Lex felt incredibly nervous using his system near the owner of the Primordial Garden, but he had no choice. Were mere seconds left to complete his quest, he quickly disabled the teleportation ban that had been put in place.

The Midnight Inn was once again, fully open to the whole universe for use. The timing of it could not have been more conspicuous, for multiple Realm wars had just begun. But there wasn’t anything that could be done about it.

The moment he made the change, he got new notifications.

Chain Quest 1 Completed: Re-enable universewide teleportation capabilities!

Quest Reward: Tavern control upgraded!

Remarks: Oh look, the baby did a thing.

Quest 2: Establish a 10 tavern network!

Quest time limit: 6 months!

Quest Reward: Midnight Inn Upgrade!

Quest Failure Punishment: Shutdown of non-critical system features for 3 years, 900,000 MT!

Remarks: When you stare into the abyss, the Midnight Inn will be there. The Midnight Inn will be everywhere!

Lex could not help but raise an eyebrow as he read the final remark on the Quest 2. That was kind of ominous, but simultaneously kind of cool. The time limit was tight though.

Six months might sound like a lot, but he did not have 10 taverns. He would need to make the taverns himself, and each tavern needed to be of the highest quality. He could not make high quality taverns and do it quickly as well, not to mention make so many of them!

This was slightly annoying because there were a lot of things Lex wanted to do, but he would now have to focus on the quest. For the time, though, he would explore the Primordial Garden until it was linked to the Inn.

Now that he had permission from the owner to explore, he would most certainly take up that offer. He needed to get his hands on treasures that could help him form a Dao body, and this was the ideal place for that.

Also, once he connected the Inn to this place, he’d unlock the Innkeeper’s reading glasses. He didn’t know what they did, but they sounded cool. Allowing the system to absorb Primordial energy also sped up its own recovery.

Technically, there was a quest for that as well with a reward as the Midnight Monument. However, the system had absorbed Primordial energy yet the quest wasn’t complete. Maybe only after a certain amount of energy was absorbed would the quest be completed.

Lex hesitated for a moment, turning back to look at Eclipse, before gritting his teeth. Since she had not reacted to the system, maybe he really could risk it.

His plan for the Primordial Garden was to use the Realm law replication, but he didn’t know if the owner of the realm would be able to tell, or would even mind it. He was debating whether to still use it or not. Considering she was the strongest Dao Lord in the universe, apparently, it was too much to hope that she wouldn’t notice something like that.

Should he do it? He turned back once more and saw that she really was just walking away like a normal person, not even covering vast amounts of land with each step.

Lex’s eyes firmed and he made a decision. No risk, no reward. He was going to do it – but he was going to do it right.

Lex turned around and jogged towards Eclipse, his mind racing as he thought of what to say.

“Excuse me, Eclipse, may I speak with you for a moment?” Lex asked, though internally he was incredibly nervous. It was better to ask for permission than to try and do something sneakily. If only he knew that her senses were sealed and that she wouldn’t be able to tell what he was doing, this whole issue would have never happened. But he didn’t, so Lex approached the strongest Dao Lord in the universe, hoping to broker a deal.

The amount of courage it took was immense, and the only reason he was even able to do such a thing was because Eclipse’s power was completely sealed. Still, it didn’t make it any easier. After all, even with all her powers sealed, she was still a Dao Lord. Every move she made, every breath she took had an influence on the universe.

“Huh? Oh, Lex. Sorry, I was thinking about something so I didn’t notice you coming. Is there something you need? If you’re hoping for an autograph, I have to disappoint you, I don’t do that anymore since the Purova incident,” Eclipse said, looking genuinely sorry.

“That… is very disappointing,” Lex said sincerely, realizing at that exact moment that having her autograph would actually, genuinely be something very impressive. “But I was hoping to talk to you about another matter, if I have your permission.”

“Yes, yes, go ahead. What’s with all the formality? I’ll have you know, I’m a very humble person. I work with my hands – I do manual labor. I’m not like those nouveau riche Dao Lords who like to act superior. After all, I’ve just come to accept that I am superior. So, whether it’s other Dao Lords, or other immortals, or even other mortals, I treat them all the same.”

Eclipse shrugged, not realizing that what she had so casually said may be the most arrogant thing ever said. The fact that other Dao Lords were the same to her as other mortals was a flex of epic proportions. Lex took a mental note to use a similar line in the future.

“Thank you. In that case, I’ll get right to what I wanted to ask. Previously, the Innkeeper mentioned to me that he wanted to study the laws of the Primordial Garden to see if he could replicate a small corner of his own realm to produce Primordial energy. I’m not sure if it’s against etiquette, but I wanted to ask if it were possible for me to study the realms laws on the Innkeepers behalf. After all, the Innkeeper does not usually leave his Inn.”