The Innkeeper

Bastet and Falak left quickly and everyone else returned to their rooms, leaving Lex free so he thought about how he could increase his MP earnings. Of the 3 new buildings available none were suitable for purchase at the moment. The Greenhouse could allow him to raise some rare plants but he had no seeds at the moment so that was also useless. The meditation room was the most suitable for purchase, as well as upgrading the recovery room. But both of those had a hefty price and he didn't want to pay that at the moment. Instead, he bought two more rooms for 500MP each as well as a courtyard for 1000MP, spending a total of 2000MP, leaving his remaining MP at 2641.

The rooms were added on the first floor, like the others, but the courtyard was built on the ground. It was rectangular in shape and had two rooms on the opposite end of a small garden that was right in the middle. The garden had only a single Blossom tree, a stone bench and a small pond. The courtyard could house a total of 4 guests, but 3 of them had to be with the primary guest who rented the courtyard. Even though the courtyard was bigger and could house more people, they all had to be from the same party.

After he was done he decided to curb his spending for the moment and roam the expanded area of the Inn and think of how to landscape it, but before he could start a certain tiny assistant popped up before him in the air.

"Get ready," said Mary, "Marlo is using the Platinum key."

Lex smiled, thinking 'finally!'

"Where will he appear when he uses the platinum key? At the Inn?"

"No," Mary said. She snapped her finger and suddenly Lex appeared in a familiar, white room. "All miscellaneous Inn activities will happen here until you designate a place."

Lex looked around the brightly lit, empty room. Not bad, it looked exactly the kind of room a mysterious organization would use.

"Before he gets here, how exactly is this supposed to work? And what exactly does a valet do?"

"When Marlo arrives the system will give you a detailed report about him and his cultivation. Then you can propose a test, and the system will adjust the difficulty to match the Inn's standards. Of course, the test will have to be relevant to the position they're taking. For example, you cannot test a chef by asking him to paint.

"As for the job requirements for a valet, they are pretty simple. Sometimes a guest staying at the Inn might want to invite others to stay with them at the Inn, or want some personal belongings they left back in their world. A valet's job is to go to the guests' world and escort the 'others' back to the Inn, or bring back their belongings. It's not complicated, but to avoid unexpected incidents it's usually best if the valet has a high cultivation. Of course, if the request is too dangerous for the valet's cultivation level, the system will warn you in advance."

"Sounds simple enough. And once a valet has been hired, will the system pay them automatically?"

"Indeed. The system will evaluate the strength and skill of any employee and pay them through MP according to their level. They can then use the MP to purchase things or services from the Inn."

"Sounds simple enough."

For a moment, Lex quickly analyzed what the Inn could offer Marlo as an incentive. The man was at least in the Golden Core realm. It seems that currently the only incentive he could give currently was the ability to travel to other worlds. He had to make it sound as appealing as possible…

A silver colored door appeared before Lex and through it came the hulking figure of the man Lex was expecting. He was wearing a simple sleeveless shirt, shorts and sneakers. His exposed arms and legs showed off his extremely well defined muscles, as well as numerous scars! At a higher cultivation level scars were actually rare since the body had a stronger healing capacity, therefore the presence of the scars spoke volumes about the strength of those that inflicted them. On his neck was a golden tattoo that hadn't been there previously, and it gave off the subtlest glow. That was it. That was all Marlo had brought with him on this dangerous endeavor, no weapons, no other gear or healing items. Or at least, that's what it seemed like on the surface.

He felt Marlo's gaze upon him, as he also inspected the man. Then he turned to the system's report.

Name: Hanson Marlo Bravi III

Age: 67

Sex: Male

Cultivation Details:

- Spirit cultivation: Golden Core (crippled)

- Body Cultivation: Golden Core Peak (unique cultivation)

Species: Human/Prime Human

Bloodline: Evolving

Remarks: Extremely unstable energy has detected coursing through his body. Please treat him like a walking volcano!

For a moment, Lex went into shock! His Golden Core had been crippled? And what was a Prime Human? This was also the first time he saw a mention of bloodlines. Nevertheless, he couldn't waste time thinking about these things, he had to maintain his prestige.

"Welcome to the Midnight Inn. I am the Innkeeper."

Marlo grinned upon hearing the man talk, and looked around the room.

"My name's Marlo. This is a little different from what I expected."

"Oh, and what did you expect?"

"To be honest, I thought I'd be led to a minor realm connected to Earth and spirit treasure would administer a test for a Nascent soul inheritance. But clearly, this is something else."

"What makes you say that?"

"The spirit energy! There's no place in the entire solar system with spirit energy this concentrated and pure!" Marlo spoke with zeal and his excitement was evident from the glow in his eyes.

"Indeed, the Midnight Inn is not on, or anywhere near Earth. In fact, we are not on any planet, and our purview is not any single solar system but the entire universe!" Lex paused, to let Marlo absorb what he was saying. "We accept guests from all over the universe, and provide services that they can only dream of! Naturally, an establishment of our size also leaves small tokens of fate across many worlds for those with the strength to seize them!"

"So what I encountered was a 'token of fate'?" Marlo asked.

"Naturally. I won't say it's impossible, but for anyone on your planet it would be incredibly difficult to ever overcome the constraints of their birth and encounter the greater universe! Only through an unsurpassed lucky encounter would they have the chance to venture out to the civilizations beyond your own! It just so happens that you have encountered such a lucky chance by being given the opportunity to join the Midnight Inn…"

"So the test is like a job interview?" Marlo suddenly cut in between Lex's speech. "And if I pass I join the Inn as an employee?"

Lex waved his hand and a silver contract appeared floating in the air before Marlo. The contract stated, in simple terms, his responsibilities and his remuneration.

Marlo, who had been so far maintaining his calm, suddenly started hyperventilating! From the contract he felt the same power that had been tempting him for long through the key. His crippled core started aching again, as if signaling him that through this he would find the opportunity to heal it. The blood coursing through his veins started heating up, as if letting him know that he had found that opportunity he was looking for for a breakthrough! His bones rattled as if letting him know that there were great rewards waiting for him!

"And if I sign this, and I pass the test, will I join the Inn forever?" Marlo asked through gritted teeth. It was a testament to his will that he kept asking questions and hadn't signed it already.

"Naturally," Lex answered, not noticing the peculiar wording of the question. "Through the Inn the universe is within your reach, and it's secrets are yours to discover! Which is why we are very picky with who joins, but once they have joined we take the utmost care of them."

"I'm sorry," Marlo replied, his entire body tensing up, "in that case I refuse!"