Lex berteleportasi ke lokasi tempat seseorang mengetok dinding batasnya, dan melihat ke arahnya. Seekor hewan, mirip tupai dengan sayap transparan di punggungnya, menghantam benda tak dikenal ke dinding.
Saat singkat Lex bingung. Dia tak bisa membedakan apakah itu hewan acak yang mencoba memecahkan kacang raksasa, atau benar-benar mengetok. Karena hewan itu secara teknis berada di luar wilayahnya, dia bahkan tak bisa memindainya.
Ada cara mudah untuk mengetahuinya. Dengan ibarat jari tangannya, bagian dinding tempat dia berdiri berubah menjadi gerbang raksasa seimbang, yang mulai terbuka.
Makhluk itu langsung terkejut dan lari sebelum gerbang sempat mengungkap sepintas saja lahan di baliknya, tapi Lex tidak menghentikan gerbang agar terbuka. Dia memperhatikan makhluk itu berlari cepat ke rumput tinggi dan bersembunyi di balik pohon tua yang layu.
Lex berteleportasi pergi. Dia tidak punya waktu mengamati perilaku makhluk itu, tapi dia memperhatikan area ini jadi kalau ada yang masuk lewat gerbang dia akan segera mengetahuinya.
Dia memindai Inn mencari perubahan, dan mengabaikan kelinci pekerja tak terhitung jumlahnya yang membangun kokon di sekitar diri mereka. Itu hal wajar yang dilakukan semua kelinci, dia sama sekali tidak melihat alasan memberikannya perhatian lebih dari baju kosong yang menatap manekin di pameran Geeves.
Tunggu, kalau dipikir-pikir, dia harus menyuruh baju-baju itu jangan menatap. Akan kasar kalau nanti mereka lakukan hal itu ke tamunya.
Sambil Lex terus memindai Inn, dan merasa sangat bersyukur setidaknya misil di museumnya tidak menunjukkan tanda-tanda akan hidup, Qawain akhirnya tiba di kantornya.
"Maaf keterlambatannya," ucap pedang berbentuk pria itu. Dia memakai jubah daoist, perubahan dari pakaian biasanya. Tapi anehnya, Lex merasa pakaian ini lebih cocok untuknya.
"Sama sekali tidak, kau tepat waktu. Gimana beradaptasi dengan perubahan?"
"Lingkungan di sini terasa luar biasa. Tapi aku merasa kultivasiku terjebak. Aku tidak yakin kenapa. Mungkin sudah terlalu lama sejak aku mengasah diri."
"Itu akibat realm yang baru. Akan lewat, nanti. Sementara itu, aku akan menyiapkan tempat untukmu dan yang lain di realm abadi agar bisa mengalami terobosan mereka di masa depan."
"Aku tidak terburu. Merasakan tekanan sebentar akan baik bagiku."
"Senang kau beradaptasi baik. Kalau begitu, aku punya tugas untukmu. Akibat perubahan, tak terhitung jumlah pekerja baru lahir dari barang mati — dan mereka tidak persis beradaptasi dengan baik. Kupikir mungkin kau punya wawasan cara membantunya beradaptasi."
"Akan kurusakan," jawab Qawain, lalu membungkuk dan pergi. Cukup lurus. Lex menyuruh Mary memberinya daftar baru lahir untuk diperhatikan, dimulai dari kapal antariksa yang menangis. Kalau tamunya bangun dan melihat kapal antiksa menangis, dia akan sangat malu.
Bicara soal itu, dia mengalihkan perhatian ke Fredrich. Dia ingin tahu gimana kabar lebah madu gemuk itu. Tapi dia tidak menyangka adegan yang akan dia temui.
Fredrich, si kecil Rasul Draconian yang lucu, melayang di langit di sekitar ratusan kupu-kupu. Atau lebih tepat, Fredrich, Rasul Draconian, memiliki ratusan kupu-kupu raksasa di genggamannya.
Seluruh wilayah jadi gelap di bawah pengaruh teknik yang dia pakai, dan seolah di dalam kegelapan itu portal ke tempat jauh lebih menakutkan terbuka. Dari bidang itu, wisp hijau transparan muncul dan melilit setiap kupu-kupu, menahan mereka diam.
Aura menindas, mirip predator paling mematikan, menutupi kupu-kupu dan mengancam kesehatan mental mereka.
Meski pemandangan ngeri, Lex tidak ikut campur. Dia sudah bilang ke Fredrich dia boleh pakai caranya asalkan tidak menyakiti siapa pun, dan sampai sekarang sepertinya dia tidak benar-benar menyakiti mereka.
"Lihat, seru kan. Kalian semua menunggu di udara, supaya aku bisa mainin kalian saat aku santai. Kalian memang tidak seharusnya." Awalnya kata lebah itu penuh semangat kanak-kanak, tapi saat dia berhenti dan memandang kupu-kupu, suaranya berubah saat bilang, "Kalian 'benar-benar' tidak seharusnya."
Kalimat terakhir, yang diulang, dipenuhi aura ketidakpuasan begitu besar hingga Lex merasa Fredrich almost menyerang. Untungnya, dia tidak berbuat demikian. Faktanya, dia justru menarik aura, mengurangi tekanan yang dirasakan kupu-kupu.
"Kalian lihat kan, sesuatu yang kupikir lelucon未必对你们来说也是这样?" tanyanya, seolah menanyai anak kecil.
Secara teknis Rasul berbicara langsung ke pikiran kupu-kupu, tapi Lex bisa ikut mendengar. Kupu-kupu itu terlalu antusias menjawab Rasul, dan memuji-muji dia sambil mengklaim mereka lahir kembali sebagai orang suci dibandingkan diri mereka dulu.
Metodenya drastis… tapi Inn butuh variasi. Bukan semua orang bisa ramah banget, dan beberapa dengan cara keras bukan hal buruk. Lex cuma perlu pasti dia tetap di batas.
Sementara Rasul Draconian menuju kelompok kupu-kupu berikutnya, korban pendidikannya yang segar mengikuti di belakang, seolah terlalu takut pergi tanpa instruksi.
Oke, mungkin dia kelewatan sedikit.
Lex bertanya-tanya apakah cuma Fredrich yang begitu, atau ini kecenderungan semua rasul. Yang kedua lebih mungkin, karena dia tidak tau kemampuan apa yang dipakai untuk menahan semua kupu-kupu. Mungkin kemampuan ras.
Mungkin dia harus tambah beberapa rasul ke Batalyon Midnight.
Lex teleported over to the location where someone was knocking on his boundary wall, and looked over. An animal of some kind, similar to a squirrel with transparent wings on its back was smashing some unknown object on the wall.
For a moment Lex was confused. He could not tell if it was just a random animal trying to crack open some massive nut, or was actually knocking. Since the animal was technically outside his territory, he couldn't even scan it.
There was an easy way to find out. With a flock of his hand, the portion of the wall he was on turned into an equally massive gate, which began to swing open.
The creature was immediately startled and ran away before the gate could reveal even a speck of the land behind it, but Lex did not stop the gate from opening. He watched as it scurried through the tall grass and hid behind an old, dying tree.
Lex teleported away. He didn't have time to watch how the creature behaved, but he was paying attention to this area so if anything entered through the gates he'd immediately find out.
He scanned the Inn for changes, and ignored the countless worker bunnies which were growing cocoons around themselves. That was a totally normal thing that all rabbits did, he completely saw no reason why he should give it any more attention than the empty suits that were ogling the mannequins in Geeves' display.
Wait, on second thought, he should tell the suits not to ogle. It'd be rude if they started doing that towards his guests later on.
While Lex was continuously scanning the Inn, and feeling incredibly grateful that at least the missiles in his museum weren't showing signs of coming to life, Qawain finally arrived at his office.
"My apologies for the tardiness," the sword in the shape of a man said. He was wearing a daoist robe, which was a change from his usual attire. But for some odd reason, Lex felt like these clothes suited him more.
"Not at all, you are just in time. How are you adjusting to the change?"
"The environment here feels phenomenal. But I feel my cultivation is stuck. I am not sure why. Perhaps it has been too long since I honed myself."
"That is a result of the realm being new. It will pass, eventually. In the meantime, I will arrange a place for you and others in the immortal realms to experience their breakthroughs in the future."
"I am in no rush. Experiencing some pressure for a while will be good for me."
"I am glad you are adjusting well to the change. In that case, I have a task for you. As a result of the change, countless new workers have been born from nonliving things - and they are not exactly adjusting well. I thought perhaps you might have some insight into how to help them adjust."
"I will handle it," Qawain responded, before bowing and leaving. That was fairly straightforward. Lex had Mary give him a list of newborns to look after, starting from the wailing spaceship. If his guests woke up and saw his spaceship crying, he would feel extremely embarrassed.
Speaking of which, he turned his attention to Fredrich. He wanted to see how the chubby honey bee was doing. But he did not expect the scene he would stumble upon.
Fredrich, the cute little Draconian Apostle, was hovering in the sky around hundreds of butterflies. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say, Fredrich, the Draconian Apostle, had hundreds of massive butterflies at its mercy.
The entire region had become dark under the influence of some technique it was using, and it seemed like within the darkness a portal to a much more sinister place had opened up. From within this plane, green translucent wisps appeared and wrapped themselves around each of the butterflies, holding them still.
An oppressive aura, akin to that of the most deadly predator, blanketed the butterflies and threatened their very sanity.
Despite how horrid the sight seemed, Lex did not interfere yet. He had told Fredrich that he could use his means as long as he did not hurt anyone, and up till now, it did not seem like he had actually hurt any of them.
"Look, how fun. You're all waiting around in the air, so that I can play with you at my leisure. You really shouldn't have." At first the bee's words were filled with childlike excitement, but as it paused and looked at the butterflies, its voice changed when it said, "You 'really' shouldn't have."
The last sentence, the one that was repeated, was filled with such an immense aura of discontent that even Lex felt that Fredrich was on the verge of attacking. But fortunately, it did no such thing. In fact, it actually withdrew its aura, reducing the suppression the butterflies were experiencing..
"You see how something I think is a prank does not necessarily seem that way to you?" it asked, as if questioning a child.
Technically the apostle was speaking directly into the minds of the butterflies, but Lex could eavesdrop anyway. The butterflies were all too eager to respond to the apostle, and fawn over it as they claimed to be reborn as saints compared to their prior selves.
Its methods were a little drastic… but the Inn needed some variety. Not everyone could be extremely friendly, and some with harsher means was not a bad thing. Lex just had to make sure he remained within his limits.
As the Draconian Apostle made its way to the next flutter of butterflies, its freshly reeducated victims followed behind it, as if they were too afraid to leave without instruction.
Okay, maybe he was pushing it just a bit.
Lex wondered if it was just Fredrich that was like this, or was this a tendency shared by all apostles. The latter seemed more likely, for he had no idea what ability it had used to hold all the butterflies prisoner. It was likely some racial ability.
Maybe he should add a few apostles to the Midnight Battalion.
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