hmm

On Earth, two pale looking agents stood in Larry's room, leaning against furniture for support. Bullet casings littered the ground, along with bits and pieces of broken furniture. Clearly, there had been an intense fight here, and the two armed men did not hold an overwhelming advantage.

"We have a problem," one of the men said, after calling someone. "The target used an unknown item and escaped. But he suffered multiple gunshot wounds so he should not have gotten far."

"Search the area and see if you can find a trail. Have someone waiting at nearby hospitals as well. If you can't… Do you have any pictures or the person the target was just with?"

"Yes."

"Send the picture to Bluebird and put out an arrest warrant. If we can't find him, his friends will have to do."

"Got it," the man answered and closed the phone. But instead of searching for Larry like he had been instructed, the man threw himself on a nearby sofa to recuperate.

"Aren't we supposed to look for him?" the man's partner asked..

"Are you crazy? What if we actually end up finding him? I don't want to fight that crazy maniac again. Pretty soon, this assignment will be someone else's problem. Make sure to forward the pictures to Bluebird. And check the kids' fridge for some drinks. I could use one about now."

The partner breathed a sigh of relief, then walked towards the fridge.

*****

As the hours passed by, the other guests noticed that the behavior of the guests from Earth changed dramatically. They had long stopped betting, and none of them were as jovial as before. Soon the empire got word that a civil war had erupted on Earth. This was bad for them as it would probably affect the number of participants Earth would send to the games.

Just as Anthony was about to send someone to the family heads to discuss if their cooperation would be affected, someone by the name of Lee showed up. He introduced himself as a member of the new council that was overlooking Earth. He discussed new terms that were entirely different and less stringent. Anthony didn't care one way or another, but said the agreement would depend on performance. And thus, the soldiers who were participating in the games had switched allegiance, but other than some of their superiors, they had no idea.

Eventually, the second match started completely, and was much more intense than the first round. Many of the guests from Earth had stopped watching, as watching such dangerous combat only made them fear what was happening at home. But that did not reduce the number of guests, however, as by now the empire had distributed the golden keys amongst their staff on all three planets in the Vegus System, as well as the natives with a considerable amount of contributions. A large batch of keys was also being sent to the Command Carrier.

So, for the first time in centuries, residents from all three planets of the Vegus system had an opportunity to meet. Yet despite their common origin, their societies had developed differently and they did not have much to talk about. The only common thing they shared was that they all thoroughly enjoyed watching zombies die on the big screens!

As a result, the Earthlings filled the distant corners of the Inn to get away from the noise as they hid and waited for news from home, and the rest filled the coliseum seats. All of this, accompanying the various army camps, made the Inn as crowded as an amusement park.

But Lex knew none of this as he slept. But it was not a deep, restful sleep. His body heated up despite the ambient temperature being quite cool, and soon he was covered in sweat. His face was entirely red, and soon, white smoke started coming out of his nose and ears. The smell of something burning filled the air, but no one was around to notice.

Along with Lex's sweat, dark-colored filth came out but did not have a chance to accumulate as it was quickly burnt away.

Mary watched Lex nervously, unaware if this was a typical reaction to the medicine or if the devils really had done something to it. But whatever the case may be, she could only watch.

Things continued like that for nearly six hours before Lex finally woke up. He was expecting to feel amazing, which is how he usually felt after getting stronger, but the reality was the exact opposite.

Not only did he not feel stronger, Lex felt incredibly weak. He felt wet from all the sweat, but thirsty at the same time. His body felt drained, as if he had starved for days.

"Water," he murmured to Mary in a hoarse voice, as his mind was currently not clear enough to mentally summon it himself.

When he finally started drinking, it was like he was sipping from the well of life! Strength immediately started returning to him, and his mind started clearing up. That's when he noticed that his room looked a little foggy, as if a smoke machine had been running for hours. But he could not mind that as the stench from his own body nearly incapacitated him. He stumbled his way to the restroom where he lay in a tub and turned on the water.

It took him nearly an hour more before he finally cleaned up and all his exhaustion left him.

"Do you feel better?" Mary asked, now that he was finally recovered. "Can you tell if the medicine worked?"

"Not really," Lex said, frowning. "I feel about the same as before I drank it. Let me check my status."

Name: Lex Williams

Age: 23

Sex: Male

Cultivation Level: Regal Embrace Body Tempering Stage 3

Health: Suboptimal (enlarged brain tumor), mild dehydration, mild starvation

Midnight Points: 1,331,530

Remarks: Occasionally, decent people also brush their teeth after cleaning up with a shower. Just saying.

He was happy to see he had earned some more MP while he slept, but there was no information on the status of his soul. Well, at least there was nothing seriously wrong with him except bad breath, apparently.

He summoned food directly into his apartment and donned the Host Attire so he could check up on what had happened at the Inn while he was asleep. Immediately, he noticed the massive crowd. Not only were the refugees – which were not too many actually compared to the rest – but new guests piling in from God knows where.

Originally, Lex had planned to expand the Inn after the games were over. But now it seemed like it was something he could not push off for too long. He did not like the massive crowd. It was also affecting the wildlife that he had at the Inn, as all of them had gone to the forest to hide. That's when he noticed the littering! Were people actually littering at his Inn?

Immediately he passed an order to his guards to clean up, and informed all his staff as well as holograms of a new rule. If someone littered, the first time they would get a warning from the hologram, but the second time onwards they would get a fine!

It seemed like it was high time he upgraded the Inn and its capabilities. He could not keep waiting for the system to upgrade the Inn for him with rewards. He opened the Midnight Market to check how much it would cost to increase the size of the Inn. Considering that the system would literally be creating land out of nothing, the price was a reasonable 100 acres of land for 1,000,000 MP.

Lex didn't immediately go for the upgrade, though. He scrolled through all the available options. Buying buildings and A.I.s was just one aspect of the Midnight market. It also provided various other options.

One very interesting option that caught Lex's eye was a one time upgrade to the Mystery trial. The upgrade would not benefit the guests, however, as Lex was the intended beneficiary for this upgrade. Since the Mystery trials purpose was to refine the users strongest skill, the upgrade would allow Lex to add certain search parameters. Whenever a guest would use the Mystery trial and their skill fell into one of those parameters, Lex would be notified. This was an excellent way of scouting talents.

The upgrade only cost 50,000 MP! Lex bought it without any hesitation and started entering the parameters. The first one he entered was for a chef. The second one was for a musician. If Z were here to watch as Lex kept entering his parameters, he would be reminded of a certain anime about pirates. Why else was he looking for a sharpshoo- eh, no, why else was he searching for a marksman? And a swordsman. And a historian. Even Mary was confused as she watched him enter meteorologist. The climate at the Inn was under his control, why did he need a weatherman?

In one of the Recovery pod rooms, a man and a woman stood across from each other. The woman was glaring at the man, who did not seem to care.

"No, do it yourself," Sophia finally said.

"Sophia, don't piss me off. Go bring my mother to the Inn," he said sternly.

"Why do you even care about them? They've used you enough. And even if you care, why should I care? Let them die in the war for all I care."

"If my mother dies, I'll go down to Earth and kill your father."

"YOU!" Sophia roared, before attacking Marlo head on. But her attack came to nothing. There was no loud explosion, no devastating spread of spirit energy, nothing. Her hand was simply stuck in the air right before Marlo.

In his room, Lex was alerted to the outbreak of the fight, but when he checked who it was, he decided to ignore it. He would send Marlo a bill if anything broke.

"I've already crossed that realm. You'll have to up your game if you want to continue fighting with me," Marlo said with a teasing smirk.

"What?" Sophia was stunned, and for a moment, a flash of joy filled her eyes before anger and bitterness clouded them. Finally, instead of saying anything, Sophia disappeared. She had gone back to Earth to 'invite' her mother-in-law.

Marlo took a look at his son, then left the room. He had asked nurse Jubilation about the details regarding Larry, but due to privacy rules, she told him nothing. Finally, she agreed to have someone inform him once Larry woke up. Satisfied with the result, he finally left the building and located two extremely popular people at the Inn..

They were not members of the Inn staff, no; they were Chen and Lily. After conducting a trade with the Morrison family, they gained enough capital to start their own business back at Vegus Minima. Of course, their interest did not lay in mundane and paltry things such as money, they wanted power and revenge. It just so happened that earning money would make that path easier, so they started a little private business at the Inn. They started selling zombie cores. Of course, all trades were conducted through the guild room.

Marlo arrived to see the siblings sitting together watching the match. They were watching the impenetrable Jotun soldiers as they lay siege to the castle. They still had not suffered a single death, it was remarkable.

"I need zombie cores," Marlo said, walking up to them. "Tier 5 Zombie cores, as many as you have."

The siblings were startled by the sudden order, then broke out into a grin. They had a big client.

*****

"I must say, your choices are a little confusing," Mary said as she saw Lex enter a parameter for a detective into the Mystery trial.

"It's to build a reserve of candidates for when we need them. I have an idea for what I want the Midnight Inn to be like. It has to be a lot bigger, and with a lot more services. To be honest, there are hotels even on Earth that can host more guests than us. They have water parks and shopping malls, spas and gyms, and so many more things I can't even imagine. So we have to be open-minded. In fact, I was thinking that after the war on Earth is over, I'd go interview a few hotel managers in Lax Vegas and Dubai. Get a little professional with things."

"Yes, I get that, that is indeed a good idea. What I don't get is… why do you need 'cosplay enthusiasts'?"

"It's complicated, don't worry about it."

"Alright," said Mary hesitantly. She was really starting to get concerned about how much the tumor was affecting Lex.

When Lex finally ran out of ideas for skills to look for, he once again started searching the Midnight Market for other upgrades. That's when he came across the upgrade for his beloved Butter Knife. Currently, it was limited to a one-hit-kill to anyone at Foundation realm and below, but that was too weak for Lex now.

The upgrade that was available for 100,000 MP was an ingredient that Lex was supposed to dip the knife in. It would then be upgraded to Self defense fruit knife, and would be capable of one hitting a Golden Core cultivator. Unfortunately, that was still far from sufficient, but it would do.

Once again, Lex did not hesitate and purchased the ingredient, which appeared in front of him, in a neatly wrapped silver cover. On the cover, a few words were printed: 'I can't believe it's not butter'.

Lex chuckled and stabbed the block with the self-defense butter knife. The knife started glowing and completely submerged itself in the block. The process would be complete in a few hours.

Just as he was about to spend more time looking at more options, Mary appeared and said, "There are a couple of things that require your attention at the Inn."

"Oh, what happened?"

"First, there is a guest in a Recovery pod with a unique constitution. The pod is not able to heal him, and if nothing is done, soon, the guest will die. Second, there is a guest by the name of Miranda who wants to meet you."

Both those news' took Lex by surprise. It was rare that the RP was unable to heal someone, and would usually be the result of a wound such as that of Rafael. He also had an idea of who Miranda might be. She was one of the representatives that spoke with the family heads. Lex himself had already thought of speaking with her, but he felt that he would not be able to stop himself from asking questions about London. That would not be inline with the persona of the Innkeeper.

"I'll check on the RP first," he said, before teleporting directly to the recovery pod in question. He was startled to see an unconscious Larry covered in bullet wounds. He quickly checked Larry's status.

Name: Larry Dershaw

Condition:

Multiple gunshot wounds

Ruptured kidney

Multiple fractures

Crushed knee

Severe blood loss

Blocked blood vessels

Non-organic living tissue damaged

Report:

Guest has a unique constitution mixing his organic tissue with spiritual metals. The Recovery pod is able to aid the body in healing organic matter, but spiritual metal is required to completely heal. Please provide any kind of spiritual metal to facilitate the body's healing.

Lex was greatly confused at seeing such a strange requirement, but also relieved that the conditions could be easily met. In fact, he did not even need to go look for spiritual metal elsewhere. He summoned his Heavy harleys magazine and started popping the physical rounds into the recovery pod. By the sixth bullet, the pod no longer needed any more metal and started incorporating the metal into Larry's body. Of course, the useless materials in the bullets were pushed out of the pod.

He had only just started relaxing, thinking that the situation on Earth wasn't so bad, and then this happened. His concern for his family came back.

Seeing that Larry's condition was stable, Lex left to go see Miranda. It was time to see what this person wanted with him.

When he teleported to the garden behind the manor where Miranda was currently sitting, conversing with her partners, he expected to see evil incarnate. He was ready to see the face of someone he would hate. Instead, he saw a pale-looking woman with dark circles under her eyes and a frail voice. Yet despite her seemingly tired state, her clothes were neat and clean, without a single extra crease. He checked her status.

Name: Miranda Charles

Age: 31

Sex: Female

Cultivation Details: Foundation Peak

Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1

Condition: Severely damaged meridians, unable to cultivate further without treatment

Remarks: A revolutionary with a splash of pumpkin spice

Ignoring the remark that made no sense to him, her damaged meridians may have explained why she was so exhausted despite her deep cultivation. Maybe she was also working a lot.

Miranda and her partners were startled by the Innkeepers' arrival, but then again, they had been informed that he would join them shortly.

"Greetings guests, I am the Innkeeper. I was informed you were looking for me. I hope you have not found any of our facilities lacking."

"Not at all sir, not at all," Miranda said, standing up to greet the Innkeeper. "I hope I am not being rude. I have heard many things about you, and wanted an opportunity to introduce myself, and hoped that we may be able to work together in a few endeavors."

Miranda was slightly nervous. She had heard many things about the Innkeeper, both from the council's spies and from the many guests she had met here. The scope of the Inn completely overwhelmed her and opened her to a whole new world. It made her realize just how insignificant Earth really was. It also made her realize how much time and potential the five families had wasted by stagnating. She would not make the same mistake. She would bring Earth to a new dawn.

She did not know that while she was belittling the family heads, they were meeting with Adrian, who was previously the observer assigned to them, and had come with a message from the lady they answered to.

Lex, as the Innkeeper, maintained a warm smile as he gestured to Miranda to take a seat. Her associates also greeted Lex, but made it clear with their body language that they would leave all the talking to her.

"So, Miranda, how can I help you?" the Innkeeper said, taking a seat on a chair he summoned out of thin air.

"Let me introduce myself first," she said as she fixed her posture, trying to appear as proper as possible despite her apparent exhaustion. "My name is Miranda, as you already know, and I am a leading member of the Council of New Order, as well as their foreign relations director. Due to the gross negligence, stagnation of progress and greed of the previous rulers of Earth, we have taken it upon ourselves to lead our planet towards a brighter future."

"Yes, I am aware," Lex said softly, "of the changes happening on Earth. I'm hosting quite a few refugees at my Inn at the moment, all escaping from your planet."

"I heard about that," she said, letting out a defeated and exasperated sigh. "I want to thank you for looking out for our citizens. After decades of planning and build up, we've made the transition of power as peaceful as we possibly could. We have to thank your Inn for that as well. Had the family heads not left Earth long enough for us to make preparations, the battle to lure them into a trap would have been extremely bloody. But still, as much as we want things to happen peacefully, not everything goes according to plan. Some disturbances are unavoidable. Still, things should calm down within the week."

"I, naturally, have no opinion on how you do things on your planet. I am simply running an Inn." Lex smiled at her, his warm and calm demeanor relaxing her tense nerves. Then he continued to say, "of course, some of my staff members are from Earth. I'm sure they may have some concerns.".

"Who are they? I'll make sure to take special care of them," Miranda replied suddenly, then realized her question might not be completely appropriate. But she, as well as the other guests, could not differentiate between the A.I.s and actual employees. Other than Leo, who obviously ran a gaming den with games from Earth, other employees' origins were a mystery to most.

"Their identity is their privacy, but I will let them know to contact you if they have concerns."

Miranda nodded, as if to assure the Innkeeper that she would take the utmost care if any of his employees approached her.

"While we are still finishing dealing with… unstable factors, it is still true that we have assumed control of most of Earth. As such, I was hoping to cooperate with the Inn on certain matters."

"Please elaborate. I will do what I can."

"The first matter I would like to discuss is if it is possible to ban certain people from entering the Inn. There are many criminals and terrorists who have taken advantage of the momentary chaos to wreak havoc, and may escape to the Inn. It would be extremely detrimental to everyone if they stay at large."

"Miss Miranda, that is impossible," Lex replied immediately and firmly. "The Midnight Inn is open to all so long as they can pay our nominal charges and adhere to the rules of the Inn itself. The Inn does not interfere in the civil or political matters of other planets, and will also not adjust its rules according to the wishes of other planets."

Just as he finished his small yet clear rejection, a loud crashing noise attracted the duo's attention. They turned to see some guests on the side, ardently watching the second match. The beasts had demolished one of the walls of the castle and were charging in. Blood, fire and chaos filled the screen as various races combated the zombies.

"Of course, that does not mean the Inn will stay unresponsive if antagonized," Lex quickly added. What was an all out war if not interfering in civil and political matters? He mentally wiped some sweat off his forehead.

Miranda was disappointed but not surprised. It took her quite a while to accept the facts when she learnt about the Inn and other civilizations, but she had adjusted her mentality now and knew that in front of those other giants, Earth was nothing.

"I understand. Then I would like to move onto my next request. I would like to host an expo at your Inn. The culture part of your event already gave a lot of people a preview of Earth, and these games are a good opportunity to show off our military. But I would like to host a more detailed event focusing on everything Earth has to offer in search of anyone who might want to invest in the development of Earth. I was hoping that you would help with spreading invitations to the expo as well."

Her request truly took Lex by surprise. He could not believe he had heard correctly, despite the awesome power of the Host Attire. She was looking for… sponsors… for Earth?

"Can you elaborate on what you are trying to achieve? So that I can understand the scope of the event."

"I've spent some time getting to know some of the guests and the powers behind them at the Inn. Giants such as the Empire naturally would not be interested, but I'm sure there are merchants or businesses who would be interested in sponsoring Earth. Of course, we would not be selling equity, but perhaps they may want resources or the labor force or have some manufacturing done on our planet. I'm sure we have something that someone wants. The premise would remain that all cooperation be done via the Inn. We would never invite danger to our planet for some profit. I've prepared a rough list of the kinds of things we would be willing to accept as sponsorships."

With that she handed Lex a document listing, in great detail and with much specificity, the kinds of things Miranda wanted. In the end, the document also stated that they would be open to receiving other offers. If nothing else, at least this woman was well organized.

"There would be no issue in holding such an event, but it would have to wait till the Midnight Games are over. I can start advertising for your event as soon as you submit a down payment. My suggestion, however, is that you wait till you have a complete grasp on your planet before you do any such thing. It would be embarrassing if interested parties arrive to attend, but you are not in a condition to host."

"Of course, of course, we would also need to take of many things on our end to host such an event if we want to display our best attributes. Now that I know such an option is available, I will begin work on it as soon as I return."

"Was that everything, or did you have more things you wanted to discuss?"

"Just a few more things, if you have the time. I wanted…"

The meeting with Miranda truly went on much longer than Lex expected. But as much as he disliked her for helping to start the war, he truly did benefit from meeting with her. She bought 50,000 bottles of Botlam Dew, 10,000 Bath towels (removes negative statuses such as poison, paralysis paste, petrification, tracking powder, bad makeup etc.) and 1000 Travel face wash kits. For a moment, Lex was afraid he might run out. Fortunately, he did not, as there seemed to be no limit on purchases for these items.

The profit from one bottle of Dew was 120 MP and 100 MP each for the other items. This one transaction netted Lex 7,100,000 MP! But the joy from the sale was mired by the knowledge that these items were going to the council.

After the meeting ended, Lex checked to see how the game was going. It was almost the end as a wolf, Alexander and Cara together besieged Pramod. Without the advantage of endless spiritual energy fighting the demon was a lot more difficult. It did not help that the technique given by the Empire did not do as much damage as they had promised.

'They'll manage,' Lex told himself as he returned to his room to continue his expansion plan for the Inn, completely missing the moment Pramod finally activated his invincibility. The demon allowed himself to be attacked by the wolf freely before grabbing its neck and breaking it in one swift motion. Wasting no time, the demon grabbed a lance that had fallen on the ground nearby and stabbed towards Alexander. The demon's movements were too swift and his total lack of care for defending against any attacks put the two humans at a disadvantage. Alexander tried to dodge but was unable, and the lance pierced through his stomach and pinned him to the ground.

The teenager yelled in pain, but did not stop for even a second and pushed his body forward to escape the lance going through his body from the other end. Pramod attacked again with endless savagery in his eyes, but suddenly Cara appeared before him and parried his attack. Since the demon was immune to attacks, she did not attack and only defended.

Fortunately she was able to buy Alexander the time he needed to free himself, but now he was wounded and bleeding, and Pramod was invincible. Things did not look good.

The demon grinned at Cara and the teenager, then turned around and sprinted away. Both of them were confused as to why the demon left when it had such an advantage, but given the situation, they were relieved. Alexander was exhausted from the long siege and almost drained of all his spirit energy, relying mostly on his impressive body cultivation. This was an opportunity for him to retreat. Cara, on the other hand, was now free from distractions and ran towards a corridor leading to the chamber with the node in it. It was defended by zombies, of course, but so long as they were not as difficult to deal with as Pramod, she would end this match in a few minutes.

But while they were celebrating, they did not realize that the reason Pramod left them was because he did not take them too seriously. His real goal was the main Jotun force which was nearby. With his invincibility running out, he found his way to the main force and rammed through all of their attacks to reach the center of their ranks.

Then, he withdrew the cursed Quibly heart and crushed it, releasing black toxic juices and fumes. Then, before his invincibility ran out, Pramod quickly escaped. He did not bother looking back at the effects of the artifact that he used, but he knew it would do sufficient damage.

The Midnight games automatically prevented him from bringing in any artifacts at a level greater than what a Foundation expert could use, so it was not enough to destroy the whole army, but it would do its job. For the first time since the games started, the Empire suffered its first casualty. Then it's second. As the numbers started to climb up, Pramod did not look back. A few minutes later, Cara managed to destroy the node with the help of a few beasts and the match was over. The Empire's doctors ran to diagnose their soldiers, but the damage was terrifying. Those that did not immediately die seemed crippled.

*****

On Earth, yet another council meeting was being held. But this time, instead of an underground bunker, they were holding their meeting in the UN office in Geneva. The holograms did not hide the members' identities, and no one was using voice modulators..

Despite its public location, the meeting was a private one with almost full attendance of the council members. Among the council members, there was a distinction in importance, with five members having greater authority than the rest, but even the lesser members had a voice here. They had to, otherwise how would they fulfill their ambitions.

Currently, they were hearing about the situation in Africa, which was the most stable continent in the world at the moment. The transition of power was as smooth as silk and any opposition had been… diplomatically convinced to change their stance, much to the disappointment of a few warlords.

After this would be Miranda's turn, and everyone was looking forward to the new opportunity she represented. Originally, a lot of members were against her joining the council as she had no real power to bring, but her ingenuity won them over. She could turn any situation to her advantage, and they were now ready to see what advantages she had brought this time.

But the situation suddenly changed when a floating woman appeared in midair. She gave off no aura, so they were not able to tell what level she was at, but getting past so many people and suddenly appearing in front of them was no small feat.

"So this is the Council of New Order," she said with a look of derision. "Such a stupid name, how do you bring yourselves to keep it?"

"Who are you?" one of the holograms suddenly roared. The guards in the room suddenly pointed their guns at her, but then froze. They had lost control of their bodies.

The woman looked at the hologram that screamed at her, then appeared in front of it. She grabbed the hologram by the throat, as if it were a real entity, and lifted it. But somehow, despite how bizarre her actions were, the hologram was lifted into the air, the man clawing at his throat as if to free her hand.

"My name is Fernanda, and I have a message for you all so you better listen silently." She turned to look at the members in the eyes and saw a lot of panic, but she also saw a lot of calm faces.

"My lady, in her everlasting benevolence, has decided not to interfere in your actions. Since you are the people of Earth, and you all want a change in the way things are done, she has allowed you this modicum of control over your fates."

Fernanda's voice was full of disgust and hate, not because her mistress felt that way, but because letting such major changes occur on Earth was a failure on her part. She had looked like a fool in front of her mistress, and wished she could tear the council apart. But of course, she knew better than to do that.

"But there are things you need to understand. The Earth, the moon, the planets that orbit the sun and even the star itself, all of these were a betrothal gift from the young master to the mistress. Since you want change, you can have it. Since you want to reveal cultivators to the public, you may. Since you have ambitions that reach the stars, then reach for them. In how you choose to lead the planet, she will not control you, as she did not control your predecessors.

"But know that everything you do is with the permission of the mistress, and if you cross her line, then a wave of a hand is all it will take to replace you." Fernanda waved her hand and suddenly every member of the council felt themselves choking. The feeling lasted barely a moment, but it was real enough to remember.

"You have one week, you better end your wars within this period. The mistress does not like it when innocents are involved, so don't involve any civilians in the rest of your actions. Settling personal vendettas is acceptable during this period, but there should be no genocide. Remember, the Earth is her gift, so you should not even dream of marring its beauty. Does anyone have any questions?"

Dead silence filled the room as everyone stared at the angry woman. It seemed no one had the courage to do anything else.

Just as she got ready to leave, though, one of the men sitting at the head table stood up.

"Miss Fernanda, it is a pleasure to meet you," the middle-aged man said, his voice as smooth and alluring as a radio show host. "My name is Bernard Brown. I do have some questions, I hope you do not mind answering."

Fernanda glared at him, clearly upset that he spoke up, but she could not continue to ignore her duties.

"I've seen you before, you're that Sam's kid. Sure, ask away."

"Grandchild, actually," he corrected her with a smile, as if he was not admitting to planning parricide. "Thank you for humoring me. Would it be alright if I asked more about this 'mistress'…"

The meeting took a very sharp turn from what everyone had expected.

*****

Back in his room, Lex finalized his expansion plans. With 8,281,530 MP available to him, there were many things he could do now. No longer delaying the matter, Lex spent 5,000,000 MP on increasing the size of the Inn by 500 acres. There were no massive earthquakes or mystical indications. At a moment's notice, the boundary wall of the Inn expanded out and new land filled in the space. If all that land had been added to one corner instead of the boundaries, it would have been more noticeable, but this would do.

Behind the hills upon which stood the meditation hall Lex raised a mountain that could rival Everst, its peak going high up into the clouds. The singular mountain was nothing but one massive, pointy rock so Lex added layers of extremely fertile, volcanic soil. Then came a layer of fresh, powdered snow.

With another wave of his hand, thousands of coniferous trees started sprouting and in the blink of an eye grew. Like Salt Bae, he sprinkled his hands over the projection of the mountain, and various animals fell from the sky and into the new forests, somehow completely unhurt.

He paused, looked at the projection, and suddenly came up with another idea. He cleared one corner of the mountain with a wave of his hand, as if he were photoshopping an image instead of an actual mountain, then dotted it with only a few obstacles. This would be a ski slope.

Turning back to the other parts of the mountain, he carved out some trails for guests to climb. Naturally, he made sure to add some extremely scenic spots for the climbers to rest or camp, and added a fair share of small ledges for lovers to sit on and whisper corny lines to one another. Alright, a part of him was still just thinking of those two teenagers who came to the Inn for a date.

But he was not done. With the trails carved out, he then planned for the adventurous types, who went where no path led. He filled the mountain with secret caves and tunnels. He hid simple and tiny gifts, such as Botlam Dew, a few MI suits and more, in various corners of the mountain in small chests. He would not tell anyone about these and the guests would have to stumble into them.

He spent a good while perfecting the mountain, or Midnight mountain as it would eventually be called, completely unaware that all the guests in the Inn stood and watched in awe as a mountain appeared out of thin air, and then kept changing, as if being played with by a god.