The Innkeeper

Chapter 1769: The ultimate sleep

The two siblings looked at the third like he was crazy. With the expansion of the Midnight Inn, the development of countless cities, and the extra emphasis on mortals bringing in hundreds of millions of mortal guests, the role of the Guild room had really picked up.

Despite the fact that the Guild room only took 1% of all transactions through the Guild, it had actually become one of the Inns largest contributors to income, far surpassing most services. But the Inn wasn’t the only one who benefited from the Guild. There were also many mortals, like the three siblings, who had come to the Inn with little to no income of their own. Even with the Inn dividing itself into levels, with lower levels being specifically designed as well as being cheaper for mortals, it cost a significant sum of money. Fortunately, with the increase in the number of guests at the Inn, so too did the opportunities to work increase in the Guild.

The opportunities were, quite frankly, quite diverse, ranging from trade and commerce to something as simple as teaching and daycare.

Sure, the Inn had a daycare of its own of superb quality. But hiring a nanny through the guild was cheaper. Sure, the Inn had Training rooms and a library containing countless techniques, but not everyone could be self-sufficient in learning, and required a one-to-one teaching environment. Some people just preferred a more familiar method of doing things, even if better alternatives were available.

Combined with the fact that countless families were more or less directly emigrating to the Inn, using all the opportunities available at the Inn to make money on their own worlds while personally living inside the Inn, even more job opportunities had opened up. Sure, the Inn staff helped out a lot, but it wasn’t like the Inn staff’s responsibilities extended to babysitting a guest’s entire life. In fact, with the increased population of guests, not having enough staff was one of the problems Lex was facing.

He didn’t want to increase more staff by hiring them directly from the system, but he also didn’t want to massively increase his externally hired workers, as that would slowly corrode the work environment that he had created at the Inn. He was already working on a solution for that, but none of that was of any concern to the three siblings.

"You guys do whatever you want, okay," said the third sibling, waving his hand dismissively. "Let me go catch up on my sleep."

Without waiting for the barrage of comments and insults that he knew were coming, the third sibling scampered off. After all, it was his hard earned MP, and he’d use it to sleep with it if he so damn well pleased. He would have loved to do that even if the Inn hadn’t undergone a so-called upgrade, but he was now especially looking forward to his well earned rest.

Anthony, the third sibling, practically hummed to himself as he strolled through the greenbelt before arriving at the redbrick apartment building where he had a room. The name of the building was Avalon, which sounded cool. Anthony had heard that there was an identical Avalon building in every Inn city - a copy of the original built on Main Street.

There was some history behind it, he was sure, if it was true. But considering that Main Street was in a higher-level area, and it would cost more to go there, Anthony wasn’t really up to verifying the truth. He could have just asked someone, but... it was just the name of a building. He didn’t give it any more thought than was necessary.

He strolled in, catching sight of a few new faces. Considering the nature of the Inn, it wasn’t a surprise that the tenants of the building kept changing, but Anthony had made a special request that every time he rented a room, it should always be the same one, almost making him feel like he was living here.

He didn’t have any personal belongings in his room but... honestly, he was used to living frugally, so he didn’t have many belongings to begin with.

With bubbling excitement, Anthony reached his room and took in a deep breath as soon as he stepped in, closing his eyes to focus on the smell. The Midnight Inn really thought of everything.

Since it was his room, it always smelled great, varying between a number of his favorite smells - and occasionally even introducing him to new ones he hadn’t smelled before! Today, his room smelled like the crisp morning air on a forest floor. It was fresh, grassy and earthy, with a hint of morning dew.

It reminded him of a time he and his siblings were homeless, living in the forest beside the city they grew up in because, ironically, the forest was safer than the city. By all accounts, such a time should have been the worst. It should have been filled with horrible and depressing memories, but honestly, Anthony missed those days.

It was a simpler time. He and his siblings would play around all day, foraging for food or maybe getting a day job just to scrounge up enough money for a hot pot roast pie to share between the three of them. That chilly weather and that hot meal, those nights sleeping under the stars... people called him crazy, but he missed it. Well, his siblings, not people. But they were entitled to their own opinions - even if they were wrong.

Anthony allowed his mind to wander to those fond memories, guided by that nostalgic smell, as he made his way to the shower.

"My god, what a shower," he softly exclaimed as he stepped in, looking at the multiple showerheads pointing towards him. He turned the knob to warm water, and turned the shower on. Jet streams of water sprayed down at him from above at various angles, and even from his sides, perfectly blanketing him in the complete embrace of that refreshing water.

"Just a little more," he murmured as he increased the water pressure. He didn’t want to be showered, he wanted to be attacked by the streams of water. He could not help but groan as his muscles loosened, and the sweat and grime from his hard day of work just washed away. Even the unwitting mental strain and stress he had accumulated throughout the day were washing away with the water, leaving him feeling light and completely at ease.

Honestly, why would he pick meditating over this? Sure, cultivation, long life, strength, etc. etc. But honestly, the way Anthony saw it, over-meditation was putting the cart before the ox. What was the point of a long life if you spent it all just working? No, he needed to enjoy his gains as well.

After a shower that ended up being a lot longer than he planned, Anthony stepped back into his room in bathrobes, smelling pinewood and mint body wash. It seemed the smells were leaning heavily into the forest theme today, not that he minded.

The temperature in the room had dropped further, going from comfortable to chilly - just as Anthony had planned. He sat down in front of his balcony and picked up the steaming cup of hot chocolate, sipping at it slowly as the warm beverage soothed and healed him from things he didn’t know needed healing. All he wanted was a warm glass of chocolate milk before bed.

The anticipation of what was to come made him want to rush, but he savored the drink, forcing himself to take in the moment.

Once he was done, though, it was time. Removing his bathrobe, Anthony put on his pajamas, and threw himself into the ocean of blankets and pillows, of duvets and comforters that was his bed, drowning in fluffy, cozy, feathery goodness.

The apartment was nice and cold, soothing and cooling his head - the only part of his body not inside the blanket burrito he had made for himself - while his body was nice and cozy inside his quilts.

At the same time, the silence inside the apartment slowly transitioned into the sound of a forest at night. It was filled with the sounds of the wind, blowing through the trees and the grass, of the sounds of a stream, far off in the distance. There were no predators in this forest, just serenity, and memories of the good times.

Anthony did not even realize when he dozed off. Honestly, as a Golden Core cultivator, his need for sleep wasn’t so severe, yet he never missed out on the chance to sleep. That was because the body healed, and even grew, during sleep. Sleeping inside the bed provided by the Midnight Inn massively multiplied the results of sleep, so much so that Anthony was no longer just sleeping and healing. No, his body began to grow stronger, firmer, more durable. Although he had not started out as a body cultivator, the effects of constantly sleeping at the Inn, breathing in that abundant spiritual energy and eating all that good food, had inadvertently turned him into a body cultivator.

His siblings were concerned that in the path of cultivation, Anthony’s nonserious attitude would cause him to fall behind. What they didn’t know was that Midnight Inn wasn’t the best Inn in the universe for nothing. It did more than provide a place to rest. It provided a place to grow.