The Innkeeper

Lex had to stifle his laugh as he read the remarks for the 1 Minute Butter Knife token. It seemed the system had felt offended at his disregard of the Butter Knife. To be honest, his remark had been somewhat motivated by how little the knife had helped him of late.

Indeed in the beginning it had helped him, but even with its upgrade from Butter Knife to Fruit Knife, it was merely able to handle Golden core cultivators. Sure, that was still above Lex's power level, but he had many powerful workers at the Inn now in front of whom a measly Golden core cultivator was nothing.

But it seemed he had taken the Butter knife lightly, as its upgrade sounded monumentally strong. Its description did not give an exact power level at which the knife was effective, but the remarks made it sound especially strong.

Lex knew that the system liked to joke or make fun of him, but in these matters it was extremely serious. Just the mention of so-called 'Gods' in the remarks made Lex believe that it was incredibly powerful. Well, he hoped he was not wrong, and so he kept it as a backup during an emergency.

After all, unlike the Butter Knife itself, which could only be used within the Midnight Inn, the token could be used by him anywhere.

It was a decent reward, not to mention the original reward.

Midnight Signature Brew Coffee:

A reinvigorating brew that can completely replenish a drained mind for an hour. Can be strengthened to match various cultivation levels based on the Hosts authority. Repeated use in a short time reduces its effects.

It was not a bad addition, and it was relatively cheap. But, since the strength of the coffee could be changed based on the cultivation level, he decided to use different prices for different levels. While the most basic version, which reinvigorated Qi training cultivators had a profit of only 1 MP, the highest authority Lex had to serve, which was the Nascent level, had a profit margin of 150 MP.

But Lex moved his thoughts away from his notification and turned his attention back to Aegis. Now that he had completed his quest, it was now time to deliver. Even for that, Lex's capitalistic mind- eh, no, his resourcefulness, allowed him to come up with a plan that would benefit them both.

Lex waited a few more minutes for Aegis' apparent breakthrough to conclude and for him to settle down, before he asked, "Tell me, Aegis, what do you know about the universe?"

"The universe?" Aegis repeated, confused.

Lex had been speaking their local language, so the word he used for 'universe' was correct, but therein lay the issue. Whenever anyone referred to their world or area within which they exist, they used the word 'realm'. Even the word 'universe' was a secret known only to a few, to the point where it was completely alien to Aegis.

"Simply put, the world that you know, the realm, the people, everything is only a small part of a much bigger one, that being the universe. The entire Crystal realm is like a grain of sand compared to the universe at large, and it is full of countless other realms just like the Crystal realm.

"There, not only can you meet those much stronger than yourself, you can learn and experience things far beyond your imagination."

"The Ascension realm!" Aegis suddenly said with a startled face, as if suddenly realizing something.

"There are rumors that when someone surpasses the Earth Immortal realm, the Crystal realm can no longer accommodate them, and sends them away to the Ascension realm! Honestly, for fear of being sent away is the only reason I can think of for why my father hasn't broken through yet! So it's true…"

Lex paused, for he had just heard something new. No one had mentioned this so-called Ascension realm to him so far, but it made sense since he was so far away from entering the immortal realm. But whatever it was, he was glad that Aegis knew of it, for it made his job easier.

"Yes, like the Ascension realm. But even that realm is merely one of many, many realms in the vast, never ending universe. Yet despite its vastness, there exists a place that can reach even the far corners of the universe, and can connect all the many realms. The name of that place… is the Midnight Inn."

Lex barely whispered the name, yet it clapped like thunder in Aegis' ears. He could not even imagine, despite his immense strength, a place that could connect all the realms in the so-called 'universe'. In fact, he could barely comprehend that there existed more realms even beyond the Ascension realm.

Suddenly a thought occurred to him and his eyes shrunk to pinholes.

"Midnight tavern," he said, as if just the name was a connection unto itself.

Lex merely smiled, and made no comment on that. Instead, he continued with his explanation.

"The Midnight Inn is a place where everyone is welcome as a guest, so long as one follows the rules. Yet one has to be extremely lucky if they wish to become something more than a simple guest at the Inn, and actually work for it. The opportunity I can present you with is a single chance to try and become an employee of the Inn. Of course, it's completely up to you if you don't want to, and can back out right up until the last moment if you think it isn't worth it. But, at least, you can go there and see for yourself."

Aegis absorbed the information, and though he didn't show it on his face, he had doubts about becoming an employee for a place he didn't understand. Fortunately, Lex was in no rush - mostly because golden and platinum keys couldn't be used here until he officially returned to the Inn and linked the Crystal realm to the Inn.

"You don't have to decide so quickly, for it will take me some time before I can provide you with the opportunity to enter the Inn. But just know this, I can provide you with an opportunity to enter the Inn for free - once. But if you really want to avail the chance and become an employee, you have to do something else first."

"What's that?"

"Nothing much, you simply have to deliver a platinum key to Zagan, and convince him to use it."

Aegis smiled weakly. Of course, nothing so great could come easily. The question was… how was he even supposed to track the ocean king? Even though he didn't know what he would do in the future, he began planning already for how to find the monster.

*****

In front of Cornelius stood Nora Haugen, his wife, and Cwenhild Haugen Cornelius, his daughter. Though something unusual was that his daughter seemed to have lost all of her cultivation, and was akin to a mortal. Yet she was not disappointed with that fact. Instead, there was a hint of pride hidden in her eyes.

"So you've succeeded?" Cornelius asked.

"Yes, and I'm here to complete our deal," said Nora, as she handed Cornelius a crystal with Cwenhild's latest cultivation method inside of it. Throughout this process, Cwenhild said nothing. The reason for that was her mother had sealed her mouth and body, for the little girl would no doubt pick a fight with Cornelius. She couldn't allow her daughter to ruin her plans when they were about to bear fruit.

"Good job little Cwen," he said, not letting on the fact that he had once again forgotten about her right up until they showed up here.

"You will be my second child to cultivate the True path, though I hope your performance is better than little Aegis. If you're half as good as that Lex child once you start on the True path, I'll consider rewarding you again."

Cwenhild, because she was frozen still, could not show her alarm when she heard Lex was a True path cultivator, but suddenly everything made so much sense. No wonder he was so strong. But after amazement, sorrow filled her heart.

Despite everything Nora told her, she still considered Lex as her half-brother and had already decided that he must have had a very tragic past. Hopefully, his future would be better.

"We'll be off then," Nora said, and summoned the metallic card given to her by Cornelius as payment for the technique.

She held onto her daughter's shoulder and crushed it, disappearing instantly from where they stood.

A second later, they appeared in a hall in an entirely different realm, with an old man with a long, white beard standing waiting for them.

"Welcome to Ventura, the largest school in the universe," the man said politely. "If you have arrived here, you most likely already know our policies, but I will repeat them for you nonetheless.

"Here, in Ventura, we only accept the best of the best. Whether it's your talent, your will, your character, your determination, your cultivation, or anything else, at least some aspect of yours needs to be of sufficient standard to gain entry. But fret not, for if you fail our admission test, there is still hope for you in one of our subsidiary schools, such as Ventura Platinum, Amethyst, Gold and so on. Now, which one of you will be taking the test, or will it be the both of you?"