The Innkeeper



Despite the extreme difficulty in cultivating with the Cosmic Erosion Elixir, Lex persisted and soon three days passed. The system had not completed its evolution yet, likely because the Celebrity Overnight system was a higher grade than the farming one he had received.

During this time, despite his desire to waste away time reading novels, he focused on work and got as much done as possible.

Of course, his attention was forever on his cultivation. Alongside whatever changes the elixir was bringing inside his body, it had also managed to slightly elevate his cultivation realm. This was a genuine surprise, for at his normal rate it would take him a few months more before he made a difference.

Unfortunately, while his cultivation had been raised, his physique seemed to have suffered. He was not weaker, no. If anything, he was a little stronger. But he had inevitably become a little more frail than he was three days ago. If someone saw him now, it would appear as though he was on the path to become malnourished.

After his latest round of cultivation, Lex decided to take a little nap. Sleeping would speed up his recovery, and he had become mentally tired as well after three days of continuous torture. The only shame was that he would miss out on the auction, but that was fine. He had passed down the instructions on how it was to be handled, as well as the minimum payments.

He was depending on this auction to cross one trillion MP. Although his plan involved a few different steps, having at least 1 MT was paramount. But he was not worried. The staff at the Inn was very reliable.

Lex closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep. His body had to get used to its new situation.

*****

In the village there were numerous venues, all very large and extravagant, designed to hold as many people as physically possible. Yet today the one which held the most anticipated event of the day, the auction, was being conducted in the smallest such venue available. This was because most people weren't even eligible to know about this auction.

There were nearly one hundred guests, and the one with the lowest cultivation level was at the earth immortal realm. Even the strongest guard from the security the Inn hired was also present. Since it was his job to ensure safety, he had a representative for him available who would perform any bidding.

General Ragnar, the Emperor Jotun, various prominent devils and even some extremely powerful beasts were present. As it happened, even Aegis from the crystal realm was attending. Since he was here, the Noel family also no doubt learned of the auction, and since they had heard about it, the Phillips family.

But none from the Phillips family had privilege level 4, so they could not attend the meeting. Instead, they were exploring the Inn. Upon discovering it, they did not think of shifting the wedding to this venue. They were extremely satisfied with the tavern. Instead, they were thinking of how long they could hide the existence of such a place from the rest in their realm. If no one else knew, they stood the most to benefit.

Each of the numerous guests at the auction was sitting in a private booth. It was not difficult to arrange, since the entire purpose of this specific auction house was exclusivity. They focused on providing services to a few distinguished guests rather than catering to the masses.

On the small stage, a lady wearing a red dress walked to the podium. The lady walked with elegance and grace, and her curly blonde hair and sharp blue eyes only served to attract every guest's attention. She was beautiful, no doubt, but it was the charismatic twinkle in her eyes and confident smile that served to elevate her beauty to another level. Perhaps if she had a more sober personality, one would admire her as beautiful if she caught one's attention, but she would not stand out in a crowd. But the way she was, even if she were lost in a crowd of other blondes, wearing the same red dress, she would still be the one all eyes would lock on to.

"Hello everyone, my name is Marilyn and I will be your auctioneer this evening," she said, her melodic voice almost captivating the audience. She let out a small laugh of excitement, and even winked at all the guests playfully. It was clear for all to see that she was quite excited. As strange as it was, suddenly all the guests became excited as well. She was one of the many workers at the Inn who had recently been promoted from her previous position as a waitress.

The crazy thing was, she was not cultivating anything that would enhance her appearance or captivate anyone. With just her inherent charm, she seemed to be doing so. Well, that and a little help from her stylist - Harry Midnight!

Amongst the various guests, Rockefeller narrowed his eyes as he saw Marilyn. More than anything else the Inn had to offer, he was enamored by its staff. They would make the most splendid demons if he got his hands on them, he was sure. He just had to figure out a way.

"You all should have already heard the rules for this auction, but I'll reiterate them nonetheless. For the main items in today's auction, the bidding will be twofold. A minimum bid of 100 billion MP is required per drop of elixir, but other than that, guests must bid using the barter system. That means, they have to bid using items with sufficient value. There is a small list of items which will be given preference during the bartering, in case anyone bids with them, but otherwise all items will be judged based on their MP value if converted."

Since Lex had already perused the list provided by the emporium of some of the most valuable items available in the origin realm, he did not hesitate to list them in the auction. His plan was to accumulate both material and MP wealth. MP could give him many benefits that he could get from nowhere else, but at the same time, it was restricted in how it could help him.

Thus, he would accumulate both.

"Of course, as you know, other than the main items prepared by the Inn, there are some items that have been submitted by various guests to be auctioned. They will be bid according to the requirements of the guest providing the item."