The Innkeeper

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.

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