The Innkeeper

Chapter 1368  Karma

n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

That Zuri wanted the turtle's help was not so surprising. She had once tried to recruit the turtle, when the Inn was much smaller in size. Her pitch back then was that she could provide a much larger gardening space for the turtle than the Inn.

Now that the Inn had grown into its own realm entirely, that was no longer feasible. More importantly, Zuri had quite a bit of confidence in herself. Even back then, she dared to try and poach from the Innkeeper, with the excuse that she knew that the amiable personality of the Innkeeper meant he would not take offense to anything she did in an upright and fair manner.

Now, although she was not poaching from the Innkeeper, the shady way in which she arranged this meeting with Lex left him feeling like she was being spied on. Moreover, she was even meeting him within the Midnight Inn.

Though she had been straightforward in her request, and had not requested anything absurd, Lex had the feeling that there was more to Zuri than met the eye. Moreover, he felt like she was trying to indirectly communicate something to him through her antics, but he could not discover what it was.

"The last time we met, as a token of my appreciation for your efforts, I gave you a bit of a warning. There was an impurity within you that would have affected your path."

Indeed, Zuri was the first person to detect the inscriptions hidden within Lex. Even the system, while checking his condition, had not mentioned them, mostly because they harmonized with him in such a way that they were no direct or immediate threat.

"This time, let me extend the gesture once more."

Zuri's emerald green eyes suddenly shone with a quiet intensity, and within her gaze, Lex felt something he had not felt before - at least within the Inn. He felt like all his secrets were being laid bare before her.

Before he could react, or ask her to stop, Zuri stopped on her own.

"There is an imbalance in your karma," she stated, her voice grave. "You, as Lex, an employee of the Midnight Inn, have amassed great Karma. But you, as Lex Williams, as an individual, have almost no Karma left, and what little there is left is dwindling quickly. The Karma between your identities is not balanced. If this is not fixed, you will face a devastating calamity - one which you might not be able to bear."

Lex's expression suddenly turned solemn because he felt from deep within his bones that Zuri was right. Inadvertently, he was reminded of a small habit he had picked up lately.

Wherever he went, whether it was a new Minor realm, even the Midnight realm, or anywhere else, he would leave behind some kind of inheritance. More importantly, the inheritances he left behind were techniques and abilities of his own creation - or at least, his own, altered versions of other techniques.

Back then, every time he did so, Lex felt like it was a random impulse. Now that Zuri had spoken about his imbalance in Karma, his instincts were actually screaming at him that his previous actions had been an attempt to correct this imbalance.

But how was it possible to unconsciously correct this imbalance so easily? More and more, Lex was involving his identity with the Inn openly, even going as far as organizing a realm wide war, using the influence of the Inn to make connections and get things done.

In comparison, he, as Lex Williams, had barely done much. One could argue that he had helped both his sisters achieve great things. But in truth, even then, he was heavily reliant on the system and his identity as a worker.

Lex's brow furrowed. This matter was genuinely strange, and made him even more aware of the oddity that was Karma.

He had tried to learn about it, but failed. Of course, he was familiar with the basic concepts of Karma from Earth.

Those who do good will sow good Karma, and those who do bad will sow negative Karma. Each and every action one did sowed a certain amount of Karma, and it was impossible to escape from its influence.

Yet Karma in the cultivation world was a lot more esoteric and obscure. Its complexities were such that even Lex, with the ability of his eye to help him comprehend laws, could not begin to understand its complex nature.

Regardless, now that he was aware of it, he would try to address the situation. But the thing was that now, he had even more Karma with Zuri.

Well, he didn't understand Karma. All he knew was that she helped him, so he would help her back. It was simple, straightforward, and aligned with his consciousness.

Doing something just because he might be reacting to Karma sown by someone was not his style of doing things.

"Thank you for your advice. I will address the issue as soon as I can. Please, let me know what you want the turtle to do and I will try to negotiate on your behalf. But I can only try - I cannot make the turtle do anything it does not wish to do."

"I completely understand," Zuri said with a nod. "I have reached a bottleneck in my cultivation, and cannot find a path forward. But the turtle will have excellent insight into all plants. I wish for him to take a look at my true body, and discern how I can continue to grow stronger."

"Can your true body come to the Inn?" he asked, sensing that seeing the true body might not actually be so easy.

"It can, but the departure of my true body from the Origin realm will cause certain problems. The turtle will need to come and see my true body in person, in the Origin realm."

Yeah, that was not suspicious at all!

"I will see what I can do," said Lex. Unfortunately, unless he decided to change his mind about the tree, this was something he had to do.