The Innkeeper

Lex smiled upon hearing the question. Talking to them was already plenty informative without them revealing anything at all. He learnt that they were expecting a rescue, but they were suddenly greatly disappointed by something. Lex could only assume that they learnt of the teleportation ban which then upset them because it delayed their rescue.

It was also interesting to learn that in spite of everything they had learnt about the Inn, they retained quite a bit of confidence in being rescued. Clearly their background was not simple, despite themselves being quite weak.

Although they had been taken aback by Lex's casual offer, and were unnerved by the system, they quickly gathered themselves and became somewhat composed.

"What do I need from you? Shouldn't it be obvious?" Lex questioned back, and showed them a knowing smile. As if to add emphasis to what he was saying, he became a little more obvious with his movements in throwing and catching the system.

"We… we don't have any systems," one of the Rhinocentairs said, but became quiet when Lex gave him a look as if he were looking at an idiot.

"Look, the more you reveal willingly, the more freedoms I'll allow you. I'm trying to be nice about this, but if you waste my time I'll let someone handle you two. Maybe the baby Cthulhu. He feeds on the pain and suffering of others, or something along those lines, and his mother has been really concerned about his insufficient diet. You wouldn't want to attract their attention now would you?"

In fact, the truth was far from what Lex had portrayed. Since he arrived in this new realm, the baby Cthulhu had been exceptionally excited, and had been feeding nonstop without needing to actively harm anyone himself. He had been gaining some weight even.

The Rhinocentaurs trembled just a bit. Of course they knew about Cthulhus. In fact, one of the top 500 members of the groupchat had a Taming Cthulhus to cultivate system, which made them especially well known.

There had once even been someone with a Taming dragons to cultivate system, but a very senior member of the groupchat who happened to be a dragon convinced the owner to hand it over without causing a fuss. What happened to it after that was completely unknown, and a topic of great speculation among the chat members.

The Rhinocentaurs exchanged looks. Lex's lack of asking a question out right put them under a lot of pressure. They didn't know exactly how much would satisfy him, or even if he would keep his word. Was it worth it to hold onto secrets when revealing them could allow them some extent of freedom.

Considering that they might be here for years still, they had a brief discussion in the groupchat, and decided to go with the prepared list of answers that was the most revealing. The carrot that Lex was dangling in front of them was too tempting, and the stick hidden from view too dastardly, for them to take any risks.

"We can tell you everything but… but there are certain topics we cannot reveal, or our souls will immediately be erased. If you try to remove the restriction, the same thing will happen. Even… even if El Posadero tries, it might be the same."

"El Posadero?" Lex mused to himself with a raised eyebrow. He knew what the other meant, but this was the first time the universal translator had translated something to a language other than english. It was The Innkeeper in spanish.

"Can you tell me what these topics are?" he asked. He could tell that they were being sincere, but if they couldn't reveal anything about their backgrounds, then he would be suffering a loss.

"Anything relating to our background," one Rhinocentaur said.

"We also can't reveal anything relating to systems to anyone who doesn't already know about them but… that obviously doesn't apply to you."

"Alright, well, how about we focus on systems. Tell me everything you can, and we'll go from there."

"Systems have, for as far as anyone can tell, always existed, from the earliest days of the universe. Obviously for people like us it's hard to get in contact with anyone from the Primary realm - the very first realm that was created alongside the universe itself - but ancient records show signs of things that might be systems even back then.

"No one knows the origins of systems, so it is heavily speculated that systems are naturally occurring and are born with every new realm. Although that theory is heavily contested, owing to the fact that fewer and fewer newborn systems have been discovered in recent years."

"What do you mean by newborn systems?" Lex asked.

"Most systems you will encounter will be between E and A grade, and will have already been through a number of other hosts. Depending on how much time has passed between a system having a previous host, and treating you as one, you might be able to inherit what the system was previously, or have a new type of system created for you. But a system which has never had a host before is called a newborn system, and it is at its weakest state.

"It also needs to be noted that depending on the grade of a system, their preference for host species will also change. A lower grade system will not synchronize well with a species with a high inherent cultivation level."

Lex absorbed the information, and finally received an answer he had long been wondering about. Every system he encountered would be the same for him as its previous host, but the Midnight Inn system seemed to have been different when it was with Mary.

This piece of information made no difference to him, as his only purpose was to absorb systems to allow him to heal, but others might choose to wait if the system they encountered was incompatible with themselves. Of course, this was on the premise that they had such information available to them.