The Innkeeper
chapter-9

With a thought Lex returned from the Inn back to his apartment. He could return from the Inn back to wherever he entered with a thought. Returning back to the Inn, however, took a few minutes, during which if the process was interrupted it would be cancelled. Lex wasn't sure why there was a difference in coming back from the Inn to going there, but it would go away when he raised the Inn level. Or so he assumed.

The first thing he did when he was back was check on the Fancy Monocle. He was really concerned about how much data it would use up to fill its database. If it just learnt everything from Wikipedia or some online library that would still be bearable, but if it decided to download the entire internet to fill its database there was no way that wouldn't invite trouble. That's assuming that downloading is how the monocle fills its database. Who knew how these treasures from the System worked.

Fortunately when he found the monocle the tab on the computer said 'database filled', and there didn't seem to be any problem so hopefully all was well. Lex put on the monocle over his right eye and took a look around the room and was instantly amazed. Random bits of data showed up around anything he focused on, and the data would disappear or expand based on his thoughts. He looked at a table and he was shown data about the kind of material, its dimensions, its durability, the amount of wear it had accumulated and so much more. He looked at himself in the mirror and he started seeing data on himself, his height at 6 feet 1 inch, his weight of 185 pounds, the length of his hair, the material his clothes were made from and much more. It was impressive, however Lex disabled all the bits of information and kept it so that it would only show details he was interested in.

With a thought he returned the monocle to the system and went towards the shower. It had been over a day since he last showered and he felt a strong urge to wash. After a long, hot shower and an equally long time in front of the mirror admiring his new body, Lex put on some pants, a T-shirt and sneakers and left his apartment. He could have sent in his resignation via email but it didn't feel right. He wasn't close to his boss but still had an amicable, professional relationship with her so it would be better. He also wanted to say farewell to a couple of his coworkers.

He plugged in his earphones, a New York standard, put his playlist on shuffle and was on his way towards the subway. Lex, lost in his thoughts, didn't notice but his stride was greater and his pace faster. He exuded a sense of purpose and confidence that he lacked before and his now sturdy figure attracted just as much attention as the soft smirk on his face. Once he got on his train he opened the Midnight Store and bought a golden key to invite a guest. A key was for 100 MP and it's price would double after each purchase and the price would reset once every week. For Lex this presented a problem as buying keys was a bit of a gamble, as a guest would need to stay for at least 2 nights if he wanted to break even, or possibly buy something from the Gift Shop.

From Mary he learned that 1 MP was approximately $1,000 if a guest was to use money. According to her, paying using some kind of spiritual item rather than cash would be more feasible for his guests from Earth. How was he supposed to know where to look for guests who had spiritual items? He had absolutely no idea, but his luck had been great the last couple of days so he was planning on continuing to rely on it for this. When he reached his stop a Golden Key 'fell' out of his pocket onto his seat but before anyone could notice he was already gone. For a while nobody paid the key any attention, but eventually a young child was attracted to its shine and picked it up. He tried to show his mother but she was preoccupied with something on her phone. He decided to show her later.

Unaware that his key had fallen into the hands of a child, Lex continued on his journey till he eventually reached a high rise building. He looked up to admire the building one last time, and reminisced about the years he'd spent here. His company was on the 9th floor in this building with over 80 employees, many of whom Lex was familiar with. He worked as a web developer and the work was interesting enough at first, but he'd become bored with it in his recent life like he'd become bored with everything else. At least he knew the reason for that boredom now, and even without resolving it yet his current path in life left little room for anything but excitement. Taking a slow, deep breath one last time, inhaling the smells of the warm pretzels and bagels being sold from the food carts nearby, Lex shook himself free of his hesitation and moved towards his office with purpose.

It was still early so people were still coming in. Harry and Elaine, his two coworkers who he was closest to hadn't come in yet but his Boss, Jessica, was already sitting in her office. He knocked on her door and waited for Jessica to call "come in" before he proceeded in.

"Hey Jessica, I'm glad I caught you early. I need to talk to you about something."

"Lex?" Jessica looked up from her computer and saw him come in the door. "I hope everything is well. When you didn't come in yesterday I had someone try and contact you but they weren't able to reach you."

"Yes yes, everything is fine. I'm sorry I wasn't able to come in yesterday, but the reason why I wasn't able to come is what I'm here to talk to you about." Lex sat down on a chair opposite to Jessica and considered what to say for a moment before he spoke. "I'm here today to turn in my resignation."

"What?" Jessica exclaimed, taken by surprise. "How come? The company has always treated all of its employees well and I've never heard any complaints from you before."

Lex let out a weak smile and replied, "You're right, the company has always treated me fairly and I've never had any complaints nor had I any intentions of leaving before. However I was recently offered a very promising position as team lead at a new start up. They needed a reply from me as soon as possible which is why I couldn't come in yesterday as I was visiting their site."

"Ah, well congratulations," Jessica replied, quickly regaining her composure. She only knew Lex about as well as the other employees under her, which was enough to know that he was a competent worker and gave her very few problems. "Will you be leaving immediately? I must remind you that if you forgo your two weeks notice you forfeit your gratuity and any other benefits the company would normally afford you."

Lex smiled internally. Just the investments he'd made from his $7 million gave him a regular return higher than his salary so money was the least of his concerns. "Thank you for reminding me, but I must start immediately. I will just have to forfeit them."

"Well in that case I wish you good luck on your new endeavors. To make it official please submit a written application to Henry from HR, who will then have you fill out some paperwork and collect any company property you have, as well as have an exit interview. Once the process is complete, bring the papers back to me and I'll sign them."

Jessica was as formal as always, but in a way that made things easier. Lex exited her office but Harry and Elain were still not in so he went towards HR. The process took much longer than he expected and a little over 3 hours later Lex returned to Jessica. She looked over the papers and eventually signed off on them.

"Well, it seems you're moving onto bigger things Lex," she said as she stood up from her chair. "I wish you success and great fortune in your future endeavors."

She reached out for a goodbye handshake and Lex complied, thinking it a good way to say farewell. What he did not expect was that as soon as they held hands Jessica's eyes widened in shock and she blurted out "A cultivator?".