Lex had once sealed his mory of Wu Kong's na from within the Chamber of Secrets, but upon reading it again, suddenly those mories returned to him, once again reminding him of how dangerous his interactions with this particular guest were.
He had to be in complete control over his thoughts, lest his thoughts be seen by the guest. The worst part was, he wasn't sure if the Host Attire would protect him from the guests gaze, for the system seed entirely incapable of detecting this particular guest at all. It was uncanny.
But it provided Lex with a proper justification to et with this particular guest, which was convenient because he had already decided to et him. If there were potentially other Dao Lords hunting this guest, then it would be inconvenient to keep him here for a long ti.
Although the system teleportation was sealed outside the Origin realm, and the location of his realm was hidden and masked, who knew what capabilities Dao Lords had? It was best to be careful.
Lex carefully placed the letter in the sa drawer as the one with the previous one, burying it with many of his business cards. Although this particular letter had not hard him, "Sun Wu Kong, I am glad to know that you enjoyed the hospitality of the Midnight Inn," the Innkeeper said, his voice ever pleasing and comforting to hear. When he began to speak, his office was empty save himself, and yet as his words completed, a dignified monkey sat opposite to him.
Wu Kong stared openly at the Innkeeper, unknown thoughts running through his head. Heck, he might have been inspecting the Innkeeper, yet Lex could not tell. In the presence of other Dao Lords, his system would suppress itself, hiding its presence as best as it could, and allow everything to run on automation. Yet, even as this particular guest, whose na Lex refused to think of, sat before him, his system showed no such indication of hiding.
"The renowned Innkeeper," Wu Kong eventually spoke, interest shining in his eyes. "I have heard many things about you. It is said that you boast an incomparable mastery over Karma. Seeing you now, seemingly without any Karmic ties at all save for the Inn, I see that is true."
The Innkeeper smiled and nodded politely, as if acknowledging the complint.
"I have also heard much about you, dear guest," the Innkeeper spoke, his tone and pace at ease, as if the monkey's vast reputation did not bother him at all. "I have heard you like to be called Handso Monkey King."
Wu Kong had his left elbow rested peacefully on the arm of his chair, using it to support himself as he rested his jaw on his fist. Yet when the Innkeeper spoke of the nickna he liked to be called, Wu Kong's elbow slipped, and the Dao Lord almost fell over from a seated position.
The Innkeeper did not react to the sudden stumble, and Wu Kong also did not acknowledge it, yet Lex suspected that the guest was suppressing a blush from appearing.
"Yes, well, I have that going for too, though I'd have thought that from the many things my reputation is built on, that is not what you would be focusing on."
Lex refused to believe that a Dao Lord could be flustered so easily. There was just no way. "Yes, well, I have also heard that you are accepting blind date suggestions from Brandon. Quite courageous of you, if I might say so myself. I'm glad that you are making use of the Inns' environnt to explore your romantic options. How is that going for you?"
Wu Kong suddenly looked like he had been shot through the heart, though it only lasted a mont. Lex refused to believe that the being before him was so openly displaying his genuine emotions, and believed that they were being used to throw him off guard.
Wu Kong, anwhile, recalled that the Innkeeper, even without eting him, had once dissuaded him from trying to go on a blind date. Had the Innkeeper foreseen that he would be dumped?
"I was rely trying out a new experience. It's nothing to take too seriously," Wu Kong said nonchalantly. "You know, before I ca to the Inn, I looked into you. I suppose you could have already guessed as much. With no history and no mark left on the universe, it seems you appeared out of nowhere. I suppose with your mastery of Karma, it is not difficult to erase all your traces.
"But I also heard that lately, you have reduced your appearances in public. I was wondering why that might be. I see now it is because you are nursing a grave wound. If I had to guess, I would say you are at about 40% of your regular strength. Quite impressive what you can do in such a state. If I had been so weakened, I would never expose myself."
Lex suddenly had a thought, though he could not believe such a thought to be true. He pushed it aside. How was it possible that a Dao Lord could have such weak verbal confrontational skills?
If he looked over their conversation, it seed apparent at a glance that the guest sitting opposite to him was trying to unnerve him, yet his attempts kept failing. As such, he took to attacking his more personal traits.
What was interesting was that the guest seed to be considering the system's wounded state as the Innkeepers own. To be more specific, the system was at 40.2% functionality, and the guest, who had clearly tried to observe the Innkeeper, mistook the system's weakened state as the Innkeepers own.
Lex did not know what the guests intentions were, but this was no ti to lose his nerve. He would continue to act as if everything the guest was showing was purposeful to deceive him. He just couldn't believe there existed such a simple and straightforward Dao Lord.
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