The Innkeeper

The Rhinocentaurs felt like laughing. Were they even in a position to reject any single offer? Clearly, Lex could pressure them however he wanted and they would most likely obey. After all, no one would want to be locked up, unable to move for years on end without anything to do.

Not to mention… if they were given free reign to roam around in the Inn, they could share information about it on their groupchat and hopefully increase their chances of a rescue somehow.

“Can you… share the specifics of the deal?” they asked hesitantly. After all, Lex couldn’t expect them to agree to the deal without knowing the details, right? Fortunately, while Lex was fully ready to take advantage of them, he was not sadistic about it.

“It’s nothing too difficult, or major. Just share one piece of news from somewhere else in the universe everyday. It has to be a significant piece of news, not something random like little Timmy broke his first tooth or something along those lines.”

The Rhinocentaurs froze. Although it was not stating this out loud, wasn’t this more or less accusing them of having the groupchat! No, wait, there was no need to jump to conclusions.

“Is there… some kind of inter-realm portal or news network available? Or perhaps some information merchants? A universal outlet of some kind?”

“Naturally not,” Lex said, as if it was the most obvious answer. “The borders of the Midnight Inn are shut down, and no one can come in or go out. It is the same for any regular means of contact outside.”

“Then… then how are we supposed to share news from other realms?”

“Hey, I already said that I won’t ask how you do it. That also means it’s none of my concern. Do not worry, when you share the news we will have means of knowing whether you’re telling the truth or lying. This deal is also separate for both of you, meaning each of you will have to deliver a piece of unique news from the outside universe. As long as you can do that, you can be free. How does that sound? It’s simple, right?”

A silence hung between them as neither Lex nor the Rhinocentairs spoke. How was this simple? This was the height of unreasonableness! Unless… unless he already knew about the groupchat!

The most ingenious thing was that by saying he wouldn’t ask how they got the news, he had created a way for them to deliver it without exposing the chat. But if they did, they would indirectly reveal it. While such a situation would not cause them to suffer any backlash, as there was always room for misunderstandings, it scared them even more than the thought of being tortured.

So the Midnight Inn was… aware of the groupchat, yet at the same time did not hesitate to blackmail the two of them? Was it really such a significant force? Did they really not fear retaliation?

It had to be known that while what they said was true, which was that high level cultivators don’t covet systems, they also said that systems allow cultivators to grow stronger much faster. That meant that there were more than just a few experts in their groupchat – including Dao lords!

It was another story altogether that the Rhinocentaurs, at their level, could not get in touch with them at all! But still, shouldn’t they still show some reverence?

After the silence extended on for too long, Lex did not become doubtful, because he could sense their emotions. In fact, he decided to continue pressuring them.

“Of course, this deal only extends to being free. If you want privileges, such as the right to earn MP, and the right to spend it, you need to give sufficient information as well. By the way, the deal resets every day so be vigilant.”

The Rhinocentaurs were caught in a tough spot, but the thought of being stuck for years, maybe even decades helped them strengthen their resolve. As long as they don’t break any official rules, who cares?

“Fine. We accept this deal.”

“Great, I’ll pass on the news. Every 24 hours, report to the Midnight manor to pass on the news of the day. I’ll suppose someone already said this to you when you arrived, but I’ll say it one more time. Welcome to the Midnight Inn, I hope you enjoy your stay. By the way, if you learn something significant about systems, you can share that information with me – and me only. I’ll give you an extra reward if it’s worth it.”

By now, Lex was 90% certain that they were a part of the groupchat, if not something similar. That also meant that by letting them lose he was also exposing the Inn and all its information. Unfortunately, the Inn was a public place to begin with. Nothing about it, save his own identity, was supposed to be a secret. Anyone could have access to it at any time, in normal situations, which meant that anything that was revealed to the chat was not really a secret to begin with. There were countless ways for them to gather such information.

As such, the small risk of exposure was not really worth preventing this deal. Besides, once the Rhinocentaurs got used to this deal, and let down their guard, would be when Lex would truly begin milking them for what they were worth. A true capitalist knows when to take a step back for greater profits in the future!

Those short term profit capitalists were just juniors in the world of finance. What did they know about the universe?

The Rhinocentaurs reluctantly nodded, before Lex teleported away, once again using his own powers rather than the Attires. It felt so… intriguing and refreshing to know that he could teleport as he wished when, just a couple of years ago, it was an amazing feat the likes of which flipped his entire world.

With the preliminary interrogation over, and the system absorbed from John, Lex began to finish up the last of his duties. He implemented the countless changes that were requested by those he gathered in a meeting in his office, and made a few more of his own.

Primarily, he made houses and residences that were much larger than normal, and could easily accommodate Leopolds. If the locals of this realm came and they didn’t even have houses fit to let them stay, the prestige of the Inn would suffer.

He looked forward to the day he could conjure up buildings with a wave of his hand himself, the way the Host Attire allowed him to do.

The last few days with his powers left him feeling slightly nervous as he was hoping to prepare as much as possible. At a certain point, he even stopped to wonder why he was feeling this nervousness when he had gotten so used to dealing with catastrophes and unexpected issues.

The only reasonable answer he could come up with was that, much like John, he had built a subconscious dependance on the reliability of the system. Now that it was going away, even temporarily, he could not help but become agitated.

But he found such a glaring weakness in himself unacceptable, so he forced himself to confront the feelings head on. It did not really help, but he continued to do it nonetheless.

Eventually, though, the time eventually came. His Host Attire was about to lose its powers.

He did not perform a grand goodbye, or make his departure known. Besides Mary, no one knew when he took it off and the Innkeeper disappeared.

Until he healed the system, he would be the Innkeeper no more. It was a strange thought. He was too used to being the Innkeeper. Even though he acted as Lex much longer, he somehow felt that his time as the Innkeeper was always more impactful.

But the truth was, underneath, he was always Lex. It was important to remember that, lest he develop some kind of split personality!

He absorbed the Lone assassin system as well, just before departing. Even the familiar interface of the system, which would stay with him despite the Host Attire powering off, disappeared. It would return once his system absorbed the other one. Hopefully he would get a big percentage boost, considering this system was C+ which was a very high rank.

He teleported back to the sealed domain and looked at it.

“Master, I’ve been thinking all this time. It’s highly unusual for this domain to not have multiple entrances. It’s a basic requirement to keep the domain functioning. But I realized, that was only the case if the domain was natural and self sustaining. If someone else set it up purposefully, and are powering it themselves, then there is no such requirement.”

“What does that mean? That there might not be an entrance at all?”

“Well, we will need to investigate. But, I have some theories about who, or which race, could achieve such a thing.”

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