Segalanya damai di Midnight Inn, seperti biasanya. Anakin Indiana McClane merasa sulit untuk benar-benar tenang setelah kekacauan yang dialami Inn kemarin. Tapi, menurut pendapat rendah hatinya, Pengelola Inn sudah sangat jelas menunjuk ketidaksenangannya dengan merobek alam semesta itu sendiri untuk menyerang setiap orang jahat beserta ibunya, belum lagi mengutuk jiwa para penyerang ke dalam siksa jiwa yang tak berujung.
Sekarang, Anakin bukan pria yang memihak kekerasan, tidak pak. Tapi hal itu membuatnya merasa agak istimewa bahwa pemilik hotel bersedia pergi sejauh membuat mini-neraka berupa perapian untuk menakuti-nakuti siapa pun agar tidak menyerang lagi. Jujur saja, Anakin sempat mempertimbangkan meminta tanda tangan pria itu.
Sayangnya, Anakin terlalu sibuk belakangan ini untuk membuang-buang waktu. Kakek aneh yang mengunjunginya dalam mimpi sangat tidak senang karena Anakin tidak mengembangkan afinitas kegelapan khususnya, jadi untuk menenangkan lelaki tua itu, dia dengan setia berkultivasi di ruang Meditasi.
Seolah itu belum cukup, bisnis barunya—eh, bisnis baru yang memanfaatkan kemampuan Noman mendeteksi kebohongan, telah membuatnya sangat populer. Bukan hal resmi, tapi banyak wanita diam-diam membawa pacar mereka kepadanya tanpa memberitahu apa yang mereka lakukan untuk menguji apakah cowok-cowok itu benar-benar mencintai mereka. Awalnya, Noman merasa ragu menggunakan kemampuannya seperti ini, tapi cukup perhatian satu gadis patah hati untuk mengubah pikiran Noman. Remaja memang mudah untuk digauli.
Tentu saja, dia juga menemukan klien yang lebih besar. Saat ini, di hadapan Anakin duduk klien terbarunya, Souta. Diskusi mereka dilakukan di Ruang Rahasia, jadi dia tidak ingat rahasia Souta, tapi dia tahu pasti Souta butuh seseorang mati. Secara spesifik, Tuan Suzuki harus mati.
Tugas mengerikan, jahat, dan licik seperti itu sepenuhnya di luar domain Anakin, karena dia belum pernah membunuh ikan mas pun, apalagi manusia, itulah mengapa di hadapannya juga duduk Larry. Mereka hanya mengobrol tentang bagaimana Suzuki diupah untuk membunuh Larry. Apa yang dilakukan Larry dengan informasi itu sepenuhnya terserah dia, karena Anakin tidak memu-mu motivasi dan dedikasi Suzuki untuk menyelesaikan tugasnya.
Ya, hari yang sempurna normal, tenang, dan damai di mana Anakin hanya melakukan percakapan normal, tanpa kejadian aneh apa pun. Angin berhembus, burung berkicau, matahari bersinar—eh?
Suatu saat, grup orang Bumi duduk di taman, menyeruput piña colada, saat berikutnya, bayangan masif muncul di sekeliling mereka. Perubahan terlalu mendadak untuk awan, dan ukuran bayangan menutupi tidak hanya mereka, tapi area masif!
Ketiganya menoleh ke atas dan melihat... kapal luar angkasa raksasa! Struktur logam itu memanjang ratusan mil, namun melayang tanpa usaha. Faktanya, kota terbang di atas desa hampir menabrak kapal raksasa itu, tapi cepat menyesuaikan jalurnya untuk menghindarinya.
Di udara, entitas bernama Abroar yang bergantung pada kapal luar angkasa untuk menjaga kehidupan tubuhnya akhirnya tiba di Inn. Ia perlu menyelesaikan beberapa tugas akhir sebelum transisi ke keberadaan sebagai roh.
Meskipun Abroar terjebak di dalam kapal, ia memiliki akses ke semua sensor kapal, jadi ia bisa merasakan seluruh Inn. Faktanya, bahkan formasi yang mengelilingi Greenhouse tidak bisa menghalangi penglihatannya, mengungkapkan segalanya.
Dalam sekejap, Abroar merasa kecewa. Inn terlalu kecil, dan ia mendeteksi sedikit, kalau ada, makhluk dengan kekuatan besar. Tapi lalu, ia mulai memperhatikan beberapa detail kecil. Berkat alam yang pernah ia miliki, serta teknologi sangat canggih yang menyusun kapalnya, pengetahuannya jauh melampaui kultivator biasa. Ia segera memperhatikan beberapa sumber energi ilahi, serta banyak tanda garis keturunan sangat kuat, belum lagi perisai takdir.
Abroar menghela nafas mental. Sejujurnya, tidak penting apakah tempat ini mengesankan atau tidak, ini satu-satunya pilihan yang tersisa. Ia sudah lama memperhatikan hologram kecil spesies aslinya yang muncul di jembatan kapal, siap memberikan informasi begitu Abroar siap berinteraksi.
Makhluk itu memperkuat tekadnya dan hendak menanyakan ke hologram tentang menyelesaikan beberapa permintaan akhir sebelum memanfaatkan fungsi Beyond the Grave milik Inn, ketika sensor mendeteksi makhluk baru yang teleportasi ke dekatnya.
Dibandingkan kapal, makhluk baru itu kecil. Tapi tidak mengubah fakta bahwa Manusia-Gunung setinggi lebih dari 20 mil. Meskipun kapal secara teknis lebih panjang dari Manusia-Gunung, ia mendatar, dan panjangnya sejajar dengan tanah. Manusia-Gunung, instead, berdiri vertikal, sehingga kepalanya jauh melebihi apapun di Inn.
Seolah pemandangan itu belum cukup, Manusia-Gunung teleportasi sambil bergerak. Ia belum terbiasa dengan tubuh masifnya, dan tanah yang bergerak dari bawah kakinya membuat makhluk itu tersandung hebat, akhirnya mendarat di atas kapal!
Anakin berulang kali menggosok matanya dan mencoba membersikan penglihatannya, tapi apa pun yang dilakukannya, gambaran tidak berubah.
"Bro, kayaknya aku kebanyakan kue Saturnus," kata Anakin ringan. "Pastilah aku halusinasi atau something. Aku sumpah aku lihat raksasa batu di atas kapal— tidak, raksasa batu di atas hoverboard yang kayak kapal luar angkasa. Penghargaan buat koki yang bikin kuenya."
"Bukan kuennya," kata Larry, matanya berbinar! Dia menyerap logam mulia jadi lebih kuat, dan 'hoverboard' di udara terasa lebih berharga baginya dari apapun yang pernah dia rasakan seumur hidupnya!
All was peaceful at the Midnight Inn, which was the norm. Anakin Indiana McClane found it hard to relax completely after the chaos that the Inn had encountered last time. But, in his humble opinion, the Innkeeper was very clear about his displeasure by ripping the universe itself to attack every bad guy and their mother, not to mention damning the souls of the attackers to endless soul torture.
Now, Anakin wasn't a man who condones violence, no sir. But it made him feel somewhat special that the hotel owner would go as far as creating a mini-hell in the form of a hearth to dissuade anyone from attacking again. Honestly, Anakin even considered asking the man for an autograph.
Unfortunately, Anakin had been much too busy to waste time lately. The strange grandpa who visits him in his dreams had been very unhappy that Anakin hadn't been cultivating his special darkness affinity, so to appease the old man, he had been dutifully cultivating in the Meditation rooms.
As if that wasn't enough, his new scam- eh, his new business of taking advantage of Noman's ability to detect lies, had made him very popular. It wasn't anything official, but many women secretly brought their boyfriends to him without letting on what they were doing to test if the boys truly loved them. At first, Noman felt hesitant to use his ability like this, but all it took was the attention of one heartbroken girl to change Nomans mind. Teenagers really were easy to get along with.
Of course, he had found bigger clients too. Currently, opposite to Anakin sat his latest client, Souta. Their discussion had been conducted in the Chamber of Secrets, so he did not remember Soua's secret, but he knew for a fact that Souta needed someone to die. To be specific, a Mr. Suzuki had to die.
Now such a horrible, nefarious and insidious task was completely outside of Anakin's domain, for he had never killed a pet goldfish let alone a human, which is why opposite to him also sat Larry. They were just having a conversation about how Suzuki had been hired to kill Larry. What Larry did with that information was completely and totally up to him, as Anakin had in no way exaggerated Suzuki's motivations and dedication to completing the task.
Yes, it was a perfectly normal, calm and peaceful day within which Anakin was just having a normal conversation, with no otherwise strange occurrences at all. The wind was blowing, the birds were singing, the sun was shining- eh?
One moment, the group of Earthlings had been sitting out in the garden, sipping some pi?a coladas, the next, a massive shadow had appeared all around them. The change was too sudden for it to be a cloud, and the size of the shadow covered not only them, but a massive area!
The trio looked up to see… a massive spaceship! The metallic structure extended for hundreds of miles, yet it floated effortlessly in the air. In fact, the flying city above the village almost bumped into the massive ship, but quickly adjusted its path to dodge it.
Up in the air, the entity known as Abroar which had been relying on the spaceship to keep its body alive had finally arrived at the Inn. It needed to complete some final tasks before it made the transition to existing as a spirit.
Though Abroar was stuck inside the ship, it had access to all of the ship's sensors, and so could sense the entirety of the Inn. In fact, even the formation surrounding the greenhouse could not deter its vision, revealing everything to it.
At a glance, Abroar felt quite disappointed. The Inn was too small, and it detected few, if any, beings of considerable strength. But then, it began to notice a few minor details. Due to the realm it used to have, as well as the extremely advanced technology that made up its ship, its knowledge was far beyond ordinary cultivators. It immediately noticed multiple sources of divine energy, as well as the numerous signatures of extremely potent bloodlines, not to mention the destiny shield.
Abroar let out a mental sigh. To be honest, it did not matter whether this place was impressive or not, it was the only choice it had left. It had long noticed the small hologram of its original species that appeared in the ship's bridge, ready to provide information once Abroar was ready to interact.
The being strengthened its resolve and was about to ask the hologram about completing a few final requests before it took advantage of the Beyond the Grave function of the Inn, when its sensors detected a new being which had teleported near it.
Compared to the ship, the new being was small. That did not change the fact that the Mountain-man was over 20 miles tall. While the ship was technically longer than the Mountain-man, it was horizontal, and its length was parallel to the ground. The Mountain-man, instead, was standing vertically, and so its head went far beyond anything else in the Inn.
As if that sight was not enough, the Mountain-man had teleported while moving. It was already not used to its massive body, and the ground moving from right under its feet caused the creature to trip terribly, ultimately landing on the ship!
Anakin repeatedly rubbed his eyes and he tried to clear his vision, but no matter what he did, the image did not change.
"Guys, I think I had too much Saturn cake," Anakin said lightly. "I must be hallucinating or something. I swear I can see a giant man made out of rocks on a space- no, a giant rock man on a hoverboard that looks like a spaceship. My compliments to the chef who baked that cake."
"It's not the cake," said Larry, whose eyes were gleaming! He absorbed precious metals to grow stronger, and the 'hoverboard' in the air felt more precious to him than anything he had ever felt in his entire life!
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