Chapter 1852  Two favors

Lex wasn't sure how to respond. Should he express his sorrow, his regrets? Or maybe he should take it normally, for Giselle certainly didn't seem keen to express any emotions while recalling her past. Maybe he could express anger or hatred towards those who had wronged her.

Or he could tease her.

"That explains why I caught you so focused on saving kids back on Polebitvy. I thought that maybe you… no, never mind."

Giselle's expression suddenly turned deadpan as she glared at Lex.

"What did you think?" she asked, her voice suddenly devoid of all emotions.

"No, no, nothing. I thought nothing," Lex defended himself as he raised his hands, giving up.

"No, tell me. What did you think? Why did you even consider it unusual that someone was saving kids? Who sees kids in an apocalyptic situation and doesn't save them?"

"No, honestly, I didn't think it was strange or suicidal at all, and that if I didn't save you, everyone would die. I never thought that!" Lex responded, trying but failing to hide his grin.

"You save me? Excuse me, from what I recall, I saved you!"

Lex laughed and agreed with her, as if that's exactly what happened, but the more he agreed with her, the more agitated she became, as if sensing sarcasm. For some reason, seeing her irritated gave Lex a deep satisfaction that he could not explain. Eventually, though, the both of them calmed down.

"Jokes aside, I'm sorry you had to go through all that," said Lex, finally acknowledging her past. "But more than that, I'm greatly impressed by who you chose to become in spite of everything you went through. It… must not have been a feat so easily accomplished."

Giselle did not respond, not for a few seconds at least. All the energy she had summoned to fight Lex's twisted recollection of events slowly faded, as she too acknowledged all that she had been through… and the oddly warm feeling Lex's praise filled her with.

Giselle suddenly scoffed, turning her eyes away from him, unable to stare at the sincerity in his eyes.

"Stop trying to butter me up. It won't work. Now, what were the favors you wanted from me? I need to see if I'm able to do them because I have a busy schedule ahead of me, you know. I've spent a long time away from the Champions tourney so I've surely lost all chances of winning it, but I must still make it to the final stages."

Lex smiled, but didn't dwell on the matter.

"I have two favors to ask you, but you can fulfill both at the same time, really," said Lex as he picked up the letter he was writing and folded it into an envelope.

"In the champions tourney, I have a few friends. Alexander, Larry, Rafael… a bunch of guys, really, but they should all be together. They're about to seriously overestimate their abilities and get killed - I would greatly appreciate it if you stepped in at the critical time and saved their lives. I just want them to learn a small lesson about overconfidence.

"While you're at it, there should be someone named Marlo there. Please give him this letter, and tell him it is from his former student, Lex. Just make sure he gets the letter, and that should be it."

Giselle grabbed the letter and paused. At a glance, it seemed like something entirely ordinary, but holding it she could feel the intensity of the power contained inside it. This was no ordinary thing.

"You sure you don't want to deliver this yourself?" she asked, but Lex sighed in response.

"I wish I could, but I have maybe days left at best before I am forced to break through my realm. I need to figure out where I'm going to do that, and a few other things as well. I expect that I'll be pretty busy after that, so I can't. I'll have to leave this to you."

Giselle raised an eyebrow, mimicking Lex's expression whenever he was surprised.

"That's very sensitive information. Are you sure you should be sharing that with people?"

Lex shrugged, not elaborating.

"I think when it happens, I won't be able to hide it so easily anyway," said Lex. "Besides, I totally wasn't informing you of it to let you know that I will soon overtake you in cultivation level once more. Nope, that totally wasn't it."

Giselle glared at him, but put the letter away.

"If you need a place to go through your tribulation without attracting attention, I can give you a few suggestions," she said. "There's a planet made of pure marble on the edge of the mapped realm in the Origin realm called Thassos. Instead of a traditional core, the planet has a strange structure in the center that acts as a gate leading to some unknown Minor realm. That place is completely isolated, and entirely untraceable. A few hundred thousand years ago, the Henali discovered some valuable treasures hidden there, but since then the place has kind of just been left abandoned since there's no real security."

"That sounds… completely random," said Lex, imagining a planet made of marble. "I will consider it, but I'm not yet certain what I'll do just yet. I want to make the most of the situation, so there are many things I need to consider."

Lex and Giselle sat there and continued to talk for a while, talking about his upcoming tribulation, talking about her plans in the Champions tourney, talking about anything and everything.

They both instinctively knew that once they got up, it would probably be a while before they saw each other again, so they just sat there, talking. But even if Giselle had mastered time to an unbelievable degree, she could not stop it, so eventually there came a point where they had to say goodbye.

Lex did not leave the cabin once Giselle left, and instead continued to sit there for a while, just observing the Midnight Inn. He could not help but compare his life to hers, and discovered that all the difficulties he had been through, all the pain… their hold or influence over him seemed to have almost vanished.

Life had been cruel at times, but life had also been kind, and there was no greater proof of that than the scenery in front of him - or the warmth of another person on this bench that simply refused to fade. Or maybe it was just their memory that was warm, and no weather could ever affect that.