After laughing for a bit, Marlo yanked the disoriented Lex off the ground and skillfully popped his dislocated arm back into its place. After making sure that Lex wasn’t hurt anywhere else Marlo put the handgun back into the briefcase and signaled Lex to follow him. Lex, still in shock at what happened, followed the giant man. The difference between Marlo’s steady hand repeatedly firing shocks without any visible change, and himself being launched off his feet after a single shot was too mind-blowing.
They retreated to the lounge where a butler served them so herbal tea.
“Have so, it’ll nourish your body. You’ve been through a lot lately.”
Lex took a sip, and was pleasantly surprised. The tea had a very subtle taste of honey, but more importantly he imdiately felt a warm sensation spread through his body. It was like his muscles were being massaged from the inside, making him feel very comfortable.
“This is tea from a hidden monastery near Mount Tupungato. It’s sothing I used to drink when I started body cultivating. It’s not useful to anymore, but I still enjoy the taste so I keep it on hand. For you though, it should be very beneficial.”
“I can tell, thanks,” replied Lex, having recovered from his previous shock..
“Do you know why, even as a Body Tempering cultivator you need to use a spirit gun when it’s so difficult to use? It’s because regular guns, even high caliber ones, only rely on basic force to deal damage. The basic concept is, if I hit sothing harder or with more explosive energy it’ll do more damage. In theory, that is not wrong, but in practice anything with spirit energy is extrely resistant to any force lacking spirit energy. So against a cultivator, in practice most of the ti even an assault rifle will inflict less damage than the weakest spirit weapon. This is only considering a cultivators body that has been tempered by spiritual energy, and their internal spiritual energy. Body armor, talismans, spirit techniques and anything else a cultivator can use only add more variables to overco. A normal Foundation realm expert, with his average gear, can easily withstand an attack from a tank.
“The Heavy Harley is nad as such because of its heavy recoil, but it is the best gun for soone at Body Tempering to use on the market. Once you raise your level a bit, you’ll be able to withstand the recoil better.”
Marlo explained a bit, in case Lex was dissatisfied with his weapon, although all of this was common knowledge and if Lex did his own research he would learn all this sooner or later. During this period Marlo was relatively calm, and went almost fifteen minutes without bursting into laughter. Clearly he was treating this very seriously.
Lex smiled after listening to his explanation, and said, “I understand. There is no gain for free, if I want to use the gun I need to improve a bit. You do not need to be concerned, I am very satisfied with it. But you could have just sent the gun to . Since you called here, there must be sothing else you want to discuss as well.”
Marlo let out a knowing smile before he chugged his tea in a single gulp and put the cup down. He lazily put his back against his sofa and spread his arms on the side. His appearance looked very casual, yet he gave off the aura of a King in his own kingdom.
“I want to know more about the tests you encountered when you used the key. What were your tasks? What were the dangers, how were you evaluated? What do you think I can expect when I use the key? Since I am about to undertake this test, I should be fully prepared, don’t you think?”
Lex smiled, and internally he was filled with jubilation. Marlo was finally about to use the key.
“The first ti I encountered the key the test was really simple. I was given a cultivation thod, and I had to cultivate it in a set ti. Who evaluated , or how they did it I don’t know. As a reward, I was given a pill that increased the durability of my body. I’m sure you’ve already noticed that compared to others, I can really take a beating.”
Marlo only grinned, but said nothing.
“The second ti, before the test began I t soone and was offered sothing, and if I accepted the offer I could take the test, otherwise I could go back. What I was offered and who offered it, I don’t rember anymore but I rember thinking that this was a valuable opportunity.
“After accepting, I was sent to a different place. Where that place was I have no idea, but I rember thinking it felt like a different world. My task was to kill a certain number of zombies and …”
“Zombies, did you say?” Marlo interrupted, leaning forward. “Like in the movies and gas?”
“Yes, zombies. If they scratch you, you’ll be infected after a certain amount of ti. But it’s not entirely like movies and gas because not all zombies have the sa strength. So are stronger than others. One on one I had no problem fighting them, but the hordes are too dangerous because they’re too many and the stronger ones mix in and you can’t tell the difference…”
As far as his experience fighting the zombies was concerned Lex told Marlo everything. If he lied or made sothing up, there were greater chances of failure. Since he planned on having Marlo fight zombies as well for his test, this was the most appropriate solution. From ti to ti Marlo interrupted Lex to ask questions in greater detail or clarify so things. The eting continued for several more hours before Lex found himself repeating what he already knew. Still Marlo asked him again and again to ensure he understood everything. In the end, when the finished Marlo helped Lex register the gun to his na on the Bluebird portal. As soon as Lex left he got a text ssage from Marlo addressing his Beginners Self Defense class where he canceled all classes for the next week, and assigned them so non-mandatory tasks in case they wanted to do so extra practice.
Lex returned to his apartnt and imdiately returned to the Inn to await Marlo’s appearance. A part of him wanted to practice with his gun, but his logical side told him he wasn’t ready for that yet and he should not waste his relatively expensive ammunition. First he would go to a shooting range and work on his aim with regular guns before trying to use the Heavy Harley.
When he returned to the Inn he also found out that Falak had returned to his room and the soldiers to theirs. Apparently the soldiers were going to leave the Inn but suddenly felt like they could break through to the Foundation Realm. Previously it was all but impossible, but once they recovered from all their old, unhealed injuries due to the recovery pod their cultivation beca smoother. After a few hours to stabilize, they imdiately felt like they could break through. They decided to try and see if they could succeed before they returned to their planet as that would greatly improve their chance of survival.
Eventually, Lex’s patience paid off. It still wasn’t Marlo, instead Hugo who left the recovery room and excitedly asked to rent a room for a week. Lex happily accepted the 350MP from the man’s credit card, which was followed by another notification from the Inn that he temporarily ignored, and asked Gerard to take Hugo to his room.
When the man left his view Lex quickly checked his status and was delighted.
New Notification: Hidden Achievent Unlocked!
Hidden Achievent: At maximum Capacity
Reward: Authority 1, 1 Free Inn Expansion, Inn Star Rating 0.5, 2000MP
As soon as Lex checked the rewards, a subtle change swept through the Inn. Like a wave, spirit energy rushed across the Inn as the area of the Inn increased exponentially. Lex could not feel the change in spirit energy, but all of his guests were overwheld!
The two soldiers, both ditating in their PB rooms, felt a rush of extrely pure spirit energy enter their bodies and suddenly consolidated their cultivation to form their Foundation realm. Their bodies shivered with excitent, but they couldn’t afford to stop and continued to cultivate to stabilize their new realm. Hugo, who hadn’t even begun to cultivate in his room yet, felt a wave of spirit energy fill his body and strengthen his Foundation to the point where he almost imdiately entered Peak Foundation realm! For the first ti in years Hugo felt excited for a mont before he stabilized his emotions and quickly sat down on the floor and began to cultivate.
The biggest shock, however, was received by Bastet and Falak. When the wave of spirit energy entered the Inn, it wasn’t spirit energy that entered their bodies, but a higher and more complex form of energy! Bastet, who was asleep, woke up to a feeling of horror and excitent! Excitent, because she had instantly recovered enough to where she could leave Earth imdiately on her own, and horror because she knew all too well what level of power that energy represented. Falak, likewise, knew what it ant and imdiately stood outside Bastet’s room, awaiting his mistresses exit in case she needed him.
At this mont Lex didn’t know how the changes had affected his guests. As the only person in the Inn unable to feel spirit energy he did not know how trendous an opportunity he had missed. His focus was on better understanding his reward and thinking about the hidden achievent.
The land available to the Inn had increased by a couple of acres, that he understood easily enough. The half star rating ant he could now better cater to guests at a higher realm, or at least that’s what he assud. He was looking into all the new things he could do with his new-found authority, and they really were exciting!
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