The Innkeeper

It was thus that the warbringer finished his final task, his purposes known only to himself, from the realm of Crystal. His last appearance in these lands, for a long time at least, was filled with the sounds of celebrations, and the walls around him were adorned in marigold and roses and flowers unknown.

In the streets the crowds of people rejoiced for all the free boons that had befallen them, a timely reprieve during tough times. In the homes of nobles and dignitaries and other important personages, he was discussed in hushed tones and whispers - the mysteries surrounding him were just too great to be ignored.

For all intents and purposes, his actions showed no indication of malice or an ulterior motive. Yet all the same, as he departed those lands, he stayed true to his name, and the ongoing war entered a new level the likes of which those lands had never witnessed.

From every shadow, every dark corner or deep alley, emerged monsters that could evoke fear even in the hearts of nightmares themselves. From long forgotten pits emerged legions, and from all the abyss that remained unknown marched out armies.

The evil born from the dead of night pit itself against the invading forces of carnage and the ultimate result was carnage. There was no step back, nor any bastion to retreat to. With the departure of the warbringer, the realm of Crystal had launched the war for the survival of the realm itself.

The few who knew of his involvement behind the scenes remained grateful. If not for the warbringers help, they would not even know the war they had been ignoring was for the fate of their realm? But at the same time, they remained ignorant that every piece of land that had been cursed by the warbringers footsteps had fallen prey to conflict.

The warbringers very own homeplanet was embroiled in a clash between man and machine, the use of weapons of mass destruction slowly coming to foreview.

The first planet he visited when he began his journey across space was embroiled in a war between men and demons, from which the war bringer made money selling tickets to view the chaos.

The planet of beasts that he lay his feet upon was undergoing an upheaval, bringing about drastic change in the social order and thus giving way to endless conflicts for territories or resources.

The farming planets he toured were victim to endless assassination, to the point where the ruling family no longer even had the courage to pursue suspects, and had requested help from the ruling empire.

Yet who would help the ruling empire themselves, for any planet he lay his feet upon was embodied in conflict unending. His friend, the dutiful soldier, had invited him for aid, unaware that he had set himself up for events that would shock the entire realm, let alone a meager planet or empire.

Through none of this was the warbringer ever to blame. He never caused evil, nor did he have a conviction to bring harm. No fight was ever his fault, yet always he remained involved in some capacity, whether it was known to him. After all, he was called warbringer, not warmonger!

SLAM!

The acolyte who was writing in his visions, recording all that he saw in his crystal orb, shut the heavy journal when he heard his master call out his name.

"Yes master, what is it?" he asked politely.

"That's enough practice for today," answered his master who entered the room. The master was bald from the top though he had some hair still right above his ears. He was dressed in long, formal robes that looked like it was a uniform.

"Quickly get changed and prepare yourself. We will be traveling to the Origin realm shortly, from where we will attend the Fortune Tellers convention!"

"Yes master," the acolyte answered, already forgetting everything he wrote about in his journal. After all, who knew who this warbringer was? The acolyte would probably never get a chance to cross him. The convention, on the other hand, was an opportunity for him to finally meet others like him.

It was clear which one was more important.

*****

The gift giving ceremony ended after Lex gave his gift, for not only was he the last person to give a gift, but no one else would be able to follow up after such a gift even if he weren't the last.

There were only a few more ceremonies to go through afterwards, but they were mostly rushed. Not only did everyone have to get to their various responsibilities, the bride and groom themselves were impatient to try out the effects of the apple.

As such, in the seeming blink of an eye, the wedding was finally over. Lex bade his farewell to the leaders, and dismissed his projection so that he could finally look at his quest completion notification!

New Notification: Quest Complete! Source of anomaly detected! System is making adjustments to avoid such anomalies in the future.

Quest: Investigate the source of the anomaly in the Crystal Realm!

Quest Complete! Anomaly source: perpetual inter-realm wormhole!

Reward: Realm Seed!

Remarks: Host has the foresight to prepare aids for the sprouting of the Realm Seed. How unusual

New Notification: Taro' Fertilizer detected! Should the Realm Seed be fertilized? Y/N!

Lex did not hesitate to give his permission. Of course he could not wait to get his own realm! He had already waited long enough!

New Notification: Realm Seed has been planted within the system! Realm Seed has been fertilized!

New Notification: Warning! Due to system maintenance, Midnight Inn will temporarily stop accepting new guests in 6 months while new changes are implemented. Existing guests will be allowed to stay and can leave at their discretion.

New Notification: Approximate time to sprouting of Realm Seed is 2 years. Please make thorough preparations!

The notifications immediately dampened Lex's mood, for a part of him was expecting immediate results. Logically he should not expect such massive results to appear immediately, but he could only blame the system for spoiling him by getting him used to immediate benefits.

He was also a little disappointed because he did not want his workers to continuously fight for two years. They themselves were not two years old, he could not even imagine what two years of war would do to their psyche! Moreover, despite his preparations, what if they were unable to survive? But he could not do anything about that for now. Even this was already more than any normal person could reasonably ask for!

To lift his spirits, he turned his attention to the notifications about his other, recently completed quest.

Quest: Host a wedding worthy of the union about to take place!

Quest Complete! The Host's rewarded is being calculated:

- Reward upgraded for holding the wedding within a year!

- Reward upgraded for achieving an unprecedented guest list!

- Reward upgraded for Monster nation revealing themselves during the wedding!

- Reward upgraded for wedding hosting an epoch-defining meeting!

- Reward upgraded for wedding gifts altering the destiny of the realm!

- Reward upgraded for attendance of multi-realm organization Ventura!

- Reward upgraded for attendance of projection of being above Dao realm!

Reward Rank: ??? (Authority Insufficient)

Error: Interference from '???'

Reward Rank: Death

Reward: 1 pP (Planck Protos: 1 x 10^-32 Protos Joule), Chamber of Rebirth (single use), Midnight Castle Blueprint

Remarks: …the host finally got a pP…

New Notification: 1 Planck Protos detected! Use to repair system? Y/N?

Reading the notifications, Lex was genuinely confused by the ranks the system was giving. He had been researching on Destiny rank, especially since he got locked in a Destiny ranked formation, but had yet to discover something. Now he was facing the Death rank. Why did these not really sound like ranking?

Moreover… when had he been visited by a projection above the Dao realm! My goodness! Was there even a level above the Dao realm? He had never heard any mention of it anywhere!

It was… it was beyond scary. He had nearly died just from entering a hall meant for Dao Lords. What in the world could be above them?

Moreover, what was up with his rewards? Why did nothing look like it could solve his cultivation problem?

Was it this Chamber of Rebirth? Did he have to be born again, and then cultivate from the beginning to overcome the situation? That didn't sound right.

A very familiar voice, at that point, whispered in his ear.

"Do not use the Planck Protos on the system. Absorb it yourself, and your cultivation technique should fix itself. It should not take too long, just a day. Oh, but if you prefer to fix the system, you can do that too. Your system will be repaired to 100%, though the repair time will be a few months. The choice is yours."

The voice belonged to the mysterious elder who had one day visited his room at the Midnight Inn. Now he was left with a choice. Fix the system, or repair his cultivation technique?