The Innkeeper

The timing was too coincidental. As soon as they finished the fight, the next shooting star appeared, leading them further away from their planet and into space. Jack could say with a certain degree of certainty that they were being led somewhere, but he could not imagine where or why.

He turned towards Bob, who was combing his hair and patting it down.

“Do you want the refined metal?” Jack asked, giving him the first pick. It wasn’t just because he had been the one to fight off the attackers. It was a number of factors that played a role, such as Bob’s perception and detection of the metal.

“It is a holy item for many, but tis merely a paper weight for me. I do not need it,” Bob said, dismissively. “Besides, I have no interest in matters of faith or following. I took upon my mantle to protect my fellow Drama-cats, but ever since I was knocked out of my realm, I no longer bother with it.”

Jack raised an eyebrow. Just moments ago they had concluded that the next great wars would be fought over faith to empower Deities, and here they had a Deity entirely uninterested in faith altogether. Well, whatever.

“In that case, since Bob has forfeited his claim on the metal, the first claim shall be Jolly Ranchers. We will first improve the ship with as much of this as it can absorb, allowing it to wield and control divine energy, before our individual shares. I, as the captain, obviously get the first share. Does anyone have any issues with that?”

Pebbles had an issue with that, so Jack put him inside one of the cannons and sealed the lid shut. The hamster was pretty much impervious to damage, so being shot out of a cannon shouldn’t be a big deal. Not that Jack planned on actually shooting him out of a cannon. Probably. Maybe. It depended on how he felt.

Since no one else in the crew had any other complaints they set off after the shooting star, starting one of the greatest disturbances caused in the New Age Expo.

Their crew, which quickly earned a reputation as being both formidable as well as despicable, earned the nickname Tiny Tyrants. That was because, in general, but especially in comparison to their own ship which seemed like it had been made for giants, the entire crew was tiny. The fact that the captain was a fairy, and the first mate was a unicorn with dwarfism seemed to signify that the entire crew followed a theme of beings with small physiques.

They also learned, very quickly, to never disturb one of Bob’s monologues. In fact, that particular reputation spread so quickly that Bob, who was entirely uninterested in accumulating faith, began to accumulate faith related to his monologuing. It was, as if, every time he spoke, all conflicts would stop, all disasters would pause, and the universe itself was interested in listening to his words.

The drama-cat lamented his own undeniable excellence as he felt a new title forming for himself. Alas, to be worshiped is the irrevocable burden of the magnificently handsome.

Jack found it particularly odd that despite the havoc they were causing, clashing with dozens of powerful forces from across the universe, no one came to stop them. But he took it as a form of silent consent to what was happening.

In fact, his guess was not far from the truth. Up in the level for Dao Lords, a number of the Artica race watched the various levels, observing not only the Tiny Tyrants, but the havoc being caused across the Immortal level as well.

There were two main reasons they didn’t step in to stop the fighting. The first was that their leader, the ruler of the Artica realm, had made a move. None of those who were killed in this conflict actually died – they were instead simply teleported to another place within the Artica realm where they could either spend their time until the next phase of the Expo, or they could leave the realm.

The second reason was to get a better understanding of the dynamic of the powers across the universe, as well as absorb the thoughts and opinions, as well as gauge the value they all assigned to this ore.

For some unknown reason, they could not accurately determine how seriously to take the emergence of this ore. They initially brushed it off, but the levels of activity shown by this ore, from the mortal realm all the way to the Dao realm, proved to them that they were mistaken.

But when they considered the fact that Deities could not enter the Dao realm, they reduced the importance of it, not quite placing it on the same level as a Dao level resource.

But the response from external organizations surprised them, for they almost immediately started to pressure the Artica race to begin immediate exports of it, which obviously wasn’t possible.

What was especially important was that the Artica race didn’t want to set a precedent for giving into demands under pressure. So they observed the ongoing conflict on all levels, studying the influence of each interaction and using it to extrapolate the hidden potential that this ore had.

Considering that the Artica realm was not lacking in actual Dao level resources, the reaction to this ore, which was evaluated to be at a lower level, was highly suspicious.

“The situation is clearly abnormal,” one of the Dao Lords said, referring to the sudden increase in pressure that the foreigners were exerting. “There’s clearly some information we don’t know. We need to somehow gain access to the Library of Heaven, or find someone who is willing to divulge high level information to us. Compile a list of candidates.”

“Sir, about that. There’s a newcomer from a race known as Devils who has approached us. He wants to make a deal, and will give us the information we want in exchange for some high level resources unique to Artica.”

“What’s his name and affiliation? Give me a report.”

“Well, his name is Ballom, and he’s affiliated with the Humanoid Alliance…”

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