The Innkeeper

"Mary, I have a general information question for you," Lex asked as his gaze was stuck up into the dark sky. "What is the cultivation level of a Jorlam? Just, like, generally speaking."

"Across the whole universe, as a species, I'd say they're in the top ten, which is saying something considering they have no real allies and literally everyone just does their best to kill them as soon as they are discovered. The problem is they have no cultivation levels, just maturity levels. That means all they need to do to become Dao Lords is eat and grow up. I don't think there is any other race in the entire universe that has destroyed more realms than the Jorlam, all because they literally just ate the whole realm."

It was difficult to be sure, considering the scale of their bodies was something he was still trying to comprehend, but Lex felt like he counted at least three Jorlam besides the World Eater.

"Good to know, good to know. Anything else interesting about them? They're probably not into friendship bracelets, right?" Lex asked as he began to pull out various items from his spatial bangle.

This was exactly why he liked being locked up in the Midnight realm. Lex began to suspect that his real affinity was not for laws, but for attracting ridiculously powerful beings.

"Friendship bracelets? No, why would you- Lex... Lex have you run into a Jorlam?" Mary asked, even as her holographic avatar appeared on his shoulder. But since this was outside the Inn, she could not gain a lot of information. At most, her sight was similar to that of a mortal.

"No, no, not a Jorlam. More like three or four of them, and a World Eater."

Lex summoned an entire tank containing spirit elixir, which contained a lot more energy than spirit stones, followed by numerous Void stones and space crystals.

"Lex, if you're trying to teleport away, don't," Mary suddenly said. "You cannot compete with them when it comes to laws. If you try to teleport away, you will only attract their attention and chances are they'll stop you. Your best bet is to camouflage the energy readings of the planet and hope they ignore you."

"Best bet? I wouldn't say so." A hint of madness flashed in Lex's eyes.

Although this is not what he wanted to use it for, Lex had the Chamber of Rebirth prepared back in the Inn just in case he needed to use it for Moon. If the situation deteriorated rapidly, he'd just protect her soul, teleport it back to the Inn and fling it in the Chamber of Rebirth. As long as even a sliver of her soul remained, the chamber would be able to bring her back to life.

But that was only Lex's contingency plan. Now that he had himself in this dire, dare he say almost fatal, situation, he was actually quite calm. It was much easier to deal with this situation than suddenly being faced with his youngest sister, who was now biologically older than him.

"One last question. You said that Jorlam are in the top ten species in the universe. Does that mean they're still below the Sovereigns?"

"Naturally. Sovereigns are above the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. The universe itself bends to their whims. The only reason they don't rule all of existence is because, well, they rarely care about such things."

"Yes, that's what I thought. Hey system, would it be more impressive to receive a World Eater as a guest or as a worker?"

Lex heard a familiar sound, signifying a notification, but before he could look, Moon poked him again.

"Lex, you have that look on your face again. The one that makes me think I should stay far away from whatever you're about to do."

"Don't be ridiculous, Moon. I never do dangerous things. See, I'm preparing a formation that will hide the planet from view."

Lex teleported around the planet, bringing Moon with him as he set up the aforementioned formation.

But realistically, he doubted any formation he could conjure up could hide the planet from those monstrosities.

The World Eater, as massive as it was, moved at incomprehensible speeds. It had only barely finished swallowing a star, and it was already moving towards one of the planets that orbited it, ready to devour it once more. In a matter of minutes, it had already reached its nearest target.

Lex didn't even need his screaming instincts to know that it would be the turn of the planet he was on.

He planned on availing the turtle's help, hoping that it could somehow command the World Eater away. It was a foolish plan, but it was the best bet he currently had. Unfortunately, Yildirim Utopia had not yet been linked to the system, so he could not teleport others to it yet. Fortunately, he had already thought of a way around this conundrum.

"So Moon, while we wait, why don't you catch me up on everything? How did you end up on this planet? When did your soul get fused with it? That sort of thing."

Moon looked at her brother and couldn't decide whether the situation was hilarious or horrific.

"Is this really the time for that, Lex? I… I don't think your formation will hide us from the World Eater. Why don't you try teleporting the planet again? There are more spirit stone mines."

"Oh, I'll try teleportation if it comes to that," Lex said. "But I think that might not work out so well for us. But don't you worry, I have other plans. We're perfectly safe. Everything's fine."

Moon could not help but look at Lex oddly. A part of her still thought she was dreaming, and another part of her still thought that if the worst happened, Lex could still escape to the Inn.

"Then how about we calm the people of the planet down," she said, unwilling to broach the topic of her imprisonment? "They're probably extremely worried and confused."

"Yeah, I suppose that's something we should do," Lex said. "Make sure no one does anything drastic."

On the other side of the planet a wooden tavern appeared.