Despite having recovered a lot, the next time Lex woke up, he felt that a great amount of time had passed. Moreover, Lex felt no pain or discomfort at all! It was as if he had recovered completely! Of course, considering the fact that he still had the body of a baby, he did not believe that was the case.
"Mary, how long have I been asleep?" he asked as he inspected his surroundings for any change.
"It's been slightly over six months since the Inn closed off," she responded. "The situation at the Inn has stabilized, and there are barely a few thousand guests left. At first the guests were distressed at the lack of any events, but everyone figured that since the Inn was under renovations, it only made sense. All your pre-planned events have also finished, and so all the security you had hired have also left. The Inn is very quiet these days, comparatively."
"That's not a bad thing. Actually, that's a great thing. Once the Inn forms its own realm, I plan on using the Lockdown token to shut down the Inn for the foreseeable future. We have more than enough MP to survive, so I think it's best if we use this time wisely and grow our strength to avoid being targeted like this," Lex said, voicing the plan he had been thinking of for a while.
The Lockdown token was a token he had received as a reward for ending the invasion when he used the Butter Knife. Its purpose was extremely simple, which was that it would put the Inn in lockdown and prevent any guests from entering. This included through golden keys, the random golden door that opened sometimes, through the pro bono feature and any other way that guests could usually enter from.
Without the threat from the Henali, or any other Daolords, he would close the Inn for the foreseeable future and just cultivate. That would give him time to not only recover but grow stronger, and the same was true for his workers.
Although it was inconceivable for him at the moment, spending even a few hundred years under lockdown was not impossible. After all, the lifespan of a cultivator was exceptionally long. Moreover, he anticipated that the pure and rare energy that he and his workers would have access to when the new realm was formed would boost their cultivation a lot.
His cultivation speed would not be low, and he could possibly even become an Immortal before he decided to open the Inn back up again.
"Anyway, just maintain the status quo for now. Only alert me if something important needs my attention."
Lex turned his attention back to his predicament. It was important that he figure out the amount of strength he had in his current body, so that he could begin to explore. He had been unconscious at the time, so he had no idea that he had entered the massive temple, pulled along by Z, though he vaguely had some idea.
Mary had naturally heard about the temple through the various guests' discussions. After all, although they were stuck at the Inn, they could use the Henali portal to learn what was happening inside.
But no one had seen them enter the temple, so Mary also did not know that Lex had entered, otherwise she would have mentioned it.
Lex, who had begun to teeth, summoned some food and began to chew as he inspected his body and surroundings.
The room looked the same as before, but Lex looked considerably different. He really did look like a newborn, and his rock-hard body and rippling muscles had been replaced with soft, cuddly baby fat!
Moreover, his blazer had triggered a hidden feature which was to adjust itself to his size, so now he just looked like a baby wearing a suit. While that was a good thing, since he could wear pants now, Lex could not deal with the fact that he looked like a kid on halloween pretending to be a businessman!
If there was one silver lining to the situation, it was that his body, although small, retained his peak strength from before he was injured! In fact, since his cultivation had grown due to absorbing a lot of divine energy, he was at his strongest state ever!
Lex continued to eat as he planned out his next moves. He had to find Z, but at the same time…
Lex opened up his system interface, and from the market bought a blank ticket for 1 million MP!
The use of this ticket was simple. It would begin the binding process of his current location to the Inn. Since he clearly was no longer in the 'Void' and had returned to normal, stable space, it would be good to build another connection, regardless of where he was.
With that activated, Lex finished his meal and went through a round of cultivation. He was hoping that eating and cultivation would somehow restore his height. But, so far, there was no indication of such a thing happening.
He was not too worried about getting his normal body back just yet. He was sure that if nothing else, he could find a reliable way through the Infinity Emporium.
Once he was done, Lex stood up for the first time in months. He still had not mastered controlling his new body yet, so he began to practice. Slowly and steadily he walked on the pathways in the outer section of the room, trying to regain his mastery over his actions.
This process, while simple, took a few hours. But by the end, not only was he once again confident in his movement, but was sure that he was back at his previous level of precision and agility.
His improved intellect and comprehension played a great role in speeding up the process. He put on his ring, necklace and spatial bangle once more. The ring had recovered somewhat, but the bangle and necklace still looked like they needed repairs. Lex was especially careful with his bangle because he could not afford the repercussions of his many missiles exploding if the bangle broke somehow!
During this time, Lex had thoroughly investigated the room besides the arena at its core. He suspected that stepping into the arena might initiate a change, which is why he had left it for until he was completely ready. With nothing else to do, Lex directly stepped onto the arena.
A yellow light scanned his body, from bottom to top, before a monotone voice began an announcement.
"Human male detected.
Bone age: 2 months.
Cultivation: Golden core mid.
Cultivation talent: Primordial!
Special Physique: Empyrean Resonance! Soulforge Unity! (Error: 2 independent physiques detected!)
Bloodline: Mutations detected. Unknown bloodline!
Evaluation: Exceeds expectations. Viable for core disciple status!
Proceeding with the relevant test."
Lex raised an eyebrow as he heard the announcement. He had to say, he was quite impressed with what he heard. Moreover, what was that about him having special physiques? And two of them at that! Moreover, he had a mutated bloodline?
Well, with mysterious parents he supposed it made sense that he was not ordinary. But what surprised him the most was that after all of that, his evaluation was only 'exceeds expectations'? It was not remarkable? Or unbelievable? Lex actually felt somewhat offended at the low evaluation!
The suit of armor tilted its helmet down, as if to look at the baby in front of it.
Before he could continue to ponder the scale of the evaluations error, a figure teleported into the arena. Lex had to look up at what seemed like a suit of black armor, designed for an ordinary man. It did not look remarkable in any way, except that it was empty and wielded a massive, eight foot (2.4 meters) long sword!
The suit of armor tilted its helmet down, as if to look at the baby in front of it.
Although there was no one inside the armor, Lex felt as if he could sense some kind of condescension from the armor.
It raised its foot, as if to step on Lex, but before he could do anything, a baby appeared in front of it and kicked it on its chestplate!
As if ripping through a piece of paper, the tiny foot tore through the plate and flung the armor across the arena, causing it to drop the sword right there.
Lex, who had not vented his anger as of yet, grabbed the sword that was literally eight times his height, and swung viciously at the armor, slicing it in half!
Lex snorted upon seeing that the armor lost its power, but before long, two more such armors appeared within the arena. This time, they did not belittle the shrimp, mostly because they did not get a chance to.
Lex used the opportunity to both vent his anger, and practice his swordplay against actual opponents.
How dare this stupid place give him such an evaluation and look down on him? He would make sure to set the record straight.