Dengan kemilikan dan perhatian yang semakin meningkat, datang juga masalah yang semakin banyak. Semakin banyak orang yang menyadarai trik kecil karma Lex. Meskipun mereka tidak bisa yakin apa yang dia lakukan, mereka bisa merasakan pengaruh Tether, dan itu cukup bagi mereka untuk mengganggu, melambatkan kemajuannya.
Pada saat yang sama, ia juga harus berjuang menangkal serangan yang lebih banyak. Dengan membuka laju menyebarluaskan karmanya, Lex tak hanya mengekspornya, tetapi juga terbuka untuk serangan dari segala arah. Meskipun ia bisa memutuskan koneksinya dengan karma hampir seketika, celah sepintas pun cukup sering untuk memberinya masalah kecil. Suatu kali, Lex bahkan merasakan ancaman serius yang sebelumnya memutuskan hampir 90% dari karma yang tersebar melalui rumor.
Sungguh keadaan yang aneh. Lex yakin ancaman itu tidak berasal dari seorang Dao, berarti kemungkinan besar adalah salah satu dari para Celestial Apex yang benar-benar bisa mengancamnya. Sepertinya ia telah meremehkan para Celestial Apex.
Sebenarnya, meskipun ia berhasil menyakitkan dan menghina Chicken Wings cukup parau, ia jauh dari berhasil mengalahkannya secara tuntas. Pertarungan yang benar-benya melawan Chicken Wings kemungkinan akan memakan waktu yang sangat lama, dan hasilnya tak dapat diprediksi. Bagaimanapun juga, siapa yang tahu apa rahasia yang ia simpan dengan baik?
Namun, meskipun ia menghadapi ancaman sekali-sekali, kemajuannya tetap cepat. Dan ancaman yang tak terduga itu justru tidak membuatnya lebih berhati-hati. Sebaliknya, semakin meningkatkan keyakinannya.
Intinya, bukti bahwa hanya sedikit orang di seluruh alam semesta yang bisa melukainya sekarang. Jika ia mengabaikan semua Dao Lords dan Demi-Dao Lords, apakah hanya akan ada sejumlah kecil orang di seluruh alam semesta yang masih bisa mengancamnya? Mungkin jumlah itu jauh terbanyak diperkirakan. Tapi, meskipun masih ada sejuta—bahkan jika ada sejuta triliun makhluk di seluruh alam semesta yang masih menjadi ancaman baginya, mengingat betapa luasnya alam semesta ini, jumlah itu tidak berarti sama sekali!
Tentu saja, di tingkat ini, pertarungan fisik pun semakin langka. Pertempuran pun beralih dari pertarungan individu menjadi kolektif, melibatkan pasukan besar-besan, formasi, dan rencana serta persiapan yang berlangsung selama bertahun-tahun.
Jika Lex lengah, ia tetap bisa dikalahkan oleh orang yang jauh lebih lemah darinya. Ia tidak bisa melupakan berapa banyak orang yang lebih kuat darinya yang ia kalahkan karena memiliki alat yang tepat, atau karena waktunya pas, atau karena keadaan mendukungnya. Karena ia telah berjuang naik bertahap demi bertahap, ia tidak akan pernah melupakan pelajaran yang dipelajariya, dan tidak akan pernah merasa dirinya kebal terhadap strategi yang pernah ia gunakan melawan orang lain.
Oleh karena itu, kepercayaan yang terus tumbuh tidak berarti ia memandang rendah dunia di sekitarnya. Bagaimanapapun, ia tidak bisa benar-benar mengabaikan pengaruh Demi-Dao Lords dan Dao Lords seperti yang ia lakukan untuk perbandingan diri sendiri.
Satu tahun berlalu di dalam Midnight Inn, dan semakin banyak pekerja yang kembali, semuanya melaporkan kisah yang sama — kompas-kompas itu tiba-tiba muncul di tangan mereka dan membimbing mereka kembali. Beberapa dari mereka bahkan melaporkan bahwa luka-luka sebelumnya sembuh secara instan, dan yang lain berbagi kisah tentang terjebak dalam pertarungan sengit hanya untuk lawan mereka misterius menghilang.
Tidak ada yang menghubungkan keberulangan mereka dengan aksi Red Moon Devil, meskipun kebanyakan mengerti bahwa ternyata Inn akhirnya bertindak serius untuk menyelamatkan semua orang.
Lex, namun, tidak merasa senang dengan kemajuannya. Ia duduk di samping sebuah gerobbakan daging di dalam mimpi, sambil makan dan berpikir dengan senarai.
Sejauh ini, ia belum menemukan jejak Almira. Hal itu tidak terlalu aneh mengingat ukuran alam mimpi itu. Apa yang membuatnya kesulitan, meskipun, adalah ia mulai mendapati tanda-tanda bahwa seseorang sedang menyembunyikan jejak Almira.
Jika Lex belum aktif mencari karma yang terhubung dengan Almira, atau perlindungan yang ia tinggalkan untuknya, ia tidak akan menyadarinya. Tanda-tandanya sangat halus — begitu halus sehingga ia bahkan tidak menyadarinya selama berbulan-bulan. Bahkan ketika ia mulai menyadarinya, ia pikir hanya membuat kesalahan.
Lama sebelum ia terpaksa menerima kebenaran yang tak terhindarkan — seseorang sedang aktif menyembunyikan jejaknya, menyimpan Almira dari ditemukan. Pikiran itu sendiri sudah cukup untuk membuat Lex sangat marah.
Seraya langsung, ia membayangkan Damian! Namun, setelah melakukan sedikit ramalan, dan setelah memeriksa kiamat karma yang ia lepaskan ke HOA, ia menyimpulkan hal itu tidak mungkin Damian, atau siapa pun dari HOA untuk karena apapun. Tentu saja, ia bisa salah, dan jejak mereka bisa disembunyikan dengan sangat mahir.
Namun, untuk saat ini, tampaknya mereka tidak terlibat. Pertimbangkan bahwa Lex bisa menggunakan koneksi darah mereka untuk merasakan apakah Damian ada di realm yang sama, ia benar-benar merasa ini bukan dia — setidaknya, bukan dia yang bertindak secara pribadi.
Namun, itu menimbulkan pertanyaan lain — siapa yang bisa menargetkan Almira, dan mengapa? Setelah menelusuri daftar musuh pribadinya, ia dipaksa untuk mempertimbangkan bahwa mungkin bukan musuh-musuhnya yang bertindak, tetapi Anita dan Qawain.
Secepatnya, sekilas cahaya bersinar di mata Lex saat ia berdiri dan mengunyah hot dognya. Satu-satunya cara untuk yakin adalah dengan menemukan Qawain, dan menyelidiki.
With increased fame and attention, however, came increased problems. The number of people who noticed Lex’s little trick with his karma began to increase. Although they wouldn’t tell for certain what he was doing, they could sense the influence of Tether, and so they could interfere with it, slowing down his progress.
At the same time, he had to fend off more attacks as well. By openly spreading his karma like that, Lex was also exposing himself and opening himself up to attacks from all around. While he could cut off his connection to his karma almost instantly, that small gap was sufficient often enough to cause him to suffer minor setbacks. Once, Lex even felt a formidable threat preemptively, cutting off his connection to nearly 90% of the karma he had spread via the rumors.
The crazy thing was, Lex was certain the threat wasn’t from a Dao being, meaning it was most likely some Celestial Apex capable of seriously threatening him had almost acted against him. It seemed that he had taken the Celestial Apex lightly.
In truth, while he had humiliated and hurt Chicken Wings somewhat, it was far from taking her down. A decisive fight with her would have likely taken a very long time, and the result was unpredictable. After all, who knew what secrets she might be holding back as well?
However, while he faced occasional threats, Lex’s progress was still rapid. Moreover, the occasional threat did not cause him to act more cautiously. Instead, it further increased his confidence.
It was basically just proof of how few there were across the whole universe who could harm him now. If he ignored all the Dao Lords and Demi-Dao Lords, would there only be a few million across the universe who could threaten him?
Maybe that number was grossly underestimated. But even if there were still a billion - heck, even if there were another trillion beings across the universe who were still a threat to him, considering how vast the universe was, that number was insignificant!
Of course, at this level, head-on fights also became rarer. Instead, fights transitioned from being individual combat to a collective, involving great armies, formations and generations of planning and setup.
Lex, if he was careless, could still be defeated by those even weaker than him. He would not forget how many people stronger than himself that he had defeated because he had the right tools, or the timing was correct, or because circumstances helped him. Since he had clawed his way to the top, he would not forget the lessons he had learned along the way, nor would he think that he was immune to the very strategies he had used against others.
Thus, his growing confidence did not mean he took things lightly. After all, he could not actually ignore the presence of Demi-Dao Lords and Dao Lords like he could for the sake of his self comparisons.
An entire year passed inside the Midnight Inn, and more and more workers started to find their way back, all revealing the same story - that the compasses just appeared in their hands and guided them back. Some of them even reported instantly healing from previous wounds, and others shared stories of being caught in intense fights only for their opponents to mysteriously vanish.
No one associated their return with the actions of the Red Moon Devil, although it became obvious to most that the Inn had finally taken some serious action to rescue everyone.
Lex, however, did not feel pleased by his progress. Instead, he sat next to a hot dog stand in a dream, eating and thinking with a frown.
So far, he had found no trace of Almira. That in itself was not so strange considering the size of the Dream realm. The thing that was causing him trouble, though, was that he picked up signs that someone was actively hiding Almira’s tracks.
If Lex hadn’t been actively searching for his karma connected to Almira, or the protection he left on her, he wouldn’t have noticed. The signs were subtle - so subtle in fact that he hadn’t detected them for months. Even when he did detect them, he thought he was simply making some mistake.
It was a while before he was forced to accept the inevitable truth - someone was actively hiding her trail, keeping her from finding Almira. That thought alone infuriated Lex, and not by a small amount.
Almost instantly, he thought of Damian! But after some simple divination, as well as upon checking the karmic plague he had unleashed onto the HOA, Lex found that it was unlikely to be Damian, or anyone from the HOA for that matter. Of course, he could be mistaken, and their tracks could be expertly hidden.
However, for the moment, it appeared like they weren’t involved. Considering that Lex could use their bloodline connection to sense if Damian was in the same realm as him, he genuinely felt like it wasn’t him - at least, it wasn’t him acting personally.
However, that begged the question of who could then be targeting Almira, and why? After going through his own list of personal enemies, he was forced to consider that maybe it was not his enemies who had acted, but Anita’s and Qawains.
A flicker of light flashed through Lex’s eyes as he stood up, and finished his hot dog. The only way to be certain was to find Qawain, and investigate.
Elsewhere in the Dream realm, Daekol stood in silence, blended into the background, undetectable by nearly everyone as he prepared the stage for his setup. To hide his actions from any Dao Lord was already tough, but to hide it from the likes of even the Innkeeper was a considerable challenge. Fortunately, the Dream realm helped make things somewhat easier for him.
Soon, it would be time to spring his trap. Improving his own system would bring him one step closer to achieving the Dao realm. One of the problems he had been facing since the start was finding a way to track Lex. But he did not need to trap him if he could bait him to where he wanted, and it seemed he had the perfect bait.
Within his vision, Almira slept soundly in a cradle, under Daekol’s influence. He had made sure not to harm her - yet. He needed her to be in perfect condition for when he needed to make sure of her.
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