As the Jolly Rancher approached the Valkyries, Jack nodded to them in passing. Though their wings were drastically different in size and power, there was a mutual respect between winged humanoids, especially since they were so rare.

Also, not only had he stirred the situation as soon as he arrived, he forced both the Inn and the alliance to acknowledge a situation that they had been previously ignoring. In truth, his actions may have caused as many troubles for the Inn as he had resolved.

As unfortunate as it was, he couldn’t use his identity of Jack to help out the Midnight Inn. He had done much to prepare the Midnight Inn for his absence. He had created departments and systems to keep things running while he wasn’t around, and had nurtured many responsible and mature assistants. He’d also tasked Mary to create her body, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be available to assist.

While she couldn’t pass orders in the best interest of the Inn while still being fused with the system, she could still offer some basic guidance. Once the Dream tavern was closed, the Inn should be removed from being exposed to trouble.

In silence, there should be Dao Lords from among the Henali and the Humanoid Alliance within the Dream tavern keeping it safe. Even if the Inn faced some troubles, it had to resolve them without him for now.

It would only be a few years at most. Compared to the Midnight Inn, it was Lex’s main body that was in the greatest danger. He had no idea how long that barrier he had erected around his body would hold up.

While he had estimates, he could not account for any tricks that enemy of his might have hidden. After all, if Lex could have guessed his strength from the get go, he would never have been trapped in the first place.

"Alas, the captain’s heart is too merciful," Bob lamented as he watched those three figures get left behind in the distance. "Perhaps knowing their mothers softened his stance, granting them their lives."

To Bob, every word spoken by the captain was unquestionable, so he did not doubt at all that the captain knew the mothers of those three rogues. Indeed, it was difficult to punish the children of one’s friends, even if they misbehaved.

His words were not muttered silently, and instead spread far and wide, letting the Valkyries and even the three hidden figures to hear them.

Jack steeled his heart. In truth, by going to the Midnight Realm, he was also returning home. That is where his identity as Jack had been born. That is where he encountered Ollie, the Shadow Talon, not to mention where Tiny-Sparkles and the Crystal alligator had come from. Their connection to the Midnight Realm was undeniable - it was just the Midnight Inn itself that they lacked a concrete connection with.

"Do you feel like taking a look at home before we depart?" Jack asked, turning to look at Ollie and Tiny-Sparkles. Ollie silently nodded, but the unicorn was entirely uninterested.

"In that case, make it quick. We have many things to take care of. In the meantime, Longbeard, go and sell all the collected spoils that we don’t need. The rest of you, stay on the Jolly Rancher. The less attention we attract here the better. The Midnight Inn is not the kind of place where we can... act as we usually do."

The crew seemed somewhat disappointed by his words, but they didn’t mind. Bob, however, felt a little hesitant. He had not returned to the Midnight realm in a long time. He wasn’t sure what condition the rest of his race was in.

While he himself was very strong, individually, the Drama-cats were actually quite weak. He wondered if... oh well, who cared? Things would be fine.

Unfortunately for Jack, things were very much not fine. The moment that the ship entered the Dream Tavern, and they came into contact with the laws of the Midnight Realm, Bob’s return caused a massive phenomenon across the Midnight Realm, attracting the attention of all the guests, including the few Dao Lords who were present as guards for the Dream realm.

The image of Bob, dressed in a long, regal suit alongside a long, purple cape that was more than triple in length than his height, appeared for them all to see. Besides that, he was holding what, at first, looked like a long, golden staff. However, upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be a steaming baguette.

Ordinarily, the upper limit of a realm dictated how powerful the residents of the realm could be, as well as how powerful the Deities born within that realm could become. The rules applied a little differently to Bob, however, since he was the Deity that personified both chaos and entropy, among other things.

All the Divine energy that he had accumulated throughout his adventures - the very Divine energy he used to determine his cultivation level at will - surged out of him and was fed back into the Midnight realm, positively affecting it.

The laws of the realm began to evolve and grow rapidly as they were fed by the Divine energy feedback. The presence of the Sun crow had already been affecting the realm positively, not to mention the many upgrades to the Midnight Realm Lex had applied through the system panel. With the addition of the Divine energy feedback from Bob, a tipping point was crossed, and the upper limit of the Midnight Realm suddenly transitioned from the Earth Immortal realm to the Heaven Immortal realm!

Such a change was usually something gradual, but this time around it happened so abruptly that everyone was taken by surprise.

All the Dao Lords stared at Bob in shock, for this was not the kind of thing they had ever heard of before, or even imagined. As if to make matters even more absurd, Bob looked somewhat embarrassed, and stared at the Fairy nervously, as if he was in trouble.

If all of that wasn’t enough, everyone was aware that this group had just been stopped outside the border of the Dream tavern. While they all knew of the probe, they had been ignoring it.

After all, recently, a strange rumor had begun to spread stating that the Innkeeper was not actually inside the Inn. Everyone wanted to know if that was true or not.

While they could not get a firm confirmation of that, the appearance of such a phenomenon was almost like a firm reminder to them from the Innkeeper. Even if he was absent from the Midnight realm - which was not yet confirmed - he was still very much capable of influencing and affecting it.

Jack watched everything with an impassive expression. Oh, so he had accidentally caused the realm to advance again. So much for his plan of passing through without connecting himself to the Inn.