The Innkeeper

The first obstacle he faced was actually locating the resin. Although, technically speaking, he had already received information about its location, practically speaking he only knew its general location. Even then, the general location spanned countless thousands of miles.

His instincts couldn’t guide him either, as unlike the creature he had locked onto before, the resin did not reveal any aura for him to detect. As far as he could tell, every bit of resin within the entire realm was actually sealed or suppressed in various ways, which is the only reason the resin could even form, not to mention survive.

At least on Menara, the Tree of Heaven, as the locals called it, had discovered a few random bits of resin with its roots that spanned nearly the entire continent. Since then it had been hunting for the resin actively, so if even a bit of resin aura had been revealed, it would be tracked down and captured.

Lex recalled all the information he had on its location, and noted down some key landmarks that would help him track it down. The most notable landmark he recalled nearby was a vast region filled with geysers. He did not know if he was going to encounter any locals on his journey, but some friendly locals to help point the way would be most welcome.

He spent some time trying to fix a location he would teleport to, hoping that his instincts would guide him in a certain way. But whatever seal covered the resin must be extremely powerful, for no matter how long he waited, they stayed silent.

Eventually, he just had to pick a location and teleport. When he appeared, Lex found himself completely drowned in grass. He had to fly up a bit to get a view of his location. As far as the eye could see, Lex saw countless small hills, covered on tall grass with a few trees here and there.

A survey of the region with his spirit sense revealed countless wild animals and beasts, but not much else. He compared his location to the map he had in his mind, and discovered that he had not even traveled half as needed. Probably. If he was reading the map right.

A bird flying by paused for a second to observe him, as it had never seen anything like him. Lex waved, then teleported away.

This time, he could tell that the hills were gradually turning in plateaus, with countless rivers snaking through the valleys. There were more trees and in the distance Lex could see a forest. As far as he could tell, he was making progress in the right direction.

Lex teleported again, but this time was surprised to find himself in a busy street! To his great surprise, he had teleported right into a massive city. All around him were lumbering giants that looked like a cross between a leopard and a hippo.

Compared to them, Lex was as small as a fly. He flew up higher into the sky to get a good view of the surrounding area, and saw a city larger than he had ever seen before. Massive lakes and forests had somehow been incorporated into the city, probably serving some integral function, but Lex didn’t care about that.

He was completely lost, as nothing in his mental map showed such a sprawling city. He might need to ask one of the locals for help. He hoped they weren’t xenophobic. For this, he used his instincts to guide him to the best possible target.

When he finally found a suitable target he flew on over and extended his spirit sense to encompass the massive leopard-hippo. Leoppo? Hippard? Whatever.

“Excuse me, I’m a little lost. Could you help me with some directions?” he asked, politely. He was hoping to break from his history of getting involved in ridiculous incidents.

Hippo-leopard, who had been staring through what looked like a window for a clothing shop, turned and looked around, but could not find who was speaking.

“Hello, yeah, this is me. Can you see me waving? I’m floating right above your snout.”

The Hip-leopard was started when it finally narrowed in on Lex, whose entire body was smaller than just its eye. It turned its head, thoroughly confused as to what it was looking at.

Despite its massive body, Lex was not too concerned about being in any danger, for the creature was merely in the Foundation realm. It was just that its size was humongous, which presented a problem while communicating.

“Yes, you’ve got it right. You’re looking at me. Hi, my name is Lex. Could you help me with directions?”

“Is this some kind of joke?” The hip-leopard asked. “Did someone put you up to this? Yes, okay fine, I know I’m a little small for my age. There’s no reason to make fun of me for it. Sheesh. Size isn’t everything you know.”

“I.. uhh, I don’t understand what you mean. I’m just trying to get some direction.”

“Oh, sure you don’t understand. I’m certain it’s a complete coincidence that your name is Lex and that you found the only other Lex in this entire town? Don’t tell me, is your last name Williams as well? Were you abandoned by your family too? Do you run a small hotel to make a living just like me?”

Lex – the human Lex – was stumped. He looked left and right for any hidden cameras, though obviously he knew there weren’t going to be any. Then he finally looked back at the massive creature. Now that he thought about it, compared to the rest, the leopard-hippo Lex did look much smaller. Almost as if he were… a baby…

The human Lex started to scratch his head. This couldn’t be happening. Was he having some kind of a seizure?

“Fine, fine, whatever, I’ll play along. Tell me where you want to go?” the creature Lex asked.

“I uhh… I was looking for a region nearby covered in geysers.”

Creature Lex looked at human Lex skeptically, with narrowed eyes. In the end, it decided to play along.

“Alright well, take a seat on my shoulder. I know where you want to go. As it turns out, that’s where I’m going too.”

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