The Innkeeper

So far, on his little expansion during breakfast Lex had already spent 56,100MP. It truly spoke volumes about how criminally understaffed he had been. He should give Velma and Gerard some kind of reward. He'd put it on his to do list, because for now he wasn't done. There was one more thing that he had been putting off, one more thing he had been dreading to even look at because of his severe lack of MP. Yet now, he could not wait to explore.

He opened up the Gift Shop tab to look at what else he could purchase, and indeed, a few new items were waiting for him. He smiled as he read through the new items descriptions.

Bath towel:

Don't you hate it when you get something disgusting on yourself? Cleaning up is such a hassle. The Bath towel rids the user of negative status that are affecting the user via the skin i.e. poison, paralysis paste, petrification, tracking powder, bad makeup etc. Can affect Foundation realm and below

Travel size face washing kit:

Sometimes, when you don't feel like yourself, it's good to be someone else. Allows user to change their appearance as they wish for 24 hours. Please note, only physical appearance changes, not height, body structure, finger prints, spiritual signature, gait etc.

Selfie stick:

Whether you're traveling the countryside, shopping in a mall, fighting a legion of enemies, there is no wrong time to take a selfie. Whoever you hit with the stick will temporarily be petrified, as if posing for a selfie. Duration of petrification is variable, but Qi training cultivators can be petrified for 10 seconds.

Lex smiled, satisfied with the few new additions and directly purchased them and put them in the shop. The Bath towel was sold for 300MP, while the other two were sold for 200MP, all of them giving a profit of 100MP.

Lex concluded this just as he finished his breakfast. Lex grinned in satisfaction as he stood up. He felt slightly bloated, but the feeling would pass in a bit. Now, he had to focus on where else he could make improvements. He had upgraded the Recovery room twice and had reached his limit, so he supposed he could upgrade the other places as well…

Lex frowned. Currently he didn't really need to upgrade them, and though he had a lot of MP he should not treat it as infinite. He would let the other place be for now, but there was one thing that did require an upgrade. Lex disappeared and reappeared in his greenhouse. Currently neither the garner nor the turtle were present, though Lex did not suspect them of slacking. Even if they were resting, just looking at the condition of the greenhouse let him know the amount of work they had been doing. The plants had all been rearranged. At first they were divided by their use and type, while now they seemed to be mixed. Lex was sure that this arrangement served some kind of purpose, but even beyond that they formed a strange symmetry that felt pleasant to look at.

What pleased him the most was that his vegetables looked almost ready. Admittedly, he did not know what vegetables ready to be picked looked like, but just the fact that from seeds they had grown into sizable plants was enough to tell him what he needed to know.

Without any hesitation, Lex upgraded the greenhouse twice, spending 15,000MP. The upgrade seemed very lackluster in Lex's opinion as there was no visible change, but he didn't doubt the system system so he disappeared. What he did not know was that the gardener instantly became aware of the upgrade as well as the new functions of the greenhouse. The Gardener almost collapsed when he found out as he knew that the turtle would want to rearrange the garden, once again.

With that done, Lex turned his attention towards more selfish tasks. He had given all of his employee's residences, but had ignored his own. As the owner of the Inn, he too could have a residence in a separate space - though his would be more expensive. Yet since he was going to be spending all his time here now, he didn't see why he shouldn't reward himself.

He spent a hefty 20,000MP on establishing his own residence. It was nothing too fancy, though there were options for those as well, and only built himself a single story apartment.

The apartment had a living room that was simultaneously also the dining room, along with a small kitchen, two bedrooms, a study, a restroom, a meditation room and a training room.

Yes, Lex liked to live simply and humbly. The meditation room and training room had the same effects as the ones in the Inn, and despite the fact that he still had to pay to use them they were very convenient. The apartment was, of course, fully furnished.

Satisfied, Lex went to his study room and began working towards his upcoming event. Although the event was thirteen days away, and the announcement of the details would be in nine days, Lex had a lot of preparations to do. He opened up the event management panel and looked at a very important tab that read 'paid promotion'. Yes, it was exactly what one would expect. Lex could pay MP to promote his event in all three worlds. Since he was planning on having a large event, how could he rely on word of mouth to spread the news. The scope of the event would be too limited if only a few dozen, or even a few hundred people came. He was running the Midnight Inn, not a small community comic con - he needed attendance!

But letting guests come early would not be good, and he needed to establish a premise for his publicity and an incentive for participation. He noted down a few ideas, played them out in his head, then crossed out a few and then worked on them again. When he was finally satisfied with what he wanted he smiled, and paid the 150,000MP promotion fee! That was 50,000MP per planet, but considering how he was doing his promotion it felt cheap.

*****

Somewhere on Nibiru, in a large palace underwater, a young mermaid was playing with a similarly young sea serpent. Large, intricate runes formed chandeliers above the playing child, and changed colors according to her mood. The mermaid, who was only a few weeks old, was easily entertained.

Watching over her in the distance was a much larger and more ferocious looking sea serpent. If someone from Earth saw this blue colored monstrosity they would think of a chinese dragon, yet despite its power and prestige, the serpent did not have the audacity to add dragon to its title.

"They will grow up as friends," the serpent murmured.

"It will be a happy childhood," replied a beast that looked like a massive lobster. "It would be best if the child's identity is forever forgotten. She does not need to bear such burdens. She should be free to choose the path her heart desires."

The serpent was about to reply, but suddenly it felt a massive surge in spiritual energy. It felt the surge pass through the underwater palace until it reached him, and then froze around the serpent. It felt like it was locked under the gaze of an unknown entity, and though the serpent felt no hostility, the strength of that gaze caused the serpent to tense up.

"Havval El'Yun," a booming voice spoke in its mind, "ruler of the Jade Sea, King of Serpents, your strength is recognized and your reign acknowledged. You are invited in nine days time to the Midnight Inn to discuss participation of your kingdom in the Midnight Games. Strength and glory to those who win, a chance to witness history for those who lose. Which of those will be yours?"

The spiritual energy disappeared along with the unknown gaze, but in their place a single silver key was left. Somehow, Havval knew that the key would turn golden in nine days and take him away - if he had the guts to follow it. What Havval did not know, however, was that it was not the only one on Nibiru to hear the voice. All the Kings, Queens and rulers of all the nations felt the spiritual surge and heard a corresponding message - the universal equivalent of spam messaging.

*****

On Vegus Minima, General Ragnar sat in front of a hologram that depicted the entire planet. Every inch of land, every battlefield, every citizen were shown on that hologram, because it was being streamed directly to him from the several Juggernaut class vessels in space. He watched, not with his eyes, but with his spiritual sense every single detail and remembered all of them. Every moment he was receiving more information than even the best and most powerful computers on Earth could handle. But the frown on his face was not because he was getting too much information, but because he was not getting what he was searching for.

Eventually he sighed and began preparing his report that they were still not able to locate the Demon's spawning portals but stopped when the devices around him reported an unusual surge in spiritual energy.

"Ragnar Asulf," a voice boomed in his head, "Son of the Empire, Hells Butcher, your ruthlessness is known and your leadership is admired…"