The Innkeeper

Chapter 2173: Perfect

Just as Lex was about to summon the Galactic Sovereign turtle to meet with him so that they could address the concerns with his budding Heaven, Mary appeared in front of him, still in her astronaut getup.

"You have a visitor," she said, turning to look outside the door, causing Lex to feel taken aback. According to his awareness of the Inn, there was no one outside in the lobby. If he had a visitor despite that, it could only mean...

"Send him in," said the Innkeeper, to which Mary responded with a nod before disappearing

The door opened, and Harriot, Eclipse’s poodle assistant, entered the office. The Midnight Inn had entered a lockdown - something Lex had purposefully done to prevent his guests from flooding back into the Origin realm and revealing to the universe that the Inn had access to the Origin realm.

Honestly, that was a tough choice to make because not only had it dropped the satisfaction rating of his guests, it also weighed on Lex’s conscience. After all, he was aware that many of his guests might have urgent reasons to return. Unfortunately, Lex needed to make such tough decisions because ignoring the consequences of such various possibilities could lead to a much worse outcome down the line.

The point was, the Midnight Inn was in a lockdown. Lex did not think that Harriot, despite being a Dao Lord, could enter the Midnight Inn irrespective of the lockdown, which could mean only one thing - Harriot had already entered the Midnight Inn prior to the lockdown.

Typically, his system could detect the presence of Dao Lords inside the Midnight Inn, and Wu Kong was the only exception he had ever witnessed. Now, he had witnessed another exception.

"My apologies for coming unannounced," said Harriot, well aware that he had shown up without a Letter of Intent. However, considering the fact that the Midnight Inn was an inn, he figured that the Innkeeper would not mind such things. Also, the Innkeeper and Eclipse had a fairly decent relationship, bordering on friendship even, so this bit of formality could be skipped.

"No need for apologies - I hope you have enjoyed your stay at the Inn. We are somewhat humble in our accommodations so please excuse me if you found anything lacking," the Innkeeper said with genuine regret in his voice.

If anyone else had heard such a thing, they would assume that the Innkeeper was bragging. To a Dao Lord, however, his words were direct and honest. The Midnight Inn was truly lacking the facilities to properly accommodate Dao Lords.

"It is entirely understandable - the realm is still young, and you are still renovating. I can sense a Dao structure that you have begun to build, and I’m sure in the future it will serve as a remarkable place to retreat. What you have done in this short time is already quite remarkable - I do not believe anyone can find any fault with you," Harriot said as he came and sat opposite to the Innkeeper.

The Innkeeper and the poodle sat face to face, and it took Lex all the way back to when he was dealing with a small, black cat called Bastet. For a brief moment, he could not help but wonder whatever happened to her.

However, he did not have the time to focus on that for now. With Harriot in front of him, he had to focus on what he wanted, not to mention he had to hash out the details of the migration. There would be many more migrants coming in from the Primordial Garden, and he had to transfer them over to the Origin realm sooner or later.

In fact, one of the things he had discussed with the representative of the Henali was keeping the migrants from the Primordial Garden inside the Inn until the situation inside the Origin realm improved.

The Henali were even willing to pay for the duration of their stay - though due to the massive number of migrants, they said that a Henali race member will come over and negotiate the final rate.

Lex did not mind at all, since he wanted to keep them inside the Inn longer anyway - their mere presence alone increased the rate of development of the Midnight Realm.

"I’m pleased to hear that you found your visit acceptable. I apologise for being unable to see you earlier, I was somewhat occupied with other matters," the Innkeeper said politely, almost causing Harriot to tremble. It wasn’t his fault - as an assistant to Eclipse, he could not imagine someone even near her level of power apologising to him. It would give him anxiety induced indigestion for a million years if he accepted this!

The Innkeeper truly lived up to the reputation of being the most unique Dao Lord - even more so than Eclipse in some ways.

"Innkeeper you are surely busy with many tasks, so I won’t take up much of your time. I came to attend the wedding of Pierre and Brenda, however as the Midnight Inn has been sealed, I could not arrive with my true body. Fortunately, I had left a mark on some of the migrants and was able to use that for attendance, however the wedding gift I had picked out was left at the Primordial Garden.

"I hoped to have that delivered to the recipients somehow. Simultaneously, I wanted to ask how the migration of the next batch of migrants will be handled, and if some cooperation on our part is required, considering the sealed status of the Inn."

The Innkeeper nodded subtly, as if understanding Harriot’s concerns.

"This is not an issue at all. There are a couple of ways these matters can be handled," said the Innkeeper calmly. "I have had to seal the Midnight Inn to prevent the abuse of my Inn’s teleportation abilities, and to protect my guests from being targeted when they teleport. However, the lockdown on the Inn is not so complete. To prevent the Inn and its guests from being targeted, all travel to and from the Inn will be via taverns.

"I can station a tavern at the Primordial Garden, and that will allow you to send your migrants to the Inn, and even the Origin realm, through that. At the same time, you can send your wedding gift through it as well. Of course, for that to happen, you will have to take responsibility for the protection and safety of the tavern.

"The second option is that I can send someone over to collect the gift from you. However, the matter of the migrants will have to be delayed until the Inn is ready to open again."

In truth, Lex was the only one who could travel freely in the lockdown, but Lex believed that he could find a way to get some leeway with his system now that his authority was so high. There was also the fact that he was owed gifts for his Life ranked quest completion. He could try to use greater authority as a way of redeeming the reward for that quest.

That would only be a last resort, though, for he did not want to trade his rewards so easily. He expected whatever a Life level reward would be, it would at least be unique.

"Establishing a tavern inside a specific zone inside the garden is acceptable," said Harriot. "As long as no unauthorised people use the tavern to enter the garden, there will be no issues with this arrangement."

The Innkeeper nodded, almost as if he expected such a response.

"I will restrict access to the tavern inside the garden so no one else can visit it. Just as a precaution, I will also put up a warning that the Inn will not bear responsibility for what happens to any guests who attempt to circumnavigate that restriction."

Harriot seemed very pleased with the arrangement that they had reached, and got up. Similar to how Eclipse was entirely unpredictable, the Innkeeper could do anything at any time that would greatly unnerve Harriot so he dared not stay longer than necessary.

He was about to excuse himself when an idea suddenly occurred to him. The Primordial Garden was supposed to be a true recreation of ancient times, and it was built as close to replicating that as possible. However, there was one element where it was lacking.

While the garden itself recreated all the dangers of those times, the matter of fact was that the beings within the garden were somewhat restricted, even imprisoned. This was against the nature of Primordial beings.

However, up until now it could not be helped. Unleashing a host of Primordial beings into the universe to wreak havoc could disrupt the balance of the universe. After all, Primordial beings were not meant to still exist in such abundance.

However, if the Inn could become a medium for them to gain limited exposure, allowing them to display their inherent nature while also not disrupting the universe, the Primordial Garden could become one step closer to becoming complete.

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a perfect solution. He still needed to consult the Innkeeper to see if this was viable, but with the existence of the tavern, the strength and number of Primordial beings exiting the garden could be carefully controlled. This was perfect.