The Innkeeper

"What happened?" Lex asked calmly, keeping himself from expecting the worst. Being a universal business owner meant constantly putting out fires. He no longer let something as minor as being trapped in another realm, or hiccups with his primary business, cause him to panic.

"Well, remember how you were searching for people with special skills using the Mystery trial? A couple showed up yesterday, both went into the Mystery trial, and after a few tries, both of them completed the trial! On top of that, the husband is a swordsman, and the wife is a historian, two of the kinds of people you were looking for. I... cannot see what prize the trial gave them, but they both seemed very pleased with the results, and wanted to talk to you.

"Since you obviously cannot meet with them, I took the liberty to do so, but uh... I cannot help them with their concern. Both of them want to be hired at the Inn."

"That... doesn't sound like a problem. Why are you so embarrassed?"

"Well, it's the first time I appeared in front of a guest, and I really wanted to help them... but I... anyway, with your increased authority you can scan them even though you're not at the Inn. And then, you can initiate the hiring test via the Platinum key directly from there as well, if you wish."

Lex paused for a moment as he tried to focus on the Inn, and an image popped in his head like a surveillance camera. The couple in question were... unusual, to say the least.

The husband was wearing a robe, while his hands, feet and face were covered in bandages, making him look like a mummy out of a movie. The wife, instead of bandages, had covered her entire body in mismatching clothes, ensuring that none of her skin was visible either. To top it all off, black smoke hovered around her, making it hard for people to see her figure in the first place.

Lex scanned them mentally and was quite intrigued by the results.

The husbands scan was:

Name: Qawiun

Age: 120,384

Sex: -/Male

Cultivation Details: Earth Immortal

Species: -/Sentient Sword

Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1

History: A sword that gained sentience through a twist of fate. Starting out as a common sword, it was given to a soldier who made many contributions, until it became nothing more than a memento and family heirloom. Eventually, as the family declined, the sword was sold to an adventurer, who later died in a spirit well, leaving the sword there for several millennia. For reasons unknown, instead of developing a spirit stone mine, the well channeled all its energy into the sword until it gained sentience.

Remarks: A sword identifying as a man gives a whole new meaning to gender identity

The wife's scan was:

Name: Anita

Age: 499,999

Sex: Female

Cultivation Details: Earth Immortal

Species: Human/Lich

Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1

Bloodline: -/Luminous Spirit

History: At the dawn of human civilization on her planet, she was the Queen the led, the warrior that fought, the murderer that massacred, and the mother of innovation. When she felt her subjects were too stupid to rule, she ended her retirement and discovered a way around death and led the humans out from the brink of extinction. Then, one day, she decided to nap, but forgot to wake up. 350,000 years later, she was woken from her slumber by the sword that became her husband.

Condition: The patient has been pregnant for 2950 years. Her expected date of delivery is in 50 years. The patient is in an extremely weakened state and should avoid strenuous activities such as traversing space, disinfecting in active volcanoes, leading a revolution against the zombies, trying to subvert fate and relinquish the control of her own destiny, etc.

Remarks: Impending motherhood has made her docile. She no longer tortures the souls of her enemies and even lets them go sometimes.

Lex sighed in awe of how unusual the universe was, but didn't dwell on it for too long. He shared the information with Mary, before telling her, "they are too powerful to enter the Inn permanently. I can still accept them, but I need to wait till I have at least 1% energy in the system so I can use some of the higher authority functions. Tell them that I'm slightly busy, and will give an answer soon. Considering their long lives, even making them wait a dozen years probably won't mean much to them."

Mary nodded and turned to her task. Lex would have loved to observe the Inn some more, but he had more pressing matters at the moment. Getting a decent understanding of the terrain and the kind of trees in the forest, and more importantly, feeding all that information to his monocle, gave him the edge he needed.

He gathered some pinecones - or the equivalent in this realm - as well as some fruit that the monocle said was not poisonous to him, and then headed towards the village. As he expected, he didn't run into any wildlife while he scouted and the path towards the village was completely desolate. Well, mostly desolate...

Lex saw a familiar green ring of light and then saw someone fall in the snow. However, unlike Lex's bewildered reaction, the boy, who seemed much younger than Lex, quickly got up and assessed his surroundings. Upon noticing Lex, he took a step back and drew out a short sword, instantly creating a standoff.

The strange situation only lasted a few seconds before a yellow orb appeared and informed the boy of his assessment details, which were identical to Lex's.

"What's with the dagger? Are we supposed to be competing for the assessment or something?"

Lex was not taking the kids' threat too seriously, mostly because, as a defense mechanism, Lex could easily gauge the threat level of anyone weaker than him, or near his cultivation level. It was instinctual. The kid's cultivation was higher than Lex's, but his threat was minimal to none.

"You're also taking this assessment?" he asked, surprised.

"Yeah, though I didn't know other people could take the assessment with you. I guess they're checking teamwork or something. Do you have any idea if this is a simulation or if this place is real?"

"Simulation? What are you talking about? Of course this place is real. Didn't they brief you about the assessment before sending you?"

"No, I didn't get any briefings. To be honest, I didn't even feel like asking questions because the guy assessing me was smiling at me like some kind of predator. The first thing I'm going to do once I get out of here is report him to the police as some kind of threat."

Back in the assessment center, in a room full of people watching this particular assessment, the uniformed man's wide grin suddenly twitched and everyone in the room turned to look at him with wary eyes.

"He's just joking," the uniformed man managed to say between gritted teeth, right before Lex said, "I swear I'm not joking. It was so creepy, I would have jumped into a lion's den without asking questions to get away from him. Speaking of which, do you know what the academy's motto is? Also, if this place is real, does that mean our life is in danger?"

The man's face spasmed as he tried to control himself, but that made his grin look even creepier.

Back on the snowy mountain, the kid explained to Lex, "our life is not in danger because as soon as it's threatened, we'll be teleported back. But, if that happens, that'll affect our assessment score. To pass the assessment, we just need to survive long enough for the assessment to end. But barely anyone does that. The more stuff you do, the better and more accurate your result will be.

"A snowstorm is coming, not to mention a tribe of Kalter Flug. We can survive on our own if we hide or run far away, but the damage that village will suffer is real. Their houses could be damaged and lives could be lost. Even if I have to risk cutting the assessment short, I can't just ignore real human lives over something like that."

Lex thought for a second. Even with his increased strength, he would not risk being without shelter in a snowstorm. Hypothermia was a real risk, even to cultivators, not to mention any other danger a snowstorm would bring with it. That was absolutely fine because it had never even occurred to Lex to run away from the village like the boy was suggesting, but if he planned on helping out, he needed to understand the incoming dangers some more."

"Do you know what a Kalter Flug is? Because I've never heard of it. And while we're on that topic, why did you dismiss the Sol birds? Are they not a threat?"

"How do you not know what a Sol bird is?" the boy asked, genuinely startled by Lex's ignorance.

Even the uniformed man and his team who were watching the assessment frowned at this revelation.

Lex shrugged as he casually answered, "I suffered some damage to my spirit and lost some memories. The nurse told me I'll either get them back or make up for them."

"But... how bad is your memory loss if you even forgot that? How could they let you take the assessment like this?"

Upon seeing Lex only casually shrug, the boy pointed a finger up into the sky towards the sun.

"That up there is a flock of Sol birds. They're the primary source of light in our world."