The Innkeeper

There was a heavy silence in the meditation room as a body without any skin, dripping blood all over the floor, gazed at a cracked, wooden ring. Without eyelids to blink, and without any skin to add any expression, his gaze was devastatingly haunting.

Lex was already planning on how he would deal with this dragon. Based on what he knew, the dragon would be extremely prideful. That in itself was not an issue, but what he needed to know was if the dragon could unseal its cultivation when it wanted, or if there was some kind of restriction.

The longer the silence continued, the heavier the atmosphere became. Lex did not repeat himself even upon noticing a lack of any reaction, for he was well versed in how to create a psychological advantage. Given that he was facing a being as remarkable as a dragon, even if it was only in soul form, he would need every advantage he could get.

Finally, after ages, the wooden ring vibrated weakly, and transmitted a message to Lex.

"My apologies senior. I just did not want your shedded skin to go to waste, I did not know you still had use for it."

The voice was very faint and squeaky, as if a newborn was trying to speak for the first time.

Lex was startled, but he immediately came to a conclusion that nearly made him swoon. The system's description stated that within the ring was a new being born from the fusion of the dragon's soul. Did that possibly mean the dragon was dead, and this newborn entity had merely inherited the dragon's name?

But he did not want to jump to conclusions yet. Anything was possible.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Lex asked, his voice still stern. Nothing of his thoughts could be determined from his tone.

"Senior, I… I don't know. According to my memories, in my past life my name was Pelvailin Ur Bahatna Gorgin and I was a mighty dragon. But I don't feel like a dragon… So in this life, have I been born as something new? But no, according to my memories from my previous life, that is not how the afterlife or reincarnation work.

"Senior, I… I don't know who I am, but I can tell you what I want. I can feel my body about to break. According to my memories of my past life, I can determine that my body is too weak to support me. If I absorb other things into my body, I should be able to strengthen my body."

Lex did not immediately reply, because the conclusion he was coming to was too good to be true. Could this ring have been the treasure that mystery man wanted Lex to find? If so, that would be remarkable.

If Lex's theory was correct, the dragon's injured soul had fused with the spirit born in this ring. Whatever the ring's original purpose was, it no longer mattered, for the ring was too weak to support the new spirit and so could not operate properly. 

But the most important thing was that the spirit had inherited all of the dragon's memories, or at least some of them, and had them available for use. That meant that a vast store of knowledge about the realm, the universe and the higher cultivation levels that Lex was lacking was now available to him, literally on his fingertips!

"Since Pelvailin was the name you used in your last life, there's no harm in sticking to it now. I cannot give you my skin, Pelvailin, but if you allow me to bond with you, I can provide other materials to you for you to heal yourself."

By bonding with it, Lex meant he would try to bond with the treasure. Spirit tech, weapons and treasures of a higher category could be bonded to a specific user. This way the user had greater and finer control over the treasures applications, and it could prevent others from stealing or using the item. After all, unless the previous user's bond is removed, someone new cannot bond with it!

"No problem at all, senior!" Pelvailin responded chipperly. It retained none of the pride and arrogance that it had in its 'previous' life, which greatly relieved Lex. After all, if it was influenced by its memories, it could harbor ulterior motives that would be detrimental to Lex.

In fact, he had still not dropped his guard against the ring. Anything could still happen.

He did not need to pierce his skin to get blood on the ring, one of the perks of being skinless, so he directly enveloped the ring in his spirit sense and began channeling his spirit energy into it.

He would have to leave a mark on the ring, and once the mark was complete his bond would be formed.

*****

The mystery man, who was watching everything from within his library, shook his head in an amused fashion. Not only had Lex not gotten the treasure he was talking about, Lex had not even reached the correct 'belt'.

But the blame for that, to a degree, probably went on him for not clarifying the location of the treasure. He turned his head to look in the place the actual treasure he meant for Lex was located.

Around a pedestal made of bones was a pool of fresh blood. All the others he had sent to get that treasure were already dead, unable to even lay eyes on it.

That was also fine, for the bones in their bodies would only be absorbed by the pedestal, making it stronger.

The mystery man did not have any evil intentions in sending them there. He did not want to send them to their deaths. He was just a little curious about what that pedestal was there for, as even he could not see through it, for now.

"Oh well, there's always next time," the man murmured and turned his attention elsewhere.