NOVPUBThere came a period of time where, oddly enough, Lex had little to do. He himself was trapped in Abaddon, so it wasn't like he could travel around much. He set things up so that as soon as the award ceremony ended at the Inn, the next event would kick off.
In fact, marketing for the cultural event had already begun.
Before the actual culture event was initiated, there would be a month's time so that if anyone needed to set up, they could. This would allow them to travel to the Inn, practice their performances, prepare any necessary ingredients or materials, and generally do whatever was required to ensure a good show.
The spin that the Inn would put on this was that just as the Midnight games displayed the military might of numerous communities, this event, formally called the Cultural Circus, would share the cultures of those communities. It was an attempt to foster friendly relations and a chance to spread their culture and tradition across the realm.
While not as exciting as watching battles, Lex expected that this would get just as much viewership as the Midnight games if not more. After all, already there were many humans formerly from Earth who were adapting countless movies and books into plays for a live performance.
Some were designing new video games, and others were compiling songs. There were many other regular guests of the Inn as well who were preparing for the upcoming event, including even the Paladins, who Lex paid closer attention to these days.
Obsidian was developing fine as well, though the number of members were disappointingly few. Although it made sense to take precautions, and not just teleport somewhere random. They were beginning to take up some of the quests Lex had left on the board such as submitting random information in exchange for some points.
But that was about it. They were still very cautious, and none of them had discovered a way to leave their hill yet, which is why most of them were unable to meet each other.
So what this meant was… Lex had nothing to do, no urgent task hovering over him. With the Inn officially closed to the rest of the universe except the Origin realm, and its many security measures in place, no one was bothering him, so there wasn't too much pressure on him either.
So… Lex made the most of his situation. He allocated certain parts of his mental processing power to cultivating, other parts to researching karma, and other parts still to comprehending Lawcrafts. There were parts of his mind that he allocated to studying the laws of Abaddon, hoping that might help him understand this place a little better.
That left him with only a moderate amount of free mental power. Of course, that moderate amount was only moderate relatively speaking.
Even so, Lex decided to take things easy and he only focused on three things, alternating between them.
He chatted with the guests at the tavern, learning more about the insects and their communities within the jungle. When he wasn't doing that, he explored the jungle itself.
Despite not containing nearly as many valuable treasures as the inner jungle, the outer jungle was still a treasure trove even greater than the Midnight realm.
More than once he found fruits that even his body craved, which was an incredible feat. Multiple times he encountered items which his dragon senses told him were valuable, or items his instincts were attracted towards.
As if that was not enough, he even ran into an item that improved his system functionality an entire 0.5%. The crazy part was that the item wasn't even hard to find, nor was it protected by some incredibly strong monster. He wasn't even prevented from taking it by the jungle or the mysterious figure or anything.
So basically, searching through the forest regularly for treasures became a part of his routine.
But the thing he spent the most time on was trying to create his seal. His headband, while fashionable, was quickly wearing out. He needed to create a new seal for himself, or accept the fact that he was about to enter the Heaven Immortal realm.
If such a thing was inevitable, then so be it. But Lex still had things to do as an Earth Immortal - such as helping out Vinei, the Phoenix in the Crystal realm, or kill that accursed Kraven known as Belail.
If there was one thing Lex was good at, it was seeking out revenge, and Lex still hadn't forgotten the pain Belail had caused him. Ben had moved on from his wife's miscarriage since she was healthy, and the fact that they eventually had another kid. But Lex did not forget.
The only reason he hadn't already gotten revenge was because Vinei had asked him to hold off on it.
However, if Lex couldn't stop his cultivation from increasing, it would not be the end of the world. After all, the Crystal realm was also on its way to accommodating Heaven Immortals. As it so happened, Lex wanted to increase his knowledge about how realms operated. Worst case scenario, he'd just have to study how to raise a realms level on his own.
So Lex fell into a loop, transitioning between three activities to keep his mind fresh. Meanwhile, Z, who learned from Kaemon that Lex had showed up once more, fully healed, narrowed his eyes. The fact that Lex had returned meant that Z was missing something, prompting Lex to show up again. If things continued this way, and Z didn't step up, Lex would surely increase the difficulty of his training.
But what was there to do? Ever since the insects became guests of the tavern, there had been no threats, and Z had been tasked with dealing with threats.
But Lex had come back anyway. This only meant that there was a threat Z was not detecting - one that would only grow more serious the longer it was ignored.
After a few hours of thinking, Z left the castle and explored the jungle, yet found nothing. Even so, he trusted his gut and kept exploring. Days passed, and the longer he found nothing, the more anxious Z got.
That is, until, one day he ventured to the edge of the jungle and found him. The Dark Knight. His training partner. Not the adversary he deserved, but the one he got, anyway. He had been waiting right at the edge of the forest, and somehow, he felt stronger than last time. Fortunately, Z was stronger too.
