The Innkeeper

It had been nearly a year since the Midnight Inn first appeared, and regardless of its apparent popularity, on a universal scale, it was not even equivalent to a blip. First of all, a majority of all living beings in existence were simply not destined to ever make use of the Inn because it would take months of savings to accumulate even 1 MP.

Second of all, despite its excellent services, they simply had no need for it. Even if one wanted a vacation, traveling somewhere local made more sense than some remote area in the universe.

Among certain crowds, however, its popularity was spreading. This crowd mostly contained Foundation realm and Golden core realm cultivators. The price was steep but acceptable, and the services were truly unmatched by anything on their planets. Moreover, the entertainment was excellent.

But while this crowd made up the majority of the guests the Inn received, there was another strata of universal beings taking note of the Inn. This consisted of those who kept tabs on rumors of any and all Daolords, and the latest rumor was of an unknown Daolord behind the scenes at the Inn. Credibility was added to this rumor when the devil known as Loretta let it slip that she strongly suspected it was true.

For the people who did not know the weight of her words, they meant nothing. For those that did, it changed everything.

In the Milky Way Galaxy,, on a spaceship traveling at full speed across the stars, a man was hung in the air by chains that pierced into his collarbone. His legs had been chopped off clean, and his body was covered in brutal scars, but his hands and his face were not harmed in the slightest.

This man was known as Mr. Jeckal, and was the instigator behind the Raskal attack on the Midnight Inn. His life had been just peachy up until recently, when the organization backing him learned of the rumor about the Midnight Inn. Upon hiring independent investigators, unrelated to the organization, they learnt that not only was the Inn unharmed by their small skirmish, they had a very mysterious backer.

Although this organization could afford to mess with the William family, messing with a Daolord was out of the question. But, considering the fact that there was no retaliation, they assumed that the Daolord could not be bothered with them.

They did, however, need to punish Mr. Jeckal so that he would rein in his arrogance and stop offending anymore people unnecessarily. They had humored him this much because of his unique ability, but it wasn't worth being destroyed over.

"That's enough rest," echoed a voice from the dark. "Let's continue your punishment."

*****

If the rumor about a Daolord had spread so far that even simple organizations could discover it, then the larger ones would also soon be in the know. The matter of fact was that as soon as the Jotun royal family gained a certain level of surety in the matter, they spread the news in the relevant circles.

It may seem like those larger organizations hadn't taken any action, but it was only because they operated on a universal scale. Let alone less than a year, even 10,000 years was a short time frame for them.

But, the preliminary process had already begun, and today, they officially began acknowledging the Inns' existence.

With a flash of light, several humanoid beings appeared at the Inn at the same time. If one were to judge them based on the myths and lores from Earth, they looked like a Devil, an Angel, an Elf, a Dwarf, some unknown being of which there were no myths, and a human.

They looked at one another silently while contemplating something.

Finally, the Angel spoke.

"6 beings from 6 different galaxies, but we arrived at the exact same time. This is unlike any teleportation I am familiar with."

"You do not need to be familiar," spoke the Devil in a matter of fact way. "You only need to do your job. Remember, Angel, we are only here as messengers. Do not provoke trouble, for us Devils have been ordered not to provoke the Midnight Inn."

"I see a dragon," said the elf, ignoring the existing conversation.

"It has the mark of the Condottiere. If the Inn needs to hire security, maybe they do not have strong manpower," said the dwarf.

"Stop probing lest you offend someone," said the being from the unknown race.

"Too late," replied the Elf.

They looked up into the sky and saw a baby whale, swimming through the skies. Walking slowly beneath it was a large turtle with a single horn protruding from its head. At first, the group did not pay much attention because it was weak. Then they recognized its race, and froze!

"Crap," said the human, ready to escape. This was much scarier than a dragon. But the turtle paid them no attention at all, and just kept moving. After all, it was completely normal for new guests to scan the Inn with their spirit sense. He was already used to it.

Only after it left did the 6 humanoid beings, all on the verge of becoming Immortals, finally breathe. Even if they became actual Immortals, they would not be insane enough to offend a being with the word Sovereign right in the name of its race.

*****

The creature's howl was the signal that ushered in chaos. From stunning silence to the sounds of shattering glass everywhere, followed by bitter screams. The situation should not have been as bad as it was, since these creatures were relatively weak and everyone was a cultivator.

To be specific, Lex couldn't see how good or bad the situation was, since most of the fights were happening inside the various buildings. For a moment Lex thought it was because of the sudden fear of the dark but then a thought struck him like thunder.

This was the Crystal realm, not Earth. This may have been Lex's first time encountering darkness like this here, but it should not have been the case for the citizens. They should have been mentally prepared to encounter an accident at any time. Yet nothing he saw indicated that even a single person was attempting to fight back.

Something was very wrong, and it wasn't just the abrupt shut down of the light formation. Something was elevating everyone's fear and preventing them from thinking clearly. At first when Lex saw everyone feel afraid he thought it was the natural reaction, but now it seemed that it wasn't.

Moreover, they weren't the only ones affected! Even Lex's first reaction to the darkness was one of fear. He lost his composure easily and even began fearing being attacked by immortals. While his thought process was logical, Lex was not someone so easily frightened anymore. He had overcome too many unforeseen obstacles to be afraid of something that 'might' happen.

Lex thought of several ways he could test his theory, but that would have to wait for later. Mentally using the system, he outfitted the rooftop with an extremely strong light and turned it on, pointing it towards the sky.

Not only did it brighten up the surrounding area, it stood as a beacon in the dark, signaling everyone to come here. As for the consequences if he attracted too much attention?

He would deal with it when the matter arose. Worst comes to worst, he could claim his dad was an immortal. It wouldn't be the first time someone in the Crystal realm would believe that anyway.

But while he could attract attention with light, that was about all he could do. Even though the monsters formed now were weak and he could face them, something strange was going on and he was not enough of a saint to risk his life for strangers.

The weird bony monster that let out the howl looked directly towards Lex after it finished with its first meal. The guests in the hall were immediately frightened, and fell backwards, but Lex remained standing.

As if provoked, the monster lurched towards Lex. But, before it could even get close to the window in front of which Lex was standing, it froze. It had entered the boundary of the tavern when it crossed the small garden in front, and was thus within the space formation. Lex put it in a room of the exact shape of its body, and then squeezed.

The monster blew up, unable to even touch the tavern building. Lex looked on as if he had seen something unremarkable.

In fact, he was no longer paying attention to the street. He was discussing contingency measures with Mary, and using the system scan constantly to monitor the tavern. After all, they would not be polite enough to only attack from the front. He had to keep an eye out on all sides.

Upon seeing the monster explode the guests were slightly reassured.

Bang! The kitchen door slammed open, startling everyone, but instead of monsters, it revealed the triplets walking out with trays of food.

"Lunch is served," said Naki with a smile.