Meskipun Lex jelas-jelas merekrut para pekerja ini untuk tujuan bertarung, dan mereka punya garis keturunan yang memang ditujukan untuk bangkit kembali, ia tidak ingin memaksa siapa pun. Meski ia sudah bilang tidak akan memberi mereka kesempatan lagi untuk mundur nanti, jika ada yang benar-benar ingin keluar, Lex akan mencarikan jalan keluar.
Lagi pula, ia sudah melihat cukup banyak alam semesta untuk tahu bahwa segala hal itu mungkin saja terjadi. Bahkan jika mereka memiliki garis keturunan yang bisa membangkitkan mereka kembali, siapa yang bisa menjamin tidak ada garis keturunan lain di luar sana yang mampu melawan kemampuan itu dengan sempurna? Karena garis keturunan berdasar pada hukum, bagaimana kalau mereka bertemu musuh yang penguasaannya atas hukum yang menjadi dasar garis keturunan itu lebih baik? Bukankah secara teori mereka bisa melawan, bahkan mengendalikan garis keturunan tersebut?
Lex tidak punya jawaban untuk pertanyaan-pertanyaan semacam itu, tapi ia tahu yang terbaik adalah memberi mereka kebebasan memilih seluas mungkin dalam urusan ini.
Berdiri di tempatnya, ia memperhatikan para pekerjanya bubar, tapi terkejut mendapati satu pekerja masih berdiri di sana. Kedua lengannya terlipat di belakang punggung, kepalanya menghadap lurus ke depan. Tubuhnya masih kaku, bahunya terkunci, dada didongakkan tinggi-tinggi, seolah sedang berbaris. Tapi untuk semua sikapnya itu, perawakan pendek dan wajah mudanya membuat aura mengintimidasi yang ingin ia tunjukkan begitu saja lenyap. Ia tampak seperti Z yang lain.
'Kamu tidak mau berkeliling dulu?' tanya Lex padanya.
'Tidak, Tuan!' jawabnya dengan tegas. 'Aku sudah tahu apa yang kuinginkan, yaitu bertarung!'
Lex mengangguk menyambut antusiasme anak itu, lalu bertanya, 'Siapa namamu?'
'Leonidas!' jawab bocah itu, suaranya masih keras dan penuh tenaga.
'Baiklah, Leonidas. Kalau kamu memang yakin dengan keinginanmu, carilah Wakil Kepala Chad dan perkenalkan dirimu. Kamu akan banyak menghabiskan waktu bersamanya kelak.'
Leonidas memberi hormat pada Lex, lalu melangkah pergi dengan kaku. Jelas sekali bocah itu belum tahu caranya berbaris sungguhan, tapi hal itu mungkin akan segera berubah. Lex memperhatikan bocah penuh semangat itu beberapa lama, sebelum proyeksinya lenyap. Kembali di alam Kristal, tubuh utamanya akhirnya tiba di tujuan. Sekarang ia harus mencari tahu formasi teleportasi yang tepat, lalu mulai menggunakannya.
*****
Seekor reptil besar menyerupai bunglon berjalan menembus jalan yang sibuk. Di planet yang dikuasai insektoid ini ia memang tidak diterima, tapi penduduk setempat tidak berbuat banyak selain melemparkan tatapan sinis kepadanya. Lagi pula, ia sudah punya reputasi di sini, jadi mereka tahu jangan coba-coba memusuhi Raja Tarian Reptil!
Ia terkekeh sendiri sambil teringat kenangan indahnya di planet ini, dan bagaimana gerakan tarinya membuat para pemimpinnya berlutut. Ia terus menembus kerumunan hingga akhirnya tiba di tujuannya: Infinity Emporium.
Ruang obrolan yang ia ikuti tergolong sangat besar, dan kadang-kadang cukup membantu. Bahkan, di dalamnya ada sub-kanal terpisah untuk beberapa realm. Alam asal, kebetulan, termasuk salah satu realm yang punya sub-kanal sendiri. Di dalamnya, para pengguna yang lebih berpengalaman membagikan tips dan trik yang berguna. Emporium kebetulan mendapat banyak rekomendasi di kanal itu.
Meskipun emporium itu belum menyebar ke realm lain — belum — jangkauannya di dalam alam asal sudah cukup luas, jadi menjaga hubungan baik dengan mereka sangatlah
Although Lex had expressly hired these workers for the purpose of fighting, and they had a bloodline that was for the express purpose of coming back to life, he did not want to force anyone. Even though he said he wouldn't be giving them another chance later on to quit, if one of them really wanted to, Lex would figure something out.
Besides, he had seen enough of the universe to know that anything was possible. Even if they had a bloodline that could revive them, who was to say there wasn't another bloodline out there that could perfectly counter this ability? Since bloodlines were based on laws, what if they encountered an enemy who had a better mastery of the laws that this particular bloodline was based on? Couldn't they theoretically counter, or even control their bloodline?
Lex didn't have the answer to such questions, but he knew that it was best to give them as much choice in this matter as possible.
He stood there and watched as all of his workers dispersed, but was surprised to find that one of the workers still stood there. His arms were folded behind his back, and his head pointed directly forward. His body was still tense, his shoulders locked, chest held out high, as if he was standing at attention. But for all his posturing, his short height and young appearance took away a lot from the intimidating aura he was trying to portray. He looked like another Z.
"Don't you want to go look around?" Lex asked him.
"No sir!" he replied forcefully. "I know what I want, and that is to fight!"
Lex gave the boy's enthusiasm a nod and asked, "what's your name?"
"Leonidas!" the boy replied, his voice still loud and forceful.
"Well then Leonidas, if you're sure of what you want, go find Deputy head Chad and introduce yourself. You'll be spending a lot of time together in the future."
Leonidas saluted Lex, and then marched off stiffly. It was clear that the boy did not know how to actually march, but that would probably change soon. Lex watched the enthusiastic boy for a while, before his projection disappeared. Back at the Crystal realm, his main body had finally reached his destination. Now he had to figure out the right teleportation formation, and get about using it.
*****
A large, chameleon-like reptile made its way through a busy street. On this planet ruled by insectoids it was not exactly welcome, but the locals did not do much else but give him dirty looks. After all, he already had a reputation here, so they knew not to mess with the Reptilian Dance King!
Chuckling to himself as he thought of his fond memories on this planet, and how his dance moves had brought its leaders to their knees, he kept moving through the crowds until he finally reached his destination: the Infinity Emporium.
The chatroom he was a part of was quite massive, and was quite helpful at times. In fact, it had separate sub-channels for some of the realms. The Origin realm, as it happened, was one of the realms which had its own sub-channel. Within it, some of the more experienced users shared some helpful tips and tricks. The emporium happened to be highly endorsed on the channel.
Although the emporium had not spread to other realms - yet - it was quite widespread within the Origin realm and so having a good relationship with them was quite helpful. The dance king made his way in, only to find a familiar face waiting for him at the counter.
"Powell, my good friend, how are you?" the dance king asked.
"Superb now that you're here," replied Powell, smiling back at him. Powell was, of course, also a chameleon - or so it appeared. It was common knowledge shared within the chat that the race of the shopkeeper one would run into would always be identical to the person walking in. Also, every one of them was named Powell.
How or why such a thing happened had remained unexplained, but almost every person in the Origin realm had used their system detector in the emporium, only to come up with a failed report. That either meant that Powell was not a system user, or his system was so advanced and powerful that their machines were not capable of detecting them - in which case it was better for them to not try and antagonize Powell to begin with.
"It's a good thing you're in a good mood, for I need help in an unusual matter. I need any information you have on a place called the 'Midnight Inn'. At the same time, if you happen to have one of their golden keys, I'll take that off your hands as well."
"Hold a moment," said Powell before he quickly began perusing on his tablet. But his search did not take as long as expected, and his uncomfortable facial expression also told the dance king it was bad news.
"What is it?" he asked, suppressing his growing concern.
"There's a strict ban on all emporium employees. We cater to no business requests related to the Midnight Inn."
The king was startled by this answer, for he had never heard of such a thing.
"Officially, I can't help you," said Powell as he whispered, reaching close to him. "But unofficially… I can't help it if you overhear me say that a lot of the 'golden keys' you mentioned have been spotted in and around the Pendal Galaxy."
"That… that's over a 100,000 galaxies away!" said the dance king, startled. It seemed like he had accepted a difficult quest. Or maybe not.
"Okay forget the Inn. I need a ticket for the Wormhole ferry."
"Oh, that'll cost you. With the Henali Champions tourney coming up, all intergalactic travel has really jumped up in price."
The dance kind did not hesitate in throwing a brown bag full of crystal coins onto the table. Since not everyone had a credit card, they had to make do with coin bags.
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