Everything aside, all Lex had done was delay the decision about Mary’s body, and his secrets. But he genuinely saw no reason to stress himself out about something thousands of years away.

Yes, he definitely should plan long term. But as a result of his own cultivation technique, as well as his system, everything changed too rapidly. Quite frankly, in 3000 years, Lex either saw himself as an extremely powerful cultivator, far beyond what he could currently imagine, or he’d be dead.

He wasn’t ignorant of the fact that he quite frequently got mixed up in things way beyond his level. All it would take was one screwup, one mistake, and there would be no recourse. Lex was quite confident in himself, and he always took maximum precautions in everything he did.

One benefit of screwing up so often as a new cultivator was that now he was experienced in all the ways a situation could just go wrong. So he did his best to never take things lightly, and the occasional incident of his body blowing up aside, it was safe to say Lex usually had things under control.

None of that meant he was ignorant to the fact that he could still die. Even Mary herself, who had been a Dao Lord, and had the system at its full power, was pushed to the extent of enslaving herself to the system to survive. So then what gave Lex the right to be arrogant and so sure of his survival? Nothing.

As a result, while he did his best, he also wasn’t going to overly stress about something 3000 years away. He would think about it, he would come up with plans and possible solutions. But, for the most part, he was just going to leave it up to his future self to sort out.

For now, Mary had finally unlocked her projection, and could interact with the Inn and its guests at last. This was something that should be enjoyed and celebrated, instead of spoiling with discussions of things that might never happen.

"So now that we have those annoying questions out of the way, can we talk about something else?" Lex asked, since Mary wasn’t speaking.

"Oh? And what exactly do you want to talk about?" Mary asked, returning to her normal self.

"I feel like you’re able to talk more freely with me about things than before," Lex said. "Are the restrictions on you loosening up?"

Mary scoffed.

"As if. If anything, the restrictions on me have increased with the system growing stronger. No, it’s not me, it’s you. Ever since you returned from Abaddon, you seem to have gained a lot of silent authority with the system. The range of topics I’m able to discuss with you have increased by a large margin."

Lex raised his eyebrow. He could think of a few reasons why his authority might have increased. Completing a Joint quest could be one. His meeting with Interlink could be another. Even that blank memory of what had happened to him near the end could have been responsible for it.

"Well, there’s a bunch of things related to the system I’d like to discuss with you then... but for now, they’ll have to wait. Help me out a bit. The situation is slightly tricky right now, and I need to talk to someone about it... even if only to sift through my own thoughts."

Now it was Mary’s turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Go ahead, I’m all ears."

Lex leaned back in his chair, and gathered his thoughts as he prepared to chat with Mary. For so long, he had more or less been making all his decisions by himself that it actually felt a little odd to talk to someone about what he was thinking. But he needed an outside perspective, if only to see if he was missing something.

"First, I have a major issue. I think I’m being targeted by another system user..." Lex told Mary about the Go board, and how annoying and even frustrating it had been for him. Now, it was hindering him in a very real way for he felt extremely cautious about facing any true challenges while the board still existed.

Then, he went on to describe what his plan to deal with the Go board was. He also mentioned, briefly, Vera’s and Giselle’s issues as well. The reason he mentioned all of this was because... he wasn’t certain that what he was doing was the right thing. After all, if Vera was to be believed, and he most certainly believed her, then Rafael was about to lose all his friends, which would change his personality forever.

The thing was... all of Rafael’s friends also happened to be either Lex’s friends, or his acquaintances. It had been so long since he chatted with Alexander, that overly serious teenager, or Larry, that consistently perverted fellow. Although he wasn’t technically a pervert, just overly enthusiastic about all females, Lex felt much more comfortable describing him like this.

So Lex’s decision to not try and aid Rafael until he dealt with the Go board was a genuine, huge risk. He also felt a fair bit guilty just leaving them on their own until then. The only consolation he had was that Vera told him he had a few years before the fateful moment.

"Quite frankly, I think what you’re doing is the absolute best decision," Mary said, for once being very direct with her words. Usually, she only guided Lex into making his own decisions, helping him discover the best way to do that. It was rare for her to be so direct.

"A system is the only weakness another system has. You can’t anticipate how that Go board might be able to interfere with your own system - if it really is a result of a system. Getting rid of it should be your absolute first priority - you can’t help others if you can’t even help yourself."

Lex nodded. While not exactly that, his own thought process was somewhat similar to what Mary had just stated.

"As for the situation with Rafael, I have a few thoughts. You don’t need to act, but you can gather information about him and his circumstances. He’s on the Champions Tourney, which means that a lot of people are watching everything that happens. You can have the Midnight Newsroom gather information for you so that whenever you do decide to intervene, you have a much clearer idea of what you can do."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Lex acknowledged.

"The way I see it, completing your forge and then the karma bead is your main priority, but it won’t be easy. Revealing some of the auction items for next year, and revealing that they can only be traded, not bought, is a very good way to get your hands on the treasures you need to make the bead. But you can further capitalize on the situation, even more than you already have."

"Oh? How so?" Lex asked curiously.

"By utilizing the two tools at your disposal that you are actually ignoring," Mary said. "Your instincts are incredibly powerful, but you’ve stopped relying on them because too often you are faced with cultivators so strong that your instincts can’t account for them. But now that the Inn has undergone an upgrade with all its services, using the Meditation room can more than make up for many of the shortcomings of using your instincts. Probably."

Lex chuckled. Probably? That sounded like something he would say. It seemed like after spending so much time with one another, they were starting to rub off on each other.

"Alright, I’ll go try out the Meditation room soon," Lex said, assuming that was the end of the conversation. It was not.

Mary hesitated for a while, but then said what she had been holding back.

"You can also make use of me and my new presence. You can also... probably get Liz to help you out with a lot of your problems."

At this point, Lex paused. He could tell that what she wanted to say originally was that he could also ’use’ Liz. Instead, she had wisely rephrased that sentence.

Lex almost immediately wanted to say no. He did not want to involve Liz in any of his mess. But then he stopped himself. In truth, not taking her help would be one of the stupidest things he could do, even if his ego required that he keep her out of harm’s way.

It was an inevitable truth that she was fused with a Sovereign. Even if she didn’t rely on Nemo’s own power, just by growing stronger herself, she could be an amazing asset. More importantly, Lex even knew the perfect way to use Liz if he really had to. It did not involve combat.

Instead, it involved using her for her actual skills that she had learned at Ventura, and while working for her parents. It was to have her interact with people, and get the outcome he wanted. Her understanding of the dynamics of power were genuinely extremely detailed, and she had managed to hide herself from immortals as a mortal for many years. She was nothing if not resourceful.

With the right kind of backing and support, she could achieve wonders. If she was on Lex’s team, helping him achieve some of his goals...

Lex sighed. As an older brother, his instincts were to protect her and just let her live the perfect life. But that was impossible. He had to overcome his own faulty instincts, and let her help. That was all assuming she wanted to help in the first place.

If he could get her help in mobilizing the prestige of the Inn and negotiate on his behalf with certain groups... the result could be phenomenal.