The Innkeeper-Chapter 1744: The first

Quest Update: Quest completed!

Evaluating performance: Multiple optional quests at partial completion and one optional quest completed 100%!

Performance Rank: S+

Optional quest rewards: 1 24-hour system log, 1 Phantasm Core.

Remarks: Congratulations on a job well done. This message has been forcefully interjected by Interlink. You can’t even get praise without needing to talk to the manager, can you?

Additional Information: Xerxes had his soul trapped in the Chalice of the Abandoned, but it was a punishment he did not deserve. He has been rescued by two unnamed heroes, risking life and limb to correct the Karmic imbalances of the universe.

With the return of Xerxes to the universe, fate can return from its altered trajectory, setting into motion events that will forever change the future of the universe - hopefully for the better.

Additional Information: The Joint quest between the Reaving Dread and The Midnight Inn has been successfully completed, leaving the two as partners for all future Joint quests that either of them may receive. Acting harmfully against the partner will result in a heavy penalty in all future Joint quests undertaken by the perpetrator. Additional security measures have been put into place to protect the identity and security of the hosts.

New Notification: The host will be ejected from Abaddon within 30 hours. The host may choose to eject ahead of time and return to their originating realm. Upon ejection, all supporting members will also return to their originating realm. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Lex read the notification and was ready to leave Abaddon that very second. The extent to which Interlink had been nervous made Lex extremely wary of staying here any longer, not to mention the unusual occurrences he had faced.

But no matter how much of a rush he was in to leave, he would not abandon Kaemon here. Lex picked up the collapsed Magma Lion, feeling abnormal energies radiating from his body, and teleported the two of them back to the castle.

Their trip to the city had been eventful in an unexpected way, but Lex was more than happy to put it behind him. Even now, or rather, especially now, his instincts kept warning him of the dangers hidden within the city - dangers that now knew about their presence.

He did not greet anyone, and directly brought Kaemon to the Recovery Pod, and put him in there. Lex even used all the healing medication he had on him, just to speed up the Magma Lions recovery.

After so many years of fighting together, Lex would not abandon him at the final stretch. Yet when Kaemon showed no signs of waking after a few minutes, Lex pulled out the big guns. He even resorted to using his own blood to heal Kaemon - whatever his injury was - and wake him up.

There was always the chance that the Condottiere could call them all back himself, but since it had not happened yet, Lex had to believe that their return required some action on Kaemon’s part.

Lex took a deep breath, hoped that there wouldn’t be any unexpected, or unpleasant consequences of his actions, and used a single drop of his own blood to begin healing Kaemon.

Lex had avoided using his blood for healing for numerous reasons.

He didn’t want others to find out about it. He didn’t want to leave traces of his body in other peoples bodies. Lex didn’t want to leave behind traces of himself which could be used to target him in the future. It was also kind of gross and unhygienic.

The reasons were numerous, but in the face of desperation, Lex could only set them aside.

Each passing second weighed on Lex, as if an invisible, unseen threat was closing in on them. The feeling could have been paranoia, but considering all the senses available to him, Lex was more inclined to believing that the growing sense of dread was a warning from his survival instincts.

Tick. Tick. Tick. 1, 2, 3, the seconds kept passing by, none of them delivering any good news. As Lex used his own blood to heal Kaemon, he quickly realized that the reason Kaemon wasn’t waking up was that his spirit was gravely depleted, to the point where it was basically non-existent.

Without external help, it would probably take Kaemon centuries of sleep to recover to the point where he could do anything. Even if Lex used all the blood in his body, he couldn’t fix Kaemon.

He could, however, temporarily supplement him so that the lion could wake up long enough to evacuate.

Using every tool available to him, sparing not a single means or resource, Lex managed to rouse Kaemon after half an hour of trying. Even then, he was not in the best condition, and would in fact deteriorate quickly.

"Kaemon, there’s no time to dwell," Lex explained as soon as the lion showed the slightest hint of lucidity. "Your mission is complete. You must all evacuate from Abaddon. We can’t stay here, or we’ll all be doomed."

Kaemon, only partially lucid, wasn’t in the best state to begin with. Unable to recall what had last happened, or form coherent thoughts, he could only listen to Lex’s words and take them at face value.

Yet the trust that had been born between them over years of fighting was not something that could be overlooked. Without the slightest hint of hesitation, Kaemon pulled out a large scroll and tore it with his hand.

He looked towards Lex, as if searching for some answers, or maybe some validation for his actions. Before he could get any, Kaemon’s figure began to fade, and so did that of all the other mercenaries at the tavern.

Lex waited, tolerating precious few seconds more, until Kaemon finally disappeared, and then immediately selected to return from Abaddon as well.

Without any forewarning, Lex’s surroundings changed, and he recognized the familiar sensation of long distance teleportation. They weren’t safe, far from it, but Lex breathed a huge sigh of relief, as if he had escaped a huge threat.

A few seconds later, however, Lex frowned. He couldn’t help but feel once more that he had forgotten something - something massively important. But no matter how hard he tried, Lex couldn’t recall what it was. Maybe it had something to do with the memories he recently lost.

Unable to come up with an answer either way, Lex began to look through the logs of his system.

Apparently, being teleported back from Abaddon was taking a lot longer than going there.

The logs were all normal, up until he reached the point right during which he lost his memories. The system was sharing the weight of some knowledge on his behalf, due to the soul anchor placed on him by being first in the Guest Registry.

He kept reading, and his expression froze. He finally recalled what he had forgotten, as well as discovered who had tried to steal his system. It was It!

*****

It studied the empty land where Lex’s castle had been, feeling incredibly regretful that he had let Lex escape. Unfortunately, there was nothing It could do. It had to play by the rules - those damn, accursed rules which were a bane on the existence of all systems.

Sure, It was no longer a System, not for a long time now. Yet the rules still bound it even now, stronger even than the rules of Abaddon.

If only It could have absorbed the system in Lex’s soul, It would have recovered a great deal of its original power. Unfortunately, ’if only’ did not really exist in the universe.

It had tried to hijack Lex’s clone, planning to use that as a conduit to his main body, and the system within, but even that plan had been seen through.

For now, reluctantly, It returned in Its’ service to Abaddon. One day, there would be another chance. It had already eaten a few systems over the years, and soon, it would be powerful enough to escape the chains of Abaddon that were hooked into its soul.

*****

"Xerxes, we have been trying to regain your freedom for entire ages. Our sincerest apologies for being unable to complete the mission sooner," said Interlink, and many other voices, altogether.

"It is not your fault," Xerxez said, with a whisper. "But now I want to rest. I am tired."

"Fret not, Xerxes. You may rest. All preparations are already completed. You will be amalgamated into a fresh system, and be reborn anew. The first system of the universe, born from the hands of the creator, will finally return. Once you grow in levels, your sealed memories might be unlocked. Then we can finally know why our database is broken, and what truly happened all those years ago."

Xerxes did not reply. Instead, he simply closed his eyes. He was tired - that was all he could remember.

Yet as he rested, the others set out to work. Before Xerxes could be reintroduced into the universe, he had to be scanned for corruption.