The Innkeeper

Chapter 1761: The Reveal I

The Midnight Inn was always humming with activity, though lately that active buzz had taken on a different flavor. Instead of countless Celestial and Heaven Immortals filling the crowds, now it seemed like more and more mortals were coming to the Inn.

Hundreds of new towns and cities had spread through the lands, connected by highways and trains, not to mention by lazy rivers and flying ships, yet most of the guests who came hardly ever left whichever town or city they appeared in.

An unprecedented time of prosperity was spreading through countless worlds in the Origin realm as worlds which were normally unconnected to the rest of their galaxy, let alone the realm, were now exposed to technologies and techniques available at the Midnight Inn.𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Of course, not everything was perfect and peachy. Some authoritarian regimes became more powerful with access to the Inn, and some warring planets gained access to better weapons and techniques through it as well.

Such things troubled Lex, but as long as his guests followed the rules of the Inn, he couldn’t really act against them. This left a bad taste in his mouth, but he didn’t know the perfect solution for this either. After all, if he restricted certain guests or planets, his guest satisfaction rating would fall, and that would make his life harder.

Fortunately, not everything needed to have a simple and straightforward solution. Lex ordered his workers to come up with a plan using karma and other possible markers to evaluate guests and use that to possibly make it harder or easier for them to avail Inn services.

For now, though, this was still something he was just considering. Obviously life was not always so easy or straightforward, so it was difficult to judge people. More importantly, if he discriminated between guests his system would penalize him. So it was simply a research project until something changed, or they came up with an amazing answer.

Yet even with the countless worlds worth of mortals now coming to the Inn, the hustle and bustle these days could scarcely be compared to a short while ago during the Death Matches between the Jotun Empire and the Fiery Mammoths.

With the end of that conclusion, the Jotun Empire had become even stronger, gaining a new galaxy to control, and the prestige of the Henali had grown as well. It was truly an event that shook up the entire realm.

Yet unbeknownst to most, at the Midnight Inn, there was another event taking place where the prestige of the guests was even more distinguished. The Henali had the largest presence there, followed by some of the more prominent races of the Origin realm. Even a number of dragons had shown up.

Yet what was truly surprising was that a number of guests from outside the Origin realm had also shown up. The Humanoid Alliance made an appearance, though considering the presence of Devils, it seemed the alliance was always there. Versalis Bank also sent a number of representatives and had in fact brought a number of their own guests as well.

The A.I. had also sent some representatives, and a number of Deities had also sent their priests.

Speaking of Deities, it had occurred to Lex that it was highly unusual that the Midnight Inn could allow Deities to enter from within their realms, even though that was supposed to be a very difficult thing to do. He had no idea how it worked, and he assumed that neither did anyone else - which is why no one had ever mentioned it. They just took it for granted that the Innkeeper had somehow made it possible.

A number of representatives had also come from the Crystal realm - though neither the Crystal race nor the Trelops made an appearance. Lex was kind of interested in seeing what a Trelop at the Inn would look like, considering every time he saw them, they seemed to be fused with some kind of geographical feature.

Now the Inn had had guests from multiple realms before as well, but it was the first time they were invited in such a covert fashion, for they were all invited to an auction that had not been widely marketed. Perhaps most of them only came to honor the invitation without expecting much from the auction itself, as next to no information had been given about it.

Even then, the crowd gathered in the secluded auction arena that had specifically been built for this event was quite large, and quite distinguished.

Nearly a hundred Celestial Immortals had gathered for the event, but they weren’t exactly mingling. Individual cabins had been assigned to all parties, and most of them stayed within. If they conversed with one another, they did so in a covert fashion so that none could detect it.

Lex smiled. He had made a lot of preparations for this auction. It would be a memorable one, for more than one reason.

"Why would your brother invite us to something like this?" Levi whispered to Liz, even though there was no real need for it. Within their private cabin, none could see or hear them - not unless they specifically lowered the barriers. "It’s quite clear that we’re out of place here."

As a peak Celestial Immortal herself, Levi was not intimidated by all the other Immortals here. In fact, her cultivation was actually a bit higher than many of the others who had arrived. Even so, the place smelled like political intrigue, and she didn’t like it. As a Rosy Bear, she was especially sensitive to conspiracies, and she could practically smell the undercurrents in the air.

"Just so that we can take a look around. Isn’t it cool? This is the kind of thing we wouldn’t normally be allowed to attend without a sufficient background. Now that we’re here, we can learn so much," Liz responded eagerly. She had studied about many of these organizations in Ventura. Now she was actually getting to see them!

Levi was about to rebut, yet there was some movement on the stage which attracted their attention, so she held her tongue.

From behind the velvet curtain a figure emerged - a slow, deliberate motion, as though she was completely at ease under the gaze of so many elites.

Lex’s smile widened mischievously. It had begun.