The Innkeeper

It was not the fact that Larry was in the Golden Core realm that surprised Lex, although that in itself was an achievement beyond unbelievable. After all, Lex himself had a cheat-like system and access to multiple worlds and realms and beings of unimaginable power, yet he himself was only now about to enter that realm. Yet Larry, who did not have a system and was trapped on earth, except when he was at the Inn, had somehow surpassed his speed. In fact, not only was his speed in reaching the realm remarkable, based on the fight, Lex could tell that his cultivation was not shallow either. He possessed strength that could not be achieved by someone who had only rushed his way through cultivation using resources.

He was also not surprised at the enhancements Suzuki displayed on his body. Sure, he was not expecting that Suzuki's hand was a prosthetic, and that it quickly and conveniently turned into some kind of energy machinegun fueled by spirit energy. The blue light in his eyes and him jumping dozens of feet in the air also insinuated that there might be more technological advancements hidden in his body, or just that he had strange techniques.

No, what surprised Lex was Larry's fighting style. First of all, he was taking all the attacks without any indication of wanting to dodge at all. That was something Lex should be doing, considering his overwhelming confidence in his defense, yet Larry was behaving the same. The barrage of green energy balls that were slamming onto his body had eviscerated his clothes, but did nothing to a single one of his hairs. As if that was not enough, as Larry rushed towards Suzuki, he pulled an entire sword out of his hand! Literally!

Using his right hand he touched his left, and when he pulled his right hand back, a full length sword started coming right out of the palm of his hand. The sword shone with a silver light, and cut through the air with a sharp 'sheen' sound.

Suzuki dodged effortlessly, and more unexpected and bizarre weapons started coming out of his body.

Lex put a popcorn in his mouth - when did that box of popcorn appear even he didn't recall - and watched with great interest. He also compared this fight to his own that had been fought in the very same place. While every single move Larry and Suzuki took was much more destructive, he felt like there was a lot more going on in his own fight. From strange mind tricks to illusory attacks to the weird luck that the murderer had, there was a lot going on that Lex had to overcome. Comparatively, this fight was more straightforward. Even if each attack packed much more strength.

Lex wanted to lament the difficulty of fighting a system wielder, but he knew that he should not underestimate others either. He recalled the numerous abilities and techniques Alexander put on display back at the Midnight Games when he himself was only in the Foundation realm as well. Lex was not ashamed to admit that even now he probably knew fewer techniques than Alexander.

It couldn't be helped, Lex had only been cultivating for a year while everyone else had a huge head start on him.

Soon the pattern of the fight changed from Larry trying to get close and attacking, to Suzuki maintaining a distance and attacking from range. Larry finally suffered an attack which managed to wound him, though not by much.

Still, it was unusual for Larry wasn't bleeding even if his skin had been torn open. Just as Lex was wondering why that was, Larry did the thing that had truly blown Lex's mind. He took out a commemorative coin that Lex had distributed during the Midnight Games, made of a rare metal that was not too valuable, but would preserve the token for a very long time. Then he threw the coin in his mouth and swallowed it! A few moments later, his wound started healing!

Lex was flabbergasted, and finally realized what Aegis would have felt like back in the Crystal realm when he swallowed that energy crystal.

After a while, Lex had to divert his attention from the fight. It was clear that it would go on for a long time, and Lex had to keep an eye on the Inn as well. Not that anything was going horribly wrong, but Lex would rather not wait before something went wrong to give his attention.

Slowly, the hours rolled by. Lex noticed a few guests from the Crystal realm as well, such as the Sentinels or Poliods. He guessed they had come in from the random golden doors that opened up across the realm. He could see the signature wary behavior of new guests from them.

Speaking of the crystal realm, Aegis had already informed him that Zagan had used the platinum key. If he managed to pass the test, the system designed for him, he would soon become a member of the Inn.

Still, Aegis himself had not decided whether or not he wanted to join the Inn yet, and Lex couldn't be bothered by that. What he had been doing was bringing others to the Midnight Inn one by one. That had obviously included the Noel family.

It should not have been such a big concern for Lex. After all, the Midnight tavern had already attracted an unnecessary amount of attention, so even if the Noel family made the connection between the two it did not matter.

No, the real reason Lex was... slightly perturbed by the presence of the Noel family was that their daughter, Greta Noel, and now the recently unaffiliated 'Pvarti Party' had also come to the Inn.

Greta had joined the poker tournament and was a natural at it, although she insisted on playing strip poker! God only knew how she came up with the idea, for it shouldn't have been something that existed in the Crystal realm. Moreover, while the Inn itself was not enforcing the rules of strip poker, the Inn also couldn't stop guests if they decided to take a few articles of clothing off.

So, the previously extremely intense and very popular poker tournament had become even more popular, though there was a distinct lack of tension. How could anyone be tense when a group of old men in their boxers, accompanied by beasts who would shed a portion of their fur every time they lost. On the other side of the table, Greta, who was unnaturally skilled at the game, was over encumbered by the stacks of clothing she had won since, for some reason, she insisted on wearing all her winnings!

She also had people lining up to win her hand in marriage, pending approval from her father, but to prove themselves they had to complete a list of trials that she set.

Lex remembered that he had been warned about Pvarti's sister back in the crystal realm so he had a lot of guards stationed nearby in case she caused problems, but these were not problems he was equipped to handle! She was also selling the right to name one of her fingers through an informal auction. What did that even mean and why was the highest bid already in the hundreds of thousands of MP?

Well, none of it was against the rules so Lex could only look away. But the problem with looking away was that he would end up looking at the 300,000 people long conga line being led by an inebriated Pvarti! Again, it was not against the rules. It was just that it created a logistical problem which was that the unnecessarily long line was blocking numerous roads, buildings and, most importantly, bathrooms!

How did he even build a line this long? The festival hadn't even been going on for a day!

A part of Lex felt he should consider himself lucky that this was the only problem he was having. In fact, he even calmed down. It really was a good thing.

Then his heart dropped as he saw Brandon Morrison, his wife Audrey, as well as Marlo and his wife getting ready to join.

Lex sighed and closed his eyes. Well, it is a festival after all. He shouldn't blame people for partying. And it wasn't as if one can be expected to party within limits. Just as long as they don't start fighting anyone randomly.

Lex decided to look away and focus on something else. He noticed that the number of Devils at the Inn was at an all time high. Oddly enough, despite the bias that Lex had for them, they had never caused Lex any problems. That was contrary to what one would expect from a race that controlled demons and used entire planets as farms for resources that could only be nurtured through death and destruction.

He hoped that wouldn't change now, and that they would continue to ignore the fact that Lex had personally aided in the loss of some of their planet farms!