Chapter 2527: Can’t make a better deal

After sending Calvin off to deliver his letter, Lex grabbed the second letter himself. From what he recalled, Eclipse had said she was sealing herself off or closing off the Primordial realm or something like that, yet she had been pretty active so maybe she was acting through her subordinates.

Regardless of which one it was, Lex wouldn’t be able to get into the Primordial realm, so he would have to settle for the next best thing. He put on the badge Liz gave him, and felt his body shift in a strange way.

It wasn’t exactly teleportation, but he also wasn’t in his original location anymore. Yet somehow, he also felt anchored to his original spot, as if something was linking him to it.

Lex looked around and discovered that he was inside a bedroom, but it didn’t look occupied. If anything, it looked like a hotel room prepared especially for him.

Lex walked out of the place with a feeling of curiosity, while also testing out his power and any sense of threat he may feel. He had no intention of taking his real body outside the Midnight realm any time soon and risking his system attracting the universe’s desire to devour it.

As he was now, however, it felt like he was in his real body, and at the same time not. The only way he could accurately describe it was to say it felt like a dream.

Lex exited his room and discovered that he entered the lobby of a grand hotel, with hundreds of people from various races walking around and mingling. He looked at the keycard for his room and read the name of the hotel.

It was called Lucidity, and was the place where high level cultivators went to when they had lucid dreams. The concept was not bad, but that begged the question: was Lex having a lucid dream? Maybe.

All of this was quite interesting, and the potential for meeting other people and learning about current events here was great. But for now, he didn’t mingle. Instead, he just slowly made his way out of the lobby and began to explore the Dream realm.

Unlike most realms, there was no real space in the Dream realm. Everything existed in a fluid state as far as location was concerned, and honestly, it was so confusing that usually only natives could properly navigate the realm. Thus, when he was about to exit the hotel, a guide came up and offered his services, telling Lex that he would take him wherever he wished to be.

But for now, that wasn’t necessary. After all, Lex was not roaming around randomly. Instead, he was following a line of karma, trying to find the person it was connected to. The badge on his chest seemed to vibrate, as if responding to his intentions, and as he exited the lobby door, he did not appear outside. Instead, he appeared inside Oaka’s shop.

The windows revealed that the shop seemed to be positioned inside some kind of frozen forest, making for a breathtaking view. It really put one at ease while shopping.

"Welcome to my humble shop," Oaka said, slithering up from behind the counter. He didn’t appear too surprised to see Lex.

"This is not bad at all - much better than the previous one I visited. Much more open, with room to peruse," Lex said as he looked at the various items placed across the shop. "It’s actually tempting me to shop a little, but today I came with another purpose."

Oaka was not bothered by Lex’s words, and instead seemed pleased to hear the compliment.

"You can shop and do other things. Activities don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Come, sit. Allow me to show you some wares I think you may find interesting while you tell me what you’re here for," he said as he slithered across the room, picking up random items.

Lex took a seat, curious to see what Oaka picked up. He placed three items on the table in front of Lex, and one of them seemed to be a board game.

The second was a decorative angel statue, except that it lacked a head. Despite that, it didn’t look creepy, and instead looked quite artistic.

The third item was a glass bottle that reminded Lex of milk bottles from old cartoons.

"Okay, you got me. What’s with these three items?" Lex asked, wanting to find out how they were selected.

"I do not know. These are merely the items in my shop which had the greatest affinity for you. These are not things you may want to buy, but things you will certainly miss if you don’t buy," Oaka said, mysteriously.

Lex smiled faintly, and picked up the glass bottle. Unlike the other two items, this one was really just a glass bottle, although its quality was quite good, and it could probably hold some exceptionally valuable liquids.

"And what’s the charge?" Lex asked as he put down the bottle, and picked up the board game box to read the rules.

"We accept many currencies," Oaka said, sounding pleased. "From fated items, special value currencies, Celestial Dew, and so on. You tell me, how would you like to pay?"

Lex’s smile widened as he had a rather... mischievous idea.

"You’ve convinced me. I must have these items. I believe this will suffice as payment," said Lex as he placed an envelope upside down on the table, so that Oaka couldn’t read who it was addressed to.

The snake paused, and looked at Lex oddly. His senses were telling him that Lex was overpaying, by a lot. Before he could probe, however, Lex grabbed the three items and winked at the snake before promptly departing, leaving Oaka with the letter and nothing else.

"He didn’t even try to haggle?" Oaka asked no one in particular, confused by the interaction. That’s not how it usually goes.

Just out of curiosity, he tried to pick up the letter, and discovered that he couldn’t lift it with his spirit sense, so he slithered his tail towards it, and physically picked it up.

The front only read a single name, and that name alone was enough.

Eclipse.

Oaka felt his very Dao Heart shake, and nearly collapse right then and there. But instead of collapsing, it solidified. This was the best and largest profit he was ever going to make in a sale in his entire life. How unfortunate, then, that he couldn’t enjoy the harvests of this sale... or that he didn’t want this Dao Heart permanently.

"Nooooo! No, why did you do this?" he wailed as he tried to give up the Heart Dao, but it was too late. He sold a glass bottle in exchange for a letter addressed to Eclipse. He literally couldn’t make a better deal even if he became a Dao Lord.