The Innkeeper

Lex and the owner of the emporium sat face to face, leaning comfortably in their chairs as if they were old friends catching up instead of two people about to conduct a business transaction.

Lex's intuition, as well as his great experience, gave him a very clear warning. The person in front of him was ridiculously powerful, to the point where Lex did not even risk using his targeted scan ability. Besides the single moment where Lex first saw him, and ended up using his spirit and soul sense, he did not dare to even bring them out of his body now.

Despite all that, Lex remained perfectly calm. He could no longer be intimidated by powerful cultivators the way he used to be before.

Moreover, a business deal was a type of war on its own. He could not give up his psychological advantage due to the difference in cultivation levels. Lex had always pretended to have a powerful backer in his transactions with the emporium, so he would continue to behave that way.

But he was curious about one thing in particular. According to his information, Emperor Jotun was supposed to be the most powerful human in the entire Origin realm. But even if that were the case, the owner of the emporium should not have been an unknown person. Lex had perused the top 1000 strongest humans list compiled on the Henali portal. Although it was an unofficial list, it contained a lot of information. Yet this person was completely unknown. Or perhaps there were secrets Lex had just missed out on.

"Allow me to first introduce myself, and then my emporium to you," the man said, not allowing an awkward silence to develop between them. Yet by speaking first, he had voluntarily given up the psychological advantage. He had placed Lex in a superior position, where he was the one giving Lex the explanation.

Either he was not interested in such mindgames, or he was so powerful and confident that he felt like he could ignore their consequences.

"My name, as you may be able to guess, is Powell," he said with a bright smile. "You might find it slightly confusing, but you can consider all the workers at the emporium as clones of myself."

"All the workers?" Lex asked, not hiding the surprise in his voice. In this situation, maintaining perfect composure would build a distance between them. It would seem as if Lex was from too large a background, and did not care about Powell. But by reacting where Powell might expect him to react would give the man a sense of satisfaction and give him a positive impression of Lex.

Of course, he could not take it too far. Lex was only trying to build a good relationship, not trying to become a yes-man.

"They are not exactly clones in the traditional sense, but you may consider it as such. It is an aspect of my cultivation technique. Moreover, there is no employee more reliable than myself."

Lex disagreed. He felt like the Inn's employee's were the most reliable, but he didn't voice the thought and allowed him to explain.

"I started the emporium with a dream. I was young and broke when I dreamt of endless riches, so much so that even the stars could not shine as brightly as my horde. But other than just wealth, I wanted my wealth to come from a place that made a difference. I wanted to start a business that could benefit everyone! So in pursuit of my humble dream, I am trying to bring the emporium to every corner of the Origin realm. I want the emporium to be the biggest commerce entity in the entire realm!"

The spiritual energy buzzed with the excitement and passion in Powell's voice. Even if he wasn't trying, the world around him was reacting to his emotions. It reminded Lex of the way the Inn's weather was affected by his mood when he became upset.

"I have come a great way, though I am still a little far from reaching my goal. Let me share a small secret with you, to thank you for your faith in the emporium so far, and to assure you of our capabilities to serve you even in the future."

Sitting in his chair, Lex felt like he could give Powell some pointers on marketing and customer psychology. He too had dealt with guests at the Inn, but Powell was going about it all wrong. He could be appreciative of guests and their patronage, but he also needed to display a certain level of detachment. Powell had gained great success, no doubt, but in the end, he was no match for the Innkeeper.

"You may have noticed that every time you enter the emporium, you arrive at the shop alone regardless of how many people may be going in or out."

"Yes, I found that extremely fascinating when I first arrived," Lex admitted.

"The truth of the matter is… the moment you enter the emporium building… you're no longer on the planet you entered from. Each and every emporium building in the realm is linked. As soon as you enter, you are teleported to the 'main branch' as it were."

Lex was surprised, and perplexed. Sure such a mass scale teleportation, especially one so seamless, was extremely impressive. But what was the purpose? Moreover…

"But many times I've encountered situations where I had to wait for deliveries because I was told it was being transported from elsewhere in the galaxy, or realm. Don't tell me I was made to wait just to keep up appearances."

"No no, nothing like that," Powell said, waving his hand. "It's purely logistical and supply chain matters that delay deliveries. Although having every customer come to one destination makes it easy, as we don't need to maintain separate warehouses or actually transport goods across the wide expanse of space. But getting items to the original warehouse from wherever we are sourcing them also sometimes takes some time.

"I must admit, situations where our clients have to wait for deliveries are usually very rare. It's only your… unique requests that often end up stumping us."