The Innkeeper



Lex could not help but smile a bit. His requests were either incredibly specific, such as the very specific ore he needed to alter his body, or the millions of cultivation techniques he'd requested. To this date, he still regularly received batches of new techniques which he kept adding to his library. The problem was, the number of techniques had to match the kind of payment he'd made. But Lex's payment had touched upon something that touched the Daolord realm, so there was literally no value that could meet it. In the end, they could just continue to provide techniques endlessly until it became a priceless collection.

Eventually, Lex planned to have them start providing Nascent soul level techniques. Although that would speed up the emporium's payback of its debt, Lex did not actually need endless Golden core realm techniques.

Powell continued.

"The reason I told you this was because, in the future, no matter where you enter the emporium from, you will be brought to our main shop, which is reserved for our highest level members. Moreover, you can establish an account with us, meaning that once you sell something, you will accumulate a special kind of credit called Emporium Credit (EC). You can either cash that out to a currency of your choice, or keep it to purchase items later on. It's a much easier way to keep track of your payments, and the value of each transaction."

"It's easy enough to understand," said Lex, as if it was the first time he was encountering such a thing.

"The ease and convenience of our clients is our first priority. I can take you to the store and you can peruse our premium selection at will, but first I'd like to discuss the transaction you previously mentioned to Powell."

"Yes, the Cosmic Erosion Elixir. I wish to sell some, but first I need a container in which I can transport the elixir itself."

"If you don't mind my asking, how much elixir are you looking to sell?"

Lex leaned forward now, and established eye contact with Powell. Everything before this was merely a prelude to the conversation that was about to take place now. As an item with no fixed price, how much Lex would be able to gain would all depend on his own negotiation skills.

Although Lex may have gained a psychological advantage before this, it would matter little if he failed to gain any tangible benefits. Moreover, he was about to find out if Powell in fact was so self confident that he did not care about mind games, or if Lex really was superior to him in this regard.

"I have quite a considerable amount of elixir," Lex confided. "Yet I am also using a portion of it for my own purposes. What I want to do is sell the amount I don't need before it disappears. Since I harvested the elixir today, I'd say I have about a week to make the most of it. How much of it I sell to you… depends entirely on the price you're able to pay. It could be anywhere from a few drops, all the way up to a liter."

In fact, Lex had a lot more of the elixir than that. But he was not sure exactly how much he needed, not to mention he was planning on holding an auction in the Midnight Inn as well. He had already told Mary to spread the word about this specific auction, but only guests with a prestige level 4 and above were to be informed.

There were very few guests at that prestige level, as they would need to spend at least 10 million MP at the Inn to reach such a level. In fact, the only reason the number even entered double digits is because those who performed transactions at the Guild room were also counted.

Powell did not react too strongly, but at the same time he did not hide his surprise at the possible availability of an entire liter of the elixir. He did not, however, show any surprise to learn that Lex was using the elixir himself.

The truth was, his body projected a powerful aura of laws since his body contained laws to begin with, yet did not have the power to suppress the aura. But once his body stabilized, the aura disappeared. Yet now that he was once again adjusting his body's makeup by drinking the elixir the aura had once again appeared.

Although the aura was not completely oppressive, as it was when Lex was still undergoing his body's reconstruction, it was enough to give a casual cultivator some pressure. Even a nascent cultivator would feel pressured in Lex's presence during this period.

Suffice to say, Powell could tell that Lex was somehow tempering his body using the elixir. As for how that was possible, he did not inquire. As a businessman, he respected others' personal secrets.

"There are many ways in which the emporium can pay you, but I think what really matters is what you're looking for. Why don't you give me an idea for the kind of remuneration you're looking for."

The small exchange where neither of them openly quotes a price was a sort of power play by each, trying to understand the others psychological range for the price. If one of them said a price, such as Lex, but it turned out that it was much lower than what Powell was ready to pay then Lex would be the one suffering the loss.

This was the problem with priceless items. In the end, the final price was entirely dependent on what and how much use the buyer had for it.

As it was, Lex was at a slight disadvantage since he did not know the actual value of the elixir and how it could be measured. So, instead, he opted for another option.

"The elixir, as you may know, contains the physical manifestation of laws. I can sell some, but I need other items which contain laws in a similar fashion."