The Innkeeper

"Damit Orin, for the last time, stop hammering my hand and hit the nail!" Lex roared at the Hammer Deity. This was not the first, or even the first hundredth time Lex was yelling at Orin to focus on the task at hand instead of playing around.

In Orin's defense, he couldn't help it. Lex's body was now, officially, harder than his Veevatil hammer, so by using his body as the hammer, he could refine his own hammer. Unfortunately, Lex refused to cooperate, so Orin was forced to use more… creative measures. It was far from enough to get the results he wanted, so there was little he could do since he couldn't actually forsake the task.

With one, heaving yet reluctant slam, Orin slammed the final nail with his hammer, completing the submersible tavern, meant to travel in large liquid bodies.

Lex heard a familiar sound, alerting him that the quest was complete. He gave Orin an annoyed glare, and then turned to the other, exhausted and relieved group of workers.

"Congratulations!" he said, with pride and excitement in his voice. "The taverns are complete! To celebrate, party at the Crystal Volcano, on me!"

The workers all cheered, though honestly the only thing they wanted was to sleep. Well, it couldn't hurt to relax a little before knocking out.

The Crystal Volcano was the name given to a massive cafe that was built exclusively for workers, right beside the Volcano Forge that Lex and Orin were processing. Well, mainly Orin.

Lex smirked as he watched them all celebrate, including the Valkyries. The reason he threw the party was so that the workers get a chance to mingle with them in an informal environment. It would take a long time before they returned to normal, and every bit of help they could get would go a long way.

Then he finally turned his attention to his notification.

New Notification: Significant milestone reached. Prerequisite criteria met. Initiating special protocols.

New Notification: Using Blend Reality (merging the Inn territory with open environments to create random entrances to the Midnight Inn), Enhanced Tavern control (allows the system to more finely control taverns and establish them as Inn territory), Inn level control (establish levels to create spaces appropriate in environment and cost for various cultivation levels), Inter-realm Broadcast (allow the Inn to establish temporary connection to random realms for specific purposes), Realm Law replication (allows the system to replicate specific laws within its territory), all taverns have been linked together to form a Psuedo-Midnight Realm. Hence forth, all taverns will remain in a state of constant connection with one another (barring special circumstances).

Chain Quest 2 Completed: Establish a 10 tavern network!

Quest Reward: Midnight Inn Upgrade!

Remarks: They curtailed the reach of the Inn, so the Inn will come to them!

New Notification: Midnight Inn Upgrading! Please wait 5… 4…. 3… 2… 1…

New Notification: Midnight Inn Upgrade Complete!

New Notification: New Feature Unlocked!

New Feature: Sanctuary of Dao!

Sanctuary of Dao

A Dao that cannot be controlled is a Dao that cannot be used. The Sanctuary of Dao is a sanctuary for Dao Lords, where they may learn to control their Daos. The Sanctuary of Dao can also be used to contain hazardous, non-sentient items at the Dao level.

New Notification: Receiving communication from Prime Kernel.

New Notification: No system can, at the moment, create or self source Dao materials to facilitate Dao-related system functions. All Dao materials required for system functions must be provided by the system host.

Permanent New Quest: Submit 50 Dao materials to create Sanctuary of Dao!

Additional Quest Details: Construction of Sanctuary of Dao will occur in real time, so for every Dao material submitted, a significant portion of the Sanctuary structure will be built and can be witnessed. Once this quest is completed, it will automatically be reissued.

Quest Reward: 1 Sanctuary of Dao.

Remarks: The Inn can provide a Sanctuary of Dao, but not a sanctuary from one's own insecurities. Not eating cake will not reduce your weight.

Quest 3: Establish a Midnight Resort!

Additional Information: The Midnight realm is hidden, and the Midnight taverns can move, but the Midnight Resort must be established in a publicly available, openly disclosed location to maintain the prestige of the Inn!

Quest time limit: 100 years!

Quest Reward: New worker race slot!

Quest Failure Punishment: System shutdown for 5000 years!

Remarks: Space can be sealed, keys can be disabled, but the desire for a good vacation can never be taken away!

Lex was taken aback by the number of notifications he had received, as well as their content. The Sanctuary of Dao… it was both an incredible new addition to the Inn, as well as a trouble magnet of epic proportions!

Lex was in no way capable of handling Dao level guests, and wanted as few of them as possible. However, the real time construction of it gave him a few ideas. If he could add just one Dao material, and then leave it like that for a few thousands of years, it would act as a real deterrent to troublemakers.

Conversely, it could also attract guests who were associated with Dao Lords some more. And they would be harder to deal with too.

He would need some time to think about what to do with that, not to mention, if it was worth sacrificing a whole Dao material for.

Then there was also the Psuedo-Midnight realm. He had no idea what that meant, and would have to explore a bit, though he had some thoughts. Functionally, though, it seemed like not much had changed. He would need to test things out to be sure.

Then there was the quest about the Resort. Despite the long deadline, it was actually pretty easy to fulfill. All he needed to do was buy some property somewhere, and allow the Inn to set up a resort there. However, the issue was not the difficulty of completing it, rather it was the part about being publicly disclosed.

Like the system itself had stated, the Midnight realm and taverns could be hidden, but the resort could not. Lex had a sneaking suspicion that all this was just because the system was jealous of the Seraphim Resort. He had no proof except his gut feeling, and that was enough to convince Lex at least.

"Lex, use the Butter Knife upgrade token now," Mary suddenly said, appealing on his shoulder in her tiny form.

Lex raised an eyebrow, but complied. He was not prepared for the notification he saw next.