With Marlo's devastating defeat, the merry-making and festivities slowly came to a close. Will, Hera and Jimmy eventually returned to their rooms, Jimmy still bouncing up and down from the excitement. Ayesha stayed a while longer, but then took a look at her watch and eventually returned. Slag, who no longer wished to associate with anyone in Marlo's prescience, went out to stroll about the Inn and collect more information. Maybe Lex should just make a booklet for new guests so that they don't need to explore themselves. John, whose sense of satisfaction from the victory had been ruined, returned to the Battle Ax and Harry returned to Earth.
Eventually it was just Marlo, Alexander and Helen left, mainly because Marlo was still eating like a ravenous wolf. At a certain point Lex realized that he wasn't just being a glutton, his body needed sustenance and since he could no longer absorb spirit energy due to his broken core, food was his primary source!
"Would you like to try our spirit food instead of just regular meals?" the Innkeeper asked, finally halting the man's actions. Lex reminded himself that despite Marlo's bombastic actions, the man was a very focused and dedicated individual. Everything he did served a hidden purpose, so he should have realized sooner that he was finally suffering the toll of trying to resolve the issue with his blood without the support of the Recovery Pod.
"Why not? Send them my way," he finally said after swallowing, but then continued to eat the food that he had. Marlo was the first person trying the spirit food made from the vegetables Lex had grown in the greenhouse. In terms of price, it was still very reasonable, changing the price for a single meal from 1 MP to 10.
As much as Lex wanted to watch Marlo try out the new food, see him discover the brilliance of the Inn's cooking that would bring him to a world where champagne flowed from the sky and rose petals appeared beneath his feet – maybe Lex had spent some time watching a certain cooking anime in the past – he decided to leave..
Although he felt well enough, he wanted to meditate some more and calibrate his mood for the upcoming meeting. Today's incident also reminded him that not everyone would go along with his designs willy nilly, and he needed to be in best form.
Back at the manor, with some privacy finally, Alexander turned to Marlo with a serious matter to discuss.
"When are you going back to Earth? Your disappearance has caused some issues. Your wife has caused a lot of problems. Even Bluebird finally could not ignore it and sanctioned her, but that has not redeemed the situation."
Marlo did not slow down eating and it didn't look like he cared much either way, but a careful observer would notice the flashing sadness in his eyes.
"I cannot leave this place until I finish my new method of cultivation. The meditation room speeds up my progress astronomically, and I might need to go to the Recovery room at a moment's notice if something goes wrong."
Alexander sat in silence as he contemplated what Marlo told him. Like his grandfather, all the Nascent level cultivators on Earth reached that level through unique and unrepeatable ways. Following that road, Marlo had devised a new cultivation technique that could be summed up by describing it as rapid evolution under the influence of spirit energy. With his core crippled and no resources to push his body cultivation further, this is the solution he came up with. The rapid evolution would be induced under the influence of spirit energy, but by doing so he would essentially be changing his very body. This change went beyond the scope of change brought about by cultivation, and would bring his body's natural state to be equivalent to higher cultivation levels.
This was a theory that Marlo came up with based on his study of Beasts, as they had no problem reaching the Nascent realm even when humans could not. What Marlo did not know was that he had embarked on a path that was already known by some in the universe, but very few tried and even fewer succeeded in – the path of the Prime. In fact, without the aid of the Inn Marlo would never have even made it this far.
"And how long do you think that will take? Will you be able to join the Midnight Games?"
"I'm not sure," Marlo replied. "I feel like I'm on the verge of success. But like any breakthrough, that last step could come quickly or it could take years."
After a moment of silence, "Well even if you miss the games, I think you should take some time when you're able to go back and settle things on Earth before they become too ugly."
"Speaking of things getting ugly, what are the geezers planning on doing about the Inn? I don't know if what Slag said was true, but it's only a matter of time before someone sends a tracker or something of the sort back to Earth with a guest who wants to venture out into the universe. Or someone who gets bribed. Or tricked. Either way, the end result will not be good."
"I asked my grandfather," Alexander said with a confused expression. "He only said that I don't need to worry about it, and if possible, accept the biggest bribes. He told me to get the most I can out of anyone who is willing to throw money our way, and then continue to get some more."
The room returned to silence, as everyone contemplated the future. Eventually they parted ways, and as Marlo walked back towards the Meditation room his eyes became resolute and a Tier 5 zombie core appeared in his hand.
*****
The rest of the day past peacefully. After a round of meditation Lex eventually went to bed. For some reason, his meditation was extremely fruitful today. He felt like he was on the verge of stabilizing his spirit. He didn't know if his progress was faster than normal, but since his cultivation technique was unorthodox he simply accepted it. Not that he was complaining, he wanted to become stronger as fast as possible.
The next day, Lex held an assembly for all his guards. He was not sure if his guards were very well designed robots or constructs of the system or real people, like he suspected his bodyguard might be. Either way, instructing them once himself would not be a bad idea. In the forest surrounding the greenhouse 260 guards stood in 10 straight lines, facing the Innkeeper. The A.I. staff was also standing on the side even though Lex could pass orders to them mentally. They didn't want to feel left out.
"I've been observing you and you've been doing a good job. I can see you patrolling the grounds diligently, and even the quick response to yesterday's event made me proud. Tomorrow we'll be expecting a lot more guests, and with more people I expect there will be more altercations. You have to stop any incidents before any of the guests can get hurt. Should anyone cause an issue, you should only detain them, try not to harm them. Once you've detained them, hold them until you can contact me, no need to be polite against offenders. If the opponent is too strong or attacks with intention to kill, then no need to hold back. You can attack with extreme prejudice. This meeting will be practice for the much larger event in a few days, so make sure to perfect your rounds."
Lex did not give them too many instructions, they were doing their job well enough and probably knew what to know better than he did. It was just, he needed to make sure they knew how to handle most situations. He did not want guards killing or crippling any guests, at least on their own discretion.
Then he informed them on the protocol for various different situations from medical emergencies to massive zombie invasions to lost children and more. Honestly he did not expect any such situation to arise but he had learnt that he could never adequately predict things when it came to the system.
When it came to his regular staff he did not give them many instructions, but instead told them to note down areas where they were lacking that they noticed during the larger crowd. This would be a good time to test the limits of how the Inn was running and what things needed to be changed. Finally, he also told them not to overburden themselves as he had arranged for temp staff for each guest during the event.
Before Lex could finish his briefing, Z raised his hand and asked if he could go back to the Gamer's Den. Lex mentally facepalmed, but nodded nonetheless. He needed to find this little boy some friends. That was the only solution.
Lex rubbed his forehead with index and middle fingers as he worried about Z. But this was not the time or the place for that. He forced his attention back to the matter at hand and gave the rest of the staff a motivational speech. He needed them to be at their best. With that done he sent the rest to return to their duties, but told Gerard and Velma to stay back. Something important he realized, only while giving them the speech, was that he had been giving them instructions but never received any feedback from them. Other than when they responded to his requests, he never really talked to his staff. This was not good practice. Even if he did not become friends with them, he should at least know their thoughts in regards to the Inn.
"What do you guys think of the preparations? Do you think there's anything we need to do?" he asked them. Since they were his oldest employees, they would have the most insight.
The duo looked at each other, confused, then thought about the answer for a moment.
"You should choose a second in-charge to tackle any situation while you're busy. If there are too many guests, waiting till you're free to resolve the issue would take up a lot of time," said Gerard after a moment.
"Hmm that makes sense," Lex replied thoughtfully. After thinking about it for a moment he said, "For now Mary will be second-in-charge. Since others can't communicate with her, Gerard, you can act as her communicator. Others can come to you with their issues, and then you can communicate her instructions.".
"Very good, Sir," Gerard responded with a bow.
"Anything else?"
"I think having maps would be a good idea," said Velma. "All the guests have to walk around themselves if they want to find out about the Inn, a map would make it much easier."
"Excellent, why didn't I think of that!" Lex said, surprised by his own obtuseness. He went directly to the Midnight market and looked at what options he had. Simple printed maps that would be updated every time he made an addition to the Inn would be the cheapest and cost him 10,000 MP total. Once paid, he could have an unlimited amount of such maps. Maps that would pin the user around as they traveled on the map were even more expensive, going directly up to 50,000 mp! There were more sophisticated maps as well, such as digital or holographic maps, but Lex didn't even bother with those at the moment. He directly bought the cheapest option for 10,000 MP.
"That was a great suggestion, anything else?"
The both of them thought for a minute, and could not come up with anything else so they just shook their heads.
"Alright, then what about yourselves? How are your work hours? Do you need more rest? What about your residences, are they satisfactory? Do you want anything more?"
Honestly, Lex felt a little bad as their residences were very bare and without a lot of furniture and they didn't really do much else other than work or cultivate.
"It's more than enough," answered Gerard truthfully.
"Yes yes, I never even thought about having a place of my own. It's already very great, we don't need anything else!" Velma answered with a lot of enthusiasm.
Watching their earnest faces and listening to their satisfied responses, Lex felt even more guilty. The simple minded A.I. staff were too easily placated. He vowed to himself that the next time he made a lot of MP he would do more for them.
With everything done, he sent them off and returned to his own residence. A fact that he didn't want to acknowledge was that he was actually feeling quite a bit nervous. Thinking about speaking to a large crowd consisting of the most powerful people from several planets made his heart jitter, just a little bit. It was not like he'd never given a speech or presentation to a crowd before. He did it often while he was working, but this was an entirely different scale of things. Not to mention, all of them probably had monumentally high cultivation levels and he was barely a beginner. Even with a cheat such as the system, he felt dwarfed.
He didn't want to distract himself from the feeling however. He had a gut feeling that if he didn't acknowledge it and plan for it, even with the help of the Host Attire he'd mess up tomorrow. So he did not shy away from the feeling, nor did he go to meditate. He let himself feel the nervousness for a while. He felt his gut plummeting, his muscles tightening up, nerves jittering. He felt his bones tremble. He felt his hairs stand on their ends. He felt the dread setting in. Then, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, holding the air in. When he could hold it in no longer, he released his breath slowly. When he opened his eyes, despite his anxiety and apprehension, they were filled with conviction. Fear would not stop him, anxiety would not deter him and the unknown would not slow his steps. His audience for tomorrow might consist of the leaders of three different planets, but he was Lex freaking Williams, the goddamn Innkeeper! They should be the ones nervous in his presence, not the other way around.
He went back to his study and prepared all his talking points. He did not write a speech, but jotted down a list of all the important things he needed to discuss. He wrote down all the rules for the events and repeated them in his mind multiple times, so that he would not forget to inform them. He imagined questions others would ask, and jotted down potential answers. He thought of various scenarios he could encounter tomorrow, and prepared his responses. He visualized himself on stage, and thought about how exactly he needed to speak. He thought about his body language and gestures. Most of the time, Lex was a pretty relaxed fellow. Even though he had decided to keep his persona as the Innkeeper mysterious, he could not help himself from chatting and occasionally joking with his guests because it was hard to act as someone he wasn't. But tomorrow, even if he maintained his relaxed demeanor, he could not allow others to take him lightly.
As he prepared for the following day and imagined the various scenarios, his nervousness did not actually fade. The bottomless feeling in his gut remained with him, and occasionally he even felt randomly cold, but he let none of that deter his actions. As a result something unexpected happened. Through working amidst difficulty, he honed his spirit faster and better than during any meditation session. By the time night fell, his spirit completely stabilized and he was ready for the next procedure!
Lex felt as if his spirit made a 'pop' sound, and suddenly the world became much clearer. It was as if previously he had been trudging through mud, exerting all his strength with each step he took, but now suddenly he had been freed to walk freely. No, it did not feel like he was walking freely, but that he was walking along a travelator that was going in the same direction.
He did not need Mary to tell him what had happened, he realized on his own. But right now was not the time to undergo a procedure and raise his cultivation. He would have to wait until after the meeting.
Even though he didn't need to anymore, he got up and went to meditate. He stabilized his thoughts and let his body relax. He did not let his thoughts return to tomorrow's meetings, and completely freed himself of all future worries. Eventually, he reached a mental state equivalent of floating freely in a swimming pool.
When he was done, he got up, showered and went directly to bed. The shower was warm and the sleep deep and dreamless. As the Innkeeper slept silently, countless people around the universe waited impatiently for the next day to arrive. They did not dare to relax, lest they miss their opportunity. Others were not impatient, but looked at their silver keys with eager attitudes. Others simply didn't care.
Some people summoned countless soldiers and guards, with weapons equipped and armors worn. Others called for translators and dignitaries. Others yet collected their best booze and hallucinogens. A specific fellow on Earth prepared his visiting cards, each one hand made with the best calligraphy he could muster. On Nibiru, a sloth lazily opened its eyes. The world seemed to distort under the weight of his vision, so he closed his eyes again. On Vegus Minima a youth landed on the planet, surrounded by some of the most elite guards of the Empire. He was reading a briefing of the reason he was sent here. The Empire had certain suspicions. As unlikely as they were, some things could not be put to chance so he was sent. Somewhere in a realm known as Garvitz, a small gathering of elite demons was gathered. Surprisingly, all of them looked like humans. Well, mostly human. An occasional pair of horns or wings and such were still visible. They were oddly disciplined, and stood according to rank and position. At the forefront sat a pure blooded devil. His smirk was remarkably enchanting and his eyes full of mischief.
Back at the Inn, as the sun rose, the Innkeeper opened his eyes.
Lex did not wake up groggy, nor was it a slow process. The moment his eyes opened he was wide awake, fully aware that today was the day he had been preparing for. He got up, showered and put on his suit. But he did not leave his residence, he simply scanned the Inn.
His guards were already patrolling the grounds and all his staff was in place. Even Harry, who originally had a commitment back on Earth today, was here.
It was around 8:20 am right now, and the keys would activate at 9 am. He did not select his targets individually, that would have cost too much MP, but set a general criteria of leadership of an adequate number of living beings. Then he chose to launch 300 silver keys per planet. Each key would allow the main guest to bring up to two other guests, so at minimum he was expecting 300 guests per planet and at most 900. This was not including the few random guests who already had Golden Keys. So if each guest brought along two colleagues or guards, he could have upto 2700 guests here today. 2700 guests who were all at a much higher cultivation level than him.
Suddenly, he stopped himself. His thoughts were spiraling again. He closed his eyes and regulated his breathing. He was not in a meditative state, as he still kept an eye on the Inn, but he had a strict control over his wandering thoughts.
Time ticked by slowly, and as soon as it was 9 am, Lex exhaled slowly, then opened his eyes. Right now, he was no longer a young man who had made a simple wish for excitement in his life. Right now, he was the Innkeeper. His heart no longer beat irregularly and his nerves no longer tingled him. He had no distracting thoughts. Normally, the Host Attire helped him keep composure, but it did little in the way of elevating his mind and body language. Yet now, not only was he composed, even with his casual smile his demeanor demanded the utmost respect. Lex had somehow entered a state of total concentration, similar to what he had so long ago when he was fighting zombies. Every thought, every nerve, every instinct was honed on the mission he had set for himself.
The first portal finally opened, and out stepped a massive, 9 foot tall wolf with green fur. Behind it, two other canines followed closely. The wolf's followers had black fur, and were in fact much larger than the wolf, at nearly 15 feet, but made sure to stay a step behind the wolf.
Lex instantly checked the wolf's status..
Name: Blood Fang
Age: 4555
Sex: Male
Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to view)
Species: Inferior Lykaios
Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1
Bloodline: Inferior Lykaios/Unique variant
Remarks: Unsatisfied with its stock in life, the wolf has decided to carve out its own path. A hungry, ambitious and cunning beast like this is excellent prey for price gouging, charge without restraint!
Lex was happy that the wolf's status could be viewed, even if he could not tell its cultivation. With back to back error warnings lately, he was getting concerned that most high leveled cultivators would have ways to avoid detection from his system scan.
Yet even as he scanned Blood Fang, Lex made no move to greet it. There was no way he could individually greet all guests, so he would greet none of them. Instead, the personal hologram staff that he hired was responsible for the greeting.
A holographic wolf appeared before Blood Fang, though its size was nowhere near that of Blood Fang and its entourage. It was sized according to a normal wolf on Earth.
"Greetings guests, and welcome to the Midnight Inn, the best Inn that caters to the entire universe!" The hologram said. "I am your personal hologram, there to assist you with anything you need and answer all of your questions. The meeting will begin shortly. Would you like me to take you to the coliseum, where the meeting will be held, or would you like a tour first?"
The wolf stared silently at the hologram, and Lex stared silently at the wolf. He hoped the wolf would not do anything drastic, but if it did his guards were there to resolve the situation. As he could not see their cultivation levels, he was not sure if his guards could handle it, but if they couldn't he would step in personally and his bodyguard would be forced to intervene. Lex had every confidence in his bodyguard that cost him a ridiculous amount of money!
Just as the wolf was about to speak, another portal opened nearby. A massive, 98 foot tall Gorilla stepped through. After sweeping the area for immediate threats or traps, the Gorilla stepped aside and allowed a Deer to enter. The deer was not only normal sized, it actually looked petite, yet the obvious deference of the giant gorilla spoke volumes of its status. The deer was followed by a stag.
"Greens Haven," Blood Fang called out to the deer, and gave it an acknowledging nod.
"Good to see you, Blood Fang," the deer responded casually, and took a look around. A holographic deer appeared before Greens Haven, and repeated the exact line that had been said to Blood Fang.
"This is so interesting," the deer said to the stag. "It's like a picture, but it has a spirit. Tell me spirit, what do you mean by 'universe'?"
"The landmass on which you live is known as a planet, and exists in space. It revolves around your sun, along with a collection of other planets although not all of them may contain life. This collection of planets that revolve around a sun form a cohesive system called a solar system. A galaxy is formed of millions or billions of solar systems, and there are billions of galaxies. The space which these galaxies exist in, and more, is known as the universe."
"Nonsense!" Blood Fang roared angrily! "Nothing that big can exist! What lies are you spouting? What is your purpose?"
The holograms were not affected, but the guards surrounding them suddenly became alert. Fortunately, that seemed to have an effect as both the deer and wolf felt the intimidation of the ten guards with unknown cultivations.
"Now, Blood Fang, no need to be so closed minded. Don't tell me you can't feel that the spiritual energy of this place is different from our…planet. This at least proves that there are lands other than ours, far away from our reach."
The wolf reluctantly nodded.
Before they could continue their conversation, more portals opened and new beasts started emerging from them. It seemed that Nibiru was the first planet to be connected, as only Beasts were coming through the portal. Fortunately, the beasts that were coming out now were mostly at the Golden Core realm, with an occasional Nascent realm one. Lex was slightly concerned that if all of them were at the unknown level his ten measly guards would not be enough to maintain the peace.
And the peace definitely needed to be maintained, as only a few minutes after beasts started emerging through, two enemy beasts identified each other. The first one did not look like any animal Lex knew. It stood on six legs with a massive hairy torso connecting them. Instead of hands or claws it had wings and tentacles, and on its three heads it had horns, tusks and protruding fangs respectively. The other animal was a fairly ordinary looking Fox. Yet their encounter was anything but ordinary!
The two beasts did not seem to care that they were surrounded by other beasts and immediately launched an assault, along with the guards they brought along. The six beasts had a single exchange that caused shockwaves to spread throughout the Inn. The few guests who still did not know that beasts had made an appearance, namely, Alexander, Will and Chen's parties, instantly woke up from the noise. The fight had only begun and the beasts were already launching their next attacks when they were all suppressed by a massive force!
All six animals were sprawled on the ground, unable to move and barely able to breath under the suppressive force. Confusion and fear filled their eyes, as they had never been suppressed so completely since they had started their reign. The other beasts that surrounded them that were previously enjoying the show all took a few steps back, afraid to become involved.
"No free fighting is allowed on the Inn premises!" a voice boomed through the Inn. It was Lex's voice, firmly laying down the law. "Guests who wish to engage in combat may request to go to the combat arena, but due to today's occasion the combat arena is not available!" Well, also because Lex hadn't made a combat arena at all, but that was an irrelevant detail.
"This is your first, and only warning! Anyone who engages in a fight, or tries to harm other guests will be strictly punished, and banned from the Inn!"
With that announcement concluded and the force suppressing the six beasts disappeared, yet they were too afraid to stand up. The force had been the combined effort of all 10 guards above the Nascent realm, suppressing these beasts with their spiritual force! It was not something lightly endured, and probably left mental trauma in the victims, not to mention the physical trauma they experienced being squeezed into the ground.
This was something Lex had expected, and already instructed the guards on how to react. This was the Midnight Inn, a place people came to rest and relax, but also a place that must be respected!