Interior kapal itu ternyata sangat berbeda dari yang Lex duga. Dia mengira mereka akan mendapat kamar dan mungkin ruang umum, sementara sisanya digunakan kru untuk mengoperasikan kapal.
Ternyata, dugaannya sepenuhnya salah. Sepertinya kapal ini sering dipakai mengangkut karyawan atau tamu bank sendiri antar realm, jadi lebih mirip mal raksasa dari pada kapal biasa.
Toko-tokonya semuanya afiliasi bank, mitra bisnis, dan grup yang kepentingannya selaras dengan bank. Dengan memajang toko-toko itu di dalam kapal, tempat mereka akan menghabiskan waktu, bank memberikan mereka pemasaran gratis dan eksposur ke klien potensial baru.
Biasanya, saat kapal melintas di Void dalam perjalanan normal, akan ada waktu berbulan-bulan bahkan bertahun-tahun bagi semua orang untuk menjelajahi seluruh kapal dengan baik. Sekarang, kapal akan diterbangkan lewat formasi teleportasi antar-realm raksasa, jadi waktunya dipotong drastis.
"Ini ide yang tidak buruk," ujar Lex saat mereka berjalan santai di salah satu lantai. "Ini masuk akal. Bagi orang biasa melintasi Void butuh waktu lama. Masuk akal menciptakan lingkungan nyaman untuk mengisi waktu itu."
"Aku menanyakan soal transportasi antar-realm tradisional," kata Gerard. "Jelasnya, paling umum dipakai Celestial Immortal karena berbagai alasan, dan waktu tempuh bisa berkisar beberapa dekade hingga beberapa milenium. Berdasarkan pemahamanku, kebanyakan waktu mereka dihabiskan untuk berkultivasi, dan fasilitas kapal sebenarnya dipakai pengikut rombongan kultivator yang tidak bisa menghabiskan tahun-tahun hanya untuk berkultivasi."
"Kudengar kebanyakan kapal ini punya kru tetap yang lahir dan menghabiskan hidup mereka di sini," tambah Velma. "Misalnya, di kapal ini, ada sekitar 300 klan independen yang sudah hidup di sini lebih dari 30.000 tahun! Ada komunitas lengkap, sekolah, akademi kultivasi, dan fasilitas lain untuk kru kapal jauh dari area umum.
"Sejak lahir, anggota klan-klan itu hanya bertujuan meningkatkan tingkat kultivasi dan meraih pendidikan spesifik agar bisa mendapatkan jabatan lebih tinggi dan menguntungkan di kapal ini. Tentu, mereka bebas keluar kapan saja, tapi mengingat seluruh hidup mereka berputar di kapal ini, jarang yang melakukannya."
Lex menemukan konsep itu menakjubkan, dan namun sepenuhnya bisa dipercaya. Sampeyan bisa bayangkan, ini persis apa yang akan jadi nasib Inn, hanya dalam skala jauh lebih besar. Lagipula, dia sudah memberi pekerja-ruang Minor realm sendiri untuk dihuni dan dikembangbiakkan. Bisa dibayangkan, saat pekerja punya anak dan generasi mendatang mereka berkembang, tujuan mereka juga mungkin jadi pekerja Inn, terpengaruh orang tua.
Tentu, kalau ada yang ingin melakukan hal lain, atau pergi, Lex tidak akan pernah menghalangi.
Mereka berlanjut menjelajahi kapal, baru menyadari teleportasi sudah mulai karena pengumuman kapten.
Bertekaran dengan dugaan Lex, kapal justru tidak diserang selama perjalanan, membuat dia kalah taruhan. Satu-satunya hal berarti yang terjadi adalah pada saat teleportasi, tiba-tiba aliran waktu melonjak drastis.
Lex bilang itu sesaat, karena di dalam kapal terasa seperti detik pun belum lewat. Di dalam Inn, tapi, lebih dari dua jam sudah berlalu.
Lonjakan mendadak aliran waktu itu membuat Lex yakin mereka lewat sangat dekat dengan realm baru lahir, tapi tidak ada cara memastikannya. Tidak ada yang lain menyadari perubahan, dan karena tidak ada konsekuensi nyata, dia buang kejadian itu dari pikiran.
Kira-kira sehari kemudian, mereka akhirnya tiba di realm Artica, perjalanan yang sepenuhnya nyaman dan bebas bahaya.
Alasan Lex sadar mereka tiba, bahkan sebelum pengumuman, adalah karena sekuat dan seagresifnya hukum realm memengaruhi mereka!
Ratusan rantai, semua hukum yang mengatur operasi realm, tiba-tiba melekat pada Lex, memegangnya erat dan mencegah dia bertindak sembarangan.
Dia bisa merasakan banyak di antaranya terkait memastikan dia tetap di tingkat yang sesuai, tidak turun ke tingkat kultivator Nascent, dan tidak naik ke tingkat lebih tinggi.
Tapi dia juga merasakan pengaruh dan kontrol halus yang tiba-tiba diberikan kepadanya. Pengaruh dan kontrol atas apa, dia tidak tahu secara naluriah, dan harus cek sendiri untuk mengetahui.
Tapi sementara ada rantai yang secara alami terhubung padanya, menandakan mereka rantai hukum alami realm, dia juga merasakan rantai buatan, mencegah dia benar-benar memakai pengaruh yang dia dapat sebagai akibat berada di tingkat immortal.
Itu mungkin diterapkan ras Artica untuk memastikan tamu tidak mengganggu operasional realm mereka. Dia tiba-tiba paham lebih dalam kenapa ras Artica, khususnya, sangat kritis terhadap imigran ke realm mereka.
Kalau siapa saja bisa memakai posisi di tingkat lebih tinggi untuk memengaruhi tingkat lebih rendah, maka siapa saja dengan niat tidak baik bisa menimbulkan kerusakan tak terhitung.
Saat bersamaan, Lex bisa melihat nilai raksasa realm ini bagi orang lain. Di Midnight Realm, Lex punya kendali mutlak tapi memilih tidak memakainya. Selama dia meliputi seluruh realm ke wilayah Inn, dia bisa mengubah sesuka hati.
Tapi dia ingin pertumbuhan realm yang lebih alami, organik, jadi dia tidak lakukan. Tapi dia bisa lihat bagaimana kendali persis atas operasional realm, dari aliran energi hingga iklim, tanah, makhluk, dan segalanya, akan memungkinkan dia menciptakan lingkungan yang bisa memelihara berbagai harta berharga khusus, atau membiarkan ras tertentu berkembang dan makmur.
Dia sulit percaya orang lain tidak merindukan realm ini. Faktanya, Lex mau taruh banyak komplotan sudah ada, perlahan menciptakan kondisi sempurna buat orang lain mengambil alih realm ini.
Tugas mempertahankan kepemilikan realm tidak mudah, dan itulah kenapa Lex ingin mempelajari tindakan realm Artica. Berbeda dengan mereka yang bisa menolak orang lain, Lex dipaksa menerima tamu ke realmnya. Dia butuh paham tindakan apa yang bisa diambil untuk menjaga orang lain di kejauhan.
Rencana pengembangan ras Artica untuk 50.000 tahun ke depan akan tak ternilai baginya.
Mereka berbaris di pintu keluar, tempat semua tamu naik ke sejumlah kendaraan otonom yang akan mengantar mereka keluar kapal, keluar fasilitas kedatangan, ke kota terdekat yang dibangun khusus untuk menyambut tamu yang tiba.
Gerard, seperti dugaan, jijik dengan ide kendaraan otonom, meski dia paham dalam konteks ini berguna.
Kendaraannya punya empat kursi berhadapan, dinding sekitar terbuat bahan tembus pandang supaya bisa menikmati pemandangan realm.
Hal pertama yang dikagumi grup itu adalah pemandangan ratusan kapal luar angkasa raksasa, mirip yang mereka tiba, muncul di formasi teleportasi di sekitar mereka.
Dalam hitungan beberapa menit, ratusan juta immortal dari seantero semesta tiba di realm ini, dengan lebih banyak lagi mungkin di jalan, tidak menghitung yang sudah di sini.
Pemandangannya mempesona, jika hanya karena sekilas Lex mungkin melihat persentase besar organisasi dan kekuatan berpengaruh semesta — atau perwakilannya, untuk tepatnya.
Suatu hari, kalau semuanya beres, semua organisasi itu juga akan dapat kesempatan mengunjungi Midnight Inn. Suatu hari, kalau—
Lex tiba-tiba berdiri, tatapannya yang menatap luasnya memfokuskan ke salah satu kapal ratusan mil jauh darinya. Sama seperti mereka keluar kapal di kendaraan otomatis, ada puluhan ribu kendaraan keluar kapal itu juga, dan di antaranya ada kapal spesifik yang menarik perhatiannya.
Di dalamnya ada empat makhluk yang belum pernah dilihat Lex. Belum lagi makhluknya, dia belum pernah lihat ras itu, tapi untuk alasan tak jelas, dari jarak sevasta itu, Lex mengunci mata dengan salah satu penumpang.
Lex tidak tahu siapa orang ini, latar belakangnya apa, sama seperti dia yakin orang itu juga tidak kenal Lex. Tapi dengan keyakinan tak tergoyahkan, dan sensasi mengerikan yang terasa miram divination, instingnya bilang dia yang baru saja mengunci mata akan berdampak sangat signifikan ke hidup Lex.
Kontak mata itu berlangsung kurang dari satu detik, sebelum kendaraan Lex terbang menjauh, kehilangan pandangan, tapi untuk alasan tak jelas Lex merasa akan ingat momen ini sangat lama. Dia cuma berharap dampak yang dirasakan itu positif, karena instingnya, untuk sekali kali, tidak menentukan.
The interior of the ship ended up being a lot different from what Lex expected. He assumed that they would be assigned rooms and maybe have a common area, while the rest of it would be used by the staff to man the ship.
That, it turned out, was entirely wrong. It seemed like this ship was often used to transport the bank’s own employees or guests between realms, and so it was more like a massive mall than anything else.
The shops were all either bank affiliated organizations, business partners and groups who had shared interests with the bank. By displaying all of these shops within the ship, where they would be spending some time, the bank provided them with free marketing and exposure to new potential clients.
Ordinarily, when the ship would travel through the Void on a normal journey, there would be months or even years for everyone to explore the entirety of the ship properly. Now, however, the entire ship would be transported through a massive inter-realm teleportation formation, so the time would be cut short by a lot.
"This is not such a bad idea," said Lex as the three of them casually strolled through one of the floors. "It would make a lot of sense. For ordinary people traveling through the Void probably takes a long time. It makes sense to create a pleasant environment to fill up the time."
"I inquired about more traditional means of inter-realm transport," said Gerard. "Apparently, it is most commonly used by Celestial Immortals for various reasons, and the travel time can be anywhere from a few decades all the way up to a few millennia. Based on my understanding, most of the time they spend that time cultivating, and the actual amenities of the ship are used by the followers of the entourage of the cultivator who cannot spend years at a time cultivating."
"I’ve heard that most of these ships have their dedicated staff onboard who are born and spend their entire lives here," added Velma. "For example, on this ship, there are approximately 300 independent clans who have lived on this ship for well over 30,000 years! There are entire communities, schools, cultivation academies and other facilities for the onboard staff away from the common areas.
"From birth, members of those clans simply aim to grow their cultivation levels and attain specific educations so that they can attain higher and more lucrative posts within this ship. Of course, they are free to leave the ship if they so please, but considering their entire lives revolve around the ship, few ever do."
Lex found the entire concept amazing, and yet entirely believable. To a degree, this was exactly what the Inn would probably end up becoming, just on a much larger scale. After all, he had given the workers their own Minor realm to live in and populate. He could imagine how, as the workers had kids and their future generations propagated, their aim would also likely become to be Inn workers, influenced by their parents.
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Of course, should any of them ever wish to do something else, or leave, Lex would never stop them.
The three of them continued to explore the ship, only realizing that the teleportation had even begun because of an announcement made by the captain.
Contrary to Lex’s expectations, the ship was actually not attacked during their journey, losing him the bet. The only thing of note that happened was that at one point during the teleportation, there came a moment where the flow of time suddenly increased drastically.
Lex said it was a moment, because inside the ship it felt like a second had barely passed. Inside the Inn, however, well over two hours passed.
The sudden fluctuation in the flow of time made Lex believe that they passed by very close to a newborn realm, but there was no way to be sure. No one else noticed the change, and since there was real consequence to it, he put the incident out of his mind.
About a day later, they finally arrived in the Artica realm, the journey being entirely pleasant and bereft of any danger.
The reason Lex noticed their arrival, even before the announcement, was because of how strongly and aggressively the laws of the realm influenced them!
Hundreds of chains, all laws that dictated the operations of the realm, suddenly attached themselves to Lex, firmly holding him in place and preventing him from making any presumptuous actions.
He could sense that many of them were linked to ensuring that he remained in the appropriate level, not entering down to the level for Nascent level cultivators, nor that he entered the higher levels.
But he also sensed the subtle sense of influence and control suddenly granted to him. What that influence and control was over, he did not innately know, and would have to check for himself to find out.
But while there were certain chains that naturally linked to him, indicating that they were chains of the natural laws of the realm, he also sensed some artificial chains, preventing him from actually using the influence he had been granted as a result of being in the immortal level.
Those were probably implemented by the Artica race to ensure none of the guests tampered with the operations of their realm. He suddenly gained a deeper understanding of why the Artica race, in particular, would be very critical of any immigrants to their realm.
If anyone could use their position in a higher level to influence the lower levels, then anyone with improper intentions could wreak incalculable damage.
At the same time, Lex could see the immense value of this realm to others. Within the Midnight Realm, Lex had absolute control over the realm but he chose not to use it. As long as he encompassed the entire realm into the territory of the Inn, he’d be able to change things as he liked.
But he wanted a more natural, organic growth of his realm so he did not do that. Yet he could see how having exact control over how a realm operated, from the flow of energy to the climate, soil, creatures and everything else would allow him to create an environment that could specifically nurture various valuable treasures, or allow specific races to grow and prosper.
He found it hard to believe that others wouldn’t covet this realm. In fact, Lex would be willing to bet that numerous conspiracies were already in place, slowly trying to create the perfect circumstances for others to take over this realm.
The task of maintaining ownership of the realm would not be an easy one, and that is exactly why Lex wanted to study the actions of the Artica realm. Unlike them, who could reject others, Lex was forced to accept guests into his own realm. He needed to understand what actions he could take to keep others at bay.
The Artica races development plan for the next 50 thousand years would be invaluable to him.
The three of them lined up at the exit, where all the guests were getting onto a number of self driven vehicles which would take them off the ship, outside the arrival facility and to a nearby city which had been built specifically just to welcome arriving guests.
Gerard, predictably, was disgusted by the idea of self-driving vehicles, even though he understood that in this specific context they were useful.
The vehicle had four chairs facing each other, with the surrounding walls made of see-through material so that they could take a look at the realm.
The first thing that the group admired, though, was the site of hundreds of massive spaceships, similar to the one they had arrived in, appearing in teleportation formations all around them.
In the span of just a few minutes, hundreds of millions of immortals from all across the universe were arriving in the realm, with countless more probably on the way, not to mention the numerous who were also probably already here.
The sight was mesmerizing, if only because in a single glance Lex probably saw a massive percentage of the influential organizations and powers of the universe - or their representatives to be more specific.
One day, if things went well, all of these organizations would also get a chance to visit the Midnight Inn. One day, if things-
Lex suddenly stood up, his gaze that looked out at the expanse focusing in on one of the ships hundreds of miles away from him. Just like they were exiting their ship in their automated vehicle, there were tens of thousands of vehicles exiting that ship as well, and amongst them there was a specific ship that his gaze was drawn to.
Within were four beings Lex had never seen before. Let alone the beings, he had never even seen that race before, yet for some reason, from across such a vast distance, Lex locked eyes with one of the occupants.
Lex did not know who this person was, nor did he know the person’s background, just as he was sure that the fellow did not know Lex either. Yet with unquestionable certainty, and an ominous sensation that felt a lot like divination, his instincts told him that the person he had just locked eyes with would have a very significant impact on Lex’s life.
The eye contact lasted less than a second, before Lex’s own vehicle flew away, losing sight, but for some reason Lex felt like he would remember this moment for a very long time. He just hoped that the impact he sensed was a positive one, because his instincts, for once, did not specify.
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