The Innkeeper
chapter-1174

The Midnight games had begun, countless guests were inside the Inn, but for some odd reason, the most popular Inn workers seemed to be absent. Many of the regular guests began to wonder where Z or Velma were, and those who saw Lilith but not Gerard wondered if something was amiss. In fact, quite a few faces seemed to be missing from the Inn, yet no one paid it too much mind.

After all, while the Midnight Games were happening, due to the large influx of guests, the Inn still needed to prepare other forms of entertainment. As such, the Inn finally saw the much anticipated return of the machines of torture, or rollercoasters as some folks called it.

Theme parks returned, cultural fairs were organised and there were even a number of local fights between guests who could challenge each other in the ring. Of course, those fights never became nearly as popular as the main fights of the games, but it still attracted some attention.

The Mountain-man, who had been sleeping for years and years, and had essentially become a tourist attraction, finally showed signs of waking up when another Mountain-man, or rather, Mountain-woman, appeared at the Inn as well.

At the same time, Lex was swamped. There were only so many things he could delegate to others, but now that most of his integral staff was outside the Inn, he could delegate even less. Moreover, now that the system was much more active, with a little over 40% of its functionality returned, if Lex spent too much time away from the Inn, it gave him stupid quests with extreme punishments for failing.

Furthermore, in certain circumstances, it insisted that Lex himself handle the situation. With so many guests at the Inn, and more coming every day, there were obviously others who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.

They did not cause trouble, no. Instead, they wanted to host their own events simultaneously, and take advantage of the massive crowd at the Inn. Lex had to accept or reject all such applications himself.

As such, soon there was a circus set up near one of the new cities, run entirely by gnomes. In another place, someone set up a fishing competition, trying to catch the Magikarpets, while in another someone wanted to host a butterfly catching competition.

But they were unfamiliar with the nuisances that were the butterflies in the Inn.Their wings were razor sharp, and they cut through the nets and then began kidnapping those who tried to catch them.

Lex refused to lend any aid to those who had been kidnapped by the butterflies. Before he approved the event, he also gave a disclaimer. It was not his fault no one listened.

The fishing well also once again became popular. The well was now connected to three realms, namely the Midnight realm, the Origin realm and the Crystal realm, so the randomness of what one could pull out had increased even more.

But by far the most popular thing in the Inn, almost even surpassing the actual Midnight Games, causing Lex to seriously reassess what he wanted for the future of the Inn, was the daycare.

Those who left their kids in the Inn daycare were more than satisfied, as not only was it safe, it kept the kids satisfied and occupied without causing a scene.

Over the years, the daycare in the Inn had evolved tremendously. Once Lex created a massive daycare area filled with toys and rides and places to ignore. While that place still existed, as the Inn grew larger, that area became too small to handle all the kids. It was relegated to being a side or small daycare.

Then, for a while, the massive spaceship served as the daycare. The many automatic functions of the ship, as well as its ability to keep everyone safe and happy were what mattered most.

In fact, if the ship hadn't come to life and become prone to crying, Lex would have continued using it. But since he couldn't, he needed to come up with another idea.

In truth, Lex had many things he could do. But he liked being innovative. So, he turned the new, 2D realm law that he replicated, and turned the entire daycare 2D. Kids, when they entered, were so extremely fascinated by the platformer life that they forgot about everything else.

Lex had developed an extensive yet safe world using those 2D laws, as well as copies of old Marlo's brothers video games. That did not mean he copied them in any way. But he may have figured out that in a 2D world, no one needed to breathe and so there were underwater levels.

Of course, the daycare was still run by the bunnies, who were actually quite enjoying the 2D world as well. Their hopping ability really came to shine when they were required to hop from one level to another.

But, at least for now, Lex had no time to consider expanding this into something else. He saw immense potential here, but he wasn't quite ready to launch the Midnight daycare properly.

*****

On the once frozen planet of the Yeti's, a number of figures gathered. Their shapes were illusory, so that no one could identify who they were or which force they represented. But they maintained a blurry outline so as to ensure that the others who were gathering all knew that someone was here.

"Can you tell who did it?" one of the figures asked another, looking down at a bubbling lava lake. There was a new law operating on this planet that kept the lava from cooling down. The function of the law was not nearly as impressive as the fact that someone literally dropped a new law on this planet like they were dropping a diss track against the yetis.

This was far beyond the capabilities of even common Earth Immortals. Whoever did this was making a statement. They just couldn't figure out what that statement was, or who it was targeting.

After all, the number of forces using the Yeti's cloning facilities was not few.

"I can't tell anything. This place has been washed in divine energy. Whoever did this was very blatant in their efforts. Normally, when erasing their footprints, culprits are subtle. This is the first time I've seen someone employ such drastic yet effective measures."

"Even if they used divine energy to hide their trail, there has to be some way of finding the culprit."

"Naturally, there is," another figure answered. "Divine energy works to hide your trail from low level cultivators. But in front of a celestial, it is mere childsplay to resolve the issue."

One of the figures exerted a strange power, and everyone could sense that the trace of divine energy was slowly vanishing. That wouldn't automatically reveal other clues, so they waited to see what this person intended to do by erasing the energy traces.

After all, they had already tried but could not trace the source of the divine energy.

Once all the energy was gone, one of the figures extended something out, as if they were holding a wand.

"Now watch this," the person said with a hint of pride.

He did… well, he definitely did something, because a second later the man screamed out in horror, and then blew up.

Everyone was stunned, and then retreated in case they got caught up in whatever had happened. Yet nothing more happened. They also didn't have answers for why that person had suddenly blown up, until another figure, that was invisible up until now, revealed themselves, if only marginally.

"The aura of divine energy was a trap," the figure said. "It was baiting someone to look behind it. But hiding behind… is the aura of a Dao Lord. This matter seems to have become very big."

All the figures who were standing in the air, lording over the sword cut that reached into the centre of the planet, suddenly pulled in their necks.

A dao Lord? They did not want to get involved.

"Who the hell did this? Why would someone with the backing of a Dao Lord go around committing petty theft like this?"

Yet if any of them had an answer, none of them revealed it. Most of the figures, at that point, retreated. They wanted nothing to do with this anymore. But two figures remained.

"You think someone is targeting you?" one of the figures asked.

"Maybe. But if it were the Henali tracking us down. They wouldn't be hiding their tracks. I can't think of who could be responsible."

"Forget about it and focus on the Games. Since a Dao Lords aura has been revealed, then let the Dao Lords on our side handle this matter."

"Very well."

Both the figures disappeared at that point, leaving the once thriving, now barren land behind.

"Could it be him?" one of the figures wondered, thinking of his grandson who was increasingly popular these days. But that didn't make sense. How could he get in contact with a Dao Lord?

It must be someone else.