The Innkeeper

Lex was suddenly struck by Ptolemy's sudden outburst. While it could not veer into the domain of an actual insult, up until this moment, the man had kept his disdain in check. He behaved professionally and did not let his personal feelings affect how he was supposed to behave. So then, why the sudden change?

After a moment, Lex realized what had happened. Once they reached the first campsite, they were officially on their own, as even the escorts from the nearby city had begun to retreat. Now, Ptolemy was the true leader, and did not need to put up on a front. This did not spell well. But Lex was not one to back down so easily.

"Even if I maintain this technique for a thousand years, it won't tire me," he replied, as if he was talking about something mundane, like a crease on his shirt.

But he had not lied. The only Qi required on Lex's behalf to use this technique was the one required to activate it. Once activated, and the character on his hand formed, the technique would continue to run so long as there was ambient chilled spiritual energy, as it was that very energy that powered the technique.

At a glance, this seemed like a very powerful technique which could make him immune to all cold elemental damage, but that was just a facade. Absorbing the cold was just the auxiliary purpose of this defensive technique, as its true purpose lay elsewhere. Therefore, while it could absorb the energy seemingly endlessly, such absorption was only focused on the ambient energy that passively surrounded Lex. In the case of an attack, this effect would not be able to absorb any of the energy, and the true purpose of the ability would be triggered.

Although he had mastered this technique, it took a while for Lex to understand the concept behind this technique itself.

This was because the definition of cold on Earth was the absence of heat. Since cold in itself was nothing except the relative distribution of heat, absorbing cold actually meant distributing heat away. Yet in an environment colder than his body temperature, the technique was 'absorbing' the surrounding cold, therefore making him feel warm. Where was this warmth coming from?

Eventually Lex understood. The heat was coming from the physics class he decided to drop in college. With that, he stopped thinking about it.

His current focus was on Ptolemy, who was looking back at Lex with mild disgust.

"I think it's time we figure a few things out. To me, your aid is unnecessary and your presence is an irritation distraction at best. To you, this expedition is your passing grade. So, you can stick around, but stay out of my way and everything will go smoothly for the both of us. Stick to the middle of camp where you'll be safe, and treat this like a vacation and soon it'll all be over. Dismissed."

Not bothering with Lex anymore, the man left. Lex, on the other hand, felt extremely aggravated, but at the same time, considering the circumstances, being ignored was the best thing that could have come from the situation. Had Ptolemy decided to do more... dastardly things to express his discontent, life would have become very difficult for Lex.

This still did not mean that Ptolemy wouldn't decide to take out his frustration on Lex again later, that was still a possibility, so Lex did not let down his guard.

But, freed from responsibility, Lex could now spend more time learning arrays. Not to mention, there was another purpose this expedition happened to fill for Lex. Since they were soon going to enter unexplored lands, there was a possibility of Lex running into untapped energy sources.

Although rare, it was not unheard of for an expedition to discover spirit stone mines, energy wells, natural formations and more wonderful things. In fact, searching for such things was a big part of every expedition.

With nothing left to do, Lex returned to his tent to get some rest and chat with Mary. While things had not been all sunshine and rainbows, at least there hadn't been any major events at the Inn to worry him, which was nice.

*****

In front of Avallon building, Midnight Inn

A small group of 6 aliens called Raskals appeared and immediately started looking around, assessing for any threats. They were wearing regular clothes, or so it seemed, for under their clothes they were all wearing skin tight combat armor.

Unlike in the old days, when Lex or one of his workers would greet new guests, personal holograms did that these days. These Raskals received the standard welcome and explanation, but that did not diminish their wariness towards the Inn.

The Raskals were an aggressive, war prone race with limited intelligence. The upside to this was that, when trained, they followed their training dutifully without any extra thoughts - mostly because they had no extra thoughts. Not to mention, their intelligence had no detriment to their combat prowess, and so they served as excellent soldiers and scouts.

These four feet tall, leathery aliens were humanoid, but had four arms, two facing forwards and two backwards, as well as retractable wings that had coiled on their backs. The closest thing on Earth that resembled these aliens were skin rats. But, just because they looked weird, did not mean they would be refused service.

The six Raskals exchanged looks, and then split up, each heading in a different direction. They had arrived here using golden keys provided by Jeckal, Heidi's father. Their preliminary purpose was to study the Inn and gather as much information as possible, as well as anything on any forces that might be backing them, and the strength of their members.

Jackal was a very vindictive man, but he was extremely useful for his organization, and so many of his desires were fulfilled. That did not, however, mean the organization would recklessly kill everyone the man wanted killed. They would at least do some background research first.

They had no information about the Midnight Inn in their database, which dropped their evaluation of the Inn by a lot. After all, if they were important, they would be known. Sending the Raskals at this point was just a formality.

A few hours later, when the Raskals returned and submitted their report, the organization assessed it to be a lot of unverifiable claims. The staff that the Raskals encountered were pathetically weak, and though there were rumors of the Innkeeper being a hegemon of the universe, it appeared that currently he was away from the Inn.

The organization determined it was nothing more than bolstering and bluffing, and deemed the Midnight Inn inconsequential. Of course, one flaw in their report was that they did not mention arriving at the Inn via teleportation across space activated using a key. Since it was not mentioned, the organization assumed it was a place reached by more regular means, and one of the things that had intimidated so many others who visited the Inn became overlooked.

In the end, to satisfy Jeckal, an execution order was sent. A team of 500 Raskals was organized, with the strongest few being in the Nascent realm. The original team of six distributed enough keys for all of them and then, the first ever invasion of the Inn commenced.

*****

John clenched his fists as he kept himself from screaming out of frustration. He had come so ruddy close to finishing the Mystery trial, but once again failed! The most frustrating thing was that this time, his failure was all his own fault.

For the first time, he executed his own assassination plan without his systems help, and actually succeeded! He had stabbed the enemy in the neck, and the moment felt so great that he momentarily forgot that at higher levels, that was not enough to kill. The single moment he took to celebrate his victory was all his target needed to kill him in return.

Just as he was writhing in bitter agony, four short guests appeared before him. He groaned internally, and just as he was about to put on a friendly face, they attacked him!

The two nearest to him threw what looked like metal nets covered in spikes at him, while the two further back launched blow darts at his face. Before the attack even landed, they considered the man dead, for they could feel no cultivation from him. They were already looking for their next target when the two Raskals holding the nets were yanked into the air.

Grabbing the two metal nets with his hand, he pulled the enemies towards himself with no regard for the spikes. As the two Raskals flew towards him, a simple backhand slap cracked their skulls and knocked them unconscious.

He grinned at the remaining two Raskals, his teeth conveniently holding the darts that shot at him. Then, as if they were candy, he sucked the darts into his mouth and started to chew.

Fear and horror gripped the Raskals as they realized they had encountered a formidable foe, a sharp contrast to the delight on John's face. He was just happy he had someone to vent on. After all, the Innkeeper couldn't blame him for playing a little if the guests attacked him first, right?