The Innkeeper

Moon could not help but look towards the massive turtle that had just teleported onto the planet. Despite its size, it somehow looked cute and the way it talked was just adorable. Despite the gravity of the situation, she could not help but admit that she was having fun.

She turned towards Lex and poked him in the cheek once more. He had been ignoring all her pokes, not that she could blame him for it. But the fact that he was here, in front of her, in person, was the greatest. It was also why she kept thinking this was a dream.

Although she had met her siblings and even her parents through her clones, it was not the same as meeting them in person. Not to mention that since the Henali portal was disrupted, she could no longer maintain a connection to her clones which were countless lightyears away.

So it was nice to have pleasant company once more. Funnily enough, Lex's young appearance actually reminded her of older times, when everything was better. It was why she never even questioned why he looked this way.

"What's wrong?" Lex asked the turtle.

"There seems to be a fight going on in the distance," the turtle said. "This little egg was injured during the fight, which is why he is in such a rush to feed."

Lex looked back up at the night sky, but could not make out anything, not in the least because the World Eater now took up a large portion of the sky. In the distance he could see the Jorlam, but he could not even tell if what he was looking at was their body, face, limb or anything else. There was no way for him to detect what was happening. If there was a fight, it was too far for him to sense in any way.

"Can you calm the egg down and stop it from eating this planet?" Lex asked, perfectly hiding his anxiety. It was as if the result made no difference to him at all.

"It is just an egg. It has not been born yet. Everything it is doing is based on its instincts. I just need to calm it down and it will react accordingly. Honestly, who treats a baby like this?"

Lex did not respond, lest he mention that this baby just ate a star for a snack. Or that it was twice the size of a star. Or that it was currently on its way to eat them.

The turtle continued to grumble as it launched evaporating, glittery vines into the sky towards the World Eater. The space bubble around the planet which trapped all the atmosphere and temperature of the planet was no obstacle to the turtle's glitter, and it approached the massive egg at remarkable speeds.

Even though the egg was gargantuan, he had no idea how it could give birth to something that would eventually grow to the size of the Jorlam. He could not even imagine what they were fighting. Were they, perhaps, fighting amongst one another?

"Can you put the egg into hibernation?" Lex asked.

"That is what I am trying to do. It is too wounded and needs proper treatment. Just eating won't let it heal."

Lex nodded, and finally got around to look at the notification he got earlier.

New Quest: Some dutiful workers need to be nurtured. Accept a World Eater as a bouncer for the Midnight Inn.

Quest time limit: 24 hours.

Quest Reward: Model Star system

Quest failure punishment: 100 million MP

Remarks: Are you remarkably intelligent or just plain dumb? We might soon find out.

The failure for punishment wasn't too bad. His most recent quests had very dastardly punishments for failure, not that he ever failed. More often than not, his quests had punishments lately. This trend would continue until he completely paid off the system for the questions he asked. Or until he reached some critical threshold.

"What's the situation?" he asked the turtle, considering that the World Eater was still coming closer, and had not slowed down at all.

"The fight in the distance is dangerous. I instructed the egg to protect this world, and to bring it away from this place."

As if to confirm exactly what the turtle said, white clouds emerged from around the World Eater and approached the planet. The clouds wrapped themselves around the planet, like a leash, and then the World Eater began to drag the planet behind it. It was surreal. Even Lex was stunned. But of everyone who saw the situation, he recovered the quickest.

"So, now that the situation is under control, why don't we find someplace nice to talk? I know you are worried about the people on your planet, but a single message sent to them through spirit sense will be enough to calm them down. How exactly did you end up like this? And who did this to you?"

While Lex questioned the deflective little Moon, in the distance the Jorlam continued their fight. Lex could not imagine what the monstrously large beings could even be fighting if not each other. But that was because he did not yet understand the limits of power immortals wielded. After attaining a certain level of power, the size of the enemy no longer mattered. Of course, the Jorlam were strong besides just their massive size.

"The World Eater is being kidnapped!" a Henali warrior yelled, one of his many eyes locked onto the planet that had tied up the World Eater like a horse to pull a carriage.

"Who is it?" another yelled angrily.

"I can see him! It's Lex the dragonslayer! The rumors are true. He has returned, and this time he is kidnapping a World Eater."

"Dammit we can't let him get away."

But try as they might, even the Celestial Henali soldiers were unable to break free of the Jorlam. This was not a fight that would end easily, nor would it end any time soon.