The Innkeeper



Lex exited the Mystery trial 8 hours later, finally having completed the trial. It was a genuinely interesting experience, and he learnt a lot. Moreover, he would call the 'reward' anything but small or insignificant. Although he had yet to try it out, he gained a 6th sense for detecting people's emotions in reaction to something he said.

Well, to be fair, the actual 6th sense was very vague and weak, but it was drastically amplified by Lex's intuition. But even without the gift, Lex had gained a whole new perspective about his ability to influence people with his words. In the end, he had completed the trial by convincing the Game Master that the only way to actually prove that he was motivated by purpose was to break his own rules and set them free.

He had tried a few other tactics which did not contribute towards the trial, but did provide him with unique experiences. After all, he would never harm an innocent person in real life.

Lex was wondering if he should go try out his ability or spend some more time enjoying himself when he, unexpectedly, heard a familiar sound.

New notification:

System upgrade complete! System status updated:

System: Midnight Inn

System Grade: Divine (broken ~ SSS - B+ )

System Owner: Lex Williams

System functionality: 14%

System self-repair time: 33,310 billion years

New Notification:

New features unlocked. New features include:

Desert Farm

Well of Invigoration

The system was back online! In a single day!

Lex was surprised, but after looking at his notification he realized that it was probably because the system he absorbed was too weak. His system functionality had only improved 2% and the self-repair time had also only gone down by 2 billion. The system grade hadn't even changed.

Shaking his head, Lex turned and looked at the two new features of the Inn.

Desert Farm

A farm where desert plants can be grown, in addition to any other plants. None desert plants undergo an unpredictable mutation to grow in this farm. All plants that grow in the desert farm have additional medicinal, nutritional or spiritual properties.

Well of Invigoration

A well with water that has special properties which speeds up plants growth without causing any adverse effects. It also has mild medicinal properties if drunk directly, and can heal hidden injuries within the body.

There were only two new features, but Lex liked them a lot more than the ones he got from the Murder System! Moreover this would be more beneficial to the day to day operations of the Inn. Lex was already dissatisfied with the kind of ingredients the Inn had, as they could not provide him any nutrition now that he was in the Golden Core realm. With this, he now had the opportunity to grow ingredients of a high enough level to satisfy himself now, and in the future as well.

Of course, it wasn't as if he wasn't planting crops that targeted Golden core cultivators even now. But the difference was, their maturity period was phenomenally long. Even with all the advantages the Inn provided, it would take well over a year for them to mature. Maybe now, with the water from the well, that period could be sped up.

Lex smiled and disappeared, teleporting to the turtle in his Host Attire. The turtle had buried itself in the ground, with only its head above the ground. Lex did not even try to question what bizarre thing the turtle was doing now, and instead got right to the point.

"I'm opening up a new farm, but it will be in a desert environment. It can cause mutations to normal plants, and provides a huge boost to plants that grow in a desert environment to begin with. I also have a new well that can boost the speed of plant growth. I thought it would interest you to know."

For a moment, the turtle did not react, but then it turned to look at Lex.

"Oh dear, oh dear. That sounds lovely, but I have run into a small little bit of a problem."

Even as the Innkeeper, Lex raised an eyebrow as he looked at the turtle in curiosity. The turtle had… run into a problem? This was a first.

"After all my time at the Inn, I have grown a lot. I am ready to grow to the next cultivation level. But my age is too young, my body has not grown enough yet. I will need to eat a few Shining Irisberry fruits to allow my body to grow. If I don't get them soon… I will fall asleep for a few hundred years until my body is ready to grow."

That was indeed a huge problem. He could not afford to allow the turtle to fall asleep, he was extremely dependent on it.

"I'll take care of it," said Lex, and teleported away. He immediately thought of the Infinity Emporium, as it was his best bet at getting it quickly. But he decided to check out the fruit on the Henali portal first to get an idea of how rare it was.

Yet when he teleported to the portal, he paused and turned his head in a certain direction. His intuition was acting up, telling him something major was about to happen! Unable to identify the cause, he scanned the Inn, and noticed something odd. Ragnar was standing alone in his abode, wearing nothing but a cotton tunic. This was the first time Lex saw the man without his armor, and discovered that the previously seemingly buff man had actually just been wearing very thick armor. In actuality, he had a very toned physique.

But the general changing out of his armor was not enough to alarm Lex's intuition. No, it was the dark cloud that was forming above his head that attracted Lex's attention. Unlike all the previous tribulations Lex had seen, this one was different. Black lightning streaked around the cloud, building up its strength.

Lex had no idea what kind of tribulation Ragnar was about to encounter, but it was definitely much more dangerous than the ones he had seen before. Yet the man was not using a tribulation room.

With nothing but his courage supporting him, the general looked up into the sky. There was no hesitation in his eyes.