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His cultivation level was called God King Father Supreme Overlord, and was the cultivation realm through which his previous enemy had ruled these few realms for trillions of years without interruption.
Of course, only three hours after the MC defeated the antagonist, and established himself, a new series of enemies showed up who were so ridiculously powerful that they could defeat the MC at his new cultivation realm with a single flap of their eyelashes. How unfortunate for the MC, for instead of working so hard to defeat the villain, if he had only waited 3 hours these new enemies who had not at all appeared for trillions of years would have come and targeted him instead of the MC.
Naturally, a fight ensued. But just as these new enemies were about to decimate the MC, alongside the few realms he controlled, effectively ending an incalculable number of lives, after which they would trap all their souls and burn them for eternity, their young mistress told them to spare the MC. After all, there was no real conflict. They had only looked at the MC's face, became jealous of his handsome looks and decided to eradicate all life in this sector of the universe to vent their anger.
It was not revealed why the mistress had spared the MC, but they obeyed nonetheless and all left. Like lightning, they came, wrought destruction, and left.
The MC was left with but a single breath left in his body, and a new vendetta that burned hotter than the flames of hell.
Then a mysterious traveling hermit, who happened to have the exact same appearance as the MC's adopted sister from childhood, who he was secretly in love with, appeared and found the MC in his devastating condition.
Unable to leave him be, she slowly nursed him back to health in her hut. The healing process took 13,000 years, during which the MC and hermit naturally fell in love. With his strength recovered, the MC declared that he would marry the hermit and took her back to his realms to have a grand wedding, only to discover that the realms were in chaos.
Some corrupt ministers who had helped him rule took advantage of his long absence and started a civil war to wrest control of the realms. They wanted the power, the prestige, and everything else that came alongside the title of ruler. But, most importantly, they wanted the MC's harem, because apparently he had a monopoly on the most beautiful women in the entire universe so much so that no other woman would ever be as beautiful as his wives.
That was followed by a 678 chapters long war arc where he took back control of his territories, full of action, love, betrayal and lengthy chapters extolling the MC's male prowess. At the end, with peace restored, he finally held a grand wedding for his hermit girlfriend.
It was the best wedding ever, with phoenixes flying around the altar instead of doves, spirit diamonds, the highest form of spirit stones, adorned the bride's wedding dress. The heavens themselves sung praises for the MC's dashing good looks.
The entire realm was happy and joyous. Of course, how could life ever be so simple?
Just as he was about to consummate the wedding, his new hermit wife was killed
Chapter 627 Auction
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Despite the extreme difficulty in cultivating with the Cosmic Erosion Elixir, Lex persisted and soon three days passed. The system had not completed its evolution yet, likely because the Celebrity Overnight system was a higher grade than the farming one he had received.
During this time, despite his desire to waste away time reading novels, he focused on work and got as much done as possible.
Of course, his attention was forever on his cultivation. Alongside whatever changes the elixir was bringing inside his body, it had also managed to slightly elevate his cultivation realm. This was a genuine surprise, for at his normal rate it would take him a few months more before he made a difference.
Unfortunately, while his cultivation had been raised, his physique seemed to have suffered. He was not weaker, no. If anything, he was a little stronger. But he had inevitably become a little more frail than he was three days ago. If someone saw him now, it would appear as though he was on the path to become malnourished.
After his latest round of cultivation, Lex decided to take a little nap. Sleeping would speed up his recovery, and he had become mentally tired as well after three days of continuous torture. The only shame was that he would miss out on the auction, but that was fine. He had passed down the instructions on how it was to be handled, as well as the minimum payments.
He was depending on this auction to cross one trillion MP. Although his plan involved a few different steps, having at least 1 MT was paramount. But he was not worried. The staff at the Inn was very reliable.
Lex closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep. His body had to get used to its new situation.
*****
In the village there were numerous venues, all very large and extravagant, designed to hold as many people as physically possible. Yet today the one which held the most anticipated event of the day, the auction, was being conducted in the smallest such venue available. This was because most people weren't even eligible to know about this auction.
There were nearly one hundred guests, and the one with the lowest cultivation level was at the earth immortal realm. Even the strongest guard from the security the Inn hired was also present. Since it was his job to ensure safety, he had a representative for him available who would perform any bidding.
General Ragnar, the Emperor Jotun, various prominent devils and even some extremely powerful beasts were present. As it happened, even Aegis from the crystal realm was attending. Since he was here, the Noel family also no doubt learned of the auction, and since they had heard about it, the Phillips family.
But none from the Phillips family had privilege level 4, so they could not attend the meeting. Instead, they were exploring the Inn. Upon discovering it, they did not think of shifting the wedding to this venue. They were extremely satisfied with the tavern. Instead, they were thinking of how long they could hide the existence of such a place from the rest in their realm. If no one else knew, they stood the most to benefit.
Each of the numerous guests at the auction was sitting in a private booth. It was not difficult to arrange, since the entire purpose of this specific auction house was exclusivity. They focused on providing services to a few distinguished guests rather than catering to the masses.
On the small stage, a lady wearing a red dress walked to the podium. The lady walked with elegance and grace, and her curly blonde hair and sharp blue eyes only served to attract every guest's attention. She was beautiful, no doubt, but it was the charismatic twinkle in her eyes and confident smile that served to elevate her beauty to another level. Perhaps if she had a more sober personality, one would admire her as beautiful if she caught one's attention, but she would not stand out in a crowd. But the way she was, even if she were lost in a crowd of other blondes, wearing the same red dress, she would still be the one all eyes would lock on to.
𝑙𝘪𝒷𝘳𝑒𝘢𝑑.𝒸𝑜𝑚
"Hello everyone, my name is Marilyn and I will be your auctioneer this evening," she said, her melodic voice almost captivating the audience. She let out a small laugh of excitement, and even winked at all the guests playfully. It was clear for all to see that she was quite excited. As strange as it was, suddenly all the guests became excited as well. She was one of the many workers at the Inn who had recently been promoted from her previous position as a waitress.
The crazy thing was, she was not cultivating anything that would enhance her appearance or captivate anyone. With just her inherent charm, she seemed to be doing so. Well, that and a little help from her stylist - Harry Midnight!
Amongst the various guests, Rockefeller narrowed his eyes as he saw Marilyn. More than anything else the Inn had to offer, he was enamored by its staff. They would make the most splendid demons if he got his hands on them, he was sure. He just had to figure out a way.
"You all should have already heard the rules for this auction, but I'll reiterate them nonetheless. For the main items in today's auction, the bidding will be twofold. A minimum bid of 100 billion MP is required per drop of elixir, but other than that, guests must bid using the barter system. That means, they have to bid using items with sufficient value. There is a small list of items which will be given preference during the bartering, in case anyone bids with them, but otherwise all items will be judged based on their MP value if converted."
Since Lex had already perused the list provided by the emporium of some of the most valuable items available in the origin realm, he did not hesitate to list them in the auction. His plan was to accumulate both material and MP wealth. MP could give him many benefits that he could get from nowhere else, but at the same time, it was restricted in how it could help him.
Thus, he would accumulate both.
"Of course, as you know, other than the main items prepared by the Inn, there are some items that have been submitted by various guests to be auctioned. They will be bid according to the requirements of the guest providing the item."
Chapter 628 Step Up
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Perhaps if Lex hadn't begun the system's upgrade in a rush, he would have watched the auction go through. Since the auction itself was not a part of the core services provided, it was carried out like one of Lex's self made services.
Still, for the items auctioned before the elixir, Lex asked for a 1% as commission for having the item auctioned. He was only keeping in with the rate set by the guild room, but he did not anticipate the value of the items being auctioned.
Although the people sitting there couldn't be considered the top 1% of their respective realms, they were exceptionally strong nonetheless - especially Jotun and Rocketfellow. Of course, these two showed no interest in any of the prior items, and were solely focussed on the elixir.
A total of 13 items were auctioned before the main items, and through his 1% Lex ended up earning a total of 314 billion MP! The items auctioned were mainly unusual treasure that had no mundane version with which they could be explained. There was, for example, a vial made not of glass but flowing lava. The lava flowed within a set pattern, forming a vial. God only knew what it could be used for, but it was hotly contested for.
Another example was a ball of light, but it could be physically touched. But if a mundane person tried to touch it they would die, and the ball would erupt into an explosion that could rival several nuclear bombs.
That one, oddly enough, went without a single offer, mostly because the person auctioning it had very strict requirements for the payment they wanted.
The item which had, up until that point, received the highest bid was a sword. After a very heated auction, the bid was finally won by a human named Lovis. Lovis was a leader of the paladins, who had long since started using the Midnight Inn as one of their secret bases. Only a very few members of the paladins even knew of the Inn at all. Of the ones that knew about it, most assumed that the Small village they had rented was the entirety of their presence at the Inn. Perhaps only a handful knew that, in fact, the Inn was being used to store and hide some incredibly important artifacts for a very special purpose. After all, since the paladins came from a galaxy perpetually at war, the need to keep secrets was obvious.
But once the preliminary auction was over, it was finally time for the elixir. For a majority of those who were present, their time to participate was over, and now it was time to watch. It wasn't that they didn't want the items, but that they couldn't afford them.
The Inn naturally assured every participant's identity was a secret, so no one would be hunting them down later if they managed to get their hands on the elixir. But getting their hands on it in the first place was the real issue.
They were rich but items containing laws… just being rich was not enough to afford them.
With childlike excitement and a grin as wide as her face, Marilyn clapped her hands as the first round came to a close.
"Now, it is finally time for what you have all been waiting for, the Cosmic Erosion Elixir."
Gerard, looking ever handsome, walked in from behind a hidden curtain, a single vial of black glass placed on a velvet pillow.
Dozens of spirit senses immediately scanned the glass vial, but they were not able to sense its contents regardless of who it was. Naturally it was not so simple to peek, considering the vial was provided by the actual owner of the emporium.
But Marilyn knew how to satisfy the guests. Though she was technically not supposed to, for a brief moment she opened the cap, allowing the elixir's aura to leak.
The auditorium remained silent, for everyone was in their private rooms, but almost every guest gasped as they sensed the aura. A connoisseur such as Rocketfellow was immediately able to tell the elixir wasn't fresh, but it was still vibrant enough.
"As before, the auction price for these will be a minimum of 100 billion MP per drop, accompanied by a barter item. A list of items which will have preferential treatment has been provided to each of you, but in general any item containing laws can be used to auction. We will now begin the auction…"
What happened next surprised everyone. All the drops of elixir were won by the same person, and because identities were kept secret, no one knew who it was. But both Jotun and Rocketfellow were left bewildered, as each and every time they were left unable to contest. It wasn't about wealth, rather, the person was bidding using exactly the items which were given preferential treatment.
In the end, everyone was bewildered by the outcome, though most of the participants enjoyed the process. No one knew that the Inn itself was the one auctioning the elixir, and everyone assumed that the elixir had been a special commission by someone else so no one even tried to request more elixir, though even if they did they wouldn't get any.
In the private room, the ultimate winner of the auction sat without any expression on his face. His name was Gaborone, and he was a noble lord of the Fiery Mammoth clan. His subordinate, a sloth named Golden Hair, had long requested the presence of the clan so that they may investigate the place known as Midnight Inn. It was only recently that Gaborone got around to reaching Nibiru.
Upon coming to the Inn, Gaborone was extremely intrigued. But when he discovered the presence of the Jotun empire, he was filled with a righteous fury! Merely a thousand years ago, a human from a noble family of the Jotun empire eloped with his daughter!
The scandal had brought great shame to him personally, but he had endured. The humans had reacted just as strongly as he had yet Gaborone was not satisfied. He demanded retribution.
Unlike the humans, who required the support of a single powerhouse to maintain their race's prestige, the Fiery Mammoth had many experts. As such, the young couple should have eloped to the strong and fierce Fiery Mammoths, not the weak and puny humans! What kind of weak, third-galaxy state would his grandchildren grow up in? He could not accept it.
With this elixir as a gift, he would finally have enough sway to unite all the mammoths against the humans. Conflict was on the horizon!
*****
While the rhinocentaur with the system was taken away and never returned, the other two were locked up together. It did not matter even if they were together, for they were kept weak and restrained. A special kind of vine was used to tie their hands and legs, constantly absorbing spirit energy from within their bodies to ensure they would never recover.
This was the same method that had been used inside the Inn for a long time to hold their prisoners.
But there was an oversight that the security team made, though it could not be blamed on them. After all, not only had they never been trained on how to counter someone with a chatroom, the concept was completely alien to them. All it could be said was that the universe was extremely vast, and contained a multitude of things one could never imagine.
Both the rhinocentaurs kept their eyes closed, but they were secretly communicating in a private channel in the chat room.
"Do you think there's a chance we'll survive?" one asked.
𝒍𝓲𝒃𝙧𝓮𝙖𝒅.𝓬𝙤𝓶
"Not a chance," replied the other. "But if there were ever a way, it would be through the chatroom."
"It's too dangerous, no one will challenge the Inn for two measly systems."
"No, there is a chance. If we can get in contact with one of the main members of the chatroom, one of the members who has accumulated dozens of systems, they might be able to save us."
"That way we won't be able to make any money from selling information."
"The money doesn't matter. We need to be alive to enjoy it in the first place,"
"The last issue is… how will we get them to find a golden key?"
"If I had all the answers, I wouldn't be here!" said the rhinocentaur in exasperation. In the end, they had no choice but to sell the information online and hope they'd live long enough to get rescued.
Far away in the Origin realm, on a planet ruled by reptilian beasts sat a king. While perusing the chatroom today, he encountered an interesting request and could not help but accept it.
Moments later, he heard a very familiar notification sound in his mind. The king checked, but was not too surprised by what he saw. After all, it was a quest, and he only ever got the same kind of quests.
Step Up: Dance off system quest: Have a dance off with the Innkeeper for the fate of your allies.
Just as he thought, another dance battle.
Chapter 629 Sweatshop
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Once the auction ended, Lex received an additional 500 billion MP, bringing his new total to 1.384 trillion PM. That would be enough to buy a single MT while still leaving him with some MP for his regular expenses. Moreover, he also received a bunch of items with laws inside of them.
Hopefully, he would have accumulated enough items with laws to progress without needing to achieve a SSS+ reward, but his gut said otherwise. After all, if it was so simple, then the mysterious man would have directly told him to get items with laws instead of succeeding in the quest like that.
Of course, all of those were considerations for later. When Lex woke up from his nap, he was disappointed to learn that the system still had not upgraded. That was fine. He mustered up some courage, ate a lot of food to replenish his… his body, for energy was no longer the problem at this point.
After mentally preparing himself, this time he took a massive gulp of the elixir instead of a sip. It was not that he had become resistant to the elixir, but that its potency was quickly disappearing.
He immediately ran to the restroom and readied himself for the usual barrage, but it did not come. Instead, a soft yet cool sensation filled his body, reinvigorating him instead of exhausting him. To his great surprise, he developed a nosebleed.
But he quickly discovered that the blood would quickly coagulate after leaving his body, and turn dark. Strange and unusual occurrences kept happening for a short time, before the elixir lost its effect much quicker than ever before.
Still not tired, Lex took another gulp and the process restarted. This time, instead of a nosebleed, he began sweating all over his body. But the sweat would quickly evaporate, leaving small black granules on his skin. The third time, his hair started falling out and new hair began to quickly grow in its place.
Since then Lex discovered that the effect of the elixir was greatly reduced, but not completely eliminated. This was both a result of the diminished potency of the elixir as well as his body having gained the most it could from the elixir.
In the end, he could continue to drink it endlessly, but chose not to do that. Even if selling more of it would reduce the price overall, he would rather sell more of it to the emporium and gather more supplies.
So then came the waiting game. Fortunately, it did not last long, as on the fourth day, he heard a very familiar sound.
New notification:
System upgrade complete! System status updated:
System: Midnight Inn
System Grade: Divine (broken ~ SSS - B+)
System Owner: Lex Williams
System functionality: 18%
System self repair time: 31,760 billion years
New feature unlocked:
Midnight tailor
New notification:
Quest partial completion: Accelerate the system's recovery by absorbing more systems!
Quest reward: 1 Maximum grade level reward (not applicable)
Partial completion reward: 1 free feature upgrade token
A smile adorned Lex's face when he finally received the notification. It wasn't that he was so addicted to the system that even a few days without it were a trial. Instead, it was that he was on a time limit. He immediately scanned the Inn, as well as the tavern, to ensure nothing required his attention. He was pleasantly surprised to discover his new MP balance, as well as the host of items he had received in the auction. He teleported them to his room, still packed in their containers, and then turned his attention elsewhere.
The employee banquet would be in two days, and he needed to prepare for that. He also had to sell the remaining elixir as quickly as possible.
But first, he checked out the upgrades he got on his system.
At first glance, it did not appear that much had changed. Even the upgrade to the Inn only included 1 new service. But it was only after he looked into the Midnight tailor that he discovered why it was that all the upgrades from an entire system were compressed into one shop.
Unlike other times, where Lex himself established a restriction on usage of some services by prestige, this shop on its own had a restriction. Only guests with level 2 prestige could access it. Moreover, each item sold by the shop was custom made, and would require some time to deliver. As such each item also had a different price.
Next, his attention went to his quest. Naturally, the quest itself would only be complete when the system was fully recovered, and that would be when Lex would be eligible for the reward, which would be of maximum grade. This meant that it would be similar to the fully powered Butter Knife that he used.
Unfortunately, he was only eligible for the partial reward, which is what he would receive every time the system recovered by 5%.
But the free feature upgrade was quite useful. In fact, it fit Lex's plan perfectly. Unlike the token from the Token shop, which could only upgrade a service, this could directly upgrade any feature offered by the system.
It was no secret that Lex had long wanted to start an armory at the Inn. He had thought about it multiple times. But he was waiting because there was no real rush for him to build one, and he wanted to recruit someone for that job rather than just purchase another worker. In the end, he decided he would build one anyway, upgrade it to the maximum, and then use a token to upgrade it, then supply his workers with excellent armor.
Now… Lex could buy a service upgrade token, and already had a feature upgrade token.
For his new plan, he first had to set up the Midnight tailor shop. The shop came with special requirements, and it had to be established alone. Not only could it not be placed near other shops, it could not be near any other buildings. Besides the requirement on seclusion, the building would be relatively massive, as if it were a mansion. Lastly, there would only be one tailor shop per 100 million square miles (260 million square kilometers). Suffice to say, there would only be one shop at the Inn for a long time.
Since Lex could not continue his tradition of setting up the first store on Main street, Lex pulled out a road from main street that led to the tailor shop, which Lex had more or less designed as a smaller version of Midnight manor.
Another unique thing about the shop was that it came with its own worker, and that Lex did not need to assign the duty to anyone. The worker was a relatively young, light skinned man called Geeves.
With the tailor shop established, Lex immediately changed 1 trillion MP into 1 MT, leaving himself with a meager 384 billion MP. He opened up the token shop and looked at his options.
The only tokens for sale were:
Feature upgrade token
Lockdown token
Service upgrade token
Star increase token
Of those, only the service upgrade token cost 1 MT. The feature upgrade token cost 4 MT, the lockdown token cost 6 MT, and the 0.5 star rank increase cost a considerable 10 MT! Moreover, the star rank increase token had an asterisk on it, leading to a small note which mentioned that the price of each star rank increase token would increase depending on the star rank of the Inn.
Not bothering to look at the shop for much longer, Lex once again checked the details of the tailor to make sure he hadn't made a mistake in understanding it. Once he was sure, he immediately used the newly acquired token on it.
Unlike the Mystery trial which took some time to upgrade, the tailor shop upgraded almost immediately. The requirements of the shop were also upgraded, where only prestige level 3 guests and above could use its services. Lex put on his Host Attire and assumed his Innkeeper identity, before teleporting over.
Despite its appearance as a massive mansion, the shop was actually quite cramped. The entrance was a lobby which led to several private measuring rooms as well as private fitting rooms. At the back of the mansion was the actual several story large sweatshop, where the work was done. The rest of the shop was filled with rolls of fabric, leather, metals and other materials which had been put on display for the client to peruse.
"Geeves," the Innkeeper said, as soon as he teleported over. "I have a rather large order for you, and only a few days to fulfill the order."
The young chap, who looked like he had just returned from galavanting across the English countryside, suddenly stood at attention and listened in as the Innkeeper spoke.
"I have one thousand orders, each with a budget of 100 million MP. I need them in four days."
Geeves, who had come into existence mere moments ago, suddenly started to sweat. This… wasn't this a little too much?
Chapter 630 The Beauty
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Geeves was stuck looking at the Innkeeper, too shocked to even drop his jaw. The budget for this project was phenomenal. Each order, with a budget of 100 million meant that he could freely use whatever material or technique he felt suited the task. Moreover, the Innkeeper gave the task by submitting the number of orders and the budget for each order, but gave no other specification. This meant that he could do as his heart desires, and it was as he saw best.
Such a situation should have been a tailor's dream. It had to be known that even after the upgrade to the Midnight tailor, its prestige requirement was level 3 and each order would at minimum cost 50,000 MP. That was not a small amount, so whoever placed the order would no doubt have endless requests, that Geeves could only obey.
Yet a massive budget of 100 million, amounting to a total of 100 billion MP, was given for him to do with as he pleased. Naturally, he had to take his clients measurements and design according to that, but that was the most basic prerequisite. It did not block Geeves' creativity in any way. But the way things were at the moment, the matter was no longer just about creativity. How was he supposed to produce one thousand orders in just four days?
Naturally Lex understood Geeves' dilemma. But there wasn't anything that could be done about it.
"I'll send Luthor over with a list of all one thousand workers who will be receiving this first order. You can start work immediately. Moreover, you can request as many helpers as you want to help you out to complete the orders."
The Innkeeper raised his hand and patted Geeves on the back.
"Their lives are in your hands. Do a good job."
Geeves got goosebumps all over his body as he heard the sincerity and sobriety in the Innkeeper's words. A determined look filled his eyes as he suddenly began running through the halls, searching for the most optimal fabrics. A single moment wasted was a hundred times more than he could afford to lose.
The Innkeeper, meanwhile, teleported to his office and summoned Luthor. It was time to let everyone know about what was happening, but it had to be done appropriately. Lex found it hard to suppress his guilt, since he was literally asking others to go and risk their lives for him. But it was a necessity. It had to be done.
Luthor himself was quite busy, supervising a plan for holding the rhinocentaurs and how they were to be treated. But a summons from the Innkeeper took precedence over all, and he quickly made his way over to the office.
Initially, he was full of energy as he usually is whenever the Innkeeper summoned him. Yet the moment he entered, he could sense that the mood was not right. The Innkeeper was uncharacteristically serious. Normally, he is always nonchalant, so this behavior clearly meant something very serious happened.
𝓁𝘪𝒷𝘳ℯ𝘢𝑑.𝒸𝘰𝑚
"How can I help, Innkeeper?" Luthor asked as soon as he entered the office. It was his duty to ease the burdens of the Innkeeper, so if the Innkeeper was upset, he was not doing his duty properly.
"There is a very serious matter that I need to inform you about. The Midnight Inn… as of right now, is established inside the Origin realm. As such, our… hosts have made some perfunctory requests of us. Although I can dismiss those requests, it is ultimately true that we are guests in their realm and they are our hosts.
"To fulfill our hosts requests, I need to send 1000 foundation level cultivators to a battlefield for sometime. While we will not stay in the Origin realm for long, we have to accept the request for the duration we are still here."
Luthor was stunned at first, but then quickly gathered his wits. According to his impression, the Innkeeper was unimaginably powerful, and could control the universe itself with a single hand. Who exactly was qualified to host him, and even ask for demands in return?
"Since this is a request outside of the Inn, I do not want to make any demands. Everyone who joined the Inn did so to work normally, and not to fight in wars. Therefore, I want you to ask for volunteers. Only those who choose to go themselves, and meet the requirements, can go. If the numbers aren't sufficient and not enough volunteer, let me know. I will figure something out."
Luthor understood his assignment, but hesitation filled him. There was a question that haunted him, but he did not know if he could ask it. Lex, who was a master at reading people, naturally saw through his assistant with a single glance.
"Speak your mind," Lex said, the calm demeanor of the Innkeeper returning.
"Who… who exactly can force you to participate in matters unrelated to the Inn?" he asked, hiding his bitterness deep inside himself. He knew clearly this matter wasn't simple. The Midnight Inn boasted neutrality, but the moment they made their presence known on a battlefield, it would forever become incredibly difficult for them to claim to be neutral ever again. Although he did not know a lot about the forces in the universe, he could at least understand something this basic.
"This is not me being forced," the Innkeeper replied with a chuckle. "Compared to what they can demand from me, this is but a symbolic gesture. The truth of the matter is, I am cooperating in this matter because, in this vast universe, even I, outstanding though I may be, am not without equal. Sometimes, it is better to make friends before you ever need friends."
Of course, that was not the truth of his current situation, but he had to assure Luthor. After all, Luthor would be his mouthpiece in this instance.
"I… I understand."
Instead of being demoralized, Luthor was filled with conviction. In this universe, even the Innkeeper needed help sometimes. To Luthor, that only meant that if he ever became strong enough, he could be of help to the Innkeeper. Until that day came, he would be of service in other ways.
"If you are able to gather 1000 volunteers, take them to the Midnight tailor. They need to submit their measurements. Moreover, find out how many spare hands the tailor, Geeves, needs and send him as much help as he requests. This is an urgent matter."
"I'll take care of it immediately!" he said, his vigor returned, and quickly exited the office. He had no time to waste, and neither did the Innkeeper.
With this… arduous task done, he had to immediately return to the emporium. Once he completed the trade, he had to return to the Crystal realm. There was absolutely no time to waste.
Before he did any of that, though, he took his feature upgrade token and used it on the Inn's teleporting ability.
The Inn's teleporting capability was amazing even as it was. It could access any place in the universe. Moreover, if someone brought him an item from a specific place in a realm he already had access to, he would be able to form a link to that location as well - though he would have to go through the whole process of traveling to that planet first and connecting to it.
But Lex wanted his method to be even more versatile. Originally he planned on using the transportation formation he had been given to the battlefield inside the Minor realm he gave to the workers, and have them all teleport from there. But with the upgrade, he could directly establish the formation inside the Inn. The Inn could now selectively allow teleportation from within its grounds to anywhere.
This way, once Lex had the opportunity, he himself could also go to the battlefield and link it to the Inn. Since the teleportation capabilities had been upgraded, if Lex went to a new place, he would be able to link it to the Inn without the need to use the golden ticket, or any other ticket for that matter.
With that small task done, Lex teleported to his apartment, and began pouring some more elixir into the vials he had received. Once he had enough, he teleported to X-142 and approached the emporium. It was best to conduct this trade as quickly as possible.
Once he entered the building he once again saw Powell, and he could tell that this Powell was not the owner of the emporium, but the salesman he had been meeting originally.
"Lex, my friend, I have been waiting for you!" he said excitedly. "I've already been briefed on the trades you want to conduct. The item you requested, the diamond containing laws, is ready to be traded. For the other trade, however, you will have to go to another planet. But no worries, I've already prepared the appropriate teleportation apparatus for you to use whenever you want.
"But before you do anything, look at this! I know this has nothing to do with your current trades, but as long as you're a man, you'll definitely enjoy this!"
Before Lex could say anything, Powell opened up a magazine and placed it right in front of Lex. The double spread image genuinely stunned Lex, and he could not remove his eyes from the beauty that he saw on the page.