The Innkeeper

Once they arrived at the lake, Xeon comfortably nestled himself on a massive recliner Lex had designed specifically for beasts, and simply decided to enjoy being around people without being the center of attention. He was intrigued about how people behaved in their free time, and what they normally did. More than the relaxing environment, it was the anonymity that he enjoyed.

Making sure that he did not need anything else, Lex left. During his research on the X-142 planet, the one thing he discovered wasn't that he lacked many of the common features of a luxury resort, such as a spa or massage clinic. No, what Lex realized was that he had not given enough emphasis to his special features.

He did not need to replicate the facilities of other places; he needed to focus on what made him special and expand it. He looked at his MP, and noticed that he had only made a profit of 12,000 MP in the week he was gone, a result of his various services and items sold in the gift shop. This made his total MP at 4,942,000.

He looked at the various rooms he had, at least the ones provided by the system. He had the Guild room, Meditation room, Mystery trial, which wasn't really a 'room' but it was provided by the system and Lex earned a hefty profit from it, the various recovery rooms and the training room.

The first thing Lex did was upgrade each of the rooms to the maximum he could with his authority, which was the same as his authority: level 4. The mystery trial, of course, was not included in these since Lex could not directly upgrade that.

The next thing he did was to increase the number of rooms. He expanded his recovery room to the size of a proper hospital building, so that it could easily accommodate more patients. He turned the training room on Main street into a high-rise tower, with each floor being a training room. This was the second high rise in the Midnight Inn skyline, but Lex had already come to accept that he would end up having at least one metropolitan area as he expanded.

The guild room was unique in that Lex did not need multiple versions of it, as just a single one could cater to the needs of all his guests. Furthermore, while the other rooms only enhanced the service they provided as they were upgraded or added slight enhancements, such as the training room providing a playback feature of the trainee when they use their techniques, the guild room gained a couple entirely new features.

While Lex found most of the new features barely a moderate improvement, such as allowing guests to post requests to the guild from anywhere in the Inn and a small notification to someone whenever their request was completed, regardless of whether they were in the Inn or not, there was one he found particularly impressive.

A feature offered by the gift shop was that when someone bought an item, they delivered the item in a compressed form of a card, which could then be converted back into the original item whenever the user required. The new feature of the guild was that they commissioned empty such cards called Requisition cards, which the person would have to purchase separately, of course. But these cards could not be used randomly, as they served a very specific purpose. A person accepting a request that would require the submission of certain materials could take the card, and then absorb the item directly into the card when they were back on the planet they came from. At that point, the card would automatically teleport to the Inn, and submit the material to the guild room.

Since the card had a limit to the amount of material it could absorb, this wasn't a perfect solution for everyone. But it did add an element of convenience. Most importantly, it gave Lex hope that one day the Inn would provide him some way to instantly store any item he wanted in a separate space. The System inventory was too picky in this matter.

The improvement in the meditation room was not anything new, it still helped with cultivation and understanding, just with a stronger effect now. It did not sound phenomenal, but sometimes, that was enough. The Meditation room did not require any bells and whistles, just improving its existing functions was more than enough.

With these things taken care of, Lex was planning on meeting with Harry to see how he could help Harry grow his abilities, but was informed by Mary that Alexander wanted to meet him.

As his first big client, Lex had a special fondness for Alexander, and so did not waste any time in scanning the Inn and appearing near his location. He was with his grandmother, Audrey, and the two of them were sitting alone in one of the secluded viewpoints of the Midnight mountain. Lex immediately sensed that the mood was somewhat unusual, but guessed it had to do with the fact that Helen still had not returned to the Inn after so long.

"Innkeeper," the grandchild and grandmother duo greeted him together. Their tone was formal, as usual, but they carried an air of solemnity about them. Considering the fact that even Audrey was being so serious, this might be about more than just the girl.

"Please, be at ease. What can I do for you?"

Alexander exchanged looks with his grandmother once, before he turned to the Innkeeper and said, "I remember you once mentioned Prestige levels and their perks. With my current spending, I should be around Prestige level 3, right?"

Lex was surprised. To be honest, he completely forgot that prestige was even a thing, other than just a category on the status screen. He scanned Alexander to check his status.

Name: Alexander Morrison

Age: 17

Sex: Male

Cultivation Details: Initial Foundation realm

Species: Human

Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 3

Remarks: A walking, talking main character without the tragic backstory. Rob him blind, give him something to be sad about.

"Indeed, your current Prestige level is 3," Lex told him, as he quickly checked on the perks each level gave mentally.

Prestige Level 1:

Can receive glasses equipped with Clark Kent effect (only work while at the Inn)

Prestige Level 2:

Can instantly teleport to the Inn from anywhere in the universe once (great for escaping enemies)

Prestige Level 3:

Can travel to one-way a world connected to the Inn (can only be used once every 10 years)

Prestige Level 4:

5% discount on all Inn services, access to special services, allow you to use any Inn service once (every ten years) while not at the Inn (effect of meditation room while cultivation, recovery pod, etc.).

The fourth prestige level was new, and probably unlocked with his increased authority. But since literally not a single person had used their prestige perk, other than the glasses to hide your identity, Lex had not even remembered to check it out.

"Alright, well, I'd like to use the perk awarded to me by my level three Prestige and travel to Vegus Minima."

"Are you sure? It's a one-way trip, meaning you will not be able to return to Earth or Mars. At least, you won't be able to return for the next 10 years, until the perk resets."

"Yes, I'm sure. Whether it's Earth, Mars or even the new Minor realm, my family can handle them fine without my aid. The best way for me to contribute to the family, and speed up my own progress, is to leave and head out on my own."

For a moment, Lex didn't know if he admired Alexander or thought he was idiotic. Leaving the comfort of home and going to face the unknown required a lot of courage. Then again, there were probably millions of people who would literally kill to be in his position, but he was giving it to take risks that may harm him greatly.

"Well, alright then. Are you ready? I can send you off whenever you need."

"Yes, I'm ready," he said, as he picked up a backpack.

"Is there somewhere in particular on the planet you want to go?" Lex asked as he prepared to activate the system. He learnt that being able to pick a location not blocked by protective formations to be teleported to. Even then, the restriction of the protective formations wasn't because the system couldn't teleport there, but to honor the privacy of the planet's inhabitants. Otherwise, people could directly teleport into bank vaults or secure locations and cause havoc.

"Yes, I've already discussed my arrival with Lieutenant Slag, who will then help me enroll in the army. So, I would like to be teleported to him."

Upon discovering that the system considered that an acceptable target, Lex looked at Alexander one last time, before teleporting the boy away. His life would be drastically different now, but Lex was rooting for him.

Then he turned to look at Audrey and asked, "this was a brave decision."

"Not really," the breathtakingly beautiful woman replied. "His stupid father is too controlling, the boy needs a bit of freedom. Do you know, he still hasn't had a single girlfriend?"

The woman genuinely seemed angry as she said that, before walking away. Try as he might, Lex could find no deep or hidden concern for the boy, disguised in her behavior. She must really want him to start dating.