Setelah kembali ke apartemennya, Lex menyelidiki cincin yang diberikan John, tetapi saat melihat ukuran buku masif yang muncul di benaknya, dia dengan tenang dan penuh hormat menimpannya kembali. Bukan berarti dia menyerah pada buku itu, tapi saat ini tangan penuh dengan mempelajari teknik-tekniknya dan tidak punya energi mental untuk membaca apa yang terlihat seperti representasi fisik Wikipedia.
Dia menghabisi hari dengan latihan seperti biasa, tapi malam itu dia tidak langsung tertidur meski lelah. Pikirannya melayang ke situasi Helen. Alexander menghabiskan seluruh waktunya di Inn sejak bicara terakhir dengan Lex, berharap Helen kembali, tapi sia-sia. Dia akhirnya pergi hari ini, dan sekilas tidak terlihat terlalu terganggu, tapi dengan kekuatan Pakaian Tuan Rumah, Lex tahu betapa stresnya dia. Lex bahkan ikut mendengar percakapan dia dengan keluarganya soal Helen.
Karena Alexander sibuk dengan urusannya sendiri, dia tidak menyadari betapa terabaikannya Helen, meski tidak ada yang bisa disalahkan. Keluarganya terjebak dalam tugas masing-masing, dan meski berbagi halaman dengan dia, mereka biasanya hanya melihatnya sekali setiap beberapa hari. Alexander merasa bersalah mengabaikannya, tapi tidak ada yang bisa dilakukan.
Lex, di sisi lain, memikirkan hal lain. Dia mempertimbangkan apakah ada cacat pada kunci-kunci itu, tapi tidak punya cukup informasi. Satu-satunya kesimpulan yang bisa ditarik: jika Helen tidak menggunakan kuncinya, berarti dia tidak mau, kehilangan, atau—sebagian besar dia tidak mau memikirkannya—dia sudah meninggal.
Lex menghela napas dan mengusir pikiran itu, lalu biarkan diri tertidur. Beberapa hari berikutnya Lex mengikuti rutinitas yang sama, dan perlahan membangun keakraban dengan teknik spiritualnya. Dia juga lebih sering menggunakan persona Leo, untuk dua alasan utama. Pertama, dia ingin membangun lebih banyak hubungan sebagai Leo, apalagi dia tidak bisa menyerahkan pengelolaan Gamer's Den ke Z terus-menerus. Kedua, dia menggunakan persona Leo untuk belajar semaksimal mungkin tentang alam semesta.
Salah satu tamu paling sering Leo di Gamer's Den bernama Crawford-981. Orangnya ramah, tapi diskors dari tugas sebulan ke depan karena hal yang hanya disebutnya 'insiden'. Leo tidak terlalu peduli detail insiden itu, tapi menghabiskan banyak waktu ngobrol dan bermain game dengan 981. Pria itu seperti ensiklopedia jalanan buat alam semesta, dan Leo belajar banyak soal jenis dunia yang bisa dijumpai saat menjelajahi alam semesta.
Meski ukuran kekaisaran masif, dan kultivasi serta teknologi yang maju, ternyata Kekaisaran sebenarnya tidak berinteraksi dengan sekitar 90% planet terpenuhi di wilayahnya, karena berbagai alasan. Ringkasan cepatnya: mereka simpelnya tidak punya tenaga dan sering kali tidak sepadan. Mereka biarkan dunia-dunia itu ada sendiri, kecuali kalau mengalami invasi iblis, melahirkan kultivator cukup kuat, atau memiliki sumber daya langka.
Planet-planet yang dibiarkan itu hampir selalu peradaban tingkat Ground atau Sky. Ground level berarti mereka belum keluar dari planet asal, dan Sky level berarti mereka sudah menaklukkan beberapa planet di sistem bintang mereka.
Dalam beberapa hari, Leo belajar banyak praktik umum dan tren di kalangan dunia-dunia semacam itu, serta beberapa hal yang bisa diharapkan. Tentu saja, ini Lex membangun basis pengetahuannya untuk saat mulai menghubungkan dunia baru lagi. Dia belajar bentuk mata uang umum, etiket yang sering diulang di seluruh alam semesta, dan banyak detail lain yang mungkin berguna kalau dia mendarat di planet seperti itu.
Satu hal lagi yang Lex pelajari dari dia, yang paling penting, adalah nama sistem bintang yang menjadi tuan rumah planet-planet utama Kekaisaran Jotun di galaksi yang menampung sistem Vegus.
Namanya sistem Pendal, menampung 11 planet yang semuanya dihuni, dan menjadi tempat berbagai badan pemerintahan Kekaisaran Jotun. Leo tidak terlalu peduli detailnya, tapi menghafal nama itu kalau-kalau nanti dibutuhkan.
Seperti santainya hari-hari berlalu, Lex sekarang hanya menunggu Vine masuk tahap Golden Core. Begitu selesai, Lex akan menyerahkan keamanan Inn ke tangan Mary dan mulai bepergian lagi. Ini bukan hanya untuk meningkatkan konektivitas Inn, karena selama jeda panjang ini, Lex hanya mendapat total 21.000 MP sejak Midnight Games berakhir, tapi juga untuk acara yang dia tahu akan datang.
Suatu hari, Miranda kembali muncul di Inn. Dia terlihat lelah seperti biasa, lingkaran hitam di bawah matanya semakin banyak. Pemandangan langka di kalangan kultivator, tapi dia membuktikan masih memungkinkan.
Dia tidak buang waktu untuk layanan apa pun, dan langsung minta bertemu dengan Pengelola Inn. Lex, yang tengah latihan teknik, menyuruhnya menunggu sebentar sampai selesai dan mandi.
"Miranda, senang bertemu lagi. Semoga kabar baik," ucap Pengelola Inn, muncul di ruang privat yang disewanya sambil menunggu.
"Tidak sebaik yang diharapkan," jawabnya sambil tersenyum mengejek, meski kelihatannya dia mengejek dirinya sendiri. Entah kenapa, di hadapan Pengelola Inn, dia tidak mempertahankan topeng biasa. Seolah dia berpendapat Pengelola Inn bisa menembus usahanya menahan diri, jadi dia bahkan tidak mencoba. Jelas, penguasaan dewan atas Bumi tidak berjalan seperti yang diharapkan. Mereka memutus rantai kepala keluarga demi kebebasan, hanya untuk dijatuhkan oleh kekuatan yang lebih kuat dan misterius.
Bangun dari lamunannya, Miranda menenangkan diri dan fokus pada urusan.
"Pengelola Inn, saya ingin bicara lagi soal Expo yang saya sebutkan sebelumnya. Situasi politik Bumi sudah stabil, dan kami siap mulai merencanakan kolonisasi sisa tata surya, tapi sebelum itu kami ingin tahu dukungan apa yang bisa didapat lewat hubungan bisnis di luar angkasa.
"Kami juga mendapatkan beberapa sumber daya langka dan aneh dari Minor realm baru yang terbuka, kegunaannya belum bisa diidentifikasi. Mungkin permintaannya tinggi, atau mungkin bisa menerangi kegunaannya bagi kami. Apapun itu, kami punya banyak yang bisa ditawarkan dan didapat, tapi di saat yang sama, kami belum siap menggelarnya.
"Kami ingin Expo diadakan di Inn enam bulan lagi, dan sampai saat itu kami akan sepenuhnya siap dengan daftar sangat lengkap semua yang bisa ditawarkan, serta yang dicari. Waktu itu juga cukup buat pihak yang tertarik bersiap, dan berita soal acara ini tersebar."
"Baik, kalau Anda yakin, saya akan booking tanggalnya. Untuk acara seperti ini, deposito 1.000.000 MP dan sisanya tergantung bagaimana Anda ingin Expo berjalan dan layanan apa yang dibutuhkan. Anda bisa datang satu bulan sebelum acara, lalu kita diskusikan lebih detail opsi yang tersedia."
Mereka habiskan waktu lagi untuk membahas detail sebelum Miranda pergi cepat, karena pekerjaannya tidak habis-habisnya.
Lex, di sisi lain, kembali ke kamar dan memeriksa kalender. Enam bulan sebelum Expo lebih lama dari yang diharapkan, tapi itu bagus baginya. Acara ini juga salah satu alasan Lex terburu-buru memperluas jangkauan ke lebih banyak planet. Kalau dia hanya mengiklankan acara mendatang ke tiga planet yang sama, citra Inn yang dibangun sebagai menjangkau seluruh alam semesta akan sangat terpengaruh.
Sekarang bulan Oktober, jadi acara akan berlangsung pertengahan Maret. Terserah dia sekarang memperluas jangkauan Inn semaksimal mungkin tanpa mengorbankan diri.
Dia tidak khawatir, karena peralatan yang dipesan sudah tiba, dan latihan berjalan lancar. Apapun yang dilemparkan dunia berikutnya, Lex siap.
Tiga hari kemudian, Vine akhirnya memasuki realm Golden Core, dan pertumbuhan cepatnya melambat drastis. Satu-satunya cara mempercepat lagi adalah naikkan level Greenhouse, atau berikan sumber daya level sangat tinggi sebagai pupuk, keduanya tidak bisa dilakukan Lex saat ini.
Sepertinya semuanya memberitahunya, saatnya maju ke depan.
Once Lex returned to his apartment, he investigated the ring given to him by John, but when he saw the size of the massive book that appeared in his mind, he quietly and respectfully put it away. That was not to say that he had given up on the book, but that currently he had his hands full with learning his techniques and didn’t have the mental energy to read what looked like a physical representation of Wikipedia.
He spent the day practicing, as usual, but at night he did not immediately fall asleep despite his exhaustion. His mind wandered to the situation with Helen. Alexander had spent all his time at the Inn since he last talked to Lex, hoping for Helen’s return, but to no avail. He had finally left today, and at a glance he did not seem too bothered, but with the power of the Host Attire, Lex could tell just how stressed he was. Lex even overheard a conversation he had with his family about her.
Since Alexander was so busy with his own things, he had not realized how neglected Helen was, though no one could be blamed for this. His family were caught up in their own tasks, and though they shared a courtyard with her, they would usually only see her once every few days. Alexander felt guilty for neglecting her, but there was nothing for it.
Lex, however, had his mind on another matter. He was considering whether there was a flaw with the keys, but he didn’t have enough information. The only thing he could conclude was that if Helen didn’t use the key, it meant that she didn’t want to, she had lost it or, as much as he didn’t want to consider it, that she was dead.
Lex sighed and pushed the thoughts away and allowed himself to fall asleep. The next few days Lex followed the same routine, and slowly built up his familiarity with using his spiritual techniques. He also used his Leo persona more often, for two main reasons. First, he wanted to build up more relationships as Leo, not to mention he couldn’t leave Z to run the Gamer’s Den all the time. Secondly, he used the Leo persona to learn as much as he could about the universe.
One of Leo’s most frequent guests at the Gamer’s Den was called Crawford-981. He was a very friendly guy, but had been suspended from duty for the next month over something he only called ‘the incident’. Leo didn’t care much about the details of the incident, but spent a lot of time chatting and gaming with 981. The man was like a walking encyclopedia for the universe, and Leo learned a lot about the kind of worlds one can expect to encounter when traveling the universe.
Despite the massive size of the empire, and the prospering cultivation not to mention technology, it seemed that the Empire actually did not interact with about 90% of the inhabited planets in its territory, for various reasons. The quickest summary of it was, they simply didn’t have the manpower for it and often enough, it wasn’t worth it. They would let the worlds continue to exist on their own, unless they encountered a demon invasion, birthed a sufficiently strong enough cultivator, or possessed rare resources.
These planets that had been left ignored were almost always Ground of Sky level civilizations. Ground level meant that they had not yet even left their home planet, and Sky level meant they had colonized multiple planets in their star system.
Over the period of a few days, Leo learnt a lot of common practices and trends among these kinds of worlds, as well as some of what one can expect. Of course, this was Lex building up his knowledge base for when he starts connecting new worlds again. He learnt common forms of currency, frequently repeated etiquettes across the universe, and many more details that might be useful to him should he end up at such a planet.
One more thing Lex learnt from him, the most important thing, was the name of the Star system that hosted the Jotun Empire’s main planets in the galaxy that hosted the Vegus system.
It was known as the Pendal system, and hosted 11 planets that had all been inhabited, and hosted the various bodies of the Jotun Empire’s governance system. Leo didn’t care much for the details of that, but memorized the name in case it ever came up.
As leisurely as the days were passing, Lex was now only waiting for the Vine to enter the Golden Core stage. Once that was done, Lex would leave the security of the Inn in Mary’s hands and start traveling once again. This was not only to increase the Inn’s connectivity, as during this extended lull it was experiencing, Lex had only earned a total of 21,000 MP since the Midnight Games ended, but also for an event he knew would be coming.
One day, Miranda reappeared at the Inn. She looked just as exhausted as ever, with the number of dark circles under her eyes ever increasing. This was a rare sight amongst cultivators, but she made it evident that it was still possible.
She did not waste any time, however, on any services, and directly asked to meet with the Innkeeper. Lex, who was in the middle of practicing his techniques, had her wait a while as he finished up and showered.
“Miranda, it’s good to see you again. I hope you’ve been well,” the Innkeeper said, as he appeared in the private room she had rented while waiting for him.
“Not as well as I would have liked,” she replied with a mocking smile on her face, though it appeared she was mocking herself. For some reason, in front of the Innkeeper, she did not maintain her usual facade. It was as if she expected that the Innkeeper would be able to see through her attempts at keeping things together, and so did not even try. Obviously, the council’s rule over the Earth was not progressing as they had hoped. They had broken away from the chains of the family heads seeking freedom, only to be brought down by an even stronger, more mysterious force.
Waking up from her daydreams, Miranda composed herself and focused on the business at hand.
“Innkeeper, I would like to talk to you again about the Expo I brought up previously. Earth’s political situation has stabilized, and we are ready to begin planning colonization of the rest of the Solar system, but before we begin that we want to know what kind of support we can garner via business relations out in the universe.
“We’ve also obtained some rare and unusual resources from the new Minor realm that has opened up, the uses of which we cannot yet identify. Perhaps they will have a high demand, or perhaps they can shed a light on their uses to us. Regardless, we have much to gain and offer from this, but at the same time, we are not yet ready to host it.
“We want to have the Expo at the Inn in six months’ time, and by then we will be completely ready with a very thorough list of all that we can offer, as well as what we are looking for. This should also be sufficient time for any interested parties to get ready, as well as word for such an event to spread.”
“Well, if you are sure, I will book the date for you. For an event like this, the deposit will be 1,000,000 MP and the rest will depend on how exactly you want the Expo to proceed and what kind of services you require. You can come to me one month prior to the event, and then we can discuss in greater detail the options available to you.”
They spent some more time hashing out the details before Miranda quickly left, as there was no shortage of work for her to do.
Lex, on the other hand, returned to his room and looked at his calendar. 6 months of time before the Expo was more time than he was expecting, but that was a good thing for him. This event was also one of the reasons Lex was in a hurry to extend his reach to more planets. If he only advertised this upcoming event to the same three planets, the image the Inn had built up of reaching the whole universe would be greatly affected.
It was currently October, so the event would happen in the middle of March. It was up to him now to expand the Inns’ reach as much as he could without overwhelming himself.
He was not worried, though, as the equipment he had ordered had already arrived, and his practice was going along well. Whatever the next world could throw at him, Lex was ready for.
Three days later, the Vine finally entered the Golden Core realm, and its speedy growth slowed down considerably. The only way to speed it up once again would either be to increase the level of the Greenhouse, or provide it with very high leveled resources as fertilizer, neither of which Lex could do at the moment.
It seemed as if everything was telling him, it was time to move forward.
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