For a moment Lex hesitated, considering following the two officers. But the whole incident was weird. How did they find him? Why did they have a video of him leaving Larry's house? The video did not look like it was from a security footage, the video was shot from street level. This meant that they had agents present at the time. If that was the case, how could they have allowed Larry to be attacked?
Most of all, he knew that Larry was struggling. If Larry had connections that could lead an investigation to follow him across the world, at a time where cross continental communication was compromised, then he would not have a job at a club where he gets beat up for a living.
His hesitation disappeared and he looked at the officer directly in the eyes, his hand practically touching his gun now. Should they make any sudden movements, he would be ready.
"I am sorry, but I am a US citizen, I don't believe you can just randomly take me in for questioning. I am going to the embassy, if you have any concerns you can contact me there."
Bringing up the embassy was a strong deterrent in Lex's mind, as according to some convention on international Diplomatic relations embassies were immune to local law enforcement – or at least, something along those lines according to some tv show Lex had once seen. Moreover, embassies were usually very protective of their citizens.
Not that Lex needed any protection. He had his gun, and if the worst came to worst, he would retreat to the Inn. The reason he brought it up was because he wanted to see what reaction these 'agents' would have. That would let him know if this was normal procedure or there was something more going on..
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," Ben said as his partner slowly moved to corner Lex from another side. "You need to follow us for some questioning. I assure you, you will be let go in a few hours at most. Please cooperate, it is for your own good."
To this, Lex did not reply. He kept his eyes trained on Ben, ignoring the other agent who was circling to get behind him. Though he remained silent, his stance as well as the aggression on his face let Ben know Lex had no intentions of cooperating.
Since the situation had progressed as such, Ben reached out aggressively to grab Lex. But who was Lex? Even without his identity as the Innkeeper, he was someone who had fought his way out of hordes of zombies and survived being hunted by hundreds of wolves. He was not a person that could be casually messed with.
Moving with a burst of speed, Lex grabbed Ben's arm and twisted it, so that Lex appeared behind Ben with his arm firmly pressed against his back. It was at this point that Lex realized that while these agents were cultivators, their strength was not much greater than him. Lex kicked Ben on the back of his knee, causing the man to buckle and fall onto the ground.
This was just in time to see Ben's partner leaping towards Lex, trying to tackle him. Despite the strength of his plunge, Lex felt the man's move amateurish. Not even moving from his spot, Lex turned in one smooth motion and kicked up into the air. The lunging agent's face practically flew into Lex's kick on its own, and the man fell to the ground, unconscious.
With both attackers defeated, Lex was momentarily stunned. He was so used to getting beaten up that he was expecting a difficult fight. The only reason he hadn't used his gun was that he knew the sound would have attracted a lot of attention in the silence of the night. But apparently, he did not even need it.
"I think you broke my arm," Ben said with a grimace, as he tried to pick himself up from the ground. But how could Lex allow him to so easily get up?
Lex turned the man onto his back and stepped on his chest, to prevent him from getting up.
"I'm only going to be polite once. Tell me what you're really after, and no one will get hurt."
"I told you, I'm with INTERPOL, we…"
Lex did not bother wasting more time listening to him. He withdrew his gun, making sure to let Ben get a good look at it, then aimed it at Ben.
"I said, I'll only be polite once. Every time you waste your breath, I'll progressively ruder with you. So now, tell me, what do you want?"
Ben did not reply immediately, as he was frozen on the ground in fear. What he had experienced did not match Lex's report. He was supposed to be an inexperienced, new cultivator, not a battle hardened fighter!
Realizing that Ben was shocked, Lex waved his gun to attract his attention and said, "I'm not known for being patient. Now, what do you want?"
Ben grit his teeth, but then promptly gave up. He wasn't an idiot to risk his life over an unofficial assignment.
"Okay look, I'll tell you! But I really am from INTERPOL! I got an assignment to interrogate you about Larry, and hold you for a few hours before letting you go! That's all I know!"
Lex frowned, then kicked Ben on the head, knocking him unconscious. He looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then quickly left the area. He jogged for about twenty minutes, constantly checking to see if he was being followed, before he found a secluded corner and teleported back to the Inn.
A short while later, Ben finally woke up, groggy and in pain. First he checked up on his partner who, fortunately, was still alive. Then he made a call to report the situation. Whoever Larry was or why anyone was interested in was completely irrelevant to him. What he cared about was that Lex's cultivation and strength did not match his files at all. He was too strong. Something like that would always attract someone's attention.
*****
At the Inn, Lex was sitting at his study table, wondering about what had just happened. Larry was a complicated guy, but now his troubles had involved him as well. Lex needed to find out what was actually happening, but a sweep of the Inn told him that Larry was currently asleep in his room. He would wait till morning to talk to him, so until then Lex decided to focus on the Inn.
His additions were a huge hit, and guests lined the mountain and filled the forest and lake. But the problems that Lex did not even consider came just as quickly. More than one guest had slipped or tripped off the mountain. Though they were cultivators, had it not been for Lex's guards quickly catching them, they would have been seriously hurt. In the lake, unexpectedly, it was not a case of drowning that caused an issue, but a swimming human bumping into a swimming beast.
Lex had to say beast because he had never seen any animal on Earth that could match this beast's appearance; it had a lot of limbs and a lot of heads connected to what looked like a ball of play-dough but was hard as steel. The bump seriously injured the human, but since it was an accident Lex could not blame either party.
The forest had more predictable issues. Some people decided to camp out in the forest, but ran into some beasts who had a similar idea in the middle of the night. Suffice to say, the humans were greatly frightened. How was he even supposed to fix an issue like that?
Truth be told, it was not something that could be fixed. But he could reduce the scary atmosphere in the forest. Lex released tens of thousands of fireflies into the first and told the Galactic Sovereign turtle to feed them something that would promote their cultivation just a bit. With the soft yet natural light they gave off, the forest should not be as scary in the darkness.
The lake was also somewhat of an easy solution. He just expanded the lake, and divided the areas into humans and beasts. This was not a permanent solution, but would work for now.
The mountain was slightly tougher to deal with, so for now, he added various railings on the trails. But to deal with the situation properly, he told his A.I. staff to hike the mountain trails and take note of every climb that seemed dangerous to him. He would fix them one by one.
But that was not all. While talking to Moon, he had a few ideas of how he could fill in the empty land in the Inn meaningfully. One that he particularly liked and was currently planning was a lazy river! But, because of the freedom that the system allowed, he could take things even farther.
In front of him he had a hologram of the Inn opened, and he was slowly planning its path.
A Lazy river is a water ride often found in water parks, recreation centers and other places that attract a lot of tourists and visitors. Usually, it would consist of a relatively shallow and narrow pool spread across a large area, with a gentle current flowing in one direction which would carry anyone floating in the water along with it.
To Lex, this was an amazing idea because he could incorporate a few more features into it. Firstly, the Lazy river provided Lex with another way to get around the Inn, though not as urgently as Gerards golf cart crew. Whoever would enter the river would be able to receive a small plastic raft in which they could lie and be carried along by the current. Another option would be to ride a gondola, a few of which Lex would have his AI's control in the river.
But if Lex left it like that, it would be too ordinary. While Lex was testing out the river, and planning what he would do with it, an option that was as of yet grayed out suddenly became viable. For any guest riding along the river in the gondola, there was a chance for them to encounter a thick fog. Once they entered the fog, they would be transported and, for a short time, take a ride while viewing sights from a world they were not originally from! The gondola would be transported to another world, and should a resident of the world be lucky enough, they would be able to see the outline of a gondola going by in a spontaneously appearing veil of fog. Of course, guests would be prevented from leaving the gondola by the system, and residents of the world would be blocked from climbing the gondola. But Lex had been inspired; in the future, he planned to have a ship that would travel from world to world, and anyone lucky enough to climb abroad would be brought to the Inn.
For now, though, Lex was focused on the river and the gondola. After a short, picturesque trip to another world, the gondola would return to the river. There were a couple of issues Lex was having with the Lazy river, though. First of all was the path! How large the river should be, and what parts of the Inn it should circle were important to decide because Lex would have to give bridges over the parts that were divided by the river, not to mention build railings so anyone wouldn't accidentally fall in. He would be effectively cutting off those parts of the Inn from being entered besides the built paths.
The second issue was of lifeguards and the kind of staff he wanted. The lake, regardless of its size, was in one fixed position and could be viewed in its entirety from one place. The river, however, was long and narrow, and would require various staff members to keep an eye out for the sake of security for his guests. Hiring staff in itself was not the issue, Lex was earning enough on a daily basis to cover that. The issue was, for the river, as well as for the lake, he wanted to hire a different kind of staff.
"Mary, can I hire AIs that are not human? For example, can I use one of the species I've seen in Nibiru? Or a random one I can think of, like mermaids, for example?".
"Yes, you can hire AIs that are a different species. But there are a few constraints. Unlike what you may imagine, the Artificial Intelligent beings that the Inn provides are actual, living breathing beings who have been provided with intelligence artificially, so that in addition to whatever biological inclinations they may have, they give priority to the Inn and the Innkeeper.
"So, for the system to create an AI of a different species, you must first submit some DNA of the species you wish to choose. There are certain things you may also want to take note of, that while these AI are birthed with the information relevant to serving the Inn, their personalities are formed naturally and cannot be controlled. So, in the scenario that you choose a species with a strong inclination for hunting, for example, you may want to use them in an environment where they do not mistake a guest for prey. Also, any species created by the system will always be at the mortal realm, even if the original species normally started out at a much higher cultivation realm."
This information opened up a whole new array of options for Lex, but also limited him. Some time ago he remembered hearing one of his guests say something about mermaids, though he did not remember what, and thought they would make the perfect AI for his water based attractions.
He worked on the Lazy river for a while longer, before deciding to take a break. He did not need to decide everything in one sitting. After a round of meditation, Lex did some exercise, showered, and then got dressed. Larry had woken up some time ago, and Lex was about to enter the Inn for the first time using his original identity.
After making sure everything was in order, Lex appeared in front of Midnight manor as himself for the first time. He looked around, imagining what first time guests must feel like. It occurred to him that, compared to the rest of the Inn which had expanded rapidly, the manor was still relatively small.
Shaking his head and not worrying about it for now, he asked Mary to guide him towards where Lary was.
After a short walk, Lex found himself behind the manor and in front of an array of lawn chairs and an outdoor breakfast buffet, where he identified Larry piling his plates with waffles.
"Those must be good," Lex said, casually stepping beside him and grabbing a plate. "But I prefer pancakes."
"Lex!" Larry exclaimed, nearly dropping his plate. "You old dog, I've finally understood why you never paid attention to any of the girls I pointed out," he said while laughing. "It's because you've been coming to this little slice of heaven."
As much as Lex would have wished Larry was talking about the environment, his longing gaze towards one of the nearby AI staff let Lex know exactly what was on his mind.
"Let alone here, even if I handed you a key to the underworld, you'd find some girls to gaze at."
"Of course," Larry said, laughing even harder. "Don't you know what kind of girls would end up in the underworld? I'd go there every weekend if I could."
Lex smiled as he looked at Larry. The man was ever in a good mood, or at least, the front he put up was phenomenal. Lex did not think he'd be able to even pretend to be this jolly if he had suffered such a serious assassination attempt.
"Come, fill your plate and let's find a seat. I'm glad I ran into you here, I have something to talk to you about."
"Is it about Sophia?" he asked in an excited whisper. "It's about her, isn't it? That old geezer Marlo, he's having a honeymoon here with his wife and no one even knew!"
Lex listened to the little gossip as they filled their plates with an unflattering amount of food and then found a table to sit at.
"I'd like to talk privately," Lex said to Mary, who then summoned a tinted glass dome around the duo.
"Wow, how did you do that?" Larry asked, surprised.
"If you ask your personal hologram, in case of small stuff like this, they can help you out."
"No way! Hey little fella, what else can you do?" Larry asked, summoning his own personal holographic assistant.
But before he got engrossed in an unrelated conversation, Lex said, "I gave you the key in case you even ran into trouble, so the fact that you're here should mean you ran into trouble, right?"
Larry's smiled skewed. He knew this conversation was coming, but he didn't want to involve his friend. His troubles were more serious than they seemed. Before he could think of how to answer, though, Lex continued.
"Actually, I know for a fact that you ran into some trouble, because just last night I was intercepted by INTERPOL agents who wanted to take me into custody and question me about you."
At this, Larry froze. He did not expect that Lex had already been involved. But, as unfortunate as it was, the timing of their last interaction automatically brought attention to Lex for anyone that may have been watching Larry.
"After I… questioned, shall we say, those agents, they revealed that someone had tasked them to hold me in interrogation long enough for them to arrive on scene. They were very interested in learning more about you, by hook or by crook."
Finally, Larry sighed, and his smile withered off his face.
"The situation is pretty bad. I guess I better explain
"Do you remember Matilda? She was with us in our self-defense class at the start?" Larry asked, as he cut into his waffles.
"Yeah, I remember."
"It all started with her, sometime ago. You remember around the time some thugs came to your apartment and roughed things up? Around the same time, some people came to harass Matilda and me as well. But with Matilda… things went much, much farther. A lot of people ended up dead, and Bluebird got involved."
Larry paused for a moment as he chewed his food. It seemed to Lex that he was considering his next words carefully.
"I don't know if you caught on since you visited my apartment, but I'm really good with computers. Like, really, REALLY good. I uh… let's say I fudged with the authority level on my Bluebird token, logged onto their network and found out everything that happened with her. I don't know if I got lucky, or if the agents at Bluebird just overlooked things, but I quickly found Matilda's trail. She was hiding out in a 24 hour gym, and seemed badly hurt. I don't know why, but… I couldn't just leave her like that. I deleted her trail and then went and found her."
At this point, Larry let out a sigh.
"I must say, she is an extremely formidable woman. Did you know she's already in the Qi training realm? In just a little more than a month! The Body tempering realm is not necessarily one that takes too long, but, damn!.
"Anyway, after I convinced her that I wasn't an enemy, I secretly brought her back to my apartment and helped her heal. We spent some time together after that… that's when I learnt a secret that's pretty mind-blowing.
"You know the war that suddenly broke out? The one that overtook the world? I've spent a few days here at the Inn, and learnt a lot of things I didn't know before. You remember you once asked me, if the ICPA's keep normal cultivators in line, who keeps them in line? Well, apparently, Earth was being ruled by five families – the Morrisons being one of them. The ICPAs used to answer to them. To be more specific, they answered to the five family heads.
"But for a while now, they've secretly been planning to revolt against the family heads. They've been gathering allies, and getting rid of those who were too loyal to the family heads. Apparently, Matilda's older brother, the one who died and passed on his cultivation technique to her, was one of the people that had been 'silenced' for his loyalty. Matilda felt like she was being hunted because her hunters were afraid that her brother had given her too much information, which indeed, he had."
Larry paused for a moment, and he stared at his hands with desperate eyes.
"But even if she knew the truth, who could she tell? There was no way for her to get in contact with anyone that mattered, so all she focused on was getting stronger and getting revenge. I was incredibly moved by her story, and promised to help her hide her tracks.
"But as much as I wanted to help her, her story also got me thinking about what happened to my own family… About how, we went from being one of the richest, most powerful families, to being nearly wiped out, framed, and then exiled. Could my family have also been… one of the families that was 'silenced' for being too loyal? I mean, if they had been planning this revolution for years, they had to have their agents in all the right places. How could they leave a family that ran one of the banks of the cultivation world out of their plans? And if, for whatever reason, my family chose not to cooperate, they could have wiped out anyone who knew the truth and banished the nonconsequential ones. Once I got the idea in my head… I couldn't let go of it.
"I asked Matilda if she knew anything about this, but her brother never mentioned my family. That's when I started digging. That's when I started hacking into different companies' databases and looking for some answers. I thought I was hiding my trail well, but the day those guys came for me, I knew I must have messed up.
"They wanted me to follow them. They weren't really there to kill me, at least not yet. But I resisted, and a fight broke out. I got shot too many times… if I didn't have the key you gave me, I probably would have died."
For a moment, Lex took in everything that Larry had told him. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, a part of him really wondered if the world war really happened because of him – because he'd held the Midnight games and managed to get all the family heads to leave Earth. But if things really were the way Larry told him, they had been planning for this for a long time, and if they hadn't discovered a relatively easy way to handle the family heads, when the war ultimately broke out, it may have been much, much worse!
Finally, Lex said, "I remember you once telling me that you've met Alexander Morrison before when you were kids. Is that true?"
"Of course, back then, my family was connected to all the big shots."
"Well, if you've been here a while, you probably know about the Midnight Games. Then you should also know about the fact that Alexander is also here, with his family. Maybe you could go to him and let him know about your suspicions. If your family really was killed for being loyal, then chances are, a lot of their other supporters were secretly silenced. Even if they don't want to help you, and even if they've lost a lot of influence on Earth, to protect themselves in the future, there's no way they won't investigate this. Or, even if they won't investigate, maybe they'll help you and Matilda out."
"Heh, what am I supposed to say? Hey Alexander, remember me? I'm a nobody right now, but when I was a kid our families used to work together? They have enough problems of their own to handle. They don't have time to help anyone else, not to mention I don't have anything worth them spending time on, anyway."
"Hmm, maybe that's true. But you're already being hunted, so asking for help can't make things worse. I can't stay here for too long. I have a few things I need to take care of, but I'll be back sometime tonight. I'll talk to you then, maybe we can figure something else out."
"Yeah, sure," replied Larry, and watched as Lex disappeared. After a few moments of frowning, his wide smile returned to his face, and he started gulping down his breakfast while enjoying the beautiful scenery known as women in uniform.
Lex left the meeting abruptly, not only because he got the information he wanted, but because he got two very significant notifications from the system that required his attention.
Quest Complete: The World War has ended. Calculating hosts performance:
Reward upgraded for over 1000 refugees
Reward rank: C-
Reward: Detective's Magnifying glass
Lex was pleasantly surprised that the world war had already ended, but at the same time relieved. He had no love for the council or their shady business, but if the war was over, that hopefully meant the situation had stabilized and that all fighting had ended. He looked at his next notification.
New notification: Guest with level 1 prestige is unable to pay for services. Please cater to the guest urgently. Focus on the notification for further details on payment blockage.
When Lex focused on the notification he was greatly amused, and despite the awkward situation of a guest being unable to pay, looked forward to their reaction when he told them.
Quickly dining his Host Attire, Lex teleported directly in front of the Meditation room where a now, only slightly abnormally large man was standing.
"Marlo," the Innkeeper said in a warm, pleasant voice, "we meet again. I hope you have been well."
"Much better now," he said, wearing his signature mad grin. "It took me years to build up all that muscle previously, but with the help of spirit food, I expect I'll be able to return to my former glory quickly."
"I wish you the very best on your journey. But I foresee a small obstacle on your journey, which is why I'm here to inform you of it."
"Oh? I'm all ears."
"It appears that… your bank accounts have been frozen and your assets have been seized, which is why the Midnight Inn is unable to process your payment to use the Meditation room. You've already paid in advance for your stay, as well as your son's treatment, so that should not be an issue, but if you wish to buy spirit food or use the Meditation room, this may be an issue you want to address."
Marlo stood there frozen, his grin still stuck on his face, mostly because he was too shocked to even react! He couldn't… pay? When was the last time he, Hanson Marlo Bravi IV, was unable to pay for something? He honestly couldn't remember.
Then, his eyes went red with fury he was completely unable to hold in any longer, and he disappeared from the Innkeepers sight, promptly returning to Earth.
Lex chuckled, secretly hoping it was people from the council who froze his accounts. Whoever it was, they were about to receive Marlo's special care.
Larry let out a sigh filled with amazement as he finished his breakfast and slowly leaned back into his chair with a clear bulge evident under his shirt. It had been a long time since he'd eaten food that he didn't cook for himself, and to be able to eat so luxuriously was a splendor he had been divorced from for a long time. Fortunately, Marlo had paid for his stay for the next few days, so he should be able to enjoy this for a while longer.
He closed his eyes and enjoyed the gentle winds as it whispered in his ear. But along with the whistling wind, Larry was also listening to the conversations of the surrounding people. Lex had told him how to prevent their conversation from being overheard, but it appeared not many others knew about such features. Larry was learning a lot during his stay here, and it was important that he kept increasing his knowledge. The more information he had, the easier it would be for him to plan for things in the future because, contrary to what Lex thought, by going to Alexander for help, Larry's situation could get a lot worse.
When he told Lex that he suspected his family was hunted for being loyal to the family heads, he was not lying. But at the same time, he was not telling the entire truth. There was a secret he kept close to his heart, and one that might have been the real reason for his family's demise. It was also the reason why, although he could not cultivate originally, he was able to cultivate now. Not to mention, it was also the reason why he could absorb spiritual metals.
But the depth of his secret went a lot farther than that, and as much as he trusted and appreciated Lex, some secrets were better left unshared. His secret, along with this Midnight Inn, gave him the opportunity of a lifetime.
If anyone paid attention to his right hand, they would notice that he was playing with a golden coin in between his fingers. As the coin danced in the palm of his hands, one might have been able to see the signature MI engraved on it, since it was the commemorative Midnight Games coin that Lex had made. It was supposed to be made from an extremely resilient metal, and could supposedly last the test of time, but the coin in Larry's hand already looked dull, as if it had suffered the wear and tear of a million years..
If someone used their spiritual sense to observe him, they would notice every few hours, the smallest conceivable portion of the coin was absorbed by Larry into his body. They would also notice that each time he absorbed a bit of the coin, his cultivation would rise. At this rate, before the day was over, he would break into the Qi training realm.
"Excuse me, is it alright if I clear up the table?" a soft and gentle voice asked Larry, prompting him to open his eyes. It was one of the AI staff, a young woman with blonde hair and spectacular green eyes.
"Haven't I told you before? How can I let you clean up after me? The most wonderful thing you can do for me is not to pick up my plates, but to allow me to accompany you."
The waitress blushed and looked away, unable to maintain eye contact with Larry.
"Little Z says that… you are a bad man, and that I should stay away from you."
"Oh?" Larry said with amusement in his voice. "And what does your heart say?"
"My heart?" she repeated for a moment, before getting lost in thought. Finally she said, "My heart says… that the Innkeeper is a lot more handsome than you."
The waitress quickly picked up Larry's plates and rushed away, leaving the man there wondering whether he should laugh or cry.
*****
When Marlo left, Lex also returned to his room. Now that he had some time, he thought about his future. Someone was hunting him on Earth, but that didn't matter to him because he could simply choose not to return to the Earth. He knew his family would be safe, with Belle having a job with the council, so he could focus entirely on his own tasks.
The Inn had gotten a lot of exposure, so he no longer needed to return to the days of desperately looking for guests to scrounge up some MP. What he needed to do now was develop it. He also needed to raise his own cultivation.
He had decided to blatantly use whatever loopholes he could discover, so he started planning for that as well. He asked the Galactic Sovereign turtle what plants could aid in the cultivation of a Qi training cultivator, but the turtle did not have such specific knowledge. In the end, he asked the turtle to plant whatever plants it could think of that aided in cultivation. But then the issue of seeds came up. Lex could only buy them if the system gave the option, but if it didn't he would have to manually search for them. To cater to this problem, the turtle returned to Nibiru for a while to search for some plants it knew that could provide aid.
The next thing Lex needed to do was expand more and build more rooms, something he was putting off until the games ended. He did not like the feeling of all his rooms being booked – this was an indicator that, despite such a cheat, he could not keep up with demand. But he would have a better idea for how many rooms he required when the extra rush because of the games disappeared. He had already thought of various ways to add more rooms: on the ground, underground, underwater and even in the air – all options were available to him.
Yet another issue was, though he did not need to, he felt bad having his AI work without pay. But at the same time, he could not afford to pay them a lot as he needed to keep expanding which required a massive consumption of MP. He needed to spend some time on the math to analyze his latest earning trend, and create some projection charts for anticipated income growth and expenses to ultimately decide how much he could afford as fixed expenses in terms of salaries.
This was absolutely not some technical vocabulary usage just to avoid thinking of paying his employees, not at all!
Lex groaned. He had too much work to do, and he felt like doing none of it. Suddenly, he felt like taking care of his guests. In the beginning, he used to take care of his guests personally, but lately his staff had been handling everything and he rarely got to engage with any of his guests. He missed the feeling of being a host, and watching his guests amazement first hand.
Suddenly, he decided to put his work away and search for some guests to cater to. He scanned the Inn a few times, trying to see if anyone was doing something interesting. That's when he happened to see a guest that he hadn't seen in a long time, and smiled. He really should welcome his old guests personally.
In front of the Midnight Manor, Blane looked at the changed scenery, holding his girlfriend's hand. The first time he'd come here, he had been dragged in by a zombie along with his brother in arms, Chen. The both of them had their wounds treated by the Innkeeper, and had somehow survived.
He'd had a long journey after that, and ultimately split with Chen to go search for his girlfriend, Iris, who had been taken off planet. It had taken some time, but he finally tracked her down and, after contacting her and letting her know he was alive, had to go through a very long process to be transported onto the same space ship as her.
Today, after so many days, they had finally reunited. Since he first came to the Inn, he had been wanting to bring Iris here, and finally he had the opportunity. But while some things remained the same, the world of the Inn had also changed tremendously.
"The air smells so nice here," said Iris, bewildered. One might have expected that the girlfriend Blane was so in love with was a world shakingly beautiful, but on Vegus Minima there were no fair maidens, only warriors.
The woman who stood beside Blane was extremely muscular, and was garbed in battle gear, despite their change in environment. He had an eyepatch – to help with healing while her body got accustomed to a new implant. Before the implant, she wore the eyepatch to protect her dead eye.
A few lines marked her forehead, and her age showed around her eyes, but none of that mattered to Blane. To him, she was the flower that bloomed in spring, and the honey that tasted sweeter than most resplendent spiritual fruit. He had brought her here because to him, after her embrace, this was the place that brought him the most happiness, and he wanted to share it with her.
Welcome guest," said the Innkeeper with a fond and warm voice, as he stepped out a shining light. "It has been a while since I saw you last, I hope you have been well."