The Innkeeper

Lex was not ready nor was he expecting to get right to work the absolute minute he arrived at the Inn. But the incentive to become a trillionaire was exceptional. Not that he was in need of a great deal of money at the moment, but he knew that he would be in a state of expansion for the foreseeable future.

Not only would the expansion cost a lot of money, buying anything for a higher cultivation level always cost more money. He had merely bought a drink that could affect an immortal and the price had gone in the millions, were he to buy a building or service the price may even go in the hundreds of millions. Getting too comfortable would be a mistake.

With that mindset, he put away all thoughts of going out for a stroll and decided to get right into the thick of things. Before anything, however, he looked at the Innkeeper's office building.

While the building existed as a service, the shape and design were completely up to him. If he had extensive time he would have assigned the task to the planning commission, but since he did not, he took matters into his own hands.

He thought for a minute about the kind of office someone of the Innkeepers status should have. He could go overly grand, but to Lex it seemed slightly desperate to prove the status of his position, or just plain gaudy, which he did not like. He could go for extremely simple and basic, but he felt like the whole 'transcended the need for worldly possessions' and 'find the truth in simplicity' bit was an exhausted and overused spiel.

In the end, he just decided to keep it as he liked.

His mind, now faster than ever before due to the boost provided by his elevated cultivation, recalled every office he ever liked and tried to find a commonality. He'd visited a few penthouse offices as well when he worked back in New York, not to mention his own regular offices, so he had some ammunition for his thoughts.

Once he figured out what he liked, he began picking out a position.

On a small plateau near the Midnight Manor, a rectangular building appeared. There was a torch lit, pebbled path leading up to it, with open gardens on each side. There was not much in the building, since it only served as his office.

The entrance led to a large hall with marble flooring and granite walls, with a reception desk at the far end. There was a waiting room that could be entered from on the right, but the entrance to Lex's office was in the corner behind the reception desk.

Unlike the entrance hall, the floor of which was gray, Lex's office floor was black marble. But it was not plain black, as streaks of gold flowed through the midnight black, like water flowing down into the dirt. On the left and right side of the office were ceiling high bookshelves, stacked with hardcover books that had no titles.

There were a few sofas placed in the center of the room, amidst a few decorations and plants here and there. Opposite those sofas, towards the far wall, was a single desk with an office chair tucked neatly in.

Speaking of the far wall, unlike the rest of the building, it was made entirely out of one-sided glass with an extensive view of the Midnight manor, and the rest of the Inn.

Lex teleported into the building to see it for himself, and was immediately hit with an oppressive feeling.

Lex remained unaffected, for what could truly affect him at the Inn? But he felt the oppression nonetheless, and knew immediately that it radiated from the very walls of his office. Each and every step was daunting, but somehow the oppressive feeling was not exactly intimidating. Instead, it was a sort of reminder of who one was about to meet.

As he walked, the sound of his footsteps echoed loudly in the empty hall, prompting him to stop immediately, a frown upon his face.

He snapped once, and then continued to walk. The sound was no longer a loud and never ending echo. Instead, each of his footsteps was incredibly light and respectful, yet not entirely gone.

Not bothering to check out the waiting room, Lex headed right into his office. Unlike the entrance hall, there was no oppressive feeling here. Instead, the room wafted with a clean and refreshing scent that reinvigorated Lex as soon as he stepped in, despite the fact that he had just recently woken up and had been full of energy.

Lex felt incredibly calm and peaceful in his office, as if he knew from deep within his heart that this was a safe space. He walked to his table and pulled out his seat and sat down.

The moment he sat, he became even more in sync with the Inn than when he wore the Host Attire. The Host Attire, which was currently in the shape of a three piece suit, allowed Lex to fully control everything happening at the Inn.

It was a conduit between himself and the system, for he knew now that he was simply unable to even begin to process everything his system did, let alone control it directly. When he sat down in the chair, however, it was kicked up a notch.

For example, while he could become aware of everything at the Inn at any time, he would need to scan the Inn, or look for someone in particular to know what was happening. Once in the chair, however, it was like a portion of his newly acquired mental strength was diverted towards always keeping in touch with the system. Every action taking place within the system was being ranked by a level of importance from 0 to 100, and at the back of his mind he knew the numbers for each action. As soon as a number appeared that was abnormally high, or even a minor anomaly for that matter, he would know immediately.

Moreover, while previously he could perform generic scans, now he could look for something more specific. While this was not entirely new for him, since he was always able to directly ask Mary whenever he needed to know something, it was still a good feature.

His attention turned towards a few items that had been placed on his desk. There was a journal, an ink pen, an ink well, a letter opener and a card holder full of cards that only said 'Innkeeper' below 'Midnight Inn' written in bold letters.

He was convinced that these things were not ordinary, but he decided that first he would deal with the matter of the person wanting to take Ragnar's requests before anything else.

Yet even that required him to do two things before he addressed the matter.

The first was the matter of having a receptionist. Lex could hire one of his workers randomly, but he wanted instead to have a dedicated receptionist, who would perhaps even be his assistant.

Not to mention, it gave him an opportunity to use his new workers status panel.

While previously he could directly hire what the system called A.I. to create living workers who could take up jobs at the Inn, leaving their skills and traits up to fate, he could now be so much more specific in his requirements.

First of all, for gender he chose male. As a bachelor it would be inappropriate for him to have a female receptionist, mostly because it would trigger the memory of every corny tv show he had ever seen in his life. The trope of falling in love with your employee was too cliche for him to even joke about.

He skipped over stuff like age, appearance, height etc. and went directly to his skills, abilities, bloodline, and cultivation. Every amendment he made would drastically increase the price of his worker, but Lex had money to spare.

Without hesitation, he picked anything that sounded even remotely helpful, from eidetic memory, perfect recollection, exceptional multitasking, strong mental calculation abilities, exceptional perception, excellent reflexes, the best possible health recovery, immense vitality, and so much more.

He made sure the assistant had a strong sense for etiquette and morality. Unfortunately, he could not have the assistant created with an elevated cultivation system, as everyone would still start as a mortal, but he could choose the bloodline.

Other than Regalia Bloom, which all his workers seemed to start with, he had two other options. The Regalia Bloom was of great assistance in manipulating energy but it was not necessarily the best choice for his assistant, so he looked at the other two.

The next one was called Anachronistic Ignition. When he read the description Lex's jaw dropped, and for the first time he actually felt incredibly jealous.

It was hard for him not to envy his workers, who were all born with such an amazing bloodline right from the start. But he controlled his emotions for he knew he had advantages of his own - especially when Regal Embrace was unique in the whole universe.

This next one though... it was just ridiculous.