The Innkeeper - Chapter 1831

Chapter 1831: Playing Go IV

In a way, Dragon-Lex and Axios were playing a game of chess, or Go. While Axios did that literally, by leveraging the pieces he had placed and using them to gain an advantage against Dragon-Lex while limiting him, Dragon-Lex did so by distracting Axios.

Everything, whether it was him beating up Axios, or their talks, or even Axios attacking him, all of them built karma between them. Back when Lex was at the Seraphim Resort, he’d undergone a Heavens Guidance, and through that unlocked the ability to look at karma with his eyes.

Now it wasn’t an ability he used often, owing to what happened with Jack when he saw his own karma. That didn’t mean he didn’t use it at all.

Axios was a powerful foe, if only just because of his level and race, yet eliminating him was not an issue. Dragon-Lex did not take him seriously at all. No, the reason he was putting so much effort into this, besides the pleasure of tormenting the guy who had irritated him so incessantly, was because he had much grander ambitions.

Dragon-Lex… wanted to study the karma between Axios and his system so that he could understand systems some more. After all, for once, Lex had different plans with the system he would get from Axios than simply absorbing it.

Speeding up his systems recovery was not necessary, and Lex wanted to deepen his own understanding of systems. For that, he would need something to study. Something to experiment with.

This was a dangerous endeavor, he knew. But Lex had come to the realization that without pushing himself, he would always only be ordinary, or at most extraordinary. He would not be Supreme, as his tenet was geared towards.

It was funny, though. Dragon-Lex was much better suited to Lex’s own tenet than his normal self, because he believed himself infallible and unstoppable. What’s more, that belief was not blind, but based on his immense power and exceptional intellect. A boastful personality did not overshadow his meticulous mind. Everything… was under his control.

For example, the reason Dragon-Lex allowed Axios to maintain his distance was so that he could use his system more, allowing Dragon-Lex to grasp more of the karma between them. It was risky – systems were capable of feats far beyond Lex’s capabilities. But it was a measured risk as well. Systems came with rules, and if the system did everything for the host, what would be the fun in that?

Dragon-Lex paused. No, he could imagine that as well. For certain types of people who wanted the reward without any effort, reading about instant gratification from a system that did everything would be very entertaining.

In that case, his situation would be even more dangerous. Regardless, this was a risk he would take. After all, this was not a random battle. This was one that Lex had meticulously prepared for.

Dragon-Lex’s wings flapped once more, and instead of flying or rushing forward, he seemed to teleport directly to Axios. With the Mark of Ownership on him, it was impossible for Axios to hide.

“Are you ready to show me something impressive? Dragon-Lex asked, a hint of teasing in his voice. “If not, then I might get bored soon and end this.”

Axios snorted, and instead of responding verbally, he summoned nine white beads around Lex, creating a circle on the Go board and establishing a territory. As soon as the perfect circle was formed, the board changed, becoming entirely white, as if to emphasize that the territory now belonged to Axios.

Lex raised his eyebrow out of curiosity. Wrapping himself in the karma of the white beads no longer worked to prevent being affected – either Axios, or his system had discovered the issue and resolved it.

Lex’s strength waned, his access to external spiritual energy cut off, and a shield enveloped him, mimicking a Domain that prevented him from accessing any laws. In essence, he was greatly weakened, even potentially crippled – or he would be if he were a normal person.

Even Axios did not take Lex lightly anymore, summoning a special bead that looked like a knight from a chess game.

As soon as it appeared on the white territory, Lex’s expression changed ever so slightly. Unlike the debuff from the white territory, the knight did something else. It affected the laws of fate, making Lex very, very unlucky, and likely to run into problems, regardless of how low the probability of them happening existed. From this bead, the dragon sensed a threat, yet the only way to counter a bead was through another bead – one of his own.

Still, Lex didn’t want to rely on the black beads just yet, if at all.

Even still, Axios wasn’t done, manipulating his system further to stack his advantages. Unfortunately for him, Lex was done letting him stack.

He flapped his wings and rushed forward, though incredibly the white territory underneath him moved alongside him, slowing him down enough for Axios to dodge Lex’s attempts at grabbing his face once again. His affected fate might have also played into it.

Actually, more than the debuff, his affected fate bothered Lex most of all, so he already began to think of ways to get rid of it.

“You had a good start, but that’s all,” Axios said with scorn deep in his voice. “Now you must suffer the consequences of your actions. If you hadn’t initiated the game, you might have lived a little longer. But since you’re in so much of a rush to die, I’ll help you out.”

Instead of being offended, Dragon-Lex smiled.

“My, my, suddenly chatty are we? Did my flames burn so bad you must redeem your ego with words?”

Axios was provoked, not by the dragonoid’s words, but by his casual demeanor. He had worked hard to get where he was, rising from the very bottom to the absolute top using his system. What difficulties had he not faced? Yet this dragon was particularly annoying.

He didn’t let that stop him. He had very few beads on the board left, considering he hadn’t been ready to start the match, so he used the last of them to complete his set up. Instead of targeting Lex this time, they gathered around his body to empower him.

2nd chapter will be late probably