Normally, Vera was very coherent and thorough. Now, though, even though she was explaining, she was rushing through things and events, almost as if her speech was meant to serve as a reminder of something Lex already knew rather than giving him new information. It was almost as if she was the voice of the narrator who told the viewers what happened previously on the show they were watching.

Regardless, even if some crucial details were left out, Lex could gather what had happened. The star rank increase had affected everyone who was inside the Inn, and inside those who had the Essence wormhole, it made their connection permanent even though it was meant to be temporary.

It also seemed that the more energy of the wormhole they absorbed, the clearer the future they could see, as that would allow them to account for the actions of stronger cultivators.

Vera was doubtful of her fathers intentions, but had no choice to play along, even if she actually could see her own future.

"Alright, so tell me how I can help?" asked Lex. "Who is about to have his future changed?"

Vera shook her head.

"I don’t actually know the details. In fact, I don’t even know how you can help. In the future I saw, I merely shared the information with you, and you took care of things. We are searching for two people, as far as my father knows. So this is what I intend to do: I will share all the information with you - all of it - and then you will leave the chamber.

"Once you leave, I will erase all memory of me talking to you about this, and only leave a memory of you saving my life. This way, even I won’t know that I’ve revealed the secret of the wormhole to you. I don’t know why or how this helps, but this is the only possible way for me to escape my fathers plans - whatever they are. I still can’t bring myself to trust him."

Lex raised an eyebrow. This was pretty darn trusting of Vera, to leave her life in his hands. What was more important was that he didn’t even know how he could help her just yet, or what she even actually needed help with.

"We only have a limited number of hints about the two people we’re looking for. One of them is called, or actually, will be called the Herald of the Warbringer. He is extremely mysterious, and no one knows anything about him. The second, though, is pretty easy to look up. In fact, even I could find out his identity once I did some basic digging. He will one day be called Legionnaire Rafael, Hero of the Champions tourney."

Lex raised his eyebrow, and his expression changed a little. He believed he knew the exact Rafael that was being mentioned in this specific context, even if it shouldn’t have been him.

"The problem I’m having, or will have, is not that I cannot find the legionnaire. It’s that the legionnaire is about to have a pretty drastic personality shift when all his friends die in front of him. As long as his personality shifts, my future turns dark. But if I try to prevent it, he never becomes a legionnaire even though he manages to save his friends. That leads to other issues altogether.

"I had to use up a whole chunk of my essence energy just to see a future where I can avoid both situations, and that involves leaving this up to you. So please, Lex, for me, and for our future working relationship, you have to fix this issue. Whether I want it or not, my life is pretty wound up with the legionnaire and the herald, so I need the best possible outcome."

"I’ll handle it," said Lex, his voice carrying a tone of confidence within him, as if everything were under his control. "What can you tell me about the legionnaire? Can you tell me when his friends die? How much time do I have to save them?"

"I’m not sure of the exact time line, but it should be close to the end of the tourney. That means you have at least a few years before they die. The thing is, no matter what I did, I could not find out exactly how the legionnaires’ friends died. It seemed to have been covered up by some force, so something major must have happened to have caused it."

"A few years..." Lex murmured, tasting the words on his lips. A few years seemed like so much time to him, once upon a time. Now Lex didn’t even know if it would be enough time to finish up his own ongoing tasks let alone get involved in other ones. Yet he had no choice. Rafael’s friends were also Lex’s friends - he was sure of it. Or, well, at least he had a pretty decent relationship with Alexander. So was Larry, but Lex wasn’t sure if Larry would be with Rafael.

"I got it," Lex said, standing up. "If there’s nothing else, I’ll head on out. I have a lot of things to prepare, and if I want to make arrangements to help out Rafael, I can’t afford to waste any time at all. I’ll also see what I can learn about your father and his intentions."

"Thanks Lex, I owe you one," Vera said very seriously. "I will forget the other things, but I won’t forget that."

Lex nodded, and left Vera to erase her memories on her own. He was truly, genuinely swamped, and so as he stepped out of the chamber of secrets, he swore he could not afford any more distractions.

That exact moment, the first thing Lex saw as he stepped out of the chamber was Liz, his younger sister, pulling another girl into the chamber.

They froze. Lex had been somewhat keeping a track of Liz, so he knew that she was still at the Inn and enjoying herself, but what kind of mess had she gotten into? He’d have to check up on what had been happening inside the Inn.

Liz, meanwhile, did her best to keep a curse from coming out. Of all the times to run into Lex, this had to be the one time.