nn

After the diamond, the next listed item was a single teacup with an accompanying saucer, with an extensive floral design all over it. It was neither the cup nor the saucer that caused Lex distress. Instead, it was the law associated with the items. It was the law of femininity.

Even with his vast imagination, Lex did not dare imagine what would happen to him if he allowed such a law to take root within his body. This was a trade he absolutely could not participate in!

Immediately, Lex swiped the details away and looked at the final offer. This time, not only was the item listed, but there was a detailed introduction about the client as well.

The name of the client was Zuri Adisa, and she was originally a common four-leaf clover. Now, after the passage of countless years, she was recognized as one of the strongest beings in the origin realm - at least according to the emporium. She had clones across the realm in hundreds of thousands of galaxies, and her influence and power were beyond imagining.

The trade, if Lex agreed, would be conducted by one of her clones on a planet she inhabited. Actually, technically speaking, the entire planet, which was about 70% the size of earth, was actually her clone.

The item in question this time was a single blade of grass, within which was contained the law of regrowth. As if that was not enough, a number of other laws were also mentioned that played only a minor supporting role. The laws included the law of vitality, the law of refinement, and the law of healing.

Although it was slightly inconvenient to go over to another planet to make the trade, this was by far the most useful to Lex. If consuming that blade of grass somehow improved Lex's healing, even if by a small margin, it was worth it.

Then came the list of items the emporium offered. Although technically they were not as valuable as the previous items, they made Lex's eyes glow. These could go a long way towards not only helping Lex, but they could directly improve the Inn.

In fact, in the list of items Lex was presented with, there were a number of them that had no relation to laws but were valuable nonetheless. They would especially come in handy, especially since he wanted to strengthen his workers as quickly as possible without harming them.

Just as Lex was delving into the list and beginning to pick out things that would be useful to him, Mary called out to him.

"Lex there's… there's a situation. Strictly speaking, it doesn't really require you to do anything, but I think you might want to pay attention to future developments."

The hesitation and concern in Mary's voice drew Lex's attention. This was extremely out of the ordinary.

"What happened?" he asked, mentally readying himself to hear bad news. It was always bad news. It was never anyone dropping off a picnic basket for the Innkeeper.

"Do you remember Garlin? The snake that won the system from the well? You told us to keep an eye on him and get back to you about his activities. Well… something happened to him that we learned about very recently. Apparently, he was assassinated.

"Velma was looking into the details of how it happened, and originally I thought I'd just update you when you come back to the Inn since there's nothing you can really do about it. But just a few minutes ago, when Velma discovered the identity of the assassins, we also discovered that they had already entered the Inn after the assassination. But even that wasn't enough to get me to specially update you. What really drastically changed the situation was… that the assassins directly went up and challenged Ming Jie, the mountain-man, and John to a fight in the Murder Grounds."

"Wait, they just went up to them and challenged them?"

"Pretty much. I suspect they would have already picked a fight directly if they didn't want to end up offending the Midnight Inn."

"Is that other system user from earth at the Inn?"

"No, currently he is on earth."

"So they pretty much immediately challenged all the existing system users at the Inn?"

"Yes."

Lex was much too experienced to let his thoughts show on his face, but his mood underwent a drastic change nonetheless. An ominous feeling overtook him, and he decided to speed up this meeting as much as possible.

*****

At the Midnight Inn, three Rhinocentaurs stood face to face, their massive heights overshadowing the other guests. Their lower bodies were that of a rhino, with thick sturdy legs, hooved feet and a midsection that was packed with imposing muscles. From where one would expect a neck, instead a human torso appeared, though its proportions were much larger than normal humans. With biceps larger than most people's calves, a chest built like a warhammer could not budge it and a long, curved horn emerging from the human forehead, they put on a fearsome appearance. Each of them were at least 14 feet(4.2 meters) in height.

Behind them was the even more imposing figure of the mountain man. To the frequent guests of the Inn, the excitement of this particular guest had long passed. He did naught but sleep, no matter how one tried to interact with him. Even the three Rhinocentaurs were unable to wake him, at least without crossing the Inn's rules.

"It is pointless to wait here. We can just hire someone to keep an eye on him and alert us once he's awake," said one of the rhino's using his spirit sense.

"I say that is a waste of time," said another. "We should just sell his location details to someone in the chatroom and get immediate benefits."

"What about the other one? The Inn's employee?"

"That is also a tough situation. Based on our preliminary research into the Midnight Inn, the owner, the Innkeeper, is a devastatingly powerful cultivator. It is best not to cross him. Unless this 'John' accepts our challenge willingly, I do not see a way we can get his system either."

"Are you sure this 'Midnight Inn' isn't a part of a system either?" the second one asked, a hint of reluctance in his voice. It would love it if it could get and absorb a system that could grant something as impressive as the Inn.

"I've told you, according to the device, the Inn has nothing to do with a system. It has never failed before, so there's no reason to believe it'll mess up now."

𝒍𝒊𝒃𝒓𝙚𝙖𝙙.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Easy for you to say," one of them complained. "You've already gotten your hands on the 'Overnight Celebrity system' from that snake! We're the ones still lacking."

"That's also why I have to be even more cautious from now on. Although I myself am a member of the organization, there's always a chance one of the other members will target me. The same goes for you guys. The moment you get your hands on a system, you'll have a target on your backs."

The three Rhinocentaurs went silent as they contemplated what to do. They did not want to give up so easily, especially since they were so close. It had taken them years as members of the organization before they actually found actual system holders!

Finally, in tacit understanding, the three of them pulled up an interface in front of them. Strangely enough, the interface was not that of the Midnight Inn's, and it was not visible to anyone else other than themselves.

On the top of the interface were the words 'System hunters chatroom'. The chat room had hundreds of billions of members across not only the Origin realm, but thousands of other realms. Yet none of them were worried that the secrets of the chatroom would be divulged, their identities leaked or the existence of the chatroom itself discovered. That was because the chatroom itself was responsible for maintaining its secrecy.

Even if one of the members of the chatroom was interrogated under torture, or their memories read, the chatroom's existence would not be discovered. That was because the chatroom would automatically erase all knowledge and traces linking itself to the member from existence.

No one knew how the chatroom came into being, but among the basic members of the chatroom there was a theory that the creator of the chatroom was the founder of their organization which hunted system users across the universe, and that he himself had a system linked to chatrooms. No one could say for certain as there was too much mystery associated with it.

The three of them exchanged a look, before a new post appeared in the chatroom. It was auctioning the location of two system holders, though there was a disclosure given that the system holders' environment was extremely dangerous. Within 1 second, the post had over 1 million responses. The auction period would last for a few hours, and the chatroom would administrate the auction itself, and automatically facilitate the transactions.

Even if Lex sped up the meeting, he had to go through the necessary steps. He had to pick who he was trading with, and in the case of the emporium, he had to pick out exactly what he wanted to buy.

This was a rare opportunity to rack up on various resources, cultivation techniques and information that he wouldn't normally be able to get in touch with. This was one benefit of appearing as himself: he did not need to pretend to be all knowing and powerful.

Of course, the emporium could no doubt guess that Lex's background was not simple. But what did it matter if they guessed or not? Lex was still in the golden core realm. It was understandable for him to have gaps in his knowledge.

If he could supplement his knowledge with that of the emporiums, not only would he be better off, it would be a lot easier for him to maneuver in the future.

Lex could not help but sigh. Things were just too chaotic. He was already in a time crunch to discover the anomaly in the Crystal realm before his deployment information from the Henali came. Now, he also had to prioritize his own cultivation using the elixir since it would soon disappear. At the same time he had to maximize his profits from it as well.

Not to mention that Lex had numerous employees who were stronger than him. They were currently suppressed because of the subtle influence the Inn played in ensuring they work honestly, not to mention those that saw his outburst when he used the Butter knife at its full strength. But there was Zagan, a monster currently still undergoing tribulations. Lex had to figure out how to keep him in line.

On top of all that, there was now apparently a group of people who knew exactly how to locate system users. Would they be able to detect him as well? He had no idea, but he had to check up on it sooner rather than later.

Lex didn't have an issue with the problem, but the fact that too many problems were coming all at once. How was one man supposed to do everything at the same time?

Oh yes, there was also a wedding he had to plan. He should see if he could get anything from the emporium to improve the wedding.

Poor Innkeeper, he was completely swamped.

"Mary, keep an eye on them and tell me if anything significant happens. I have to deal with this first."

Although it sounded a lot like Lex was lamenting, in truth he was pretty calm. He complained that he had to do everything himself, but he knew that he had been raising some pretty loyal followers.

Previously he was really worried since all his workers seemed to have an extremely mellow and amicable temperament. How would they deal with it if a situation escalated and he wasn't there?

But now, there was finally one fellow who was a bad seed. How would he be able to take it if one of his coworkers was challenged to a deathmatch? Not too well, if Lex had to guess.

Suddenly, Lex's tense muscles relaxed. Yes, he had to remember that the Innkeeper was never alone. He had the entire Inn backing him up.

"Do you have some tea?" Lex asked Powell as he perused the list. "This may take a while."

*****

The three Rhinocentaurs that were currently trying to sell the location for the system users were not the only ones who had arrived at the Inn from their organization.

Their organization was exceedingly mysterious, and each member could only join the organization by being invited. Each member was extremely powerful, for snatching a system from a system wielder was not easy at all. Systems gave their users unfair advantages, which made them extremely difficult to kill, which is why most members operated in groups. Of course, their organization also had a loose organizational system, and there was nothing really stopping one member from attacking another to steal their system so they had to be careful who they partnered with. At least, that's what it was like as basic members of the organization, which is what these three were.

They had been recruited due to their strengths, and had formed a team because they felt that it was easier to trust one from their own race.

As basic members of the organizations they did not have many perks, but they were eligible to get a special device which could detect systems in a close proximity. There were numerous limitations on the machine, and theirs was the most basic version of the machine too, so it was extremely lucky that they were able to discover Garlin back on Nibiru.

But Garlin did not have a simple background even on Nibiru, so they hired a helper using the chatroom. Of course, since the helper was stronger than them, they also signed a contract through the chatroom that the helper could not divulge any information about them, and could not try to harm them in any way. The contract was upheld by the chatroom, and if anyone tried to break it there was a severe punishment, so it was safe to use.

Their helper protected them from external interference while the three of them ganged up on Garlin. Once it became apparent that he was about to lose, Garlin tried to use the golden key to escape, but was ultimately killed before he could use it.

Later on, when they had retried the system and escaped pursuit, they gave all of Garlin's belongings excluding the system to their helper. It could not be helped, it was a part of his contract that all loot would be turned over to him.

When he was inspecting the key, he accidentally broke it and brought them all to the Midnight Inn. Initially they took things cautiously and made sure to understand their new environment. But when their helper discovered John was a system user, he did not hesitate to challenge him to a deathmatch.

There was no mention of systems, and John did not know his motives, but naturally he was provoked into accepting so currently a death match was underway.

It was just these three who were more cautious and did not dare to randomly pick a fight with the Innkeeper. It wasn't as if they had heard of his reputation before. It was just a part of their personalities to not provoke death.

Unfortunately, at least among the workers at the Inn, it was already common knowledge that these three had arrived with the same beast which had challenged John to a deathmatch in the Murder grounds.

The three were busy focusing on their chat interface, completely oblivious to their surroundings, when one of them suddenly felt something on his shoulders. He looked up, and was stunned to find a thin, delicate looking man standing calmly on his shoulders. He was wearing a smart three piece suit which only amplified his aura, adding an air of power to the arrogance he radiated.

The other two Rhinocentairs quickly noticed something was wrong, and looked up to find a human looking down on them.

"Welcome to the Midnight Inn," he said in an exceptionally cold voice. "I hope you find it to your liking."

The mans 'polite' words did nothing to diminish their sudden anger, and one of them yelled fiercely as he punched the man, trying to push him away. But the man very simply took a step forward, and moved from one of the rhinocenataur's shoulder to another's head.

"I heard that one of your friends challenged John to a fight to the death."

He squatted down, but such an action only brought greater attention to the fact that he was looking down on them.

"Here at the Midnight Inn, we take great pride in our hospitality. Since one of your friends is in a fight to the death, how can we bear to leave you feeling lonely? How about it? Are any of you interested in fighting with me to the death?"

𝓵𝓲𝓫𝒓𝓮𝙖𝓭.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Although the human did not seem powerful, his words brought the three rhinocenataur's great stress. Was the Inn making a move against them?

They immediately tried to exit the Inn, but found that they could not.

"What's the rush? Why leave so soon? I especially took my time to go to the security room and have them block you from teleporting away before I approached you. How can I allow you to leave without tasting our hospitality?"

The three rhinocenataurs' suddenly noticed that, at some point, they had been encircled by a large number of suited humans. Some of them were radiating an especially strong aura, though most of them were not so intimidating. But their numbers alone was something to worry the rhinocentaurs.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Luthor, and I have recently added a new occupation to my resume. Alongside my main job, I have also become incharge of fertilizer procurement. Allow me to show you how I fulfill this role."

Under a familiar night sky was a battlefield filled with rubble which once used to belong to some ancient ruins, which were no doubt once a glorious civilization. The battlefield seemed to stretch into forever, and perhaps if the combatants made it far enough, they would once again see some standing ruins. But sightseeing was not really on the agenda for the two combatants, locked in a fight to the death.

John's repertoire consisted of exceedingly lethal and deadly attacks, but the greatest flaw of those attacks was that they were more geared towards assassination than combat. They were designed to be swift, piercing and devastating. But for all the might that they packed, to use each one certain conditions needed to be met. Matching those conditions in the midst of active combat was difficult, to say the least.

But any assassin worth his salt would also know that in case of a failed assassination, he might have to face active combat and perhaps even a siege, so their skills were more than sufficient even in combat, if not quite as good as their assassination.

The issue John was facing, however, was that the massive centipede-like creature he was facing was ridiculously strong. Even in optimal conditions John might not be able to assassinate him, let alone now that the target was aware of his intentions.

John, who was perfectly hidden within the fold of space within a shadow, discovered that much like the Mystery trial, any assassination plan his system helped him conjure would always be perfectly countered by this enemy. It was only when he attempted his own methods that he got even a hint of a positive result, despite the systems approach being more rounded than his own.

He did not know who this fellow was, nor why he had gone crazy in provoking him, but John was not about to take things lightly. Even if direct assassination methods spawned by the system were not working, he had other methods he could use.

John's eye turned black and he once again got ready for one of their brief but deadly clashes. Strange black lines began creeping up on his skin, line tendrils of an unspeakable evil, encroaching upon his body from an unknown abyss.

While John readied his next attack, the centipede-like creature stood silent and confident in the Murder grounds. As a member of the system hunter organization, his personal strength had been judged to be enough to hunt the average system wielder even if he was alone. It would not be so easy to take him down. Moreover, while the creature knew its opponent had a system, John did not know that his greatest secret had already been revealed to the opponent - to a small degree.

The advantage that knowledge presented could either be small or great. But the only thing that was certain, was that the outcome of this battle could not yet be determined based on the advantages any one party had over the other.

*****

The entire security tem surrounded the three rhinocntaurs, watching as Luthor aggravated them. Truthfully, their actions were breaking the rules. The three 'guests' had not done anything illegal, and so it was not appropriate to punish them by blocking their exit from the Inn. Technically speaking, even their challenge to the Murder grounds had been legal.

As if blocking their exit was not bad enough, Luthor even came with the intention of attacking them. Considering all of this was against the rules, all the workers felt quite uncomfortable doing it. But Luthor's plan had personally been approved by Gerard, the head of security. Moreover, the greatest reason Luthor and everyone else were so agitated was that their memory of what had happened to their fellow workers was extremely fresh. In fact, Besides the security team, Harry himself was also present in the encirclement. Although strictly speaking he was not a combatant, and he was not one of the workers that the Inn summoned itself, his attachment to the Midnight Inn was one of the greatest.

As someone who had to rely only on his own skills and connections to live, being accepted by everyone and having a home like the Midnight Inn was beyond a dream. Even before everything was completely ruined on earth, he was a lot more likely to end up homeless and broke than anything else.

So, bound by the feelings of home, of friendship, of loyalty he stood at the forefront. Even if he was not the one who had been challenged to the deathmatch, he would not stand aside and watch as one of his own was threatened.

Recently, a silent sentiment had been spreading amongst all the workers of the Inn. Most of them had no memories before the Inn, and knew no life other than the Inn. Even after interacting with countless guests and learning about the outside world, they did not feel as if they were missing out. In fact, they felt even closer to their coworkers and the Inn.

But if there was one thing that the guests had that they often did not, which made them somewhat envious, was a surname. At some point, as a joke, a certain guest had joked that they were all a part of the Midnight family. But like an ember falling on a pile of dry leaves, the joke did not disappear. Instead, it grew into a small fire which was slowly and steadily turning into a roaring flame.

In fact, unbeknownst to Lex, after he recovered from his near fatal injuries, Harry had given up his original surname of 'Styles' and taken on the surname Midnight.

So now, facing these three conspirators, it was not Harry Styles standing ready for war. It was Harry Midnight, the proud and powerful Glamor Sorcerer of the Inn.

Beside him stood not his coworkers and neighbors, but his chosen family. After all, the blood of the covenant was thicker than the water of the womb.

Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

Harry may have been the first to take up the name, but he was certainly not the last. When it occurred to the staff that they could take on the name Midnight, fervor and zeal spread through the masses. No longer would they only have one name. No longer would they have no origin. They would be one family.

But just as quickly as the excitement spread, so too did fear and hesitation. Unlike Harry, who was acknowledged by all, and had a special relationship with the Innkeeper, most others felt unworthy of the name.

On one hand they yearned for the name and all it entailed, but on the other hand because of the immense worship they felt for the name and its prestige, they felt unworthy to adopt it. They dare not admit to anyone the struggle they felt, yet they could not come up with an answer to their internal struggle.

Sensing the deep demoralization spreading through his brothers and sisters, Z took it upon himself to come up with a solution. After all, the more important members of the Inn were all swamped with tasks delegated by the Innkeeper. How would they have time to notice such details, especially when everyone kept them hidden so deeply in their hearts.

Only one as attentive as him would pick up on such details. Even though he looked younger than most of the Inn's workers, since most of them called him big brother, he had to act as one.

He did not make a big show of things, nor did he make an announcement. He directly called some of the others and shared the situation, as well as his plan. None of them hesitated to support him, and Luthor especially praised for his initiative.

It was thus that the houses under the banner of Midnight were formed. Only the most prominent and specially accomplished of the Inn's workers would take on the name Midnight. For the rest, they would join one of the lesser houses.

Z selected for himself a surname, and took it upon himself to be the founder of the Starcloak house. The Starcloak house would be for the masses, and would be vast like the infinite starlit night sky. It would be the place that perfectly captured the magic and wonder of Midnight, and the place where most of the Inn's workers would find themselves.

Gerard, as the head of security, founded the house of Umbragard. As the guardians and protectors of the Midnight Inn, they perfectly encapsulated the meaning of the name Umbragard. The shadow, or darkness, of umbra perfectly represented Midnight, and as the first line of defense and guardians, they themselves were the 'gard' in the name.

The entire security team joined Umbragard, bringing them closer than ever to one another, and turning their secret insecurities into pride instead.

Velma founded the house Nyxheart. Her intention was to establish a house full of the romantics in the Midnight Inn, but more and more the house was taking shape to ensure the will of the Inn - to ensure that the Innkeepers hearts desires were met. Spies, secret agents and intelligence operatives filled this house.

Finally, Luthor himself created a house called Nightshade. Its purpose was simple. To poison and kill anyone who would threaten the Inn. Unlike the Umbragard, who would protect, the Nightshade would proactively attack!

Members of all four houses encircled the three rhinocentaurs and watched in silence as Luthor, for the first time, performed the duty of his house.

"I have studied the rules of your Inn!" one of them roared, still trying his best to avoid a deteriorating situation. In fact, it only appeared that was his intention. He was delaying so that his partners could quickly sell the information inexchange for a teleportation reward, as well as some points that could be used within the chat room.

Unfortunately for them… the level of teleportation that the chatroom awarded that could forcefully work in the Midnight Inn… was far beyond anything they could afford.

"Yes, unfortunately, you have not. But don't you worry, I won't kill you - yet! After I capture you, you can be the perfect excuse to finally get permission from the Innkeeper to build the prison I've always wanted. Not to mention, how can I question you for your motives if I let you die so easily?"

Without waiting for a response, Luthor attacked. Red flames engulfed him, immediately searing the head of the rhinocentaur he was standing on. The rhinocentaur screamed in pain and convulsed, but by then Luthor was already gone.

Displaying an absolutely abnormal speed, he had dashed from the first centaurs head to the legs of another. He controlled his red flames and wrapped them around the legs of another, attempting to completely immobilize it, but how could three members of the system hunter organization have such little combat experience?

Before his flames could burn the centaurs legs, it employed a technique to increase its fire resistance as it charged towards Luthor. From the side, the third centaur coordinated with it to simultaneously attack Luthor.

They had teamwork, skill and plenty of experience working for them. They were prepared to fight against those even with the cheats of a system, let alone a single normal human. But Luthor was not at all a normal human, and who was to say the cheats a system user had were more than that granted to him by his bloodline?

The flames he used were called Hellflame, and were so strong they would harm both the user and the enemy. But the reason Luthor appeared fine was because he could use his bloodline to move the lethal damage being accumulated from the raging Hellflame constantly burning him alive. In the case where he was accumulating enough damage to kill himself every second, what was accumulating just a little more?

Completely ignoring the attacks landing on his body, Luthor reached forward and grabbed the centaurs face with his hand and brought it close to himself.

𝓵𝓲𝓫𝙧𝓮𝙖𝙙.𝒄𝓸𝙢

Fire resistance did not mean fire immunity, so while the centaur tried to ignore the pain of its face being burnt, and attempted to free itself from Luthor's grasp, it missed the look of pure malice in his eyes.

How dare they threaten an employee of the Inn? Luthor would ensure they lived to regret it.