The Innkeeper

Chapter 2299: The Innkeeper’s intentions

The process of the upper limit of a realm rising was not a small or quick event. It would not start one minute and cease the next. It required a thorough upgrade to each and every individual law of a realm, and then a subsequent feedback from the laws to the very fabric of the realm itself.

That meant that, for example, once the space laws of the realm were strengthened, the actual space of the realm also had to undergo a strengthening process. Since this upgrade usually happened over long periods of time, that shift was gradual.

In this case, since the upgrade happened so quickly, the subsequent feedback would be condensed into as short a period as possible without compromising stability. The existence of Primordial Sunlight meant that the stability of the entire realm had greatly increased, so the upgrades could take place at an unbelievable pace which is why so many Dao Lords were shocked.

To fuel such a change, a tremendous amount of energy would be required. Fortunately, the Midnight realm had a Chaos Sea, which was basically just a massive energy reserve in the form of liquified, somewhat stable Chaos Energy.

At the same time, the Boundless Boundary upgrade Lex had purchased for his Inn previously came into effect. Although the upgrade was far from complete, it strengthened the realm boundary of the Midnight Realm to allow it to become more stable and better absorb energy. This became a second source of energy for the evolution.¹

As it happened, the Tempered Rain evolution that Lex purchased also aided in making this evolution stable, so that the speed of its change did not compromise the foundation of the realm itself.

All those who could see the various aspects of the realm in action could only marvel at the depth and extent of the Innkeepers planning. Clearly, he had set this plan in motion long ago.

In fact, as the changes began to happen, the Dao Lords noticed another aspect of the Midnight Realm which had not been apparent until now. One of the upgrades Lex got was called Crimson Horizon, and its purpose was to make the Midnight Realm perfect in recycling energy.

What mattered more was the perfect recycling of energy, which kept the realm from losing energy out into the Void. Originally, that’s all they had noticed as well. Yet only now that the realms laws were being strengthened, and had become much more apparent, did they notice that this also trapped all the energy from tribulations within the realm!

While the strength of tribulations came from individual laws, the existence of the tribulations themselves was a result of universal laws, which is why they existed no matter where one was. That meant that every tribulation carried some influence of the universe’s laws - the very reason it became one of the best ways to enter into Arch-Heaven.

Yet the Crimson Horizon upgrade kept that energy from dissipating, absorbing it into the realm! This was one of the most valuable energy sources in existence, and the Innkeeper was using it to nurture his realm? The sheer audacity of it caused them not to feel awe, but dread.

Though they were all in the same realm, the very scale at which they thought and operated on was entirely different! It somewhat reminded them of Eclipse, who dared to preserve Primordial energy even after the Primordial Age had ended!

Once again, the Innkeeper had entered the limelight, and this time he had done it without even making an appearance.

Yet while most of the credit went to the Innkeeper, that was not really a good thing in such a time. If Jack had known something like this would happen, he would not have entered. Of course, he already anticipated that their return might cause some changes, but this was far beyond anything he could have expected.

Thus, all he could do was to ride the bull he had climbed upon, and hope not to get bucked off.

The retained an impassive face, as if he already anticipated everything, and was just passing through as if it were a random Tuesday. However, he knew that from now on, Jack would need to lay low for a while.

That was because his identity as an Earth Immortal fairy was bound to attract a lot of attention. He could already anticipate the direction the rumors would take, and he was, in fact, correct.

Since everything that happened to the realm was being attributed to the Innkeeper, then Jack was also being linked to him.

It was already well known that the Innkeeper greatly supported humans, and ever since he had started acting openly in the public eye, the humans position on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum had maintained a steady upwards trajectory.

Now, the presence of Jack insinuated that he might also be related to the movements shown by the Fairies as well. While their situation was far from being called a rise, the mere fact that a master strategist, and a savant of manipulating laws like the Innkeeper was paying attention to the fairies was enough to cause ripples.

It also explained why Jack had been so firm in his actions to the three hidden figures outside.

In a way, the probe could be considered successful, for it had revealed certain information to those paying attention.

By now, it was more or less concrete that the Innkeeper was in the same camp as the Humanoid Alliance, even if he was not directly partnered with them. Ironically, that gave certain members of the alliance greater courage to carry out certain discreet actions.

After all, minor matters would be unworthy of sacrificing the greater game for. That was the drawback of being aligned to certain organisations or even stances. It provided people with leverage.

Certain Sage races also took greater notice of the Midnight Inn. They even considered extending another probe towards the Inn to test the Innkeepers reaction, but then they stopped. Currently, there were more pressing matters that required their attention.