The Innkeeper

Chapter 1998: Probation

There was one other major consequence of the wars breaking out. Among the upper echelon of the universe, the name of the Midnight Inn had become well known. It was not only because many theorized that the previous two universal projections were from the Innkeeper, but because of his exceptional teleportation abilities.

Over the few months since the war had started, many forces had started to experiment with the reach and timing of the golden keys. It was not for nothing that the number of guests inside the Inn had reached billions, then tens of billions, and even hundreds of billions in a short time.

Massive mega-cities, numerous towns and villages cropped up like anything, with Umbragard City being one such example. By now, the other houses had also built their own mega-cities, with each city easily being able to cater to billions.

Of course, that was only when guests’ sizes were shrunk down, which was often the case. However, certain guests found it offensive for their sizes to be shrunk, so the Inn had to cater to them as much as possible as well. At first, the sleeping Mountain man, the 100 mile spaceship and the World Eater hanging above the skyline were the most prominent sights in the Midnight Inn.

Now, that was no longer the case. Wyverns and drakes flew in the skies, prehistoric looking animals roamed the lands, and the diversity of the place was expanding faster than anyone expected.

The Guest Glossary, which recorded the race of the guests that entered the Inn, their categories and preferences, had exploded, already listing over 100 million races.

If, under normal circumstances, the number of guests had exploded by this much, it would have been a logistical nightmare. Even with the Inn automating most things, just greeting or serving a drink to so many guests would overwhelm the Inn.

So, Lex’s decision to restart buying workers from the system, and then training them, came at an opportune time.

There was a proper hierarchy among workers, and it wasn’t based on their cultivation realm though, for now, it seemed that way. Instead, the hierarchy was how much time they had spent with the Inn. That gave them seniority, and so the older members all quickly fell into managerial roles. As it happened, most of them were Earth Immortals.

There were some key exceptions, since some guests took offense if the person waiting on them was too weak. They wanted to be served by immortals, and so that’s when these workers stepped in.

A majority of the workers, though, were normal mortals. That meant they had to work in small cycles, needed rest, food, and time to cultivate.

Fortunately, the speed at which the guests were coming in suddenly slowed down. Once the Major forces of the universe realized that the Innkeepers’ command over teleportation far surpassed 99.999999% of the universe, including almost all Elder races, they became extremely wary of him.

They figured out a way to restrict the access of the golden keys within their realms and territories, locking off massive segments of the universe from being able to access the Midnight Inn.

At the same time, their representatives went to the Inn, sending Letters of Intent. Only after they could meet with the Innkeeper personally, understand his motives, and hopefully come to an agreement, would their territories once again open back up to the Inn.

For now, the Innkeeper had not responded to any of the Letters of Intent, but that was not surprising. The concept of time was entirely different for Dao Lords.

Still, the guests kept coming in, and Devils were no longer the most common race among guests. Yet the Devils had attained a new honor inside the Midnight Inn.

"Boss, we have a problem," one of the workers in the Security room said, connecting directly to the so-called boss. "We’re picking up some heavy malicious intent. The Sybian Grizzlies have locked in on a group Purple Feathered Flamingos. They’re planning on attacking them. There are over 800 Sybian Grizzlies, and their leader is mid-level Heaven Immortal. Should I send one of the mercenaries to deal with it?"

There was a slight delay in response, as if the ’boss’ was thinking.

"Negative. This will be a good opportunity for me to give the newbies some hands-on experience," a familiar voice responded. "And stop calling me boss just because you’re a part of my house."

The security guard smirked.

"Sure boss."

On the other end of the connection, a man put on the black gloves his girlfriend had gotten him. She had also gotten him a grey scarf and a hat, and when all accessories were worn, they complimented the Inns suits very well.

Gerard turned on his golf cart, and looked back at the Inns latest regiment of security guards: devils.

"Alright, even though you have not completed your etiquette training for how to behave with guests, I’m going to give you a crash course on how to deal with delinquents."

For many years already, Devils had been trying to join the Inn, but were repeatedly the most rejected race out of all applicants. That is because most of them had the intention of using the Inn to break free from the control of Devil Royalty, and then to use the Inn to further their scams- no, eh, their businesses.

These few had originally been no different. The only exception was that they requested Lilith to speak on their behalf, hoping to get preferential treatment and acceptance at the Inn. What they got, instead, was a lesson on manners and discipline. To be more specific, Gerard first personally beat all their negative intentions out of them in fair, one-on-one matches. Then, he realigned the concept of what a true devil is in their minds by sending them to train under Luthor. What followed was a nightmare straight out of Hell - to be more specific, the Hell that Luthor was building in an underground dungeon, right beneath the Heaven that the turtle was building.

Long story short, the Devils sold their souls to Gerard for 500 years to be free of Luthor, and thus became probationary security guards at the Inn. Wherever they arrived, guests would become intimidated by their numbers and aggressive auras. What no one realized was that the true devils were hiding among them in human form.

Without a single word of complaint, the devils turned on their golf carts as well. It looked like they would get a chance to relieve their grievances on some Grizzlies. How fortunate for them, and how unfortunate for the Grizzlies.