The Innkeeper

Lex did not wake up groggy, nor was it a slow process. The moment his eyes opened he was wide awake, fully aware that today was the day he had been preparing for. He got up, showered and put on his suit. But he did not leave his residence, he simply scanned the Inn.

His guards were already patrolling the grounds and all his staff was in place. Even Harry, who originally had a commitment back on Earth today, was here.

It was around 8:20 am right now, and the keys would activate at 9 am. He did not select his targets individually, that would have cost too much MP, but set a general criteria of leadership of an adequate number of living beings. Then he chose to launch 300 silver keys per planet. Each key would allow the main guest to bring up to two other guests, so at minimum he was expecting 300 guests per planet and at most 900. This was not including the few random guests who already had Golden Keys. So if each guest brought along two colleagues or guards, he could have upto 2700 guests here today. 2700 guests who were all at a much higher cultivation level than him.

Suddenly, he stopped himself. His thoughts were spiraling again. He closed his eyes and regulated his breathing. He was not in a meditative state, as he still kept an eye on the Inn, but he had a strict control over his wandering thoughts.

Time ticked by slowly, and as soon as it was 9 am, Lex exhaled slowly, then opened his eyes. Right now, he was no longer a young man who had made a simple wish for excitement in his life. Right now, he was the Innkeeper. His heart no longer beat irregularly and his nerves no longer tingled him. He had no distracting thoughts. Normally, the Host Attire helped him keep composure, but it did little in the way of elevating his mind and body language. Yet now, not only was he composed, even with his casual smile his demeanor demanded the utmost respect. Lex had somehow entered a state of total concentration, similar to what he had so long ago when he was fighting zombies. Every thought, every nerve, every instinct was honed on the mission he had set for himself.

The first portal finally opened, and out stepped a massive, 9 foot tall wolf with green fur. Behind it, two other canines followed closely. The wolf’s followers had black fur, and were in fact much larger than the wolf, at nearly 15 feet, but made sure to stay a step behind the wolf.

Lex instantly checked the wolf’s status._.

Name: Blood Fang

Age: 4555

Sex: Male

Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to view)

Species: Inferior Lykaios

Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1

Bloodline: Inferior Lykaios/Unique variant

Remarks: Unsatisfied with its stock in life, the wolf has decided to carve out its own path. A hungry, ambitious and cunning beast like this is excellent prey for price gouging, charge without restraint!

Lex was happy that the wolf’s status could be viewed, even if he could not tell its cultivation. With back to back error warnings lately, he was getting concerned that most high leveled cultivators would have ways to avoid detection from his system scan.

Yet even as he scanned Blood Fang, Lex made no move to greet it. There was no way he could individually greet all guests, so he would greet none of them. Instead, the personal hologram staff that he hired was responsible for the greeting.

A holographic wolf appeared before Blood Fang, though its size was nowhere near that of Blood Fang and its entourage. It was sized according to a normal wolf on Earth.

“Greetings guests, and welcome to the Midnight Inn, the best Inn that caters to the entire universe!” The hologram said. “I am your personal hologram, there to assist you with anything you need and answer all of your questions. The meeting will begin shortly. Would you like me to take you to the coliseum, where the meeting will be held, or would you like a tour first?”

The wolf stared silently at the hologram, and Lex stared silently at the wolf. He hoped the wolf would not do anything drastic, but if it did his guards were there to resolve the situation. As he could not see their cultivation levels, he was not sure if his guards could handle it, but if they couldn’t he would step in personally and his bodyguard would be forced to intervene. Lex had every confidence in his bodyguard that cost him a ridiculous amount of money!

Just as the wolf was about to speak, another portal opened nearby. A massive, 98 foot tall Gorilla stepped through. After sweeping the area for immediate threats or traps, the Gorilla stepped aside and allowed a Deer to enter. The deer was not only normal sized, it actually looked petite, yet the obvious deference of the giant gorilla spoke volumes of its status. The deer was followed by a stag.

“Greens Haven,” Blood Fang called out to the deer, and gave it an acknowledging nod.

“Good to see you, Blood Fang,” the deer responded casually, and took a look around. A holographic deer appeared before Greens Haven, and repeated the exact line that had been said to Blood Fang.

“This is so interesting,” the deer said to the stag. “It’s like a picture, but it has a spirit. Tell me spirit, what do you mean by ‘universe’?”

“The landmass on which you live is known as a planet, and exists in space. It revolves around your sun, along with a collection of other planets although not all of them may contain life. This collection of planets that revolve around a sun form a cohesive system called a solar system. A galaxy is formed of millions or billions of solar systems, and there are billions of galaxies. The space which these galaxies exist in, and more, is known as the universe.”

“Nonsense!” Blood Fang roared angrily! “Nothing that big can exist! What lies are you spouting? What is your purpose?”

The holograms were not affected, but the guards surrounding them suddenly became alert. Fortunately, that seemed to have an effect as both the deer and wolf felt the intimidation of the ten guards with unknown cultivations.

“Now, Blood Fang, no need to be so closed minded. Don’t tell me you can’t feel that the spiritual energy of this place is different from our…planet. This at least proves that there are lands other than ours, far away from our reach.”

The wolf reluctantly nodded.

Before they could continue their conversation, more portals opened and new beasts started emerging from them. It seemed that Nibiru was the first planet to be connected, as only Beasts were coming through the portal. Fortunately, the beasts that were coming out now were mostly at the Golden Core realm, with an occasional Nascent realm one. Lex was slightly concerned that if all of them were at the unknown level his ten measly guards would not be enough to maintain the peace.

And the peace definitely needed to be maintained, as only a few minutes after beasts started emerging through, two enemy beasts identified each other. The first one did not look like any animal Lex knew. It stood on six legs with a massive hairy torso connecting them. Instead of hands or claws it had wings and tentacles, and on its three heads it had horns, tusks and protruding fangs respectively. The other animal was a fairly ordinary looking Fox. Yet their encounter was anything but ordinary!

The two beasts did not seem to care that they were surrounded by other beasts and immediately launched an assault, along with the guards they brought along. The six beasts had a single exchange that caused shockwaves to spread throughout the Inn. The few guests who still did not know that beasts had made an appearance, namely, Alexander, Will and Chen’s parties, instantly woke up from the noise. The fight had only begun and the beasts were already launching their next attacks when they were all suppressed by a massive force!

All six animals were sprawled on the ground, unable to move and barely able to breath under the suppressive force. Confusion and fear filled their eyes, as they had never been suppressed so completely since they had started their reign. The other beasts that surrounded them that were previously enjoying the show all took a few steps back, afraid to become involved.

“No free fighting is allowed on the Inn premises!” a voice boomed through the Inn. It was Lex’s voice, firmly laying down the law. “Guests who wish to engage in combat may request to go to the combat arena, but due to today’s occasion the combat arena is not available!” Well, also because Lex hadn’t made a combat arena at all, but that was an irrelevant detail.

“This is your first, and only warning! Anyone who engages in a fight, or tries to harm other guests will be strictly punished, and banned from the Inn!”

With that announcement concluded and the force suppressing the six beasts disappeared, yet they were too afraid to stand up. The force had been the combined effort of all 10 guards above the Nascent realm, suppressing these beasts with their spiritual force! It was not something lightly endured, and probably left mental trauma in the victims, not to mention the physical trauma they experienced being squeezed into the ground.

This was something Lex had expected, and already instructed the guards on how to react. This was the Midnight Inn, a place people came to rest and relax, but also a place that must be respected!