The Innkeeper

There was a first time for everything - except, of course, time travel back in time. But excluding things that fundamentally altered the universe, there was a first time for everything.

When Lex became an Immortal, he hardly ever came across situations where his mental capacity was strained. Even simultaneously controlling a dozen clones, living out their lives did not not make him as much as sweat.

But as he activated every sense he had available, from spirit sense, to soul sense, to the ability of his left eye to see through everything, to his Karmic eye and even the ability of his tenet to detect laws, he felt strained.

To be specific, it was not activating all those senses simultaneously that strained him. But trying to absorb all the information about how the realm was changing put him under an immense strain.

What started out slowly and subtly was becoming fast and more obvious, to the extent that even some guests could tell that something was happening. They couldn't tell what was happening, but they could tell that something was happening.

The most uptodat𝓮 n𝒐vels are published on freёnovelkiss.com.

Of course, none of them were concerned because the Midnight Inn was absolutely safe, and the changes somehow made them feel even safer. But none understood even a fraction of what was happening besides Lex.

The Midnight Realm was undergoing a fundamental change, patching up flaws and security risks Lex did not even know existed.

One would think that Lex would get tired of encountering problems he didn't even know existed. But, to be fair, he was very young, and the universe was very old, so it was only fair that there was a lot of stuff he didn't know about.

More importantly, even if he didn't know about them before, he was learning about them now. That was precisely why he felt so strained.

The maturity level of a realm depended on how many of its laws had been formed or become concrete. Most of these laws formed naturally, or as a result of the trends of the realm. For example, the very existence of the Tree of Heaven for so long within the Midnight Realm, and the immense influence it exerted on the realm, resulted in laws necessitating the existence of such a tree.

Now, in the very spot where the previous Tree of Heaven died, a new tree had already grown, primed to take over some of the climate and spiritual energy control that it used to do.

Similarly, the existence of the Midnight Inn would, over the years, begin to shape the laws of the realm to adapt to its existence.

Now, under the influence of the changes that the Inn was causing, some of those laws began to form prematurely. Moreover, instead of forming randomly, they were being gently guided towards a specific direction.

That intrigued Lex more than anything. The laws still formed naturally, as the formation of laws was an extremely complex process that even Dao Lords studied. But a subtle nudge here, a soft addition of a certain kind of energy there, and the end result seemed to compliment the Inns' needs perfectly.

The greatest change that Lex could directly notice, which coincidentally also served the Inn perfectly, was that the environment underwent the slightest change. Much in the way that the Seraphim Resort created an environment that kept everyone just slightly positive, the environment inside the Inn changed ever so slightly so that residents were less likely to suffer infiltration from Heart Demons or Internal Demons.

Considering that demons were very real, and were under control of Devils, making their infiltration less likely was closing a security flaw that Lex had never even considered really. At the same time, it made the environment inside the realm more comfortable, even if the residents didn't understand why.

The greatest tragedy was that even though Lex could observe every change taking place, he couldn't even understand 10% of what was actually happening. In the hopes that it may one day help him, he tried to memorise all the changes so that one day when he was at a higher cultivation level, he could look back and learn from it.

Yet trying to memorize what was happening in the realm was like trying to catch the wind with one's hands. Lex could, of course, do exactly that if he wished. But in this example, the person trying to catch the wind was a mortal, so it wasn't really possible.

Yet even what he could observe was a mere fraction of the level of detail that the system was going into to protecting the Inn during this event. Within the Folklore realm, a rumor began to spread about an Inn that was perfectly safe.

Within the Nightmare realm, all memory of the Inn faded, as if no one in the universe could have a nightmare with the Midnight Inn in it at all.

The Record Keeper in the Realm of Legends wrote down in his scroll that of all types of hospitality establishments, one was least likely to suffer harm inside an Inn.

The Void around the Midnight Realm became more turbulent and difficult to traverse, and somehow became a deeper point of the Void, seldom traveled.

The influence of Destiny on the Inn weakened even further, and the connections of Karma that the Inn had across the universe no longer pointed to the realm, and instead pointed to the foundation of the universe itself.

A hundred such changes occurred every second, and a thousand changes, even more abstract, occurred every moment.

Of all the changes, Lex noticed one change that was most unusual and seemed to have nothing to do with protecting the Inn at all. The curly fries being sold in all the restaurants across the realm suddenly became crunchier and more delicious.

The deliciousness factor was entirely objective, and they would have appealed to any race regardless of their taste.

He could not understand at all how that helped protect the Inn at all, but he wasn't really going to complain about having delicious curly fries.

For forty short, or exceedingly long based on who was asked, minutes Lex observed the changes that happened in the realm until they eventually stopped. With literal smoke coming out of his ears, Lex finally relaxed, and allowed his body and mind to calm down.

Even though he had been focusing on the realm, he kept a portion of his mind on the situation inside the Inn, and it had all calmed down.

The number of guests had somewhat stabilized around 140 billion, and the majority of them were behaving. A small portion of them still misbehaved, whether out of habit or some other ulterior motive, but the Midnight Inn now seemed to have a formidable number of guards keeping watch.

Even the otter was behaving, so all things considered, this event was going really well.

In fact, things were so under control that Lex even felt like he could relax and actually watch the death match.

There was only an hour and forty minutes left to the match itself, so just enough time to take care of things. Considering that the number of guests inside the Inn was greater than ever before, it would be just right for the Innkeeper to make an appearance.

Although Lex didn't like the fact that the otter had threatened a majority of his guests, it was a fact that his statement had dissuaded most troublemakers. That was recognition. The Henali's strength was recognized and feared, while the Innkeeper had a reputation among those who knew of him. Yet the majority of his guests, at least a majority of his guests today, had no idea about him.

Now this wasn't to say that Lex would make a blatant display of power. Ne, he wouldn't do something so crass. He would just send a projection, maybe say a few welcoming words, make everyone feel welcome. If, by pure happenstance, during that process, the guests felt his aura and were impressed, then that would just be a happy coincidence.

Lex sat back in his chair, allowing his body to cool down and recover from his previous exertion, as he planned his next steps. He had to admit, he felt a hint of anticipation for the upcoming match.

As if in response to his anticipation, Lex heard a sound he was all too familiar with, but was not expecting at all.

With a hint of confusion, he looked towards his system interface.

New Joint Quest Issued!

New Joint Quest: On a battlefield of ancient powers, the Reaving Dread carve out a path towards salvation. Yet on their epic journey, all their allies fell, and none could offer them aid. Legends need none to offer them a hand in battle, but occasionally they need respite. Bring the Midnight Tavern to those who need rest, and cannot leave their duties unfulfilled. Time to quest initiation: 1 hour

Remarks: Welcome to the universes playing ground. Once you enter, there's no going back, so make sure to use the bathroom before you leave.