The Innkeeper

It only took a few more hours, but the connection to Nibiru was complete. Lex did not wait any longer and immediately chose to return to the Inn. He had a few things he wanted to do, but the first and foremost was recovering. When went to the Recovery room he found that Marlo was still in his chamber, eating up his MP, not any better than before. Well technically his vitality and spirit had recovered a lot, but was not fully healed. It seemed like it would take much longer than Lex guessed to heal the man. It could be because of the Recovery rooms' low level and Marlo's high cultivation, but Lex paid no mind to that for now.

Without hesitation he lay himself down in a Recovery Pod and allowed the healing process for his arm to begin.

"Hey Mary, how come the Recovery room or Recovery Pod can't fix my tumor?" he asked mentally.

"While they both have strong healing capabilities, they only provide basic healing. There are many kinds of wounds that they cannot heal. Your tumor, for example, is something that needs to be removed from your body, so it does not come under the purview of this kind of healing. Similar to how they could not directly remove the poison from Helen's body, or the zombie mutagen from Marlo. Once you start dealing with higher leveled cultivators, their injuries will carry a hostile spirit energy which is again not something these rooms can heal. For something like that you would have to look out for talented doctors or healers across the universe and hire them. In that case, the benefits the Inn provides will improve their inherent capabilities, but can never replace them. Hiring such people will elevate the services you can provide and increase the prestige of the Inn as well."

Lex nodded, understanding that hiring a worthy staff was an important part of running the Inn. Lex closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall asleep while his hand was being fixed. At some point the numb feeling had faded, but instead of pain Lex felt hollow and drained. He was too afraid to remove his grass bandages to actually look at the condition of his hand, but fortunately it would not be a concern much longer.

A few hours later he was woken up to the notification that his hand had been fixed. He jumped out of the Pod and squeezed the fingers on his right hand, feeling his strength. It still felt a little tired, but at least he was better now. Then another problem occurred to him. The Recovery Pods were right in the recovery room, and anyone could see who was being healed. If a customer ever saw him recovering it would mar his image. He needed to make a few changes, to keep the privacy of his customers as well. For example, Alexander had seen Marlo and recognized him. That was all well, but what if the next person to recognize him was not on friendly terms. He went into the Design Interface and began making changes. Each Pod was put in an individual room, the small change costing him 200 MP. While he was making changes, he might as well add the Mystery Trail as well. While all the additions he'd made to the Inn so far were far away from the main building, he decided to add the Mystery Trial close to it. He flew to the back of the Inn's building and chose a suitable place five hundred meters away.

When he selected the spot for the Mystery Trial, a mound of earth rose up from the ground fifteen meters high and ten meters in diameter. A large, metallic double faced door was fixed on the side of the mound facing the Inn. The door gave off an ancient feeling, as if it had withstood the flow of time for eons, undisturbed and unaffected. Lex frowned a little, and used the interface to make the mound of earth a little neater, and then chose to grow some grass over it. He didn't understand why the door had to be connected to the mound, but he could not remove it.

"How much does the mystery trial cost?" he asked. He had to decide how much to charge his guests.

"For any guest who has used any of the Inn's services, the first entry is free and costs you nothing either. Each consecutive use will cost you 500MP. The Mystery Trial is unique, and you will not be able to buy more of those from the Inn in the future. Its level is also linked to the level of the Inn, so as the level of the Inn increases the trial will give better feedback to its users as well as better rewards. For those whose trials include combat, if they die in the trial they won't actually die in real life so that is an added benefit for those who want to train in combat."

"I understand," he said, turning his attention to the next matter. From Nibiru he had brought back a bunch of seeds. Although he was sure many or all of them may have died tussling about in his backpack while he fought, this might be a good time to set up the greenhouse. There was one catch however. While he was not planting anything too precious right now, he wanted to keep the greenhouse somewhere secure so that guests would not barge in. What if they stole or damaged his goods? He was planning on using or selling whatever he grew, he could not afford to leave them out in the open.

Before he could make any decisions however, he felt someone using a Golden key to enter the Inn. Lex smiled, made sure he looked presentable, and appeared at the entrance of the Inn awaiting his new guest.

From a flash of light two guests appeared, and Lex was surprised to see a familiar face. But before Lex could greet the guest he came to a horrible, awkward realization! He was standing at the entrance of the Inn, right at the end of the stairs that led up to the Inn. His familiar guest, Hugo Laurent, was standing at the foot of the staircase. The problem was, in front of Hugo the second guest was sitting in a wheelchair WITH NO WAY UP THE STAIRS! This was also when Lex realized that most of his guest rooms were above the ground floor AND A PERSON IN A WHEELCHAIR WOULD HAVE NO WAY OF GETTING TO THEM!

It was a good thing that the Host Attire kept his image calm and presentable, otherwise his guests would be exposed to the visage of him blushing in embarrassment.

Still, Lex recovered quickly. Before Hugo had a chance to say anything, Lex quickly accessed the Design Interface and waved his right hand as he willed a ramp to appear beside the stairs, giving the image that he had made the change himself. Hugo froze, shocked by the sudden change, which gave Lex the chance to quickly mentally add an elevator inside the Inn right beside the stairs for guests to use. From the outside no one was able to tell anything had changed at all, and no one was able to see the image of a tiny, floating Mary giggling at Lex's embarrassment. Or at least, the guests weren't able to.

"Welcome back Hugo. I see you've brought someone with you this time, I'm glad the Midnight Inn is able to get your recommendation."

Hugo, who snapped out of his surprise, smiled at the mysterious Innkeeper. "Of course! Your Inn is impressive beyond all of my expectations, even beyond all of my wildest dreams. Who wouldn't want to go on vacation, heal from their old wounds and even elevate their cultivation level while they were at it? There's nothing that can compare.

"In fact, that's why I've brought my boss this time as well. He's been suffering from a disease for a long time, I was hoping that he would be able to be healed as well."

Lex turned his attention to the man in the wheelchair and indeed his condition didn't look good at all. In fact, it could be said that he was almost at death's door. He checked the man's status.

Name: William Bentham

Age: 59

Sex: Male

Cultivation Details: Initial Foundation realm

Species: Human

Midnight Inn Prestige Level: Not yet available

Conditions:

Fatal Spirit Energy poisoning

Report:

The patient is cultivating spirit energy with an affinity that directly clashes with his body's affinity. The more spirit energy he absorbs, the faster the rate of poisoning! The only way to treat the patient is to completely dissolve his Foundation realm and then use the Recovery Pod to slowly heal him. It is recommended that the patient also drinks Botlam's Dew immediately following the dissolution of his Foundation to prevent dying before recovery can begin! Patient is on the verge of death, immediate treatment is recommended!