The Innkeeper

Skipping breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he noticed that he was teleported away, but resumed his alert state just as quickly. As a member of the Fierce Bone race, he excelled both in defense and offense because he had a strong body. Yet that also meant he lacked the diversity of other races that cultivated spiritual energy and could use external techniques.

Normally that wasn't such a big deal, but outnumbered against a bunch of enemies who somehow also countered his system was… it wasn't easy, that's for sure.

The problem was… he didn't know where he was, or how safe this place was. He studied his surroundings and discovered that he was within a courtyard, with no other being in sight. Skipping pulled out a compass, but instead of pointing north, the arrow kept rotating round and round, making him frown.

"In some sealed location probably," he muttered to himself. "Possibly in another realm altogether."

He then pulled out a number of other gadgets, each to check how dangerous his immediate vicinity was. Within the building he did not detect any other being, though some were spotted outside. There weren't any poisonous gases, nor were there any kind of hypnotic tools targeting him. It seemed that he was safe, for now.

Skipping sighed in relief, but didn't rush to exit. Instead, he started pulling out more and more unusual items - things that no one would ordinarily even be able to see, let alone use.

Then he began to arrange a protective formation within his courtyard, not even going to the rest of the building let alone investigating outside.

He had no idea where he was, and despite his system notification telling him it was some place called Obsidian and that he had an invitation to join, Skipping had no interest in testing the waters just yet.

All he had seen ever since he got his system was trouble, so he was going to be extra cautious from now on.

Once he had essentially turned the courtyard into a safety bunker, he finally felt comfortable enough to open his system interface. His Amazon Customer system was unusual, and it only had one function.

Every day, it allowed him to use his accumulated wealth to buy things from the daily deals section. That was it. As a customer, his only job was to buy things - and maybe leave reviews.

Unfortunately, leaving reviews on the Amazon Customer support board was easier said than done, and it required him to undertake great quests which he hated doing. Each quest always required using the item he was reviewing, to accomplish certain tasks, which was even more difficult.

The good thing about having the Amazon Customer system was that the items he bought could usually be sold to others in the real world for a huge profit. He soon became wealthier than he had ever imagined. Unfortunately, tremendous wealth had its own problems.

Skipping sighed. All he wanted to do was chill, sleep and then chill. Why did he have to get dragged into so many complicated situations?

Feeling morose, he looked through the Daily Deals in detail, looking for anything that might be helpful. Unfortunately, the deals for that day were super expensive, even for him. The only thing within his budget was a Universal Postage Stamp - a UPS, as it were. He reluctantly bought it, and then dismissed his window.

Now that there wasn't anyone chasing after him, and it didn't seem like there was any reason to leave the courtyard, Skipping pulled out a sleeping bed and got in to take a nap.

Not only would that heal all his accumulated injuries, but it would allow him to take a killer nap. It was a win-win situation.

With that excuse, he could probably buy a little time before his system started forcing him to do things again. With a clever grin he closed his eyes, ready to fall asleep.

*****

While only hours passed by in the Midnight Realm, weeks passed in Abaddon, and nearly a year passed within the ruins. Lex had become more and more proficient in detecting the wrongness, and in using the array characters.

He had also learned an immense amount about the serpent man, and it seemed that he was not as all-powerful as the initial murals made him appear. That was not to say that he was weak - instead, it was that he had enemies who were on his same level, and could also upturn the universe as they willed.

The strange thing was, more and more of these enemies started showing up as time went by, and even the serpent man did not know where they were coming from - at least as far as Lex could tell.

Such a situation was highly abnormal, and Lex was certain that there were mysteries hidden in there, but he didn't look into it. In fact, lately, he had begun to rush through the ruins, even if it meant risking getting things wrong. After all, he was running out of time! If he didn't strengthen his Pineapple, he would break through the seal! He had already spent nearly a year here!

Even though his body and clone operated in separate flows of time, the expenditure of the Pineapple flowed according to the faster flow of time it seemed - a critical flaw in his opinion.

As such, Lex practically rushed through the murals until finally he ended up at a mural so shocking it gave Lex pause.

It was a mural of the serpent man, the very being that dictated the very patterns of the universe and guided laws into existence, being defeated against an unknown foe. He was defeated against yet another enemy who had appeared from unknown sources.

The mural showed the serpent man, lying on the ground looking up at his enemy, a strange being wearing a golden crown.

Lex did not dare to look at that being, lest he attract more weight to his soul. Instead, he followed the path to the next room, where the mural continued. It was the first mural that had a text bubble, written in the same ancient language Lex had seen.

What kind of mural had text bubbles?!?!

Fortunately, the text was blurred. Lex had a very, very strong feeling that if he read those words, he might not be able to bear its weight.

Before he could consider whether to change the mural by using an array of characters, Lex heard the familiar sound of a system notification. What wasn't familiar was the sound of the system talking to him.