The Innkeeper

Lex breathed a sigh of relief once everything was done. Although he paid for the event, and set things in motion, nothing happened for now. Instead, this particular event, involving the system users, would only kick off after the current event was over.

There was another issue, however, that Lex could not figure out, though he could venture a guess or two. How was it possible for hundreds or thousands of system users to come into the Inn, yet they caused no trouble whatsoever?

Was it because they had come to the Inn as security through the event panel? Unlikely. If he could get around his system’s rules, he didn’t doubt others could as well.

The only thing he could think of was that the 10,000 MT he spent played a role in keeping them in line, or that their own systems forced them to obey the Midnight systems rules when they were brought here.

It was likely a combination of both.

“Mary, tell John that I have good news for him and bad news. The good news is that it is unlikely these system users will misbehave while they’re here, so he doesn’t need to worry. The bad news for him is… I now have a list of names of countless system users. Finding them in the Origin realm, and then tracking them to do his evaluation will be his job so his resting days are likely over.”

While he sounded nonchalant, Lex was actually quite concerned as the presence of so many systems exposed a huge security risk to himself. If anyone else tracked system users, for example a certain mysterious organization linked to two rhinocentaurs, then the chances of the Inn being exposed were great.

“Mary, between you and me, all the system users came through the system and are acting as security. Isn’t that a huge risk to us as a system? Won’t they get hints that the Inn is a system? I know at least that Celestial has acted as a bodyguard at the Inn before.”

“I think, rather than you, it is a greater risk to those who have come to your Inn,” Mary said. “They have had all their identities exposed to you, and you can do something shady to them at any time you want – like sending John to spy on them!”

Lex paused for a second, admitting that yes, his actions were definitely pretty shady.

“On a serious note, according to the information I received through the system, hiring security through the event panel counts as an automated feature of the Inn. That means that sufficient safety protocols have been put in place, not only for you, but for those hired as well.

“If you try to interfere in this somehow, just as say if you try to interfere with how the Meditation room operates, there will be pretty severe repercussions, not to mention that this automated function might stop operating altogether.

“Using proper tools like the Room alteration feature is different, but if you forcefully try to interfere with the systems operations, the system will react in some way. It might punish you, or more likely than not, give you an extremely challenging quest that you will regret.”

“That sounds harsh. I’ve been using loopholes in the system for years – how come nothing bad ever happened as a result of that?”

“Using a loophole, and directly interfering with how a system operates one of its features are not the same thing. Point being, it’s unlikely that the security team will act against you, and should you somehow try to harm or take advantage of them, then the system will not let it be. However… once the event is over, I don’t think the system will judge either your or the others actions, so that’s something to watch out for.”

Lex did not respond. Despite assurances, the point remained that he was not more exposed than ever. There was no point in sitting and crying about it. The best thing he could do to protect himself was something he was already doing – growing stronger and making his system more effective and versatile.

“Tell John to find me the best scouting tools he can find with the rhinocentaurs,” Lex said, not trying to somehow use the availability of thousands of system users to gain access to their unique items.

Many of them, he noticed, willfully traded some lesser valuable items for trade within the Gift room or the Guild room. It was too risky letting so many system users know that he was aware of their systems.

He would much rather wait till his plan was set into motion after the event, and then one by one see if any of them had anything that could help his situation.

“We’ve found a solution,” Kaemon said, alerting Lex to their progress. “Crossing the purple liquid shouldn’t be too much of an issue. As soon as the ships are prepared, we’ll head out.”

“Let me lend a hand,” said Lex. “I have a bit of experience building treasures myself, and I can make a ship for the staff from the Inn as well.”

Putting the matter of the system users aside for now, and ignoring the smoke still blowing out of his head, Lex began to work on building ships strong enough to help them cross the purple liquid.

Meanwhile, within the Inn, John regained his composure the moment Mary told him that the Innkeeper had everything under control. In fact, in the future, John would be going to go investigate many of the system users present at the Inn.

John chided himself for his amateurish reaction. Of course, the Innkeeper would know who was inside his Inn, and have everything under control.

He made his way to the rhinocentaurs, and immediately tasked them with finding him the best and most versatile scouting equipment they could. He did not tell them what it was for, nor did he tell them about how they were surrounded by system users despite getting the equipment from them in the first place.

Instead, he started to think about that new cultivation technique Mary gave him an idea for. As the owner of Battle Ax, making a custom technique was exactly his forte, so this should be easy, right?