lex quickly thought of what his priorities were. He needed to accumulate energy, but to be able to go around exploring the first thing he needed was to increase his survivability. For that, he needed to get stronger.

He also focused on receiving more combat training, leadership skills, business management, learning more about the crystal realm and learning more about the Kraven in particular.

As much as he wanted to take even more subjects, such as a higher level array class, he ended up having to refrain for one very important reason.

Since he was taking more specialized classes, his basic academy covered allowance was no longer enough. He needed to pay some kind of tuition!

Lex had no way of paying for his classes with money, for he barely had any. Fortunately, during the expedition, he ended up accumulating some academy credit. He could pay for classes with his credits, but the more classes he took, the quicker he would run out of those credits. So now, other than taking classes, he had to think of ways to either make a lot of money, or gather more credit.

Those were all issues for another day, however, as at least during this next round of classes, Lex's tuition was covered.

After that was complete, they discussed Lex's reward. For all of Lex's contributions, other than just the academy credit, he received some of the spirit water as well. Currently, it would be poisonous to Lex, but if he absorbed it, the exact moment he broke through to the Foundation realm, it would boost his cultivation by a large margin.

Lex collected the small, sealed container with the spirit water and finally was free to return. He sent Amelia, his only close friend at the academy, a message from a new PT he got before he got on public transport and returned to his apartment.

He did not focus on how depressingly bare the apartment was, considering all his belongings were lost or burnt. Lex took a shower and then sat down on his bed. He had only one thing left on his agenda for today: cultivation.

Without wasting any time, Lex began cultivating because he was eager to know what his new limit was. But as the time started to pass, and from an hour it went to two, and from two to four, Lex never stopped cultivating. Not only was Lex absorbing Qi seamlessly, he even felt, to a degree, that controlling it within his body had become easier.

For a moment, around the time he was absorbing his 85th strand of Qi, he became confused. Something was off. Even if his cultivation grew a little, it should not have grown so much.

In Qi training, the goal was to absorb Qi slowly into the body, and start getting the body accustomed to the increased amount of Qi. This was a slow process. Even his meridians, the network through which Qi traveled within Lex's body, were being subject to spiritual energy for the first time, and so were supposed to be sensitive and could not…

Suddenly, he remembered what the Lotus told him. It had thought his meridians were too fragile, and so remade them with the alloy it found in the tunnel where Lex had been. While the Lotus had not been specific, Lex knew exactly what alloy it was talking about.

An adolescent Druk strengthened its body by absorbing various ores, but an adult Druk refined them into a special alloy that not only strengthened its body immeasurably, it was an excellent conductor for spirit energy - something they severely needed since having their body covered in metal made it difficult for them to sense the energy in the first place.

If that alloy had been used to reforge his meridians… it seemed, for all intents and purposes, Lex had already surpassed the Qi training realm, and all that was required now was for him to take the official steps.

Still, not taking any risks, Lex continued to cultivate at a stable, measured pace. If things continued at this rate then he would be in the Foundation realm by morning.

*****

Crystal realm, The academy, Perleen Building

On the top floor of the massive skyscraper, a chaotic party was taking place. There was a band playing live music, hundreds of students dancing, a fighting arena right in the center of the dance floor and hundreds of flying Thimble fairies, not only absorbing the ever present glare of the Sol birds, but replacing them with a mellow, auburn light.

The party was the subject of desire for tens of thousands of students, but the host was sitting in a private room, away from all the noise, watching the festivities through a camera. She was a young girl, maybe 17 or 18 years in age, with extremely prominent features.

While she had long hair, on the right side she had shaved all her hair off, revealing a tattoo of a wolf, curled behind her ear. She had a couple of piercings on the left side of her lip, a scar that ran across her jaw and down her neck, as well as clear green eyes.

Were she not radiating charisma and confidence, some may have considered her appearance too much. As things were, however, the worst thing one could possibly say about her appearance was that she only captivated them for a short while.

That, too, was only because anyone who got caught staring at her would usually have their faces bashed in - by her.

"Cwenhild, I heard some interesting news," said one of the dozens of followers she had. "It seems another one of your brothers has joined the academy."

Cwenhild gagged, as if to demonstrate what she thought about that. Cwenhild Cornellius could not care less about her many siblings even if she actively tried. While the whole nation swooned after her father, she actively hated him and she was not subtle about her feelings.

In fact, she had never even met the man.

"That's not the part that's interesting. What's interesting is… no one knows anything about his past, except that he's a war veteran and survivor of a Kraven invasion, facing off even immortals. Oh and, somehow, he managed to drop his last name…"

Before the follower could even continue, he felt himself lifted into the air.

"Who is he? Where is he? HOW DID HE DO IT?" Cwenhild screamed, not in anger, but excitement!

There was nothing of her usual dark demeanor, only the giddy excitement of a child about to open some presents. It had been a lifelong dream of hers to take up her mothers name instead of her fathers, but even she dared not drop the name, for fear of the consequences.

*****

Outside the Vegus Star System, on a Juggernaut ship

He was ahead of schedule, but that was the way he liked it. With the Jotun Empire claiming control over all three invaded Vegus planets, he could now turn his attention to his new task. Of course, he did not leave the planets unattended. Between soldiers, administrators, workers, educators and more, Ragnar had left some 30 billion humans behind to expand their presence and integrate the Vegus natives into their empire.

But that was all in the past now. His vision turned to the Command Carrier, the forward operating base for Jotun expeditions, and the ship that he commanded. The vessel was so large that it had to remain outside the star system, at a safe distance, lest it affect the gravity of the system and destroy the delicate equilibrium.

How would one even begin to describe the size of this vessel that he used to travel across and even between galaxies? A comparison could be made with planets. The surface area of the planet Earth was around 197 million square miles (510 million square kilometers) but just the ship hanger of this blimp shaped vessel, where smaller space ships such as the Juggernaut ships were parked, was bigger than that.

Perhaps another comparison could be made by comparing it to a star. If the command carrier crashed head on with the sun, it would continue to move, almost entirely undamaged, with the star being completely decimated.

To explain the size and strength of this vessel… to say it was beyond the comprehension of mortals was enough. How many barren star systems had been mined dry to make this vessel, even Ragnar did not know. For why would he care? This was just one of many command carriers owned by the Empire.

On the battlefield he was heading to, he would probably see more of them.

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