g

"A curse?" Noman repeated, startled. The scariest thing was that he could tell Lex wasn't lying. Moreover, everyone's reaction told him that they believe him too.

"Well, to be specific, I don't know if it's a curse or a technique or something, but yes someone has definitely done something to you. As for the tracking bit, that's purely my guess as well, but it makes sense. If I was kidnapping you, and came close enough to mark you, I would definitely leave some kind of tracker on you as well."

Noman frowned but relaxed just as quickly. He leaned back into his chair comfortably and said, "well I wasn't planning on leaving the Inn anytime soon, anyway. If they have the guts to try to kidnap me here, I say they should go for it."

Lex was taken aback by Nomans' cavalier attitude, but it seemed like whatever he said made sense. Since the 'curse' was not harming him, and he was not planning on returning, there was no point in being worried. Besides, there was a very decent possibility that one day he'd be able to remove the curse on himself right from the Inn.

Lex shrugged and leaned back into his own chair. Regardless of the curse, Noman was worthy of keeping an eye on. The truth only thing was tricky, but with his intuition always reminding him to be careful of what he said around Noman, there wasn't a chance he'd forget.

The group was also taken aback by Noman's attitude, but it wasn't their place to comment.

With Anakin and Noman starting to share already, there wasn't much point in holding back. But unfortunately, not everyone was as open as the other two.

"Knowing my secret is not really relevant to anything we're doing," Souta said calmly, "but for the sake of building trust I'll share with you what I shared with the rest. For certain reasons, I had to obey Suzuki's every instruction, regardless of whether I wanted to or not. He took advantage of that to make me do many immoral acts for his own profit. I was more than happy to see him disposed of, and I did not hesitate to let them know that unless they fought him some place he couldn't call me, he would force me to participate. If that were the case, their chances of success... let's just say they were really bad."

"What about why you're still hanging around?" Lex asked, not worried that his excessive attention towards Souta would cause curiosity or suspicion. After all, the man was a former assassin. It would in fact be strange if Lex weren't wary at all.

"Not to sound too critical, but Rafael was not wrong to question my motives. I still don't understand yours, though. You have been freed of your master's control, so why are you still around?"

This time, even the cool and collected Rafael turned to look at Souta. With Noman present it was all but guaranteed that they could not lie, so while asking such a question was normally pointless, in the current situation it was a good way of ensuring no one was plotting against them.

Souta did not seem perturbed by the questioning though, and responded calmly.

"I had intentions to make amends to those that I have wronged. Anakin suggested that he knew a way that would allow me to make up for my sins. Since I lacked any ideas of my own, I decided to stick around."

Anakin nodded firmly, as if proud of his role in making Souta stay. Lex was unsatisfied with the answer, but he didn't press on. It seemed like he would have to take a more direct approach if he wished to get real answers. For now, that would have to wait.

"Before I share mine," said Rafael, once silence fell between the group and it was obvious that Lex had no more questions. "Why don't you share the source of your information first? That way, when I explain my part, everyone will have a clearer picture of the situation."

Lex looked at Rafael silently for a moment. Of the entire group, he was the one who gave Lex the most trouble. Even Noman's ability didn't put as much actual pressure on him. He did not at all behave like Lex expected. For a brief moment he wondered if someone had reincarnated in Rafael's body the way Ming Jie had reincarnated in the mountain. But he dismissed the thought the moment it entered. If he started suspecting everyone he met of something so absurd, he himself would go insane.

𝑙𝘪𝑏𝓇𝑒𝑎𝒹.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"My source is fairly simple," Lex said lightly, as if it wasn't really such a big secret. "Have you seen the Midnight news building? Well, if you've been inside you'd know that other than what they sell on the newsletter, you can also purchase additional information. This file is available there."

"Impossible," Rafael said, shaking his head. "If news like this was being sold so openly, everyone would know about it. I haven't been to the news building, but I'm positive they wouldn't be selling such news. At least, it would not be so simple to get one's hands on it."

Lex flashed Rafael an amused smile, and then eyed Noman. His meaning was clear. Noman had not mentioned he was lying, so clearly it meant it was the truth.

Yet Lex did not mean to leave things at that. It was clear that everyone in the group had intentions of their own with the group. Anakin wanted to make money, Larry wanted revenge, and Rafael clearly wanted something too - though he didn't know what that was yet.

Even Souta must have had some other ideas - he was sure of it.

But amongst them all, Lex was perhaps the person with the most to gain. Not only did he want to hire them at the Inn if they showed potential, he was about to use them to link his multiple identities together.

"Well of course that's not the kind of stuff they sell to the public. That kind of news is only available to the Inn's staff. Like me."

Lex summoned his Clark Kent glasses and put them on. "Let me introduce myself again. My name is Leo, and I run the Gamer's Den."

"Let me introduce myself again," said Lex, wearing a casual smile. But it was not his usual handsome face that wore the smile. Instead, the face appeared slightly more mature, with deep-set eyes and a jawline sharp enough to cut through steel. His voice also changed, becoming slightly heavier and lower.

The faint glimmer of amusement in his eyes and the teasing tone in his voice matched his new persona well. The face he wore looked like it was on the verge of causing mischief at any given moment, but at the same time, presented a trustworthy and reliable facade. He looked like the kind of person who would be forgiven even if he caused trouble all the time, just because everyone knew he never meant any harm.

Yet even if he did mean harm, what could anyone do anyway?

"My name is Leo, and I run the Gamer's Den."

From the distracted Larry, to reclining Noman, to the slouching Anakin, to even the ever proper Rafael, everyone in the room suddenly sat up straight as goosebumps covered their bodies. With wide eyes and chaotic minds, they looked at the man who was now sitting amongst them and tried to wrap their head around the news they had absorbed.

It was not just a matter of Lex actually being an Inn employee, which was mind blowing enough. No, instead the shock was because not only was he a worker of the Inn, he was the mysterious employee who had seemed to pop out of nowhere.

A single worker appearing or disappearing, amongst the numerous that worked in the various areas of the Inn, should not have been worthy of any interest. In fact, besides a few prominent workers, such as Z, who made regular appearances at the arena, most people did not know any of the workers.

So then why was the reaction to Leo so strong? And why was he described as mysterious?

It was because no one had heard of him, or the few that knew him had seen him so long ago they forgot he even existed. Yet, one day, he suddenly popped up out of thin air, and as a Foundation level expert, single handedly defeated over 300 Nascent realm cultivators!

This was not an insignificant accomplishment! In fact, Lex himself had no idea of the impact that single action had made. Earth alone was ruled by 5 Nascents for decades. The entire planet and all its countries and armies were vassals of those 5 people. Yet Lex fought off over 300 of them at the same time! HE DID THAT WHILE HE WAS IN THE FOUNDATION REALM!

Now, he sat amongst them, as a newly reached Golden Core level expert. Not a single one of them took Lex's strength lightly, from the extremely strong Larry to the system wielder Souta, to the much experienced Rafael.

There were simply no words to elaborate the insanity of the achievement properly. The fact that Larry fought Suzuki for days before being able to kill him spoke of the difficulty involved in a fight at a higher level. Yet Lex had taken a few hours, if at that.

"Access to news like that is just one of the perks that the Inn's employees get. You'll understand if I maintain my silence about some other details relating to the Inn. What's more important is that you understand that the information I got was directly from the Inn's sources. Some time ago, I had Marlo deliver the file to Fernanda. I had hoped that whoever was really behind all this would treat this matter seriously. After all, according to what I know, they were very particular about civilian casualties in cultivator matters. But either there is a holdup I'm not aware of, or they don't really care as much as I had expected for some reason, because no new action has been taken against the prisoners. At least as far as I know. This is not exactly an easy situation to investigate."

Lex looked at the bewildered Larry and then at Rafael. He gave the fellow a teasing wink, but said nothing else. He had said his part, and now it was the others turn to explain.

Rafael took in a deep breath as countless thoughts ran through his mind. This Lex… or Leo, whoever he was, could be phenomenal help to his own cause in the future.

A confident yet sly smile appeared on the man's face as he looked back at Lex.

"Well, your source is pretty good. I guess now it's time to tell you mine," he said, completely giving into Lex's incessant goading. He wanted to show off his own secrets as well. But regardless of how impressive his own secrets were, just by wanting to show off, a chink in his previously impenetrable armor appeared. He was finally playing according to Lex's tune instead of maintaining his composed state.

After all, the mere thought of wanting to show off would end up causing him to reveal a lot more than he might originally have planned to. The more he revealed, the more leverage Lex would gain.

"Actually, my source is fairly straightforward as well. My own memories are my source. You see, I am from the future, and I have already lived a very long time on Earth. It was only at the moment of my death that I was able to use a special treasure to travel back into my own body, so many years into the past."

The previously confident Lex was startled and nearly fell off his chair as he looked up at Rafael in shock. Then he turned to Noman, expecting him to whisper something. Yet when he didn't, he looked back at Rafael with eyes wide.

Rafael didn't show it, but internally he was greatly satisfied by Lex's reaction, and continued to elaborate.

"Actually, it's not so impressive. The future has already drastically changed for the entire earth just because of a few minor changes that happened. But some things… some things will not change no matter what happens on earth.

"I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but the solar system is in a region called the Dead zone. Dead zones are regions of space which suffer from a severe lack of spiritual energy. Yet in a few years, the deadzone in which the solar system exists will spontaneously undergo a change, bringing back spiritual energy in a flood. While that seems like a good thing, there is a prisoner being held on Earth that is akin to a Goddess, known as Bastet."

Lex displayed an unusual expression at the mention of the name, but Rafael only assumed it was feedback at his news, further satisfying him secretly.

"With the return of spiritual energy, she will escape the prison. Such a thing is not really anyone's fault, but a few years later that will cause problems too. But, what's more relevant to your question of how I know the empire won't act against whoever rules on earth, comes next. With the return of spiritual energy, the earth entered what everyone assumed would be a prosperous era. But that couldn't be farther from the truth.

"While earthlings enjoyed the abundant spiritual energy, what no one knew was that there were a number of alien races that had been dormant for god only knows how long on numerous planets, moons and asteroids all across the dead zone."

Rafael paused, and his previous smug appearance disappeared, replaced by a somber one.

"The first race we came across was called the locusts - at least by the earthlings. It was not because they looked like insects, which they did. No, it was because they came like a calamity, blotting out the horizon with their vast numbers. Starved for hundreds of millennia probably, they ate anything and everything that contained spiritual energy, leaving nothing in their wake. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. One by one, they devoured the planets in the solar system, starting from the furthest out."

He paused again, lost in memory for a few moments.

"That was the first time I experienced hopelessness. They came from all directions, with the sun as their target. Any planet that stood in their way was nothing more than food. If they had come from a single direction, maybe we could have made a stand with the earth as a battlefield to block them. But no, from all directions, as well as up and below, they swarmed, blotting out the stars in the sky.

"Fortunately, no matter how powerful they were, they could not cross the distance between the planets and the sun in a short time. That gave us just enough time, not only to wallow in our impending doom, but also to be saved. That was the first time I heard the name of the Jotun empire, when their fleets suddenly appeared one day surrounding the planet, getting ready to eliminate the invading enemies.

"That was also when I learned that… the earth, for thousands of years already, had been the private property of some noble family in the Jotun Empire."

Rafael looked back at the bewildered 'Leo' and took great pleasure in his surprised expression. How could he have known that while 'Leo' had said not a single word, he had put on that entire display or surprise to entice Rafael to say more. In truth, Lex had long gotten used to encountering world redefining things, so how could a little time travel take him by surprise?

He also discovered another way to take advantage of Noman's ability and presence.

After a few moments of acting taken aback, Lex had recomposed himself. After all, over acting was a thing, so he couldn't act like he was surprised by everything. Or at least he had to pretend like he was trying to regain composure.

A part of Rafael was disappointed to see him retreat behind his unreadable expression, but it was to be expected.

"I don't want to delve too deeply into the matter, but suffice to say, the empire played a big role in how events progressed in the future. The battle was not an easy or a simple one, despite the advanced technology of the empire, and lasted a few years. You may not be surprised to learn that many from earth were conscripted into that war - we had the most to lose, after all. I don't know if the empire couldn't send more forces our way, or just didn't think it was worth it. What I do know is that, after the war had been won, the empire left much in the same manner they arrived - silently and without warning. They did not reform the planet, despite its severe mismanagement, the way they had done in the Vegus system. I suspect that had a lot to do with the nobles who owned the planet.

"But though the war was over, and the majority of the locusts had been killed, many had still survived. It was those remaining few locusts that became the bane of earth's existence for the next few years, until, eventually, the next alien species that had been dormant finally revealed itself."

Rafael closed his eyes and took a deep breath in. So many things happened back then, and since he was involved in all of them, he never really had the time or energy to think too deeply about them. So many things didn't make sense, and hinted at the fact that there were secrets hidden behind them. But even if he had realized those things back then, he was just a soldier caught up in endless battles. How was he supposed to have discovered those secrets anyway?

He reopened his eyes and looked at Lex.

"So you see, the empire will not interfere because earth is already a part of the empire. Moreover, I don't know how much of a role the 'owners' of earth play in allowing the prisoners to wreak havoc, but I definitely know that at least for a time, earth will have to depend on them."

"So you want to just ignore whatever is happening on earth for the sake of the future?" Lex asked, his irritation evident in his voice. But he calmed down quickly without Rafael even having to give a response.

Some people may argue that Lex had weak morals, but that was far from the truth. He was just not an idealist, and he could see how antagonizing these people might be worse than just letting them be. After all, even if he became much stronger very quickly, it would not be to the level where he could protect the entire solar system depending only on himself, let alone the fact that Rafael said that there were other issues that earth faced.

"Alright, even if we avoid challenging them, for now, it does not solve Larry's problem. We can't just ignore the very real threat to his life."

"These are things I have no prior knowledge of from my last life. All I can say is, hope that whoever your target is, is not too important. Or at least he is someone whose death can be accepted."

"Let's hope," said Lex blandly. He had no intention of relying on his luck anymore, so that was a terrible idea, but he wasn't going to argue with Rafael needlessly over it.

"And then what about the various problems you saw in the future? I get not wanting to share that you know the future with anyone. After all, I can see how anyone you tell might want to target you because of it, and there's no guarantee that anyone would even help. But if you tell me what other problems you foresaw, we might be able to work out solutions to them."

Rafael shook his head, as if it was pointless.

"Too much of the future has changed, and too much is too sensitive to change. I can't be sure what problems might still happen, and I'm not sure what problems might change or become worse if I share information about them. I'm making preparations of my own, and keeping a close eye on all events. As soon as I can confirm the situation is heading down the path I recall, I can react, or share the information with you. But if I give you warnings, there's a very decent chance something you might do to prevent the situation makes it worse. On this, all any of you can do is trust me."

Lex remained silent, and looked the other people in the eye one by one. None of them seemed too surprised by what they heard. It seemed they had already had this conversation with Rafael before. Well, that, and for Noman it made sense since he had no affiliation to earth at all.

"That brings us back to Larry's issue. Ignoring everything else, we still don't know who the actual perpetrator is."

"If we can bring the prisoners to the Inn, we can easily discover the truth using Noman," said Anakin.

"Easier said than done. One of the reasons it's been so hard to check if there have been any changes with the prisoners is because they've stopped coming to the Inn. Their golden keys must have been withdrawn at some point."

"Alright, so we somehow deliver the keys to them, wait for them to escape from their prison to the Inn, and then use Anakin to discover who is the person targeting Larry. Once we know that, back on earth, we can take care of them. Or, if they're stupid enough, we challenge them on the murder grounds."

"To deliver the keys, we will need to know the location of the prisoners. I'm sure that's not so easy to discover," said Larry as he looked around the room. "Even if we discover the location, it is surely being guarded and it won't be so easy to overcome"

"Let's take things one step at a time," said Lex. "I'll try to see if I can learn where the prisoners are being held, and if it's possible to get a golden key to them. If I can't find a good solution, we can brainstorm a few other ideas. In the meantime, Rafael, why don't you go ask your dad to meet Fernanda and have an upfront conversation? Having a direct source of what their stance is will be much better for us than guessing on our own. Who knows, maybe she'll even be open to some negotiations."

"You want my dad to… confront Fernanda? You know how that'll probably go, right?"

Lex just shrugged and said, "not really. I'm tempted to say that he'll just go and fight her, but Marlo is a King and an extremely successful businessman. If he didn't know how to maneuver difficult situations, he wouldn't have had much success in either field."

Rafael shook his head, but said nothing.

"Is there anything else?" Lex asked, taking off his glasses. It would be bad if Leo was seen exiting the chamber with everyone while Lex had been the one to enter with them.

"Say, hypothetically speaking, one wanted to become an employee of the Inn. How would one go about doing that?" Anakin asked in a seemingly very casual manner.

Lex smiled, but did not immediately reply. He looked at everyone sitting in the room in their eyes to try and gauge their interest. All of them seemed to be paying attention.

"You have to attract the Inn's attention, in the right way. If the Innkeeper sees potential in you, he might give you a platinum key which will allow you to take a test to see if you're worthy to work for the Inn. You can try giving the Mystery trial a go as well. Just to be clear, the trial won't get you hired, but there's a chance your performance might attract attention. I won't say anymore than that. Learning potentially sensitive information might not be the best thing for you."

𝑙𝘪𝑏𝓇𝑒𝑎𝒹.𝘤𝑜𝘮

No one asked any more questions about that, so it seemed like it was time for them to leave. Right before he got up, however, Lex looked at Rafael and said, "since you're adamant about keeping the future hidden, I won't try to persuade you otherwise. But you should know, Bastet has already been a guest at the Inn and, while I can't say for certain, I suspect she has already left the Earth."

Lex did not wait for Rafael to respond and just left. Rafael himself, though, was greatly startled, and even paled a bit.

If Bastet had already left… that would seriously affect his plans for the future. After all, in his previous life, the treasure he got to travel back in time was something he got with her help. In this life, however, he seemed to possess it already inside his body. What was going on?

Estonia, Earth

In Tallinn, the capital of the country, a man entered an inconspicuous house. From the outside it seemed to match every other house in the neighborhood, and in fact, the interior seemed ordinary as well. But the facade was broken when the man reached a particular storeroom and, in a practiced fashion, unlatched a trap door in the ground and began to descend into a hidden basement.

He was not greeted by a dim hall or makeshift construction, but a brightly lit hall with remarkable ventilation considering its depth. The marble floors, the patterned wallpapers and beautiful paintings did not give the impression that the man had descended into a secret layer, but rather the lavish home of a rich man.

Further down the corridor were a series of doors, but the one the man entered opened into a large laboratory that had numerous computers as well as testing equipment, as well a chair hooked up to a number of medical equipment.

"How was it?" asked a middle aged man who had already been present in the room, talking to a number of scientists.

"The transaction went through without a hitch. I have the program, and he made sure to destroy all the equipment used to design this in front of me," replied the man as he produced an ordinary looking USB.

"Excellent. Begin testing immediately. Once we've run all the diagnostics, we can upload the program."

With his orders given, everyone in the room began to work. Despite the secretive nature of the operation, nothing sinister was being done in this underground lab. The man giving the orders was called Adrus, and was one of Will Bentham's partners in the Rose Society.

Despite his advanced age, the man was stuck in the early stages of Qi training. No matter how much money he had or spent, he was unable to speed up his cultivation. The matter became even worse when he discovered that his own kids shared his ineptitude in the way of cultivation.

Even the appearance of the magical Midnight Inn did not seem to improve his situation much, though if he had participated in the star rating upgrade ceremony things might have been different.

But he was not resigned to such a fate. As a highly educated man of means, he created his own solution instead of relying on others. Investing heavily in the medical and technological sectors for many years already, the man ultimately reached his end goal.

As he sat down in the chair attached to numerous medical equipment, he couldn't help but feel excited. Soon he would be put to sleep, and when he woke up, his life would be completely different.

Using the most advanced technology earth had to offer, alongside the numerous advances inspired by alien technology, he had designed an implant that would be attached to his skull and linked to his brain. The implant would be run using the latest and greatest artificial intelligence on earth, ChatGDaddy!

The A.I. only had one directive, despite its advanced capabilities. It would run Adrus' cultivation technique for him all the time, maintaining peak efficiency, allowing Adrus to raise his cultivation quickly.

This was completely a good thing, and couldn't possibly lead to anything bad at all.

*****

The moment Lex exited the chamber of secrets, his connection to the Inn was fully restored, but at the same time he felt himself forget a lot of information. He remembered clearly what he had shared with the group, as well as the discussion about how they would all proceed next. Yet he forgot everything relating to whatever secret Anakin and Rafael had shared. Souta hadn't shared much to begin with, Larry hadn't shared at all. For Noman he could clearly remember his ability to tell the truth, as well as the fact that he had discovered a curse on him. This was because Noman himself volunteered to allow them to remember this information.

"Hey Lex, if you're free, why don't I introduce you to my girlfriend," said Larry, whose usual grin had returned. No one was better than him at masking his emotions, Lex included.

"I have a few things I need to take care of," said Lex with an apologetic smile. "But I definitely want to meet her. How about we all meet up when you find that spiritual treasure for me?"

"Sounds good," Larry said, and waved goodbye.

𝘭𝒾𝑏𝑟𝑒𝒶𝒹.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Although Lex himself had forgotten many things, the rest had also forgotten about his identity as Leo. That did not, however, go against Lex's plan to drop a few hints about his identity all over. Any hints he had to drop had to be extremely subtle, as if he had been genuinely trying to hide his identity. After all, anyone who would try to investigate his identity at the Inn would need considerable discretion as well as skill. Such people would also be very intelligent, and would detect obvious hints in a heartbeat. But if they had to work hard to discover a lead, they would not suspect that it had been planted, and instead would feel like they had outsmarted the target.

"Lex, there are some guests here who want to meet you," told Mary as her hologram appeared beside Lex.

"They can wait a bit, I have a few things I need to do," said Lex, before teleporting to his office.

While there were many things he forgot, he remembered clearly that the empire was no longer a suitable target for help regarding the matter on earth. Even if Lex found the fact that they had to give up on interfering with earth acceptable, which he did not, there were other things that required his attention. While he had forgotten Rafael's secret, he clearly remembered the scale of importance he felt that his secret had. It was quite high.

Higher than Rafael, though, was Anakin. Due to his ostentatious personality and non-serious display, it was easy for people to underestimate him. But Lex had made too many mistakes to easily underestimate anyone. The fact that he seemed the most forgettable of the entire group… made him the most dangerous and valuable, potentially.

Lex opened up a diary and began taking notes. If he was going to analyze his entire interaction with the group to try and determine what their secrets were based on that, he would need to write down everything.

Lex twirled a pen in between his fingers as he looked at the page filled with his notes. It hadn't taken him too long, an hour at most, to list everything he knew about them completely and try to analyze what secrets they hid.

Larry's was pretty straightforward, especially since he had seen his fight in the Murder grounds. Perhaps it was his affinity, or maybe his cultivation technique, or something else entirely, but it was obvious that it had something to do with metals.

Using the clues that he had, as well as the nature of the universe to do absolutely absurd things, Lex concluded that Larry's entire body had either turned into metal or was in the process of it. He had complete control of the metal within his own body, as well as potentially complete control of great influence on external metals. He could heal his body using metals, and there was a huge possibility that he could also cultivate by absorbing metals as well.

A single glance was all it took for Lex to locate the various metal extraction requests he was doing through the Guild room. That information only reinforced all the guesses that Lex had about him. In fact, he further went out on a limb and guessed that the whole reason Larry was being hunted, and that his family had been targeted, had something to do with his metal related abilities.

It was very standard protagonist stuff, with extreme potential for growth. If Lex could provide him with a continuous supply of metals, he had the potential to become a great worker at the Inn.

Next was Noman. His utility need not be explained, and Lex valued him a lot as a potential worker. His curse was a potential risk and a threat, and would require Lex to do some research on it.

With Rafael, Lex was unable to guess his secret, but Lex firmly concluded that his personality had already developed greatly, and that he was a man with a goal. It would not be easy to influence him unless it related to his goals, so regardless of how valuable his secret might be, he was not a good candidate as a worker.

That left behind Anakin and Souta. Anakin seemed easy to approach, but he hid his true intentions deeply. Or at least that was Lex's conclusion. As a result, it was best to observe him some more before making a decision.

Souta, on the other hand, was very straightforward despite his secrecy. Lex only needed to find a single way to penetrate his wall of secrets, and then everything that he was hiding would be displayed openly for Lex to see.

He took a few more minutes to stare at the page while he devised a plan of action, before turning his attention back to his festival. More or less, things had been going well so far. Now it was time to plan for the series of events that would kick off at the start of the third week.

Lex smiled as he pulled up the proposals brought forth by the planning division. There were 3 main things that would occur during the next few weeks, and two of them would require a major redesigning of the Inn - even if it was temporary.

The more he looked over the designs, the more Lex smiled. The latest proposals had even sought to include the endless shower of lightning tribulations at the Inn into the next two events.

𝙡𝙞𝓫𝙧𝙚𝓪𝒅.𝒄𝒐𝓶

It was bold, and Lex liked it. He began working to finalize all the changes and configure them so that they would automatically be initiated at the start of the third week.

While these two events would cater to the common, or less adventurous guests, the third and final event was targeting those who had more of a taste for risk and reward.

The minor realms that had been connecting to the Inn had reached 337 in number, and there were still more that were being connected. While Lex could completely control the opening of the gates to the minor realms, as well as their locations, he could not look inside of them. As a result, he really had no idea of how dangerous or safe they were. But they were a part of the Inn now, so it wasn't like he could ignore them either.

The third event would include a hunt to first locate the entrances, which Lex would hide across the Inn's landscape. Then, after signing a disclaimer stating that the Inn was not responsible for any danger or harm that befell them if they chose to enter, the guests would be allowed to explore the Minor realm freely.

This way, not only did Lex get a great event that could entertain guests who weren't particularly interested in festivals, he could begin to gather information about those Minor realms. Once he knew what those realms actually contained and the amount of danger they wrought, he could incorporate them into the Inn regularly, and charge guests to enter and explore. That would happen after the event was over, of course.

"Hey Lex," said Mary, who appeared beside him. "You remember that area you were planning on building for your spirit guests specifically?"

"Yeah, I remember. I'm planning on focusing on it once the festival is over and I have free time. I want to research it properly before I establish it. Why?"

"Well, I think you may want to establish it a little sooner," she said with a shrug. "Pretty much everyone who died trying to overcome tribulations is turning themselves into a spirit. We already have 12, and at the rate that things are going, I think that number will only increase."

Lex was surprised at what he heard. He scanned the Inn to see what he could find, and just as Mary said, found a total of 12 permanent spirit guests. What she had failed to mention was... 11 of those spirits had fit themselves inside a trench coat and some jeans - God only knew where they found those - and were walking around the Inn pretending to be a normal man.

Was this really the kind of behavior someone recently deceased should have?