The Innkeeper

Lex's meeting with John was not all too special. Leo and John did not have a particularly deep bond, and the fact that Leo had been absent for so long didn't help either. But John treated Leo with professional courtesy.

He had amassed a good amount of MP, and had even become free from his restraints. That meant he had regained a lot of freedom, but that left him with the decision of what to do in the future.

He could go back to assassination and continue to raise his cultivation using the system. In fact, it was all but guaranteed that he would do that. But he could not make himself leave the Inn until Harry recovered either. He also recalled that a long time back, the Innkeeper offered him a job as well.

He did not know if he wanted that, either. Currently, the most coherent plan he was able to muster was to resume his assassinations gig and use the Henali portal as the only way to assign him tasks. He could perform assassinations and use the Inn as his permanent home or hideout. His identity at the Inn had existed long enough to keep it from having any association with his real identity, so the plan was almost perfect.

Still, while the plan made sense, John couldn't make up his mind. The fact that the Innkeeper knew about his system was practically assured by now, and he didn't know if he should ask the Innkeeper more about it.

After all, the system had extreme significance in his life, but he now also knew that it could be influenced externally, as his last quest was way too coincidental. The Innkeeper had still been kind about it, but what if he ran into someone who would manipulate his system in ways John did not appreciate? He would be a prisoner.

The difficult decision had been eating at his mind for a while now, so the only thing he could do was throw himself into work to keep himself busy.

His conversation with Leo also gave him new ways to keep his mind occupied. He expected that Leo would ask him for a new technique, since he literally created techniques for people, but instead Leo asked about a good way to train the workers of the Inn.

These things could not be forced, and would take time and resources, but with John's unique insight and exposure, he could possibly think of things Lex hadn't.

This was actually a matter that had plagued Lex for a while. He had a panel to take care of his employees and give them perks. He could even directly award them techniques and give them access to the meditation rooms. Yet that was about the extent of what he could do.

The only possibility he could think of was to somehow run into someone with an army training, or teacher system or something along those lines, and absorb that system as well. The Murder system had given him upgrades to his own system, but they weren't too relevant to his needs.

The Murderer upgrade, which would allow him to learn the techniques or skills of someone stronger than him if he killed them outside of the Inn, was not really something Lex saw improving his situation any time soon. In fact, the upgrade had not even been triggered when he used the butter knife to slay countless people in and out of the Inn, for he himself had been inside the Inn at the time. The upgrade required him to kill those stronger than him while being outside the Inn for it to work.

Similarly, the Murder ground was not helpful either, as it just provided a place for two people or groups to kill each other.

But Lex had no way of finding system wielders, as he had not met a single one besides the Murderer back in Crystal realm. While John was on the list of suspects due to his status showing 'error', it could not be concluded yet.

Lex shook his head and quickly concluded the meeting. John had actually given a few good suggestions that Lex kept in mind, but he didn't want to press too hard.

After the meeting, he spent some more time as Leo, walking around and making sure people saw him. He even encountered a unique new guest from a race called Krab-man.

Once he did the rounds, he teleported away and gathered whatever Divine Essence the Inn had in a special container then went to the Infinity Emporium.

As expected, after the amount of pressure that Lex put on him, Powell had managed to procure some Entis Core, though he merely had 1.2 grams. Lex paid him using the Divine Essence.

Technically speaking, the core was more valuable, but the essence was rarer and harder to procure which is why it was quite valuable.

Lex did not spend a lot of time there and simply took all the medicine that was meant for Harry and returned to the Inn. After sending all the medicine to nurse Jubilation and having Mary inform her that it was for Harry, Lex oddly found himself with some free time.

He had too little time left to start a bigger project, but too much time to just sit around. He sighed and decided it was time to do the one thing he had been putting off, which was check all his notifications.

He made himself cozy in his Recovery pod and finally began to peruse the list.

The first notification was actually a quest completion notification!

Quest Complete! (Have the Midnight Inn be officially recognized by the Henali assembly)

Quest Reward: Guest Registry

Remarks: The host should attract guests for the Inn, not enemies!

The next few notifications were actually pleasant.

New Notification: The Inns reputation has increased!

Reward: 0.5 Star increase token!

New Notification: The Inn has attracted the attention of several Gods!

New Quest: Host a God at the Inn

Quest reward: Holy Shoot!

The next dozen or so notifications were about the increasing chaos at the Inn. Since the Security room was unable to stop the infractions, each time the Inn would give him a notification warning that punishment would be meted out if it continued.

Then came the notifications of the actual punishments. It began with a deduction of 1000 MP, followed by 10,000 MP, and then increasingly so. But, after the punishments crossed 10 billion MP, the punishment changed, and was no longer about MP. It threatened Lex's authority!

At this point, the notifications became varied, and were no longer about warnings. He got quests to protect his guests and to calm down the situation within a given time. It need not be said that he failed many of them.

Although many of the notifications were the same, Lex read all of them, not only to remind himself that he could not afford such a failure once again, but also in case there was some valuable information in them.

Unfortunately, they were naught but a testament to the chaos the Inn witnessed. About the first time one of his buildings was attacked he lost his first authority point, and the quests started ramping up.

The first time one of his employees died, he lost another authority point. He started receiving fewer notifications about the chaos.

Then, suddenly, the kinds of notifications changed. It was evident that this was when he used the Butter Knife.

These Lex read slowly, for they were actually different instead of repeats of the same things.

New Notification: Massive surge in aura detected, Minor realm is destabilizing!

New Notification: A tear in Minor realm detected, the Inn is losing prestige!

Quest Complete! (Stop the Invasion of the Inn)The Host's rewards are being calculated:

-Reward reduced for multiple guests injured

-Reward reduced for multiple buildings destroyed

-Reward reduced for multiple workers injured

-Reward reduced for multiple workers killed

-Reward reduced for completing quest in over 1 hour

-Reward increased for increasing Inn's prestige (putting on powerful display)

-Reward increased for increased for killing all invaders

-Reward increased for tracing invader's outside of the Inn's grounds

-Reward increased for punishing invaders (punishing their souls)

-Reward increased for increasing the Inn's reputation in the Origin realm

Reward Rank: A-

Reward: 1 Inn Service upgrade token, 1 Inn lockdown token

Remarks: ...get angry more often...

New Notification: Foreign energy is connecting Inn to Origin realm (attack from Butter Knife)

New Notification: Multiple Minor realms detected near the Midnight Inn's realm tear!

New Notification: Multiple Minor realms merging with the Midnight Inn (Progress 91%)

New Notification: The Innkeeper's demonstration has spread the Inn's reputation across the Inn!

New Notification: The Innkeeper has eliminated a religion in the origin realm, and started a new one as the Butter Knife God. The system will automatically absorb all divinity targeted towards the Innkeeper!

Reward: 1 Wish ( 0.005% divinity obtained)

New Notification: The tear in the Minor realm has been repaired!

Before Lex could read more, he fell back into his coma.