The Innkeeper

Panic set in, and Lex tried to withdraw his hand, but he was frozen still. He had no choice but to watch as the skin on his hand slowly turned gray, the color cascading up his hand. At the same time, the water from the fountain was quickly being absorbed, and by the time his elbow turned to stone, the fountain was empty.

Besides panic, Lex felt immense confusion because the difference between what he was experiencing and what his body was telling him was different. Pure and complete satisfaction filled him to his very core.

Before he could think further on the subject, his fingers cracked, and then, as if the stone had been nothing more than an outer layer, it started to fall, revealing his hand, completely unharmed.

A moment later, it was as if nothing had happened at all. Lex felt no mystical warmth run down his hand, or noticed any change to his cultivation or anything else. What just happened?

Unsure of how to react, almost instinctively, Lex clenched his right hand into a fist and punched the mountain wall. With a loud bang, his fist buried itself directly into the wall.

Now Lex was really surprised, because there was no way he was that strong. This entire mountain seemed to be one giant stone, carrying the weight of several other mountains. How could it be so fragile? Yet the evidence was in front of him.

He pulled out his hand to find it completely unharmed. He blew on his knuckles and dust flew off, revealing his unharmed skin. To test things further, he clenched his left hand and punched the wall to the predictable result of absolutely nothing happening. Let alone crushing through the stone, there was not even a single crack.

Excitement gleamed in his eyes as he turned to look at the now dry fountain. Oddly enough, there was no water source, so where had the water been coming from?

As if to answer his question, a single, smooth green pebble at the bottom of the fountain spurted out a single drop of water. When he touched the drop, the tip of his finger turned to stone once again.

"Haha, this is excellent," he said as he picked up the green pebble. It was considerably heavier than he expected, but still within a tolerable range. He took the water bottle from his backpack, drank it in its entirety, and then dropped the pebble in there. He had picked up something incredible without much hassle. Wait a minute, was it supposed to be so easy?

Lex looked towards the stone hut, but it seemed uninhabited. A brief investigation revealed that the hut was empty, with no indication of anyone having been here in a while.

Lex shrugged and decided to take a break before continuing. He had been wearing the crown for a long time, and could feel the strain on his mind. One power nap later, Lex left the clearing and headed towards the focal point. He did not notice, as he left, that the bottle he had placed the pebble in had turned to stone.

He picked up his speed now, even going as far as stopping his array practice. He had finished his water and had only a small amount of rations left. When he had packed his gear for this trip, he had packed enough with the assumption that he could supplement his reserves by foraging or hunting, but this realm had yet to show him a single plant and the creatures he encountered... were simply too disgusting to be edible.

But, with the crown on his head, and his thoughts much clearer, it did not take long for him to come up with a possible solution. He found it too coincidental that just as he tried to attune his instincts towards treasure, he found some yet had never given him any such indications before. The most likely possibility was that he could channel his instincts towards something, instead of relying on them to work on their own. Danger was probably the only thing that would automatically trigger them. To put this theory to the test, he firmly made his mind to search for food while he continued to journey towards the focal point.

Speaking of which, his journey was by no means simple or uneventful. The mountain was infested with 3 feet (0.9 meters) long lizards that had bodies as hard as rocks. Fighting them off was extremely tedious, as Lex could ultimately only use brute strength to defeat them. They were too numerous to attempt Evisceration on, as it would only target a single enemy at a time, and they moved and attacked too quickly for him to complete an entire array.

The ridiculous strength of his right arm ended up being his saving grace, and he became somewhat of an expert in this real-life version of whac-a-mole.

The lizards, of course, did not provide Lex with any meat once disposed of because as soon as they died, their bodies could crumble to dust. At least it provided him an opportunity to practice his newfound strength. That, alongside the fact that he had chosen enchanted gloves instead of a weapon, would make anyone think Lex had pre-planned this.

Several hours later, when Lex ate the last of his rations without finding anything to replenish his supply, he frowned slightly despite the crown dimming his usual emotions. It was not like he couldn't survive without food or water, just that he would continuously get weaker. In case he encountered a tough fight, it would put him at a disadvantage.

How he missed the days when he could just buy stuff from the gift shop.

With a sigh, Lex pushed away any distractions and picked up his speed. He made a mental note to ask Cwenhild if there were any storage space items or easier way to transport goods available for sale. The convenience of the Inns inventory was remarkable, but it was limited by the system's various rules. If he could get something like that without the restrictions, it would solve many of his problems.

Lex's journey through the mountains continued for another four days. He did not find anything to replenish his food supply or his water, and he dared not drink the water produced by the green pebble without testing it on another creature first. Instead, he repeatedly used the water to wash his body. Now, his entire right arm and left fist had undergone the strange process of turning to stone and converting back.

The boost in strength was extremely welcome, for he was beginning to feel weak otherwise. It was not severe yet, and Lex could last much longer due to the fact that he was a body cultivator, but undoubtedly the decline had begun.

But at last, on the final day, he approached the focal point. A massive arch was built right on the side of one of the mountains, revealing a tunnel that led deep within the mountain's core. The tunnel was littered with corpses of imps and trolls, and sounds of an ongoing fight could be heard from deep within.

The fact that someone had made their way here was within Lex's expectations. In fact, it was probably a good thing because he would have had real trouble facing so many enemies. Utilizing his arrays would have been the only option available to him.

Lex reached into his backpack and retrieved an item given to him by Cwenhild: a silver mask. Since they were doing something shady, they should follow the usual protocols and hide Lex's identity.

Putting on the silver mask, Lex proceeded into the tunnel, doing his best to avoid making too much noise. The tunnel, still well lit by the reflected rays of light, took Lex nearly half an hour to cross with his reduced speed, and opened up into a massive cave.

It was completely bare, giving Lex no option to hide from the battle taking place. Nearly 20 humans were fighting over 30 trolls, with no imps having survived the battle so far. Lex could not see the focal point, leading him to believe it was right in the center.

Tired, and more mentally drained than anything else, Lex let out a deep sigh. But, the next moment, he looked extremely energized as he used Hearts Marathon and dashed right into the fight.

He did not actually mean to participate in the battle which, alongside guidance from his keen intuition, allowed him to avoid most of the trolls. It was only when he reached the middle of the battlefield that his presence was noticed, both by the trolls and the humans.

But none of it mattered. In front of him was the focal point, an oddly shaped rock balanced perfectly on a metallic dais.

"Who are you?" one of the fighting men roared in anger, while a troll just screamed at him. Perhaps, if he had been well rested and fed, Lex would have taken the opportunity to deliver a quip, but as it was, he simply dodged all attempts to stop him and jumped at the focal point.

Like a mother hen protecting her egg, Lex sat upon the boulder and began channeling his spirit energy into it, while he held out both his hands and used Talk to the Hand, blocking all attacks.

Even the state of flow could not help him come up with a better plan, and only guided him how to best implement his stupid plan, which was to flaunt his defence for as long as it took.

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