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Lex's first instinct was to leave and watch a replay of what the Devils were doing with his guests. He felt kinda stupid, he should have kept an eye on the Devils from the very getgo. Even though he kept it as a priority in his mind, keeping an eye on so many various aspects of the event, it was understandable that Lex overlooked it for a while. But comparing his performance to when he was in the 'flow' definitely shone a light on his shortcomings.

Still, he was only human. He would learn from his mistakes. Resisting his urge to watch a replay, Lex decided to continue waiting in line and see things for himself first hand. Besides, it would seem odd if he left right after being told he could have a breakthrough in his cultivation.

Lex waited patiently in line and chatted with the guy. His name was Batsa Acharya and was from a cultivation family in Nepal. Due to suffering from a lack of resources, he and his elder brother joined the ICPA policing the region and, over the course of many years, rose up in ranks.

Still, their positions weren't really high enough to be on the list of people who got an invitation to the Inn. He was a victim of the classic in the right place at the right time – his boss worked closely with one of the five ruling families and got an invitation and since Batsa was there as well, his boss brought him along. Batsa pulled some strings and brought his brother along as well.

Since they were chatting, and Lex was using his Leo persona, he had to introduce himself as well. But that was fine, Lex had already decided on a backstory for Leo. It went a little something like 'I am from Earth' and then provided no more details whatsoever. He avoided talking about himself by talking about random things he liked on Earth, such as movies, games, etc.

Eventually, as they chatted, the line moved along until it was Batsa's turn, who went ahead excitedly. Like the other recruitment stall, this one was surrounded by a formation to prevent sound from getting out. But there was no obstruction to sight, and Lex could see Batsa talking with animated excitement with the Devils..

Speaking of Devils, Lex turned his attention to the two but did not recognize them. These must be different from the ones that came in the first party. It was unfortunate that Lex could not view their statuses since he was not wearing the Host Attire. Although it was irritating that so many of his abilities in the Inn were linked to the suit, it made sense from a logical standpoint.

Lex's own individual cultivation was weak, and so to use abilities that came with a higher cultivation, he would need an intermediary. Rather than saying it was unfortunate that he needed the suit to use the Inn powers completely, it should be said he was lucky to get the suit in the first place. The only reason the suit had any power at all to begin with was because it was tapping into the systems control over the Inns territory to give Lex those abilities. It was a good beginners item as without it, Lex would not have performed nearly as well.

Turning his attention back to the Devils, he noticed that these two looked particularly young. On Earth, they would have qualified as teenagers – at most. Cultivation slowing down aging made it difficult to guess their actual age, but Lex bet they were relatively very young. The only alternative was that their cultivation was very, VERY high and that seemed unlikely.

One of the Devils had two sabertooth-like fangs sticking out of his mouth that extended even below his chin. His hair was golden brown, and with his fair skin and green eyes, a good description of him was devilishly handsome. The other Devil looked like he could actually be human – one of those humans who joined hardcore gangs, covered his skin in various tattoos and even tattooed the whites of his eyes black, but human nonetheless.

The 'tattoos' that covered this Devil's skin seemed to be some kind of writing Lex did not recognize. It was unfortunate that his universal translator was limited to speech and not writing, but he could purchase one of those for himself later.

When Batsa was finished, he directly teleported out of the Inn, impatient to begin his cultivation no doubt. There was no doubt that the various shows were interesting, but they meant little to Batsa.

Quickly forgetting about his new Nepali friend, Lex looked towards the Devils, who were patiently waiting for him. It was strange. Not that he was the kind of guy who judged a book by its cover, but the Devils really did not look like they would have a demure demeanor. Yet they welcome him with bright, albeit scary looking, smiles as he walked up to them.

"Hello, I was told you were helping people breakthrough in their cultivation here?" Lex said, putting on his best 'innocent face'. He had decided that Leo's personality would be a happy-go-lucky, naive and innocent one. That would make it easy for him to broach difficult subjects and ask questions people would rather avoid.

For a short moment, he considered making Leo's personality very secretive and hidden, so no one would ever be able to discern what his true intentions were as he secretly controlled things behind the scenes. It was only for a moment, though. He did not have the patience or the temperament to do that kind of thing, nor was he such a good actor. Simple and straightforward would work best for him.

"Quick to the chase, huh?" the Devil with the dark eyes said, chuckling. "Indeed, we're helping those we come across. But whether you can achieve a breakthrough or not is entirely up to you. We are simply giving out gifts to celebrate our first meeting. An introductory gift, if you will."

"First meeting? Are you planning another meeting?"

"Yes, the environment is very enjoyable here. We've decided to come to the Inn often to relax – life can be stressful, you know. And because of the reputation of Devils, it's not easy to make new friends. So we thought about giving out gifts. Everyone likes gifts, right? By the way, my name is Creel."

"And my name is Ahjour," said the Devil with sabertooth fangs.

"Oh, right! My name is Leo! I should have introduced myself first."

"Leo? You wouldn't happen to be the Leo that runs the Gamer's Den, would you?" asked Creel.

"Indeed, the one and the same. I'm surprised you recognized me."

"Haha, naturally we did," Creel said, becoming more animated all of a sudden. He truly looked like he was over the moon at meeting Leo. "I told you, we really enjoyed the Inn. We've met all the others from the Inn. Harry's promised to give me a haircut – when his cultivation increases. His cultivation was dependent on his soul, so for our meeting gift we gave him a little something to help his soul. He was really excited about that. John…" Creel gave out a defeated smile. "He was not so excited about the gifts and didn't seem to want to be friends. It is truly unfortunate. Still, although we did not get a chance to meet before, we heard your name from Z. It is truly a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise. I like making friends, let me know whenever you come by! Or if I'm not around, which is most of the time unfortunately, you can leave a message with Z. I would love to learn more about the 'Devils'."

"Likewise, I would love to chat with you some more. I'm very interested in learning how you became an employee. Who knows, maybe in the future we could be coworkers! Unfortunately, I can't spend too much time right now. The line is quite long," he said, pointing towards the guests waiting in line behind Lex.

"Who knows, I don't mind more coworkers, but you have to get the Innkeepers' approval."

"I'll bet that's not easy to do. But we can discuss that later. Tell me, what kind of gift would you like?"

This gift was one Lex would not miss out on, as he wanted to test it for potential traps.

"I need stuff to strengthen my soul as well. I've even put a commission for it in the Guild room. So if you have any more of the stuff you gave to Harry, something along those lines would be great."

Creel smiled, and with a wave of his hand, an opaque bottle appeared in the air.

"Drink this all in one go. It'll put you to sleep for some time, but when you wake up, your soul should be stronger."

"Thank you very much. Let me know when you have free time. I'm looking forward to seeing you again."

"Likewise."

Their conversation ended with that pleasant exchange, but as Lex turned to leave, his previous smile disappeared and he stared at the bottle heatedly – the exact look that the Devils were giving him.

Lex didn't know this, but his conversation had prompted the Devils into thinking that a requirement to become an employee at the Inn was a strong soul. They started analyzing this little detail to the best of their efforts, trying to look into what it could mean. None of them expected that it was a simple misunderstanding.

Lex walked away quickly, showing excitement on his face. As much as he wanted to disappear immediately, it occurred to him that he had spent too little time as Leo since this persona was created. The same way the Devils learnt of his name from Z, others might take notice of his quick patterns of appearance and disappearance. Of course, that alone would not be enough to give rise to suspicion about Leo being a fake persona.

Still, Lex believed he should be a little proactive and create a solid background for Leo a little at a time. He needed to spend a little more time with his 'coworkers' the way Harry and John seemed to have developed a relationship. That could wait for now, yet he really should at least check up on Z. The poor kid must have been working hard in his absence.

True to his expectations, Z was hard at work convincing people to leave him alone. As usual, the computers in the store were mostly unused, while the AR rooms were fully booked. Z was trying to convince a horde of aunties that he would not make a good boyfriend for their daughters or granddaughters and that he simply just wanted to be lazy. Yet the more he refused, the more adamant they became in their choice. Lex let out a genuine smile and decided he would meet Z another time.

He disappeared, returning to his apartment. His little feel good moment was over, it was now time to focus on the real task at hand. He stared at the opaque bottle, trying to discern anything. Of course, with his distinct lack of cultivation, he would learn nothing new about the bottle.

He put on his suit and prepared to use a loophole he had discovered to learn the details of this bottle. Unlike with guests, he could not analyze items and identify their properties. Yet what he could do was put his belongings into the Gift shop for sale. As soon as he entered an item in the Gift Shop, a description of that item would appear. All he needed to do was add the bottle to the shop to learn about its properties. This was a little something he discovered after Mary told him to start looking for loopholes. He was a little proud of himself when he did..

Truth be told, he did not anticipate anything harmful in the bottle or the other gifts the Devils had handed out. This was because should such a thing happen, the system would warn him the same way it had warned him about Devils putting trackers on his guests. But he needed to identify what their goal was and any little bit of information would help.

Lex added the bottle to the Gift shop, read its description and quickly removed it. As he suspected, there was no tampering with the item. It's description was:

Purified Wraiths blood

The purified blood of a wraith. In this purified form, it has a soothing effect on the soul by strengthening the cohesiveness of the body. Only effective for cultivators below the Foundation realm.

Lex set the bottle aside for later and decided to keep a close eye on the Devils. It was likely that, because they recognized him, their interaction with him was different from the one they had with other guests. He watched a replay of their interactions with a few different guests, and indeed there was a small detail they had missed out on when talking to him. They told all of their guests they will return to the Inn every 100 days or so, so if they were interested in meeting again they can time it accordingly.

Every 100 days signified a dedicated, strategic plan. The Devils definitely had some kind of ulterior motives. Lex would have to watch out. They mentioned wanting to join the Inn, maybe that was their end goal.

Either way, that was a matter for later. He turned his attention back to the various performances and looked for the stages with the largest crowds. He immediately picked out a pattern – whether the performers were Earthlings, soldiers or Beasts, the stages where they were playing music gathered the largest crowds. Maybe it was because such a thing was easier to appreciate and didn't require the level of attention the snake's performance did, or maybe there was a greater hidden secret to the matter. Either way, they were the most popular.

For Earthlings, the music they played was not that of bands or popular songs, but cultural music from unusual or lesser known instruments. He listened to each one, taking in their unique charm. It was as if each instrument had a personality.

The bagpipes, because of course there were bagpipes, were like loud and boisterous children, laughing and playing in the open, sharing their joy with everyone. Lex personally did not understand why people enjoyed listening to it, but he could certainly admit it was great to set a mood.

There were a few different kinds of unusually massive guitars. Lex could not identify what they were or what was special about them – he was not trained in music theory – but it sounded nice enough to gather crowds and that's what mattered.

He recognized the zither, but only because he'd seen it mentioned in so many novels. It sounded nice, but not as soul shakingly beautiful as it had been described in the novels. Of course, in the novels, the instrument was also always being played by a devastatingly beautiful girl who, often enough, ended up being the protagonists' love interest. Just to be safe, Lex decided to keep a distance from the bearded old man who was playing the instrument.

There were a few different variations on drums as well. There was one particular one that was being played by hand instead of sticks, which had a rhythm and tempo the others could not match. The man playing the drums by hand also happened to be a cultivator, much like the ballerina, so it made sense that his craft seemed better than the rest.

Yet out of all the various musical performances, once again, Lex's favorite was the one being performed by Beasts. On a particular stage, birds sat in organized rows and sang in a coordination that would put symphonies to shame. Parrots, Mockingbirds, Ravens, Blue jays and many more different kinds of birds Lex either did not know the names of or had never seen before combined their voices together to produce music that was so sweet and pure to listen to.

Lex closed his eyes and let himself be swept away by the sounds. It was filled with a freshness and vitality that was hard to explain. It was like the first gust of wind in the early morning after a night of rain, like the soft tickle of dew felt on bare feet. It felt like a deep breath of fresh mountain air, chilly enough to wake you up but not enough to cause you to tremble.

Lex enjoyed the music for an unexpectedly long time. Prior to this, he was confident that the humans would have this competition in the bag, but suddenly he wasn't so sure.

Still, there were many other stages to visit and Lex went through them one by one. He saw Igishima's display – the tree that needed time to prepare. His stage was covered in soil, out of which grew a field of flowers. In the center stood the tree, tall and firm, overlooking its children. The flowers bloomed and waned in a wave, traveling from one corner to another. Each flower lived just long enough to let out its beautiful smell, which, when combined with the smells of the other flowers, made Lex feel a freshness entirely different from the ones the birds made him feel.

It was so unusual, Lex had never used his sense of smell so much and so consistently without losing the ability to distinguish smells. Yet here it was, happening clearly and with direction. Even without the smell, watching the flowers move in such an organized way was already entertaining, yet the smells only elevated the performance. This was most likely another strong contender.

He viewed the other performances, each one unique and interesting in their own way. He could not say for his guests, maybe they would enjoy a different kind of entertainment, but Lex thoroughly enjoyed himself. He felt like this was the perfect activity for a vacation. It was not strenuous, yet was interesting and exciting enough to keep him captivated. There was no doubt that a lot of them were waiting for the second portion of the games, however. As enjoyable as these performances were, there was always a crowd ready to watch the excitement of battle.

With that, the day slowly passed and the first part of the cultural event came to a close. The guests could sleep here, or they could return to their planet, as the next portion would only begin in the morning.

As the day came to a close, most people returned to their planets. Still, with only a few of them choosing to stay at the Inn, there were a couple hundred people roaming the grounds. The usual peaceful atmosphere was still full of the buzz of many conversations taking place at the same time. The seats at the restaurant were full and so were the garden chairs outside. Most people who wanted to eat did so in their rooms or in the coliseum, simply because they had nowhere else to sit.

As proud as Lex was of everything he had done, and as much as he was growing the Inn, it was not ready to facilitate hundreds of people at once, let alone thousands. It was also not conducive to the Beasts, as he could shrink their size to make them fit in, but he wanted to make facilities that would allow them to stay their own size comfortably.

This was a stark reminder for him that, even with the millions he had earned and spent, the Inn wasn't as developed as it could be. Realistically speaking, any decent hotel in a normal city could accommodate more people than his Inn could comfortably. He always needed to be thinking of ways in which he could improve.

As he watched the hundreds of people, some of whom were simply sitting in the grass, having a picnic, he decided to take notes on things to improve. This event was like a round of testing for a new app, so that flaws could be determined and fixed.

Firstly, he needed more places to sit. But he needed to be creative with his solution, as he didn't want a giant structure that would be empty and useless at any time he had fewer guests. Of course, maybe there would come a time where he constantly had a lot of guests, in which case his giant structure would always be in use. Yet in his heart, Lex wanted the manor to remain unchanged. He did not want to increase its size to accommodate the growing number of guests.

There was another solution to this. Maybe he could leave the manor as is and build larger structures somewhere far away. This way, he could use the manor or guests with a high enough prestige level, or he could only take the guests he really liked there. But for that he would need to expand the size of the Midnight world as well.

Midnight world – that's what he decided to call the separate realm or space his Inn resided in, as he couldn't just keep referring to them as the grounds or the hills or even the inn.

Next, if the Inn really was supposed to be a vacation spot, he needed to add more activities. Even on vacation, if a person did not have anything to do for an extended period of time, they would get bored. Right now, if a guest wanted to go swimming, the only option they had was the tiny lake near the Recovery room. Considering the size of the lake, it was not a good option..

Fortunately, all was not lost. At least he had improved options in terms of food by adding the spiritual food, which was a big hit amongst the Earthlings. The soldiers were used to farmed spiritual food, so they treated it as usual and ate it casually, while Nibiru was an extremely vibrant world that gave birth to many spiritual plants and vegetables. For the Beasts, it was also ordinary. For the Earthlings, it was an amazing delicacy that not only tasted phenomenal; it aided their health and cultivation.

Either way, whether it was maintaining a high standard or providing an out of reach service, for different guests the spiritual food had accomplished different kinds of success and Lex was happy with that.

This was an independent happiness that Lex felt, aside from the 12,333 MP Lex had made from the food! Not to mention, he had sold 10 of his Midnight Inn suits, netting him another 90,000 MP! He also earned another 7000 MP from selling more commemorative coins and 7000 MP from his various services.

This brought his new total to 212,733 MP! He looked into why his income from the various services was the least and quickly came to a conclusion. Whether it was the Meditation room, Training room, Mystery trial, Barber shop or Battle Ax, they could only provide service to one person at a time. It was already a big deal to earn so much. With those rooms, the way to earn more was to have more of them to cater to multiple guests rather than increase their prices.

Adding multiple of those would also make the place more crowded, but he did not mind expanding Main street. After all, that was the whole point of putting everything together.

Lex was constantly scanning the Inn, checking on all his guests, when he spotted something in the Recovery room.

Marlo, who had lost access to the Meditation room when he briefly visited Earth, was standing inside a particular recovery pod room with another woman, looking down at the person in the pod.

They were both staring silently, and continued to do so as long as Lex watched. A quick rewind showed Lex that they had been that way for a few days now. Occasionally, Marlo left to go into a Recovery pod himself so his body's condition still wasn't stabilized, but would promptly return once he was good enough.

Curious about the situation, Lex checked the woman's status.

Name: Sophia Ramos/Bravi

Age: 60

Sex: Female

Cultivation Details: Golden Core Mid

Species: Human

Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1

Remarks: That is one emotional lady! Do not approach her in crocs, mismatched socks or smelling like food.

Lex was slightly confused about why her name had a slash in it, but suddenly understood that this was Marlos' wife. Larry had told him rumors about her relationship with the madman, but it seemed there was more to it. Lex checked the status of the person in the Recovery pod.

Name: Rafael Carter Bravi

Age: 37

Sex: Male

Cultivation Details: crippled

Species: Human

Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1

Condition:

The patient's body is extremely damaged! The patient suffers from hundreds of hairline fractures, amputated limbs, torn muscles and ligaments, a missing lung, failing kidneys, failing liver, severely damaged spine, fractured skull, severe brain damage, missing teeth, missing eyes, missing nose and a severely atrophied soul. It would be impossible to keep the patient alive with only the Recovery pod, but an unidentifiable source of vitality has been detected in the patient's heart – the only organ completely undamaged.

Assuming the vitality is continuously produced, it would take the patient 3 weeks and 4 days to reach optimum health in the Recovery pod. Further treatment via ORR (organic reconstruction room) is then recommended. The soul will require treatment, but no such facility is currently available at the Inn. Please figure out the necessary treatment on your own

Remarks: If it is one's destiny to die, the universe itself cannot stop it. If one is destined to live, then the universe itself will bend itself around you to provide the conditions for you to live.

Lex was startled when he read the status. This was clearly Marlo's son! He had never heard of Marlo having a kid, let alone one that was in such a bad condition. Maybe this was the reason why he and his wife had such a bad falling out.

It was also the first time he got a recommendation for the ORR. So far, he hadn't even set a price for that, as no guest had used it. That was because, for it to be usable, the patient's cultivation had to be below Lex's. Since Rafael's cultivation was crippled, he was technically below Lex.

For a moment, Lex hesitated. Considering his relationship with Marlo, he felt he should go say something. Or at least, he should let him know about the ORR. Yet at the same time, he felt awkward approaching the man in such a situation.

Finally, after letting out an exhausted sigh, Lex decided to go talk to the couple. The longer he waited, the more awkward he would become.

Teleporting right outside the Recovery pod room, Lex knocked. The sound startled the couple, as for the duration of their stay, no one had interrupted them. Marlo opened the door and felt a strange kind of relief when he saw the Innkeeper.

"Innkeeper," he greeted with a nod, his voice low and absent of his usual energy.

"Marlo," Lex acknowledged the man with a corresponding nod.

"Please come in. This is my wife, Sophia. Sophia, this is the Innkeeper that I was telling you about."

"Hello," she said simply, her gaze quickly returning to her son.

"I noticed you've spent the last few days here, so I thought I'd come in and check on the patient myself. I have some good news for you as well as some bad news for you. What would you like to hear first?"