Chapter 1152: Kindling dragonfire

Z froze, and Lex kept smiling at him. For a few moments they maintained this state, until eventually Lex chuckled.

"Ah I guess you're going to be too busy to be working at the Gamer's Den from now on, huh? Maybe I should start looking for a replacement."

For a moment, Z narrowed his eyes and looked at Lex.

"Since we're all working for the Inn, shouldn't the person with the higher cultivation be running the shop?" he asked, feeling Lex's cultivation level. Technically speaking, Z was the first original Inn employee to become an Immortal. Anita and Qawain didn't count.

"Oh, you're right!" Lex exclaimed, agreeing too quickly. "But I think your statement should be amended a bit. It's not the person with the highest cultivation level, but the strongest person who should be the boss. So, what do you say? Shall we have a small spar while we wait for the others? Winner gets to become the boss of the Gamer's Den."

Z quickly looked down at the floor while taking a seat. Only a maniac would fight Lex. Z was now much stronger than he used to be, and with his tenets now allowing him to perceive the laws of the world, he could sense just how ridiculously strong Lex was.

Instead of binding him and chaining him down, like laws did with literally everything in existence, the laws bent around Lex, as if his existence put a physical burden on something as abstract as the laws that governed reality.

What's worse was that Z knew Lex was in this state because one of his seals was probably broken. Only when all of his seals were in place would he return to appearing like a normal human being.

Of course, there was one more reason Z did not even remotely entertain the idea of trying to fight Lex.

"There's a matter I want to consult you on," Z said. Over the past few years, Z had been very popular at the Inn. He had always had a helpful personality and liked being of service to his coworkers as much as he could. It was one of the reasons why he was called the big brother of the Inn. But when Z himself needed help, he usually turned to Lex, who had proved himself not only exceptionally powerful, but very knowledgeable.

"Go ahead. We have some time before the others arrive, so if you have any problems adjusting to your new realm feel free to ask."

"It's not my new realm that's causing an issue, it's something else. You know that at the Temple of Fasting I accepted someone's heritage, right?"

"Yes, it's been mentioned once or twice."

"Well, once I became an immortal, I awoke some of his memories and learned more about him. His name was Zarek, and he was the eleventh human ever to exist in this universe. He was a warrior king who conquered an entire realm in the early years of the universe."

"Sounds impressive," commented Lex.

"He does seem like it. But there's an issue. The memories did not come from the heritage, because the heritage was compiled by his descendants after he already died. The memories... they came from my blood."

That... caused Lex to pause. This was something he had not expected. But it was not necessarily an issue. So then, why did Z seem troubled?

"I don't see the problem. If you awakened his memories, then chances are high that he might be one of your ancestors. That seems like a good thing, don't you think?"

"Yes but... I have no parents, no ancestry," Z said, looking troubled. This statement also troubled Lex, because this was the first time one of the Inn workers who had been created by the system directly acknowledged the fact that they were not exactly of typical origin.

It was almost as if there had been some kind of mental block keeping them from considering such things so far, but becoming an immortal allowed them to overcome that block. Or at least that was the case for Z. Whether this situation occurred again would need to be observed with the other workers.

"Is your ambiguous origin causing you distress?" Lex asked. If this was going to be a problem, it would be best to address it directly. Considering that he had hundreds of thousands of workers, coming up with a lie would complicate issues, so it would be best to stick to the truth.

The Innkeeper had brought them to life to run the Inn. Not only was it the truth, but it was the premise upon which they had lived their entire lives so far.

"What? No, not that," said Z. "I know that the Innkeeper gave me life. How that came to be is not the issue. The issue is that Zarek, based on the few memories I saw, was not exactly the kind of guy to just roll over and die. I'm worried that these awakening memories might be some method Zarek put into place to come back to life... through me! By taking over my body and soul."

It seemed like they were covering all the big questions today, such as where babies, or rather Inn workers, came from, and what happened after death. Truthfully, death was actually a topic Lex had looked into as well, for he wanted to know what the consensus for life after death was among cultivators.

It turned out that there really was heaven and hell, though that is not where people went to after they died. To enter heaven or hell, the person needed to be very much alive. As for what happens after death, there was no one consensus.

Strictly speaking, death was the dissolution of the soul, so how could there be life after the soul ceased to exist? If Lex hadn't spent the past few years getting used to the fact that the rules of the universe were not as straightforward as he always believed, he too would have thought that after the soul stopped existing, there could be nothing.

Now, though, he wasn't too sure. For example, ghosts really did exist, and they sometimes did look like people who used to live. But that was only because ghosts were formed from the leftovers of countless souls merging together. Technically speaking, wasn't that a form of life after death?

"Can you block the memories?" Lex asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty easy. But it requires me to consciously block them, otherwise as my cultivation grows, they will keep on being unlocked."

"That's not a problem," Lex said simply. "You don't need to worry about Zarek, or anyone else, replacing you. However I will caution you against viewing the memories. You yourself have only lived a few years. If you end up absorbing memories that span hundreds or even thousands of years, then there's a huge chance that you'll be heavily influenced by them and forget who you are. Take things slowly, and if you do ever want to unlock the memories, do it under supervision. After all, as a warrior king, I'm sure Zarek had a lot of unique experiences which could be beneficial for you to learn about. But only once you've grown up a bit."

Z nodded, and put the thought behind him. As long as the Innkeeper knew about this issue, nothing would happen. But more than that, Z had a feeling that even if a problem arose, just simply Lex would be enough to handle any issue.

This new instinct was something he unlocked after he became an immortal, and even learned a bit about it. Apparently, instincts were like a hidden sixth sense that the human race had. All humans had them, but they needed to be trained to become effective.

According to some of the memories he unlocked, Zarek's instincts were so strong that he could prevent his greatest enemies from ever even being born by anticipating who they would be born from.

Z had learned a few other interesting things from those memories as well, but the most significant thing he learned was how to judge the danger someone represented.

That was exactly why he knew that although Lex, sitting in front of him, seemed just as amicable and calm as always, he was dangerously furious underneath.

Z sighed. It seemed like some people were going to die.

Just as he had that thought, the remaining three people they were waiting for finally arrived. Gerard, Velma and Luthor walked in, seemingly in a good mood. Gerard and Velma were chatting amongst themselves, and Luthor was also about to make some small talk, but when he looked towards Lex he sensed that something was amiss.

Luthor, who had thoroughly mastered the unique control his physique allowed over flames, could sense a fire burning inside of Lex, and it felt an awful lot like dragonfire.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting," Luthor said loudly, cutting the conversation between Gerard and Velma.

"It's no trouble. I didn't wait long," said Lex with a smile. "Since you're all here, I'll get right to the point. For the past few years, you've all been training your houses in their respective specializations. I have a small problem, and I think this could be the perfect opportunity to test out the houses of Midnight."