The Innkeeper

Lex dismissed the last of his clones and sat with his back to his chair, letting out a deep sigh. One unexpected, but somehow predictable, result of using consciousness clones was severe mental exhaustion. Even if it was as if he had another brain functioning independently, the energy for all that processing still derived from his original body and soul.

Not to mention that he had been using multiple clones, sometimes even at the same time, to check whether that was possible or not. As a result, he had been completely exhausted.

It was not a big deal, for he had more than a whole day before the assembly began. What he had to decide now was whether or not he would attend, for if he missed this one, he would have to wait 100 years for the next one.

But before making complicated decisions like that, he needed to get some rest. Instead of directly sleeping, Lex first teleported to his own home within the Inn, which was in a space cut off from the main Inn. Removing most of his clothes, Lex slowly immersed himself in the Hot tub and let out a soft groan as he felt the warm water massage his skin.

A strange thing that had happened to him since his upgrade was... most hot things just felt warm to him. Even if he put his hand in an open flame, for a very long time it would only seem warm. Only when the temperature was close to his limit, would he begin to feel that it was 'hot' instead of 'warm'.

Not that any of that mattered, for right now Lex was in a mood to relax. After a short dip, he got out of the hot tub and put on his Bathroom set and let it cleanse his body of all fatigue, as well as filth.

Not bothering to change, Lex then walked into the meditation room, sat down, and began cultivating. Sleep would help him recover, there was no doubt about it, but meditating and cultivating would help put him in the right state of mind for what lay ahead.

Considering he was at the peak of the Foundation realm as it was, all cultivating would do was push him towards the Golden Core realm. But it was not an automatic transition, so until he chose to initiate it himself, cultivating would only end up refilling his reserve of spirit energy and refreshing him.

It did not take long, approximately six hours, before Lex stopped his cultivation for he was completely refreshed. Since he had not been drained beyond normal, or been injured in some way, such a normal way of recovering was more than enough to bring him back to his peak state.

Now Lex had a decision to make, but he received a notification that the Inn upgrade to merge with the Henali portal was complete, and only required him to make a few additions.

Lex had put off dealing with Inn related stuff for now, but this was a simple enough task that he didn't mind doing it.

The Henali portal was similar to the internet, and spanned the entire known universe in the Origin realm. It was maintained not by the Henali themselves, but by the members of the Henali alliance.

This statement in itself brought Lex a lot of confusion, since if the entire Origin realm was under the Henali purview, shouldn't the entire 'universe' be considered as a part of the 'known universe'. Of course, in this regard the universe was only referring to the origin realm itself.

But, regardless, coming back to the portal, entering it required a few things first. A person who was entering the portal for the first time had to go to what was called a Registration point and log in from there. This was because they would take all kinds of information and enter it into the portal.

Once that was done, a person could interact with the portal as simply as by giving it a verbal command, regardless of whether you had a log in device or not. Of course, such interactions were extremely limited in capability.

The proper way of logging in was with a login in device. This could be a simple computer, to let you access the information, or a complete VR immersion kit to let you enter the virtual landscape of the portal.

Once logged in, there were still a few restrictions, such as the inability to hide your identity from the portal, but otherwise it was an open world for you to do as you please. The exact details Lex was not aware of, since the information he got from the system was only related to setting up a registration point and an access point, as well as the very basics of the portal.

After thinking about how to set it up for a bit, Lex decided to put down the Registration point on one of the branches off Main street, but created multiple access points throughout the Inn.

The thing about access points was that it contained both complete immersive VR kits, as well as simple access points. Of course, considering the size of his Inn and the number of his guests, he had to create enough access points to accommodate a large number of people entering.

At the same time, he wasn't sure of how much the demand would be. As such, he created a dozen access points throughout the Inn, with the largest being at the village, and bought new workers to work in them.

He'd check it out when he had the time.

For now, he turned his attention back to the assembly. Even if he decided to go, there was one issue he had to overcome, and had been unable to experiment with. To activate the business card someone needed to channel energy into it, but once the clone was summoned, it was unable to move. Did that also mean it was unable to teleport?

Within the Inn, he was able to teleport his clone anywhere without it disappearing, but he did not know if the same would hold true for teleporting the clone to the assembly. Everything was so risky, and now he had to face a battle between his heart, which wanted to go, and his brain, which said waiting 100 years was not a big deal since now he was a cultivator.

*****

William Bentham was feeling good. Things had only gone from bad to better over the last one year, and not only was his cultivation recovering rapidly, his business was taking off. His secret society, the Rose Society, was gaining influence faster than anyone could imagine, and the best part was, due to the various business deals he had operating through the Inn, no one could trace his income. That meant the Rose Society had no money trail anyone could use to trace it back to him.

What others didn't know was that, soon, he would even receive an entire spaceship. He could use that to transport the rehabilitated work force from earth to another planet, and start a colony on a new world. Of course, such a deal hadn't been without costs, but nothing was without price. He could afford to pay it, so long as it helped him achieve his dreams.

If there was one thing he regretted, it was that his own children hadn't helped at all in his new growth, and instead it was Hera who had helped him. The one bet she had taken so long ago, of not taking a million dollars for the key, and invested in him instead, was paying off big time now. Not only was leading one of the most successful startups in history, she had now become a cultivator as well.

Yes, all was good.

Just as Will was losing himself in his thoughts, sipping a cup of warm tea, something suddenly appeared on the table in front of him. Curious, he looked over and discovered a newsletter.

To be more specific, he found the Midnight Inn Newsletter!

Surprised, as well as thoroughly exhilarated, he plucked it off the table and began to read. Oddly enough, on the entire page filled with interesting news not only about the Inn but the universe at large, Will's eyes were directed instead to a small little corner of the page with a segment called 'Ask Rachel'.

Maybe it was the beautiful font, the alluring color, or the fact that there was a small figure of 'Rachel' drawn over the segment that kept waving at Will and pointing down at the segment, attracting his attention to it. One could never be sure about these things.

The first line, though he felt ashamed to admit, did attract his interest.

It simply read:

'What is all the success, power and prestige in the universe worth, if you have no one to share it with? Looking for help, or some tips on how to start exploring the universe for your significant other? Then look no further and ask Rachel the questions hidden in your heart. She will be the beacon that lights up your road towards a wholesome and happy lovelife.'