The Innkeeper
chapter-1156

Lex had thought he knew what to expect. He had considered many insidious evils that Damien could enact on his sisters. But of all of them, setting Liz up for marriage… was not what he had expected.

"He wanted to see if she could pass on the affinity," Lex said, accurately guessing his reasoning, or at least his excuse.

"Yes. For that he was very particular about wanting to find the right match. But at the same time, he really wanted your parents to approve of the marriage as well. The excuse he gave was that he was trying to rebuild bridges and mend their relationship. More realistically speaking, he probably wanted your mothers expertise in ensuring that the offsprings would be geniuses as well."

It's good to know that his grandfather was quite dutiful in ticking off all the boxes in being just an all round scummy guy.

Of his sisters, Liz was the most introverted. He supposed constantly getting wedding proposals would make any person antisocial.

"But besides receiving various proposals from numerous powerful forces, Liz was relatively unbothered. She continued to receive her classes, but for whatever reason, she never actually ended up taming a Beast. The reason for that is unknown as of now, because a few years ago Liz ran away from home.

"At first everyone thought it was just a temper tantrum on her part, until they realized that no one could actually trace her. She had somehow gotten her hands on a piece of treasure that would hide her from any kind of tracking, and then she had run away. To this date, she has never been found. Besides confirming that she is alive, I can provide you with no other information."

So Belle was lording over the remnants of the Williams family, and Liz was on the run from wedding proposals. He really didn't want to ask this question, but whenever he avoided things it ended up biting him in the butt, so he asked anyway.

"Where are my parents in all this?"

"I don't know," William said, shrugging. "A few years ago, they showed up and threatened Damien to stay away from you once he learned about you, and then disappeared. I recently tried searching for them, after the Yildrim incident, but the feedback I got was that they might not be in the Origin realm, so I couldn't really track them."

"Very well. In that case, I'd ask you to compile a file and share any piece of information you have about Damien at all. Also, if you know anything about the Celestial Planet's club, I'd love to hear about it. In exchange, we can begin our cooperation. You can bring up to ten people, and I will upgrade their bodies for you. I hope you remember that, as per our deal, they cannot know where this upgrade is taking place, or who is the one doing it."

William had the urge to ask Lex what his plans regarding Damien were, but he resisted. Compared to their last two meetings, where Lex was entirely emotional and willful, this time he was a lot more composed and clear headed. That made him seem much more dangerous somehow.

"Celestial Planet's club I can tell you about right now. It's an exclusive club, and to be a member one must be a Celestial Immortal. Jotun is a member. Despite its exclusivity and prestige, the club is actually quite loose. It holds no great influence, and plays no significant role in realm politics. It is, however, a good place for networking.

"The essence of the club is that, in the way others compare their cars and spaceships, its members compare planets. Each member selects a planet, and not only do they nurture an extraordinary environment on it, making it into a paradise, they use the whole planet as their vehicle. So basically, it's just a place for members to get together and show off their oversized rides."

Lex expected something along those lines, so he wasn't surprised. If anyone had a spatial item that could carry a planet, then the Celestial Planets club would. Even if they didn't, they sure had items that could speed up or boost the connection between a person and a planet.

It seemed like he needed to go back to the emporium and amend his request.

"Alright, when will you be bringing in the batch?" Lex asked. The remainder of their meeting was short and straightforward.

William had all ten candidates ready, who had been numbed and blindfolded. They could not even use their spirit sense.

They basically didn't even know that they had arrived at the Inn. Lex then proceeded to upgrade their bodies and qualifications. Using his physique was far from simple, and Lex had not mastered it completely. But that was fine. The important part was to make it seem incredibly difficult to use, which it was.

One by one, Lex touched the candidates on their foreheads, activating his physique. The process was both long and draining on Lex's energy levels, but he eventually completed it. He looked drained, but that was mostly theatrics to drive up the bargain.

It was not like he was going to go around announcing that he had secretly elevated the qualifications of every single Inn worker in the last few years. Then people would never stop bugging him.

Once that was over, William handed over a file containing all the information he had on Damien to Lex, who not only perused it himself, but sent it to Gerard, Velma, Luthor and Z.

Each of them read the files, gathered the information they needed, and began their plan.

The Midnight Inn was no longer looking just for Damien. They were also looking for Jeffery, and the entire terrorist organization behind them.

One by one, countless members of the Inn disappeared from the realm, appearing in various planets across the Origin realm. Some appeared in planets that were connected to the Inn, while a large number of them exited from the Midnight tavern while seeming like regular patrons.

They dispersed like grains of sand carried by the wind, and for the first time ever, the Midnight Inn actively extended its influence outside of its own borders.

Lex, however, teleported back to Moon, and Z joined him.

That was a mistake he almost immediately regretted.