The Innkeeper

As the day came to a close, most people returned to their planets. Still, with only a few of them choosing to stay at the Inn, there were a couple hundred people roaming the grounds. The usual peaceful atmosphere was still full of the buzz of many conversations taking place at the same time. The seats at the restaurant were full and so were the garden chairs outside. Most people who wanted to eat did so in their rooms or in the coliseum, simply because they had nowhere else to sit.

As proud as Lex was of everything he had done, and as much as he was growing the Inn, it was not ready to facilitate hundreds of people at once, let alone thousands. It was also not conducive to the Beasts, as he could shrink their size to make them fit in, but he wanted to make facilities that would allow them to stay their own size comfortably.

This was a stark reminder for him that, even with the millions he had earned and spent, the Inn wasn't as developed as it could be. Realistically speaking, any decent hotel in a normal city could accommodate more people than his Inn could comfortably. He always needed to be thinking of ways in which he could improve.

As he watched the hundreds of people, some of whom were simply sitting in the grass, having a picnic, he decided to take notes on things to improve. This event was like a round of testing for a new app, so that flaws could be determined and fixed.

Firstly, he needed more places to sit. But he needed to be creative with his solution, as he didn't want a giant structure that would be empty and useless at any time he had fewer guests. Of course, maybe there would come a time where he constantly had a lot of guests, in which case his giant structure would always be in use. Yet in his heart, Lex wanted the manor to remain unchanged. He did not want to increase its size to accommodate the growing number of guests.

There was another solution to this. Maybe he could leave the manor as is and build larger structures somewhere far away. This way, he could use the manor or guests with a high enough prestige level, or he could only take the guests he really liked there. But for that he would need to expand the size of the Midnight world as well.

Midnight world - that's what he decided to call the separate realm or space his Inn resided in, as he couldn't just keep referring to them as the grounds or the hills or even the inn.

Next, if the Inn really was supposed to be a vacation spot, he needed to add more activities. Even on vacation, if a person did not have anything to do for an extended period of time, they would get bored. Right now, if a guest wanted to go swimming, the only option they had was the tiny lake near the Recovery room. Considering the size of the lake, it was not a good option.

Fortunately, all was not lost. At least he had improved options in terms of food by adding the spiritual food, which was a big hit amongst the Earthlings. The soldiers were used to farmed spiritual food, so they treated it as usual and ate it casually, while Nibiru was an extremely vibrant world that gave birth to many spiritual plants and vegetables. For the Beasts, it was also ordinary. For the Earthlings, it was an amazing delicacy that not only tasted phenomenal; it aided their health and cultivation.

Either way, whether it was maintaining a high standard or providing an out of reach service, for different guests the spiritual food had accomplished different kinds of success and Lex was happy with that.

This was an independent happiness that Lex felt, aside from the 12,333 MP Lex had made from the food! Not to mention, he had sold 10 of his Midnight Inn suits, netting him another 90,000 MP! He also earned another 7000 MP from selling more commemorative coins and 7000 MP from his various services.

This brought his new total to 212,733 MP! He looked into why his income from the various services was the least and quickly came to a conclusion. Whether it was the Meditation room, Training room, Mystery trial, Barber shop or Battle Ax, they could only provide service to one person at a time. It was already a big deal to earn so much. With those rooms, the way to earn more was to have more of them to cater to multiple guests rather than increase their prices.

Adding multiple of those would also make the place more crowded, but he did not mind expanding Main street. After all, that was the whole point of putting everything together.

Lex was constantly scanning the Inn, checking on all his guests, when he spotted something in the Recovery room.

Marlo, who had lost access to the Meditation room when he briefly visited Earth, was standing inside a particular recovery pod room with another woman, looking down at the person in the pod.

They were both staring silently, and continued to do so as long as Lex watched. A quick rewind showed Lex that they had been that way for a few days now. Occasionally, Marlo left to go into a Recovery pod himself so his body's condition still wasn't stabilized, but would promptly return once he was good enough.

Curious about the situation, Lex checked the woman's status.

Name: Sophia Ramos/Bravi

Age: 60

Sex: Female

Cultivation Details: Golden Core Mid

Species: Human

Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1

Remarks: That is one emotional lady! Do not approach her in crocs, mismatched socks or smelling like food.

Lex was slightly confused about why her name had a slash in it, but suddenly understood that this was Marlos' wife. Larry had told him rumors about her relationship with the madman, but it seemed there was more to it. Lex checked the status of the person in the Recovery pod.

Name: Rafael Carter Bravi

Age: 37

Sex: Male

Cultivation Details: crippled

Species: Human

Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1

Condition:

The patient's body is extremely damaged! The patient suffers from hundreds of hairline fractures, amputated limbs, torn muscles and ligaments, a missing lung, failing kidneys, failing liver, severely damaged spine, fractured skull, severe brain damage, missing teeth, missing eyes, missing nose and a severely atrophied soul. It would be impossible to keep the patient alive with only the Recovery pod, but an unidentifiable source of vitality has been detected in the patient's heart - the only organ completely undamaged.

Assuming the vitality is continuously produced, it would take the patient 3 weeks and 4 days to reach optimum health in the Recovery pod. Further treatment via ORR (organic reconstruction room) is then recommended. The soul will require treatment, but no such facility is currently available at the Inn. Please figure out the necessary treatment on your own

Remarks: If it is one's destiny to die, the universe itself cannot stop it. If one is destined to live, then the universe itself will bend itself around you to provide the conditions for you to live.

Lex was startled when he read the status. This was clearly Marlo's son! He had never heard of Marlo having a kid, let alone one that was in such a bad condition. Maybe this was the reason why he and his wife had such a bad falling out.

It was also the first time he got a recommendation for the ORR. So far, he hadn't even set a price for that, as no guest had used it. That was because, for it to be usable, the patient's cultivation had to be below Lex's. Since Rafael's cultivation was crippled, he was technically below Lex.

For a moment, Lex hesitated. Considering his relationship with Marlo, he felt he should go say something. Or at least, he should let him know about the ORR. Yet at the same time, he felt awkward approaching the man in such a situation.

Finally, after letting out an exhausted sigh, Lex decided to go talk to the couple. The longer he waited, the more awkward he would become.

Teleporting right outside the Recovery pod room, Lex knocked. The sound startled the couple, as for the duration of their stay, no one had interrupted them. Marlo opened the door and felt a strange kind of relief when he saw the Innkeeper.

"Innkeeper," he greeted with a nod, his voice low and absent of his usual energy.

"Marlo," Lex acknowledged the man with a corresponding nod.

"Please come in. This is my wife, Sophia. Sophia, this is the Innkeeper that I was telling you about."

"Hello," she said simply, her gaze quickly returning to her son.

"I noticed you've spent the last few days here, so I thought I'd come in and check on the patient myself. I have some good news for you as well as some bad news for you. What would you like to hear first?"