The Innkeeper

"That's funny," Lex said with a smirk. "As it turns out, even the Henali are interested in replicating the Innkeepers ability to speed up the realms maturity. Seems to me like they're also fairly confident in their own abilities."

Lex was, once again, lying. No one had specifically told him that the Henali wanted to replicate the Innkeepers ability, though he didn't get admonished at all basically, so he was comfortable making that assumption. Even if he was wrong, it wasn't like it would make much of a difference.

"Naturally, the Henali have their own plans, while we have ours. I can extrapolate some things based on common knowledge about the situation. The Henali would like to make use of their Dao Lords, who already exist within the realm. Once the Dao Lords are no longer restricted, they can sweep the realm and quickly finish off resistance.

"Naturally, it is entirely possible that they have some other plans as well, but for a moment let's just assume that they don't. Let's just assume for a moment that the Henali plan on using their superior realm to end all conflict immediately.

"Even so, unless they bring all their Dao Lords across the realm, forgoing all of their existing duties, it would basically be impossible to explore the entire Origin realm in just a short amount of time. Let's assume that, based on their deeper knowledge of the realm, that the Fuegan know where they can hide from the Henali long enough to reach the Dao realm.

"Once they reach the Dao realm, even if they only get a single Dao Lord, the Fuegan are entirely confident of reclaiming the entire realm. Given that they really have such a strategy and confidence, and aren't just boasting needlessly, all the Fuegan even need to do is just keep the war going to slow down the Henali as much as possible to keep their exploration of the realm stunted."

"That's a lot of assumptions," Lex said. "But I get what you mean. The Fuegan have convinced a bunch of people that such a reality is inevitable. There's one catch, however. Getting a Dao Lord, even just a single one, is not something anyone can just will into existence.

"Even humans, who are much more prevalent across the universe, lack a single Dao Lord. How can the Fuegan be sure that they can even get a Dao Lord, let alone get one in time?"

"Ah, very astute aren't you," Misha said coyly. "You've caught the one flaw with the plan. Why didn't anyone foresee such an obstacle."

The sarcasm was dripping off of Misha's tongue, but she did not elaborate on the question. Ironically, such a thing only increased Lex's confidence that the Fuegan had some insurance in the matter. If, instead, she had tried to convince him that it was inevitable, he wouldn't have believed her.

"Full disclosure, I was ordered to candidly ask you another question, though I don't really see a way how I can ask such a question so casually," Misha said.

"Oh? What's the question? I don't mind answering questions. Not like I have anything to hide really," said Lex without the slightest hint of shame. The amount of secrets he had, even excluding the ones he had locked inside the Chamber of secrets and forgotten about, was really too many to count.

"According to all reports, at least the ones that have been found so far, there is nothing to indicate that the Innkeeper came from outside the realm. Furthermore, he doesn't show signs of foreigner suppression either, being able to wield such immense power so easily. Do you happen to think that the Innkeeper is actually a local of the Origin realm?"

Lex chuckled, underplaying his emotions. He knew that this was a critical question, and based on his abundant experience messing up, he was certain that he could not lie so easily about this question.

Who knew if Misha was monitoring him through some truth detection technique, or was recording the conversation for later scrutiny. Continue your story on My Virtual Library Empire

If the Innkeeper proved to be a local, then the question of how he became a Dao Lord would be a huge mystery. If he claimed that the Innkeeper became a Dao Lord outside the realm but was a local, then people would begin to start looking into the Innkeepers identity - not to mention the fact that if he was under the effects of truth detection spell, and mentioned that the Innkeeper was a Dao Lord, the lie would be caught.

Of course, this could just be Lex speculating, and the truth might be different. But he couldn't treat it lightly, and had to behave as if he was.

"Why is that relevant to anything?" Lex asked. "The Innkeeper has already left the Origin realm, and has no intention of interfering with anything unrelated to his Inn. His origin should hardly matter, although it wouldn't either way, since this is a question only the Innkeeper can answer."

Misha shrugged.

"I don't know. My superiors were really excited by the prospect, as if it would confirm some theory of theirs if he was. But I think they were ready not to get an answer to such a question, which is why I don't mind just asking you up front. Between you and I, sometimes being a diplomat can be very exhausting. I can't wait for this Expo to be over."

"What are you going to do once the Expo is over?" Lex asked.

"I'm heading back home. I have vacation days that I intend to use, and it would be nice getting away from all the doom and gloom of war. I hadn't really considered it until you mentioned it, but I really have been involved with war for way too long. Might be for the best to use all those resources I've earned."

"Your home? You said that you're not from the Origin realm. Does that mean the Fuegan have a big presence back where you're from?"

Misha smiled.

"If you want to know about the Fuegan, I can tell you quite a lot. But if you want to learn more about me, young Lex, it's going to take a whole lot more than an armwrestling match and a cup of coffee to get me to open up. But, for some reason, I don't really see that happening. Such a shame, you made a good first impression."

"Kind of sounds like you're flattering me. That won't get me to open up about the Innkeepers secrets if that's what you're trying to do. But, since you've offered up such an opportunity, it'd be a shame to just give it up.

"Why don't you tell me a little bit more about the Fuegan, and the history of the Origin realm. The kind I can verify from other sources, just like you mentioned."

"Ah, right into the thick of things. Let me see… where should I start from? I suppose the very beginning sounds about right. When the Origin realm was initially formed, it was no different from any other newborn realm.

"It had Mythical beings, Deities, an abundance of races and all the ingredients necessary to build a flourishing realm. That is, until, an event called the First Mass Extinction. The exact details of that are not recorded.

"No one, not even the Fuegan know why it happened or what triggered it. The Fuegan came into power much later on, after the Second Mass Extinction event, actually. By then, the limits of the Origin realm were already at the Heavenly Immortal realm, and were about to open up to the Celestial realm.

"When they came into power, what they did learn was that the Origin realm, which was once ordinary, had undergone an unknown change. There are powers and secrets hidden dormant in the Origin realm that should have nothing to do with a newfound realm.

"Back then the realm was not nearly as big as it is now, so it was a lot easier to explore. Of course, that is only relatively speaking. In truth, it was still very difficult to go through all of it. Thus, the Fuegan initiated their first great undertaking, taking the first step towards becoming the eventual rulers of the realm for a very long time. They began the Star Bridge project, meant to be able to connect every single part of the Origin realm together.

"That project brought the Fuegan out of their galaxy and into a much wider field, interacting with the great, old powers of the realms. There were the dragons, one of the only races to survive both Great Extinction events without suffering a steep decline in strength. There were the Deities of old, most of whom have already been forgotten by now, following their demise at the hands of the Henali.

"Finally, and perhaps most importantly, they ran into the Seraphine Oracles. Seraphines are closely tied to Heavens, and considering the distinct lack of a Heaven in the Origin realm, their presence was highly unusual."