The Innkeeper

The extreme and sharp sensation of mortal peril gripped Lex's heart, causing him to freeze lest a single movement provoke an irredeemable accident. Let alone move, he even halted his breathing and subdued his own heartbeat so that his presence would cause menial changes to the environment.

For the first time in a long, long time Lex felt the scent of death surrounding him. Whatever was in those barrels was exceedingly dangerous, and even the slightest exposure would outright kill him! There would be no steady decline, no time for retreat and treatment. It would be instant death. At least, that is what his instincts were telling him.

In fact, even sealed in those unassuming wooden barrels, whatever was inside seemed to be affecting Lex's health already. He felt his stomach lurch and grumble and an unbearable pain began to develop in his lungs.

But while the situation had suddenly turned extreme, Lex did not allow his thoughts to fall into disarray, nor did he panic. Calmly, as if he was in no jeopardy at all, he assessed the situation.

Other than the overseer from the Jotun empire and the head of the family controlling Polebitvy, there should be no Earth Immortals on the planet at all. Even then, both those immortals were restricted from freely displaying their power. As such, the general peak of this planet was considered the Nascent realm.

The fort, correspondingly, should also be of the Nascent realm, with formations, spirit tech and other treasures to ensure security. If that was the case, Lex was absolutely sure that whatever was in these barrels was overkill.

If the purpose of whoever prepared this trap was merely to destroy the fortress walls, he need not prepare such a deadly weapon. If this was meant to destroy the whole fortress, and not just the wall… Lex still felt like it was too much. There had to be some other purpose behind this tunnel.

Unable to gain any significant information, Lex used his spatial bangle and put on his Fancy Contact lenses in hopes that its database had some information. To his pleasant surprise, it was able to reveal something to him, though it was not as much information as he had hoped.

It had identified the wood used to make the barrels as Void wood. Void wood, according to the lenses' elaboration, was a generic term used for any kind of wood gained from trees that grew in the vacuum of space. The most common kind of void wood was from a species of trees that flew on comets and meteors and was resistant to high temperatures and radiation.

This kind of wood was extremely resilient, and was often used to store extremely hazardous materials, as it could even prevent the permeation of higher forms of spiritual energy.

Which specific kind of tree this Void wood was from was not mentioned, as the lenses could not detect it. If the specific tree was determined, then Lex could accurately gauge the danger level of this substance contained in the barrels, as the wood from different trees had differing resilience.

For a moment, he considered daring to take one of the barrels with him. If he stored it in his spatial bangle, it should stay safe, right? That way he could transport it to be identified later.

But he ultimately decided against it.

Spatial equipment all contained a small, relatively stable space in which items could be stored. But relatively stable was not the same as completely stable, or else even living beings would be able to enter spatial equipment.

Endless thoughts were running through his mind as he considered and discarded one plan after another, when he realized something. His left eye's ability, which he had gotten so used to ignoring, picked up on something.

Yet as exactly one second passed, Lex felt the urge to cough. He suppressed it to the best of his abilities, but he could feel the sensation building up like a volcano. With his health deteriorating fast, Lex decided to withdraw as quickly as possible.

Once again he used the In-Law effect and teleported away. Since he no longer needed precision in his teleportation, he teleported far away from the hill so he no longer needed to concern himself with hiding.

Finally he allowed himself to cough, but that brought only pain instead of relief. He merely coughed out some blood at first, but then the situation only got worse until he felt something rip inside his chest, and he coughed out a piece of his lung!

For a moment the gruesome sight of his innards haunted him, until the sigh became even more horrific. All the blood he had coughed out turned green, and the piece of his lung began to rot right before his eyes. In seconds, nothing was left except for ash.

Fortunately, the feeling of illness faded, and Lex no longer needed to cough. He felt weak, as if all the energy in his body had been drained in the fight against some disease.

Whatever was going on, it was a lot more dangerous than Lex had assumed. Only a few days ago he was walking freely and confidently, thinking that he would not be hurt so easily, and yet today he nearly died inexplicably.

He recalled what he had seen from his left eye. Some green particles were escaping from the barrels, yet neither his normal eyesight, his spirit sense or the contact lenses had been able to detect them. But the source of his sickness made sense at least.

He looked down once more at the place he had coughed out his lung. There was nothing left, or he might have tried to bring it with him so that the cause could be diagnosed.

Lex checked his surroundings and made his way to a relatively hidden place in the wilderness before teleporting back to the Midnight Inn.

While he had promised to help Alexander, he also needed to ensure he was in good health for the upcoming wedding. If all went well, he would once again resume his investigation after the wedding was over.

Moreover, he and Alexander had an agreement. Alexander would check in at the Inn every 20 hours in case Lex needed to make an emergency report. This way they could easily communicate without carrying any communication talismans or devices, which if discovered could cause problems.

As soon as he arrived at the Inn, Lex informed Mary to deliver his message to Alexander while he himself teleported to a Recovery Pod. To Alexander he had not mentioned much, and instead asked him to find Lex in the pod so they could talk face to face. His investigation had been short lived, and not so exciting, but at least he discovered something that might be useful.

He also checked his own status to see if the Inn could provide some information on his condition. Unfortunately, other than mentioning that he had an injured lung, it mentioned nothing else..

With not much else to do, he lay down in the pod and went to sleep. Since he had a technique that would boost his recovery while he slept, this would be the best way to spend his time.

Sleep came to him instantly. It felt as if only a bare moment had passed, and Lex had only just closed his eyes, when he was roused to the sight of an anxious Alexander standing above him.

"What happened?" Alexander asked, imagining the worst. "Were you discovered? Did they attack you?"

"Nothing of the sort, though I don't know if that's good or bad," he said weakly. He was not sure how long he slept, but his recovery had barely begun. He still felt weak and exhausted, and in fact his body felt almost frail now.

Perhaps earlier it was the adrenaline from the situation that kept Lex from feeling the full extent of his injuries.

Lex explained exactly what had happened, giving special emphasis to the only two matters worth regaling. The first was the mysterious woman, and the second was the incredibly dangerous and hazardous material stored under the wall. If Lex had to venture a guess, he would say that those materials were prepared to target an immortal, at the very least.

Since his condition was so serious even without any actual exposure, he couldn't even begin to guess how deadly the actual stuff was.

Alexander frowned. This was not exactly what he hoped Lex would find, but at least it was a start.

"While keeping your identity a secret, I'll share your report of the hazardous materials under the wall. If they truly are dangerous even to immortals, then we have to approach without arousing any attention. We cannot just go ahead and start digging, lest the culprit detonate it beforehand.

"I'll update you on any progress we make. Are you able to return once you've healed?"

"It'll have to wait a bit," informed Lex. "My own task is at hand."

With the wedding so close now, guests had already started to arrive in Babylon, and pre-wedding events had already begun. It was time he turned his attention to his most important quest yet!