The Innkeeper

John stood silently as he thought of which of his skills he could offer up. Someone with his life experiences was not lacking in personal skill or ability, but he had to pick the right one. Lex waited patiently for him as the man ruminated. Even if Mary hadn’t told him to give John a chance, he would have. He wanted to learn more about this person that even the System couldn’t identify. He was more than sure that ‘John’ was just an alias and was not this man’s real name.

Finally the man decided and said, “I have extensive knowledge about various cultivation techniques and styles. I can custom create spirit techniques for your guests based on their cultivation. It will be a technique that suits them the most.”

Lex raised an eyebrow at John’s offer. It was tempting, and was something he would not have thought of on his own. As a service it would be a great attraction, but how could he test it out? The System would only conduct a test for permanent employees, and did not have a concept for temporary ones.

Just as he was considering his options, Gerard pulled up in the golf cart and Vera hopped out. She presented herself to the Innkeeper with a smile and said “I’m ready.”

“Huh? Ready for what?”_.

“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “But I got the feeling that I would receive some kind of reward if I came to you, so here I am. Even my mom agreed this time, see.” Lex turned to see Kristine who was still sitting in the golf cart. She nodded when the Innkeeper looked at her, as if to indicate her consent. Her daughter was an oracle, a very talented one at that, and most of the time that got their family in a lot of trouble. But one thing they had to acknowledge was that Vera had a keen nose for benefits, and never had they suffered a loss when she said they would make a profit. In fact, the first sentence Vera ever said as a child was ‘Buy Bitcoin!’. So when it came to matters like this, Kristine reluctantly let her daughter do as she pleased.

Lex immediately understood what was happening. Although he did not know the specifics, he could determine from the title of oracle that Vera could predict things, and right now she predicted she would gain something good by coming to him at this exact moment. This made John’s case promising.

“Very well then, in that case John you have your first opportunity. Design a technique for our guest here, and if you complete your task satisfactorily then I will hire you.”

John came to Vera and told her to start running her cultivation technique for him to observe, and started asking her what kind of technique she would like. Vera was very cooperative in this regard, and Lex watched silently. After a moment he turned his attention from John to the Morrisons. Since Vera said something good was coming her way he was fairly confident that John would succeed, so he wanted to know how the conversation between the groups from those two worlds was going.

They were sitting inside the restaurant in the manor, and the Morrisons had just finished talking about Earth. Alexander and Helen were missing, but Lex didn’t think it was strange – they had a lot to catch up on surely. Although they were brief and did not give specific information about a lot of things, everything the family told already sounded like paradise to Chen, Blane and Lily.

“Our planet’s technology seems to be more advanced than yours,” Lily said. “Or at least, it used to be before the invasion.”

Although she was the youngest, Lily was actually the previous leader of her settlement. This was not because she was stronger than others, but because she was good at strategizing and managing logistics. Her many years of experience as a leader also made her better at dealing with people compared to the two brutes besides her, so they unanimously decided to let her do the talking with these otherworlders.

“A few hundred years ago, demons infiltrated our planets and opened up spawning portals on all the planets of our solar system and started using the resources of our planets as well as our people to cultivate stronger demons. Recently, our solar system was discovered by the Jotun Empire and they took back control of the planets, though the spawning portals still haven’t been destroyed. Our entire lives, we’ve been surviving. Now finally, we’ve gone from surviving to fighting a war.”

This was new information Lily learnt at the reclamation camp. She had voluntarily joined the Jotun army when she thought her brother was dead. She wanted revenge as she had nothing left to live for and didn’t bother to learn much about the actual war. She just wanted to fight. When she found out her brother was alive, he brought her directly here so she hadn’t had time yet to learn more.

As their conversation progressed, it changed from the circumstances of each other’s planets to the kinds of resources they had access to. The Morrison family was very intrigued when they learnt that the Zombie cores they took such a liking to in the gift shop could be readily found on Vegus Minima, if one was strong enough to retrieve them of course.

Eventually, Rorick said, “Lily, I wonder if you’re interested in conducting a trade.”

Blane and Chen shared a look and nodded, as if affirming the ‘benefits’ the Innkeeper spoke of were about to be revealed.

“What do you have in mind? And more importantly, what can you offer?” Lily asked casually. She was not at all intimidated by her counterparts’ higher cultivation. They were at the Midnight Inn, which assured their security.

“We can offer you spirit stones, but I think such a trade would be very mundane. We have various industries backing us up, so we can offer you large quantities of weapons and ammunition. If you find our weapons unsuitable, we can also directly trade in precious ores and minerals. We can also provide you with protective gear and armors, in large quantities. Of course, I’m sure that the empire you belong to also has those things, or even better items, but how easy would it be for you to get access to higher level items at your cultivation? We can provide you with whatever you need directly.”

Rorick was speaking from the viewpoint of a very successful businessman with a massive corporate empire at his disposal, which is why he valued resources more than something simple like money, or in this case ‘spirit stones’. To Lily and the others, however, spirit stones indeed were the best option. That way they could purchase whatever they needed directly from the Jotun Empire. It was true, they could sell whatever resources they took back to the Jotun Empire but they would have no explanation for how they came to obtain those resources, which could lead to trouble.

“And what do you want in exchange?”

“Your planet has many resources that ours lacks. Firstly, we’ll take all the Zombie cores you can provide, whatever level they may be at. Secondly, you are right in saying your planet seems to be more technologically advanced which is why we’re also interested in blueprints. Blueprints of any technology you can get your hands on, whether it be for militaristic use or civil we’re interested. Naturally, we’re interested in any technology you can bring as well. We’ll buy those too. If you have books, guides, research papers on any advanced scientific topics we’re willing to purchase those as well. Basically anything you can provide that your planet has that we lack, we’ll buy.

“Don’t be shy, use your own imagination. If you come across anything you think is useful, you can sell it to us, but the first priority is always cultivation resources. Of course, if there is something you specifically need you can mention it and we will do our best to meet your needs. We can even provide cultivation techniques or resources from our planet if you need.”

The two soldiers and Lily exchanged looks. They all had a lot on their mind, and would need to discuss the details of exactly what they were going to do, but it was evident that this was an opportunity they could not miss. For now this trade route between planets could be monopolized by them, however once more people became aware of the Inn they would lose their advantage. They had to make a decision fast.

“I think this deal is acceptable to us, but we’ll need some time to gather up supplies. How about we meet up after one week to conduct our first trade? For now, we’ll directly take spirit stones.”

Rorick shook Lily’s hand and confirmed the deal. Just as they were about to discuss further details, Alexander and Helen walked in holding a massive pile of cards.

“10,000 Tier 1 Zombie cores, 1000 Tier 2 Zombie cores, 94 Tier 3 Zombie cores and 9 Tier 4 zombie cores all here,” Alexander said as he placed the cards in front of his grandparents. “Those are all the cores the Gift shop had available.”

Blane, Chen and Lily were horrified as they knew the prices for those items, but it was Lex who was spying on this meeting who completely lost his computer and screamed internally in excitement. ‘WHAT!!!!’

Fortunately, the Host Attire helped him control himself otherwise the mother daughter duo and John would have witnessed the mysterious Innkeeper completely embarrass himself. The Morrison family did not have the resources of one rich family or a single country backing them up, but the entire wealth of the planet Mars. The expense of maintaining a single city for a single day was already beyond what the family had spent at the gift shop, let alone a whole planet. Alexander was a true rich third generation, and smacking people with his wealth was a maneuver he had mastered from an early age.