The Innkeeper

Lex carefully read through the notifications. He remained composed throughout for he was already mentally prepared to face some issues with this relocation. The shutdown of the teleportation feature would be, by far, the most problematic since it would prevent any of the guests who wanted to leave from departing. Forcing them to stay here for hundreds of days was not good for the Inn's image. But that was the least of his concerns at the moment.

In front of him, a panel appeared with a map of the entire realm. The discovery of the fact that there were continents like the one below him, with the other two being even larger, left him both amazed and concerned.

On the map, the size of the entire realm was detonated as 0.25 lightyears. That included the cosmic sea that surrounded the continents as well, but still that was massive.

He did not think about that for now. Although there were two other continents, Lex did not know what the situation on them was. At least he had seen the progress for the one below him with his own eyes and had an overall understanding of its development and history, as well as its climate and topography.

He dismissed the other two continents and focused on the one below him. If, perhaps, he was not on such a tight deadline, he may have thoroughly explored his options, and even considered the other two. This was because the map was extremely detailed and could provide any kind of information Lex needed.

But as it was, just searching through this continent was going to be a hassle. This was because, according to the map, the size of this continent was eight one quadrillion acres. That was 81,000,000,000,000,000 acres.

For all intents and purposes, Lex did not even try to visualize how massive that was as he simply labeled it as 'big'. That was enough. It was so monstrously massive that he probably would not even be able to explore it in a million years if he had to as he was right now. There was no point in calculating how many football stadiums or washing machines that was equivalent to. It was simply big.

On the map, he highlighted areas where there was any kind of county, kingdom, empire, or basically any kind of civilization. Countless dots appeared, but compared to the size of the continent, they were miniscule.

He would avoid all such areas for the development of the Inn. Then he chose to highlight areas rich in resources, with plenty of land, water and open terrain.

He also chose to ignore any area close to the tree. Although the tree was no doubt a massive attraction, and could probably offer countless benefits, it harbored too many races nearby, who were very protective of it.

Since he had no idea how the inhabitants of the land would react to the Inn, he had to avoid them for now even if it meant forsaking an excellent spot for the Inn.

While he was looking, it suddenly occurred to him to check what the air in this realm consisted of, and what the gravity here was. But the moment he thought of it, the answer arrived.

The air, in general, could sustain ordinary humans although the oxygen concentration was much higher, probably due to the massive tree. The gravity was approximately 3 times that of earth.

This would be a problem for his mortal guests, though he had none of those at the moment so it was a problem for later. Considering the exposure to the rich energy of this realm they'd already had, he expected nearly every single one of his guests to experience some kind of elevation in their realms.

Time did not stop while he explored the map, and the changes occurring down below all reflected on the map as well. It was interesting to see, but he did not have time to study geographic changes and the sprouting of civilization.

After adding countless more parameters to the map, and spending nearly four hours thoroughly scouring every corner of the 'big' continent, he finally found a spot that he liked.

The area he planned to encompass in the Inn's 1 million acres covered a part of a massive lake, which might as well be an ocean due to its size, which formed countless bays and coves, as well as a few islands in that lake, some flat land, a few mountains made of spirit crystal, a few forests and even touched on the actual coast of the continent, which led to the cosmic sea.

He got access to a number of extremely resource rich and fertile lands, though the climate seemed to be on the cold side somewhat. He would need to artificially add areas that favored heat if any of his guests had such needs in the future.

There were no settlements nearby, although the area was rich in wildlife. That was something he could not escape anywhere, besides the cosmic sea which had very few living organisms. Lex suspected that the cosmic was very dangerous due to how scarcely it was populated compared to the continents. Then again, he wasn't even sure what this liquid was to begin with.

With his decision made, he designated the area and confirmed it. He expected to be teleported to the region directly, but that's not what happened.

Lex and the rest, who seemed to be seated on an invisible platform, began to move. Or rather, the platform they were on seemed to begin moving. They were going neither slow nor fast, which gave the few who were awake an opportunity to take in the views of the continent below them from new angles.

Lex, who was expecting more notifications or prompts, was left hanging with nothing to do, so he turned his attention to the scenery as well. The realm was picturesque, with bright and vibrant colors painting the ground, while the skies were filled with hues to pink and purple. From a distance, it all looked so peaceful, but the reality of the situation was quite different.

They passed over a massive battle that passed in the blink of an eye, leaving behind scorched earth and torn trees. But even the devastation only lasted a few seconds, as new life began to grow there.

"How welcoming," Lex could not help but murmur.

Eventually, they found themselves over the designated spot for the Inn, and Lex realized why there had been no immediate notification. A massive, transparent barrier was being erected, covering the entire region. Although there were no physical changes being made, Lex could tell that the place was somehow being prepared for their arrival. Cassandra could see even more, as she realized that the laws within that specific region were being treated to allow her and other more powerful guests to exist without issue. After all, there were a number of immortals among the guests, and the fragile environment of the new realm could not support their existence.

The process was not quick, and took a long time. But as progress on the barrier increased, the flow of time began to noticeably decrease.

No longer were the seasons passing by indistinguishably. The brief moments of an extremely colorful spring, the vibrance of summer, the melancholy of autumn and the coziness of winter all became easily distinguishable.

Those who were awake saw countless such cycles pass by over the region which would now be the Midnight Inn.

As time slowed down further, Lex could finally make out the wildlife. They were still moving too fast to get a clear view of for now, but they all seemed to share a common trait. They were all massive!

A full grown elephant or a whale from earth would look like a newborn cup when faced with these creatures. It was then that Lex began to notice, perhaps because the platform was subtly descending, that everything in this continent was much bigger than he was used to.

Each and every tree rose hundreds of feet. The mountains dwarfed the Mountain-man as if he were nothing. Just the grass itself was dozens of feet tall.

Lex could not help but sigh. He was already tiny, and now he was transported to a world of giants. He felt like he was in Gulliver's travels, but in reverse.

When the flow of time slowed down till it was almost normal, Lex finally got the notification he was waiting for.

New Notification: The Midnight Inn's territory has been clearly marked and prepared for habitation. Place down all of the Inn's property and establish a thriving environment for the guests.

New Notification: Time flow for the Midnight realm has stabilized at x3 of the previous territory. New room charge procedures will need to be dictated according to the flow of time depending on the guests point of origin.

New Notification: The Midnight tavern has been temporarily shut down and removed.