The Innkeeper

Unaware of the silent changes happening on Earth, the leaders of the various factions on Earth began to tour the Inn guided by their holograms. All of the leaders had already been identified by the five families in the days leading up to the meeting, and had been given a non-interference order. They could do as they wished as individuals, but only the five families would represent Earth and make appropriate decisions. This may seem like bullying, but the fact that they were allowed to come to such a place at all was generous in the eyes of the five families. Besides, as Brandon put it, 'I'm a bully, what can you do about it?'. The answer was nothing. They could do nothing about it, so they all accepted.

So they all simply toured the place. Honestly, even if there was nothing here and it was a barren land, just based on the premise that it could aid their cultivation they would consider it a holy land. Yet even as the humans spread out in small clusters, they avoided the Beasts. None of them wanted to be the first to experiment by talking to them, and since none of them were the main characters here anyway why should they take a risk? Soon the other members of the five families arrived as well. There was a stark difference between the Morrison family and the rest, however. While the other families only came with two followers each, the Morrison family which had access to the golden keys appeared with over twenty Golden Core cultivators, not including Rorick and Audrey.

"Show off," the fat man - the only fat Nascent cultivator in sight - muttered.

Instead of getting offended, Brandon grinned at the remark. Yes, he did in fact like showing off. In fact, in the 1970s Brandon traveled the Earth as the world's most successful underwear model. His youthful looks and well sculpted body drew admiration and praise everywhere he went, not to mention various sponsorships. Yet he decided to stop when Audrey, following in his footsteps, also became a model. Alass, while Brandon listened to his wife dutifully, she herself didn't give a rats behind what anyone told her and did as she pleased, and only gave up the career when she grew bored of it. Those were some of the darkest days of Rorick Morrisons life.

"Shall we head to the coliseum?" asked Sam, ignoring the gloating narcissist.

"Wait for my grandson. I sent him here a few days in advance, he will update us on the matters here."

Richard, the fat man and Sam only nodded, and patiently waited for Alexander. The Queen had not bothered waiting for them as she had another objective. One of her two designated followers was someone sent by the lady in the hologram that the five Nascents had reported to. His only job was to observe everything so that he could report back once he returned. The Queen had volunteered for the job and the rest decided to keep their distance. Even though they knew it was a fundamental truth, none of the Nascents liked being reminded that they reported to someone higher up. On Earth they were without equal, but in the vast universe that meant little.

It did not take long before Alexander found the group. Helen had to stay back at the manor this time, as they may need to discuss sensitive matters and her presence might be inappropriate. No one asked it of her, she volunteered on her own, but the effect was the same.

"Little man, you're growing up so fast. When I was your age, I hadn't even embarked on the path of cultivation. Ahh, those summer days, working in the city, flirting with girls…" the fat man seemed to be reminiscing but his casual musings were cut short by Audery who said, "Are you telling my grandson to go around flirting with girls? I suppose you have a few candidates in mind?"

The fat man froze, feeling awkward. Compared to the rest, the fat man had a very casual attitude and almost behaved like a mortal. In his views, there was nothing wrong with a teenager flirting with some girls, right? However, for some reason he didn't understand, everyone of the other Nascent families assumed he was always trying to set up his daughters or granddaughters to their families. Please, he couldn't be bothered with such old fashioned thoughts, yet somehow that was the impression everyone had of him.

"Little Alexander, tell grandpa, has anything interesting happened so far?"

Alexander quickly briefed everyone on his encounter with Slag, and shared the information that he got from him. He was observing everyone else's reactions, hoping to learn something. They were curious, and asked many questions about the Empire, but none of them seemed surprised by the talk of galaxies of empires. Alexander said nothing, countless thoughts were running through his head.

After asking Alexander a few more questions, Sam said, "So only representatives from two planets have made it here so far? The third planet, this Vegus Minima, must be next then. We should wait and see what they look like."

The rest were about to nod at his suggestion but then, just as he finished speaking, 200 portals opened simultaneously. The timing was oddly coincidental, and not at all purposeful the work of mystical forces that did not want to waste more time on idle conversations.

In true military fashion, 600 uniformed men and women stepped through the portal at the exact same time. Most of them were Golden Core cultivators, but there were at least 80 Nascent realm cultivators and at least a couple above that realm.

Lex focused all his attention on this new incoming force, as their strength was by far the biggest and most dangerous. It was clear that these newcomers were a part of an army, and Lex did not even need to guess to know that they must be from the same Battalion as Slag. The army underwent the same pressure of the Tier 7 guards as well as the warning and welcome from the hologram, but had the smallest reaction. Quickly, the 600 men started arranging themselves in small teams that they had probably agreed upon beforehand. They did not take combat stances and appeared only to be standing together in small groups of ten, yet Lex could feel that not a single one of these soldiers had their guards down. They were ready to fight to the death at a moment's notice.

General Ragnar, who stood with an entourage of nine people behind him, looked at the various guests at the Inn. He noticed all the Beasts in the vicinity eyeing them, as well as oddly dressed humans that were from a different planet.

Before he could do anything, Slag marched as quickly as he could without breaking into a run and appeared before the General and saluted him.

"Lieutenant Slag of the 7th Forward Battalion, reporting for dirty, sir!" he said in a very robotic fashion.

"Authenticate," Ragnar said, and one of his followers stepped forward with a machine that he placed in front of Slags eye. The machine scanned not only his face and eye, but his brain directly. A green light lit up on the machine, along with details about Slag.

"Lieutenant Slag, according to reports, you went M.I.A. a few days ago. What are you doing here?" Ragnar asked, directly using his spirit sense to speak into Slags mind.

"I stumbled through a Golden door while escaping enemy combatants and arrived here, sir! I thought it would be more useful if I collect data about the Midnight Inn than return immediately. I have compiled a report of my findings."

"Alright, fall into line," Ragnar said, indicating that Slag should join his personal entourage. "Tell the soldiers to disperse and act according to their directives. We will regroup at the coliseum."

His orders were passed down and the soldiers had just started to move around when the remaining 100 portals opened up simultaneously as well. The latest arrivals did not come in the uniform style of the military, and walked through the portals one by one, yet the impact of their arrival was the biggest so far! The Beasts, the humans from Earth and especially the soldiers of the empire all tensed up when they saw zombies walking through.

In fact, unseen by everyone, it was Lex who was shocked the most! Zombies? How could they come? He had made sure in his selection parameters for the silver keys to enter that the leaders should be sentient and intelligent. These zombies, that ranged all the way from Tier 2 to Tier 5 definitely should have not entered. Although immediately he noticed that the zombies at Tier 5 showed a remarkable level of intelligence, for a zombie that is.

Finally, out of the last few portals stepped a few more guests who looked human at first glance. Yet it was only limited to the first glance, as one would quickly notice the various horns and tails these guests so proudly brandished.

"Devils," Ragnar muttered through gritted teeth.