The Innkeeper

With a wide grin Leo walked out of the Gamer’s Den and looked around. Other than the patrolling guards he didn’t see anyone. He had already planted the seeds of becoming a gamer in Helen so she would be an easy pull, therefore he should look for other unsuspecting targets. Lily and Chen were decent options. As natives of Earth he doubted he could entice Hera and William, and Jimmy was still too young. He also doubted that he could get Slag to put up his feet and game casually. With his decision made, he strode into the Guild room to find the pair having a discussion with the staff. Clearly they were interested in what the Guild offered.

“Hello, hope I’m not disturbing anything important. I just wanted to introduce myself,” Leo said enthusiastically. “My name’s Leo, the owner of the humble Gamer’s Den next door.”

Lily and Chen looked at the young man, responding politely with a “hello,”. They were not sure what services the Gamer’s Den offered, but nothing here was simple so they dared not dismiss it.

“I’m sure you’re wondering what the Gamer’s Den does, and what we have to offer. Let me cut right to the chase, what we offer is nothing short of enriching your life and elevating your state of mind.”

Leo’s words clearly attracted their attention. But Leo smirked, he would not tell them all the details directly. Building suspense and curiosity were an integral part of tricking- no, of enlightening non-gamers into entering a new world.

“I don’t want to take up too much of your time, clearly you are busy. But when you get the chance, do drop by. We have something for everyone.”

“We will definitely drop by,” said Lily politely. It was evident that they would not leave until they finished their business with the Morrison family, so he didn’t even try to pull them away right now._.

He wondered where the others were. WIthout the Host Attire connecting him to the Inn he could not do his usual scan to locate all his guests. It was an unfortunate drawback, maybe once his authority increased he would be able to do it even without the suit.

He exited the Guild room just in time to see Alexander and Helen enter the Battle Ax. Finally, John would get his first customer. Since no one else was in view, he retreated to the Gamer’s Den and teleported back to his residence and donned the Host Attire. He would use it to spy on how things were going with Alexander and monitor everyone else. As soon as they entered Main street he would return as Leo and proceed with his plan.

In the Battle Ax, Alexander and Helen politely told Doe that they wanted to meet with John. After only a few moments John let them into his office. Alexander did not show any reaction at the appearance of the man covered in chains, but Helen looked at him oddly.

“Well, then, which one of you wants it done? Or is it both of you?” John asked excitedly. He finally had some customers and could earn some MP.

“Before anything, could you tell me what exactly you are going to do?”

“Huh? Don’t you know?” John asked them, surprised. Then it occurred to him that he had put up no details outside his shop, nor advertised his service. How was anyone supposed to know what he did? A significant oversight, but it was not too late to fix it now.

“Well let me explain. I design spirit techniques most suited to a person. You can tell me what kind of technique you want and based on your cultivation, affinity, strength and many more things I will design the technique for you. That’s not to say that if you teach it to others they won’t be able to perform the technique as well, but if, say for example you can use 100% of the techniques capabilities, others might be able to use 50%.”

For once, the duo was not surprised. They had surprise fatigue. Nothing could surprise them anymore.

Nodding as if he had heard the most natural thing, Alexander took out the six floating blades behind him.

“These are my weapons. I can move them freely within 100 meters of myself and can imbue them with my spirit energy regardless of how far they are. I have various techniques that allow me to attack with them, but I want a stronger attack. A secret technique or trump card, whatever you want to call it, I want a technique that will maximize their damage.”

John smiled at the young man who did not even ask him the price. If it were up to him, he would charge him a ridiculous amount, unfortunately Doe handled the transactions and the price for each cultivation level was fixed. Furthermore, the Innkeeper would directly deduct 50% of all his income as payment for keeping him here. The fee for making a technique for a Foundation realm cultivator was 1000MP, so John would make 500MP – just enough to go to the Mystery trial.

“I want a technique to detect if someone is spying on me,” Helen interrupted his thoughts with her own request. John, however, was not irritated at the interruption but happy instead. 2 customers. Even though the fee for a Qi training cultivator was only 300MP, income was still income.

“Let’s start with the young lady first,” John said as he began questioning Helen in detail.

The duo stayed at the Battle Ax for well over an hour, adding an expense of another 1300MP under Helen’s prestige counter. During that time Will and Hera visited the Guild room as well. Recognizing each other from their previous visit, the two groups started chatting. Learning that Lily and Chen were here for trade, Hera quickly offered them a few deals as well. Since they already had an agreement with the Morrisons they did not give up any of their current haul, but agreed to conduct future trades with them as well.

Eventually Will and Hera left as well, and Chen and Lily decided it was unwise to simply wait for the Morrisons. They asked the staff member to inform them when the Morrions came, and left to investigate the Gamer’s Den.

Lex immediately returned to the Den in the appearance of Leo and awaited his clients. Behind the counter Z was dozing off on the keyboard. Even though the child had his own residence, he barely left the Den. He had fallen asleep watching anime, again. Leo really would have to think of a solution for this.

But his thoughts were interrupted by Chen entering the shop, looking around curiously.

“Welcome guests, I’m glad you decided to drop by,” Leo said, rubbing his hands like a merchant ready to rip some people off.

Chen and Lily looked around the shop, but did not recognize the computers. Even though their own civilization was more advanced, the way their technology advanced was different so they did not have computers that looked like this.

“I must admit, I was curious about how this place could enrich my life,” said Lily.

Leo laughed. Of course this place could enrich their lives, but he could not do so by saying they should play games. People who had spent their entire lives fighting for survival, combating vicious enemies and barely scraping by would not have the temperament to relax and play games. They would not be able to immerse themselves in the game with that mentality. Leo would have to prime them first.

“How the Gamer’s Den does that is very simple, yet at the same time very sophisticated. Please, have a seat. Let me ask you a few questions first.”

Lily sat down on one of the gamer chairs and looked at Leo, awaiting his instructions.

“Now close your eyes and relax. Let your body loosen up, relax your shoulders, and your back. For a moment, remove all the thoughts of your various responsibilities from your mind.”

For a few moments Leo stopped talking, letting Lily reach the mental state he had described. “Now, tell me, if you could do anything you wanted, what would you do? If you could learn anything, what would it be? Don’t think about what the world demands from you, about others’ expectations. For now, simply tell me, in your heart, with all the distractions gone, what do you want?”

Leo’s voice echoed in Lilys mind, as if hypnotizing her. But contrary to what Leo said, she was unable to let go of her worries. One by one, all the important moments in her life flashed in her mind. And as they flashed through her mind, it wasn’t all the pain, the struggle, the fighting that affected her. It was the loss of her settlement that sat heaviest in her mind. Watching the people she had protected die one by one, unable to do anything else. Making the difficult decision to move, and look for safety elsewhere. Letting all her trusted soldiers go, one by one, on suicide missions to protect her caravan, and when the number of soldiers finally dwindled, ordering her own brother to sacrifice himself to protect the caravan. And after all that, when they finally found salvation under the protection of the empire, losing all of her followers in a few days. She could not blame them for wanting a better life. But when they ultimately all left her, despite all her sacrifices to protect them, they left her feeling hollow. It was the most painful day of her life.

But she was not dragged down by the pain, or the memory of it. Weak-minded people, people who could not endure pain to grow stronger, were the first ones to die in the zombie apocalypse. The pain only made her feel one thing – the desire to grow stronger. To be better. No, not better. To be the best.

“I want to be the best leader. To be able to lead my followers through rain and drought, through war and terror, and come out only stronger, not weaker.”

The conviction in her voice was strong and moved Leo. He understood immediately what the woman was saying. She wanted to play a colony management game.

“Great, now let me get you started,” Leo said, as he searched for a very specific game and turned it on.