The Innkeeper

"Are you sure?" Alexander asked excitedly. "You can break through to the Nascent realm here?"

"Yes," answered Brandon with gleaming eyes. "The environment here is like inside the Fusion chamber except without all the danger and instability. I can feel the bottleneck for my body cultivation loosening. In fact, even my spiritual cultivation is already improving. This place is definitely not in our solar system."

The Morrison's all shared a knowing look, as they tried to process the ramifications of what they had just learnt. An environment which would allow cultivators to breakthrough above the Golden Core was absent on Earth. Even the Minor realms that opened up on Earth had a similar environment, and did not allow for such growth. The reason for why exactly no one could breakthrough was unknown, but it was generally agreed that Earth was lacking something. It was important to note, only humans suffered this blockage and Beasts were often able to ascend to the higher realm. As for why the Beasts never took over Earth since they had an advantage, that was a secret few knew…

A secret almost no one knew was that on Earth currently there were five Nascent realm cultivators. Each of the five had ascended through unique chances or coincidences that could not be replicated. Brandon had made the breakthrough in a specially designed chamber called the Fusion chamber. The reason for that name was because the chamber was bombarded with concentrated spiritual energy and radiation from several Nuclear Reactors. The theory was that the radiation could be treated using spirit arrays and technology to convert it into extremely concentrated spiritual energy which would create the necessary prerequisite to breakthrough. The idea was inspired by Nuclear power plants.

Yet while Brandon had succeeded in breaking through, everyone else who had tried so far died instead, which is why it was not an idea that was being widely used. The Morrison family was conducting various types of research on how to stabilize the energy in the chamber, or to increase the efficiency of the conversion of energy.

Yet that was all redundant now. The Inn gave them a convenient place to make their breakthroughs! All their current expansion plans, as well as their plans to snub out the little rebellion that was being planned on Earth had to be put on hold.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourselves," said the Innkeeper, who had been standing there for a while now. "If you want to cultivate or breakthrough a realm, I recommend you try out our Meditation room. Its environment is very conducive to cultivation."

"Hello Innkeeper," said Alexander, who remembered just realized that they had been ignoring their host in their excitement. "This is my father, Rorick. These are my grandparents, Brandon and Audery." The family politely greeted the Innkeeper.

"Welcome," replied the Innkeeper. "I hope you find my little establishment to your liking. If you need anything, do not hesitate to ask."

"How is Helen doing? Is she feeling alright?" Alexander asked, concerned about his friend.

Lex mentally swept the Inn for her and found her at the barbershop.

"She is currently receiving a makeover at our barbershop. Would you like me to take you over?"

"That would be great, thank you."

Lex started leading the family towards the barbershop at a gentle pace. They looked around where they walked, but with the power of the suit he could feel them using their spiritual sense to observe the place.

"Alexander tells me that you receive guests from all over the universe and not just Earth. Is that true?" asked Rorick.

"Yes of course. The Midnight Inn can be accessed from anywhere in the universe. Even right now we have guests from multiple planets in our grounds. Everyone comes with their own purposes, and we try to fulfill all their needs."

He was monitoring all his guests with his powers right now, as there were a lot of them and he would need to manage any situation that came up. Will had led his group to the Recovery Room so he quickly told Velma to go there mentally in case they needed to use any of the rooms. He was shorthanded and thought of just hiring another A.I. for the Recovery room, but he only had 2126MP on hand at the moment and didn't want to spend the last of it on another big expense. He had to leave himself some buffer space, especially considering Marlo was consuming MP everyday!

"Our Recovery room is usually a big hit amongst guests. Even Alexander found use for it with Helen being poisoned. We have Meditation rooms for anyone who wants to cultivate, and Training rooms for anyone who wants to hone their combat skills. We have a Mystery trial as well, that tests the guests greatest skill whatever it may be. Anyone who can complete the trial can receive an award, though that may be harder than it seems. It is completely safe though, so there is no need to worry. Other than that we, of course, have our Inn where guests can stay to rest and recuperate. Soon we will have even more attractions, so keep visiting if you want to keep up with the excitement."

"Would it be possible for us to meet some of the guests from other planets? We've never met someone from the rest of the universe before, it would be an enlightening experience."

Lex looked back at Brandon who had made the request. His request made sense, who wouldn't be curious in this situation. Yet Lex was slightly concerned, he did not want anyone to get into a fight over anything since Lex had the lowest cultivation here and wouldn't be able to stop anyone!

"I can naturally introduce you to some of our guests. If they are so inclined, you can chat with them as much as you want about the rest of the universe. But if they are not up to it, I hope you respect their wishes. Disturbing other guests and causing issues can get you banned from the Inn."

This family wanted to cultivate at the Inn, so naturally a ban was the greatest threat to them.

"I will make sure my parents behave," said Rorick very seriously. The look on his face was grave, as if he was embarking on a suicide mission.

By this time they reached the barbershop and entered to find Harry working very seriously on Helen's hair. A floating towel would dab Harry's forehead from time to time to wipe off his sweat, because while all the actual work was being done by the floating utensils Harry was exhausting himself by simply reciting his incantations.

The family looked at Helen curiously, but Audery was the one who immediately noticed something unusual. She had seen this girl, or at least pictures of this girl, before. Although it could be said that she was a pretty lass, she would not stand out in a crowd. Right now, however, she was radiating charm and charisma that would catch anyone's eye. The strange thing was, she didn't look any different. Her skin wasn't any clearer or fairer, she was wearing no makeup, her hair style was fairly ordinary. The source of the change was her expression. It was as if she was free and happy, from the bottom of her heart. It was such a simple thing, but the soft smile of her lips was pure enough to touch people's hearts.

Finally Harry finished, and threw himself on the sofas behind himself. He was completely out of breath, as if he had run a marathon and could barely stand on his own.

"Get some rest Harry, I think you've done enough for the day."

Harry smiled weakly at the Innkeeper and said, "yes, that was more exhausting than I imagined. But at least let me see the result of my hard work first."

With that the two looked towards Helen, who finally woke up from her trance. She felt a strange sense of lightness. For a moment, she felt like a child again, pure and happy with no worry or care in the world. She looked at herself in the mirror to find that instead of her hair getting shorter, it had somehow gotten longer. It fell halfway down her back, but with a natural flow that looked elegant. She smiled, completely unaware that she captivated everyone in the room.

"Helen, how are you feeling?" asked Alexander.

She hadn't noticed the extra people in the room, but the young man's voice alerted her to their presence. When she looked at Alexander she found that curiously, she didn't feel anything. Previously, whenever she looked at him she would feel love and longing, along with the bitter pain of knowing that they were never meant to be, as well as a little hope, deep inside her heart that maybe someday, somehow they could be together. Yet now, looking at him she felt the same way she did when looking at just another friend.

Who could have blamed her for falling in love with him? Or maybe it was infatuation instead. He was a handsome and brilliant young man, polite yet assertive, strong yet sensible. He had achievements people could only dream of and a destiny that eclipsed anyone around her. Naturally she, along with most of the girls in her class, gravitated towards Alexander. But now suddenly she no longer felt that longing. She simply felt that even if he was the best person in the whole universe, if he was not the one for her then it did not matter. She would only give her heart to someone who appreciated and loved her.

This did not mean that she disliked Alexander, or liked him less. It simply meant she could finally simply be friends with him, without other thoughts.

"I'm great, Alexander. I'm great," the girl replied.