The Innkeeper

When Lex woke up on his own, completely well rested and refreshed, the first feeling he had was of relief that no problems had occurred. It wasn't as if he was suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but actually yes, that's exactly what was happening.

He stretched in bed, producing several cracks from his various joints. His body no longer did that naturally, as there was no need, but due to his increased control over his body, he could do it anyway. There was just something so satisfying about it.

He spent a couple more minutes in bed, allowing his brain and body to relax a little. Even if nothing was wrong, the moment he stepped out from the comfort of his bed, he would be inundated with work and would have no time for rest.

But the peace eventually had to end. Besedes, it wasn't as if he dreaded all the work he did at the Inn. It was quite enjoyable in fact.

"How long was I out?" Lex asked Mary as he finally let his feet fall out of the bed and slip into his bathroom slippers. Considering that he had worked continuously for over 2 days without rest, and had been allowed to sleep till he naturally woke up, he expected that he had logged in quite a few hours.

"Just over 3 hours," Mary replied, appearing in front of him. This time she was dressed as an astronaut, with her visor open, showing her little face.

Lex froze. 3 hours? Wasn't that... too little? But he was feeling so refreshed. How could it be?

Lex shook his head and just accepted the fact that with his advancing cultivation, his need for sleep would be greatly diminished.

"You received a hologram message from your friend, Larry. Do you want me to play it?"

"Sure," said Lex as he walked into the bathroom to take a shower.

The message was merely him providing an update, letting Lex know that his treasure would arrive the following day.

"How are the tribulation rooms performing?" Lex asked from within the shower. For some reason, he was feeling a little lazy today. He didn't feel like working so much. He just wanted to enjoy the Inn, so he decided to push back any less important plans for the day.

"Not bad at all. Every single person about to undergo a tribulation is using them. It's still too early to tell how effective it is, but it seems to be well received by the guests."

"Makes sense," was all he said. He had not received the quest reward yet, which probably meant it would wait till one or a few guests used the tribulation room to determine its effectiveness before rewarding him. After all, since the reward was based on his performance, the effectiveness of the room had to be determined first.

After a nice, warm shower, Lex checked his closet for some of his old clothes. It had been a long time since he wore anything that he hadn't bought from the system, but since he decided to relax today, he wanted to wear some of his own clothes.

His attire wasn't phenomenal, but there was just a level of comfort a man's favorite pair of jeans delivered that even more comfortable clothes just could not. Instead of a usual T-shirt, he went into vacation mode by putting on a Hawaiian shirt, with large floral patterns.

All dressed, he teleported out of his room as himself, and in the garden behind the Midnight Manor. It did not matter to Lex that the emperor was in the vicinity - what did he, Lex, have to do with the fact that the emperor wanted to meet the Innkeeper?

He sat down on one of the free lawn chairs and ordered an entire buffet's worth of food. That would serve well as his appetizer. After all, with his new cultivation, the rate at which his body digested food was phenomenal. Moreover, he had to make up for quite a few missed meals.

It was a sad fact that since Lex was so busy, and his body did not develop any sensation of hunger, Lex had completely forgotten to eat multiple meals. It was likely he would do more of the same in the future. But for now, he would feast!

Lex closed his eyes and lost himself in the sensation of the warm sunshine falling on his skin. He felt the wind blow through his hair. A few other guests were sitting nearby, though they had employed sound isolating formation bubbles so the sound of their conversations didn't carry over. Instead, it was the sound of moving animals that Lex heard.

A gray cat came up and started rubbing against Lex's foot. That was strange. Lex remembered bringing in various animals, but did he bring in cats?

Lex didn't think about it for long, for the workers started bringing out the food and laying it on a table in front of him.

"Hey, you mind if I join you?" asked the cat with gleaming eyes when it saw the food. Lex looked at the cat and was about to scan it, but decided not to. He was on vacation. He would act like any normal guest. Besides, the cat sounded like a small child.

"Sure, drag a seat," said Lex, already cutting through a plate of sausages.

Excitedly, the cat transformed into what looked like a young boy of maybe four or five years old, and quickly dragged a lawn chair. He climbed up, with some difficulty, and turned around only to realize the table was too high for him on that seat.

Lex chuckled and asked one of the workers to bring a highchair for the kid. Lex noticed that even in this form, the kid had cat ears and a tail. Was he a Neko? He had to be, right?

Lex didn't think about it much and instead looked at his watch. It was less than a minute until noon.

"Hey kid, want to see something cool?" Lex asked in between bites.

The kid only nodded, though his eyes never left his plate of nuggets.

"Look up," Lex said, just as the clock hit 12.

Just as the child looked up, the third week of the festival officially began. Fireworks lit up in the sky, though they were severely outmatched by the flashing lightning nearby, and buildings began to appear.

The Midnight Inn had thousands of acres of land, though most of it was undeveloped and was covered in various plants. Now though, for this specific period, that would change, as various roller coasters and slides and rides began to appear in the entire undeveloped areas of the Inn.

Moreover, in between the sprawling amusement park that was beginning to appear, was a racing track that was also spread out across the Inn.

The next part of the festival was all about theme parks and golf cart racing! Lex smiled at the magnificent sight, though the smile didn't last long. He had to eat, after all. He couldn't waste time grinning when he could be chewing!