The Innkeeper

Fenrir had been undergoing a growth spurt, but it quickly learnt that the larger it grew, the more obvious its existence became to the bossy turtle. As such, he had been trying hard to repress his growth. He was not able to do that, but by focusing so much on a specific thing, he was able to unlock a bloodline ability that let it manipulate its size.

These days, it spent most of its time either the size of an ordinary dog or the size of a pup. It was unfortunate, since the larger he became, the more love the various guests would give him, which was nice. But the turtle was too scary, he had to avoid it.

As for what made it scary? No matter how Fenrir displayed its bloodline repression, the turtle would remain unaffected. At least in other beasts, this was not an ordinary reaction. Even the grumpy dragon atop the mountain gave him at least a snort when he used his repression.

So, when Fenrir was summoned, he appeared before Lex in the size of a pup. He was asleep, for it had exhausted itself from fighting the turtle. The change in the environment, though, immediately startled it awake. Its size immediately more than tripled as it readied itself for a fight, yet it was immediately assaulted by a familiar scent.

The next moment, its eyes laid on Lex, and its body froze. It sniffed a few times to check, but Lex's scent was both familiar and yet different. Who could blame him? His body had absorbed so many metals, his scent was the least of the changes he had undergone.

Yet it was neither the scent nor the familiar sight that assured them of each other's identity. It was the bond they shared that tied them together as partners.

Fenrir howled in excitement as it quickly leaped onto Lex, not bothering to care that in its current size it was much larger than Lex.

Had this occurred before Lex's breakthrough, he would have fallen over, but now the massive size was naught but a minor inconvenience.

Compared to Fenrir's excitement, Lex was a lot more emotional. It had been months since he had gotten stuck at the Inn, and a part of him believed that it would be years before he ever got a chance to return. He had resigned himself to being unable to meet anyone he was familiar with, and in honesty, he had made decent friends here as well.

That did not change the fact that, deep down, Lex had missed the Inn terribly. Somehow, he missed it even more than Earth itself. As for his family… Lex had been keeping himself from thinking about them for quite a while.

Still, the joy in his heart swelled at finally seeing a familiar face. He had used a support token on Fenrir which allowed him to summon and un-summon him from the Inn to wherever he was. Unfortunately, he had been sent to the Crystal realm, which was not another world but another realm.

Due to the complexities involved in traveling from one realm to another, not only was Lex stuck behind until he gathered enough energy, he could not exchange items from the Inn in the way he usually could. For example, he used to be able to buy healing items from the gift shop and use them on himself, but was no longer able to do so.

Now, with the Inter-realm broadcast unlocked, not only was this issue resolved, it would change the nature of Lex's stay at the Inn.

To be specific, all the Inter-realm broadcast allowed the Inn to do was, when required, broadcast a special signal to other realms, allowing the system to, temporarily, form a connection between the Inn and that realm.

This was different from how the system acted within the Origin realm, which could be accessed by the system at any time all at once. But, by having a broadcast, through whatever unique method it used, the Inn could maintain its normal functionality to other realms as well.

There was only one drawback to this, which is that while in the Origin realm, things like the golden key could instantly connect, in other realms, there would be a considerable delay.

For Lex, this represented two major changes. The first was that, from now on, not only would he be able to connect other worlds, but other realms to the Inn as well.

This meant that the golden door that randomly opened sometimes on planets connected to the Inn would now open randomly anywhere in any realm connected to the Inn.

The second major change this represented for Lex was his current status in the Crystal realm. He had been pulled into this realm by an accident caused by an unknown anomaly, and to return he had to manually gather enough energy to allow the system to return him. He also had a quest to uncover what the anomaly was.

Now, however, due to the existence of the Inter-realm broadcast, the energy requirement to transport him back had dropped so dramatically that the emergency protocol that gave him additional authority had been withdrawn. In a short time, he would eventually link this realm to the Inn, which would allow him to return naturally.

He could still, however, absorb vast amounts of pure energy to speed up the process further. His excitement at the prospect of being able to return actually managed to overshadow his feeling of grief that he no longer had the additional authority. That made many things much easier.

For example, the drink that had been served to the man back at the bar who was crying was something he was only able to buy with his increased authority. He was no longer able to buy such high level drinks. In fact, let alone drinks, even the formations he could now buy were limited to, at most, being able to affect Nascent level cultivators.

But, what was done was done, Lex couldn't be bothered to pay attention to it. He spent a good amount of time hugging and playing with Fenrir before he turned his attention back to the system. There were still many other notifications he needed to understand.

After the Inter-realm broadcast was the ominous sounding Murder ground!

Murder ground:

When on a planet linked to the Inn, you can select a target and instantly teleport both the target and yourself to the murder ground! Neither can leave while the other still lives! Selecting a target requires marking them through physical touch.

Additionally, the Murder ground can be rented out to resolve fights and wars without disrupting the environment of the original planet.

pAn,Da n<0,>v,e1 Please Note: surrender is not an option when using the Murder ground, as only the victor can be living to exit the Murder ground!

Lex did not doubt for even a single moment that the Murder ground was an ability the system got from the Murder system. This was exactly like what had happened between himself and the murderer, except that he was pretty sure he had been marked without physical contact. Still, this ability was too powerful and ominous, as it could teleport others away from their home ground. Moreover, the option of not allowing surrender also ensured that the battle would be bloody, with no recourse.

From an environmental perspective it was good, as it would spare the planet from suffering through the trial of war and its accompanying destruction, but by leaving no survivors, it merely channeled that destruction from towards the environment to the opposing enemies.

Lex continued to read the new additions.

Targeted Scan:

The host can scan living beings outside of the system grounds. However, the amount of information received will be diminished as compared to the scan in the system grounds.

He nodded, appreciating the ability. Even if it was limited, it would help him immensely.

Remote prescience:

You can project your image anywhere in the system grounds and interact with guests via the image. The keen observer will be able to detect that it is an image and not a real body.

Lex raised an eyebrow. This was a good ability, especially since he did not intend to stay at the tavern once the Inn was also unlocked. Whether he was at the Inn or the tavern, he could use his Remote prescience to handle matters personally.

Next, he turned his attention to the quests. Whether he was required or not, he more or less intended to help the system recover, though he wondered greatly about how the system was damaged in the first place.

Based on the knowledge that others also had systems, Lex could conclude that there was a great possibility that someone had the system before him. Suddenly, he froze, and a few things clicked in his mind.

He might not have been… the first person to use this system!

"Mary," he said suddenly, his voice very even. "I have a question for you."

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