The Innkeeper



While Lex was busy with the pagoda, and Larry carried out his revenge on earth, things were as peaceful as usual at the Midnight Inn. The number of guests at the Inn fluctuated considerably depending on the ongoing events, and the Inn was going towards somewhat of a lull due to the upcoming fishing event.

But even if the number of daily guests fluctuated, a certain number of guests had more or less taken up residence at the Inn. Although becoming a permanent resident of the Inn escaped the capabilities of many, nothing stopped them from perpetually renting out space at the Inn.

Amongst the various options was the Small village, which consisted not only of various houses, courtyards and rooms, but a few dedicated facilities as well. With the steep price of 15,000MP a night, it was only suitable for large groups of people who wished to stay together.

Most common amongst these were various sects and organizations. Many of them had discovered the Inn through the mysterious golden doors and then had monopolized access to the Inn on their respective worlds.

As if a higher than usual spirit energy concentration, access to meditation and training rooms and first-class medical facilities was not enough, the endless number of new Minor realm entrances at the Inn were enough to entice anyone.

Someone might have wondered how so many different groups, originating from such various backgrounds, were able to maintain their behavior in their newfound environment, instead of trying to extend their hands and claim more, as was the nature of many species.

Other than the almost perpetual rain of lightning that happened all around the Inn that thoroughly intimidated most of the guests who were actually not so strong, the hearth at the entrance of the Inn that used the souls of the Inn's enemies and fuel was more than enough to set them straight.

So then, having become more or less residents of the Inn, these guests often ran into each other. If their proclivities tended to lean towards violence or disharmony they kept to themselves, but many others took the opportunity to foster friendships.

One such group, formed from the young members of various different sects, sat together as they watched the fishing event kick off. They didn't much care for fishing, but the environment itself was nice and it was a great area where they could just hang out.

"I'm heading back to my homeworld for a few days," said the first youth.

"Lucky you, I'm stuck on pill duty. My teacher accepted a request in the Guild room for 100 bottles of Qi pills to help Qi Training cultivators, and all of us now have to help him fulfill it," said a second.

"That's nothing. I have to accompany my sect into a Minor realm. Don't they know that's dangerous? I've heard people have constantly been getting ambushed by others in the Minor realms. Almost no one has formed a long-term base and they maintain nomadic habits. I really don't want to go," said a third.

"It'll be hard to keep in touch after this, with our random schedules," lamented another youth.

"Not really. I've created a discord channel, so just join it. That way, we can catch up on everything as soon as we return to the Inn. Everyone can respond whenever they're back. It's better than leaving it up to chance."

The youths continued their conversation, completely ignoring what was happening in the competition. It was for that reason they completely missed when the first contestant fished out a spatial ring, and the second fished out a literal treasure chest.

The surrounding crowd, however, had paid attention, and slowly interest was beginning to build in the competition. The more valuable the item fished out, the more the crowd became excited. One of the contestants pulled out a cultivation scroll that gave birth to a massive phenomenon as soon as it was pulled out. A vision of an eternal ice age formed above the head of the cultivator, large enough to be visible across the Inn!

*****

Vera Joel was pacing around her room anxiously. Although they used to have a lot of freedom even as prisoners, since the discovery of the Midnight Inn and its golden keys, they had more or less been kept under strict observation.

Even then, it wasn't as if they were being kept in jail cells. But as far as she was concerned, the situation was no better. As an oracle, she could glimpse into the most likely future. But there was a caveat to her seemingly incredible power, one that almost no one knew of.

While she could glimpse the most likely future, she was restricted to seeing only her own future! The only possible way she could see the potential futures for other people was if it had a major or significant impact on her own life.

The thing about seeing her own future was that while she could take many precautions against upcoming problems, she could not leverage her ability to help or aid others. That meant that no one had any incentive to help her!

While that was not necessarily a bad thing, since she ought to be independent, there were times where that would become an issue. If, for example, she needed to use her ability to make an income at the Midnight Inn, she would not be able to charge people to see their future.

Once again, that did not really sound like a big deal. But given her current circumstances, it was a massive deal. She needed to get to the Midnight Inn and stay there, but she had almost no money with which to pay!

"Calm down Vera," said Kristine, Vera's mother. "Everything will be fine."

Similar to Vera, Kristine was dressed in a tracksuit, and was wearing a backpack stuffed to the brim with valuables. "We'll figure something out."

"It's not so easy. I can't see my future inside the Inn from the outside. We have no way of knowing what will happen!"

"We'll figure something out. For now, get ready. It's almost time."

Though Vera was not able to relax, she did finally stop pacing around. She gave her mother a nod, indicating she was ready. Her mother, in turn, took out her phone and sent a message to a seemingly random number.

If anyone saw the chat history, they would see that Kristine had sent this number various details about their prison as well as their guard formation and protective measures! While the name of the contact had not been saved in her phone, if anyone tried to call, on the other side they would find Marlo!

"It's done."

The mother and daughter left the room, guided completely by Vera. Though she lacked the skill to be a spy, she walked through the halls that made up her prison completely undetected. Her timing was completely perfect, and managed to avoid detection not only of the patrolling guards, but of the security teams viewing the various cameras as well.

As if they completely owned the place, the two made it to a security office and entered. As it happened, the guards were undergoing a shift change, and so there was almost no one in the office.

"Hey, you can't be here," said the only guard in the room aggressively, but the mother daughter duo paid him no attention. Vera began accessing a computer right there, while the other directly attacked the guards!

As it happened, this was the newest guard on duty, and also the weakest. The chances they would encounter him alone were next to nil, but that's exactly what happened, because the pair had been preparing for this day for a long time.

"The defensive formation has been deactivated," said Vera, just in time for her mother to incapacitate the guard. Kristine sent another message on the chat and they began to move.

A few minutes later, a private jet smashed directly into the building!

Such a massive and unexpected incident should have caused countless casualties, but an unexpected incident at another section of their prison caused many of the guards to be moved away. It seemed quite coincidental that the area that the unmanned plane crashed into just happened to lack any guards at that moment.

*****

The moment Lex chose to exit the pagoda, he received the reward for the fourth floor, which was information on how to more precisely control his strength. It was not earth shattering information, but once Lex reviewed it, it would no doubt help him tremendously.

For the moment, however, Lex found it impossible to focus on the information even with the ability to split his mind. That was because the moment he exited the pagoda, his makeshift undergarment disappeared, leaving him completely naked before a host of Jotun soldiers.

Everyone froze as they stared at the man who had just exited, but Lex did not act ashamed at all. With a nod of acknowledgment, he began walking towards the nearest tree as if he was on a casual stroll.

The leaves were not suitable for his purpose, so Lex tore the bark off the tree and wrapped it around his waist, not minding the sticky sap.

"Do you have a helicopter heading back?" he asked the soldiers, who were still staring at him with dumbfounded expressions.