The Innkeeper



"The taste is absolutely horrendous!" Lex bellowed as he slammed his fast down on the table.

"It's divine!" roared back a beast in the shape of a gazelle, but with brown wings folded on its back.

"This is completely unpalatable. I can't add this to the menu!"

"You WILL add it to the menu!" the gazelle said aggressively, glaring at Lex as if he had committed a crime against humanity! No, eh, a crime against gazellity? Against the gazelle nation? Against all gazelle type beasts? Whatever the case, it was definitely a crime!

"It's my restaurant, I'll do what I want!" Lex said. "This is definitely not a dish that can be served to guests." Of course, there was nothing left on the plate in front of him as he had eaten everything, so what dish he was talking about was uncertain.

"Lex, I told you that different races have different tastes," Kenta explained awkwardly from the side. "Just because you don't like it doesn't mean others will feel the same way."

"I get that!" Lex exclaimed. But then he also immediately pointed towards the beast agitating him and said, "but I don't trust him at all! He just wants us to keep feeding him free testers while we try out new dishes. If you want to test recipes, it definitely can't rely on one shady character."

"I am trying to help you, and this is how you treat me? Fine then, go get someone else to help you out!" the gazelle yelled loudly before scurrying off. He looked back at Kenta with regret, but did not stick around.

Lex was feeling great, despite this small episode. Not only was he healing incredibly quickly, his strength had already crossed his previous peak. Moreover, enough of his skin had returned where he did not need to cover himself like a mummy anymore. To top it all off, Kenta had accepted his fate of working as Lex's chef since he was incredibly broke. He needed a patron to support him while he tested the various recipes he had collected throughout his lifetime.

Of course, not all was well. Kenta, with his extremely limited knowledge of how valuable resources are and how desperate creatures can get when faced with temptation, had been randomly giving out samples of his cooking from a stall. With each of his ingredients being worth thousands of MP, the finished product was an extremely potent elixir for anyone's cultivation. Obviously no one would say anything bad as long as they can keep eating it!

"Lex, it can't work like this. I need to test out my cuisines on other races. Not every dish is suitable for elves or humans!"

"Yes, but the way you are going about it is wrong. Next time, consult me before doing anything like this. You're not going to get a true review like this."

Kenta frowned, as if contemplating where his plan could have gone wrong. Lex was about to elaborate when a familiar sensation struck him.

A portion of his consciousness was being diverted, a feeling which occurred whenever someone used one of the Innkeeper's business cards to summon him. There were a few of them out there. One of them was hidden inside a book that had been sent to Fernanda, the holographic lady who controlled the earth for a brief period. The card had never been used and he had no idea what happened to it or Fernanda.

Another one had been left behind when he tried to participate in the meeting for Daolords. Finally, the most recent one had been given by him to Luthor in case there was an emergency.

But before his consciousness could fully be drawn, and he discovered who summoned him, he received a system notification and a stream of information.

New notification: Due to the fragile nature of the space, an Innkeeper clone cannot be summoned at the location of the business card. A temporary connection has been established to convey a message.

The information that he received was a report sent by Luthor! Although Lex had unlocked a Midnight battalion panel, only he could communicate with the battalion leader, not the other way around. The business card was supposed to be a loophole around that, but an issue had prevented its proper use.

It did, however, allow Luthor to send forth his thoughts through the card, allowing him to convey his situation.

The Midnight Battalion was trapped on a planet without support by someone who was specifically targeting them and the Midnight Inn! Moreover, they had done it in such a space that the golden keys did not work!

The information Luthor could send over was extremely limited. The last bits of information Lex received were the name of the planet they were on, BGY - 987, and the image of a large creature coming out of a tear in space.

"I have to go!" Lex exclaimed to Kenta before promptly dashing away. When he was out of sight, he quickly changed into the Host Attire and teleported to his office.

"Mary what the hell is going on? The Innkeeper's business card isn't working, and neither are the golden keys for some reason! The battalion is trapped and being targeted by someone!"

The business card was supposed to be a hidden trump card. Using the Innkeepers aura he could deter almost anyone from attacking the battalion and thus rescue them, but the card itself was not working!

The sudden news caused Lex's emotions to fluctuate, and the image of a sword appeared in his eye. It was slowly becoming more and more prominent while Lex's rage started to swell up.

Just before the sword's image fully materialized, Lex closed his eyes, shutting out his burning anger, and replaced it with a cold, calculating wrath.

He had been practicing controlling his anger due to the increased influence of the sword in his soul, so in this instance where he almost lost control, he instinctively knew how to regain his lucidity. As a result, Lex entered a new state, much like the states of Flow, Overdrive and Berserk. Yet at the same time, the state was not exactly brand new.

It was as if Lex had merged the states of Flow, where he lost all distractions and focused on the most efficient way to complete his objective, and the state of Berserk, where his strongest emotions filled his entire being, fueling and boosting his strength at the same time.

Outside, in the Midnight Inn, although snow had covered most of the area, an unnerving chill suddenly settled in that was absent before. 

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