The Innkeeper

As much as Lex would have liked to go back and play some games, he could not take any risks. He sat down to meditate and after a few hours of varied success, he went to sleep. It was a rare peaceful day, but Lex knew the coming days would be super busy so he needed to rest while he had the chance.

*****

Brandon's shuttle landed on a private airfield yet the landing itself was not a private affair. Various interested parties and powers were watching from a distance. Audery was the first to exit the shuttle, much to the relief of the viewers. She was followed closely by Brandon, and Alexander who was completely wrapped in bandages. Although he was completely fine, they wanted to give the impression that he had been seriously affected by the poison they proclaimed had affected him.

Yet the onlookers didn't have much time to analyze his condition as the family quickly got into a car and left. What they did not know was that the Alexander who followed Brandon was a decoy, and the real Alexander left the area wearing a synthetic facemask that gave him a different appearance. His grandfather was on the way to the meeting while Alexander would go and retrieve Helen before meeting up with them.

Unbeknownst to the world, four of the five Nascent realm cultivators of Earth had gathered in Geneva and were awaiting Brandon's arrival. Of the four, only the Queen was a public figure. The others stayed out of the limelight and could not be bothered to put up a public front. A tall yet skinny old man named Sam sat lazily on a Lazy Boy sofa. In his younger days he was very active in North America, and was the true origin of the term 'Uncle Sam' that represented the government's authority in America. Yet lately he had retreated from the front stage to live a secular life.

A rather ordinary looking Chinese man sat opposite to Sam, dressed very modestly. He also looked rather aged, though no one knew how old he really was. He went by the English name of Richard and no one here knew his actual name. Behind him stood a young girl dressed in traditional attire. She looked around the room with a lot of curiosity, but did not speak or interact with anyone. While in her normal day to day life she was treated with a lot of importance, in this room she was the most insignificant.

In a stark contrast to all the aged yet physically fit looking cultivators present, a fat, middle aged man was sitting by himself munching on chili chips. Although he was not asian, he was making use of chopsticks to pick each individual chip and eat it to avoid getting the chili dust on his fingers. Wearing an extremely loose Tshirt and gray pajamas, the man looked as if he was lounging. His attention was on a phone screen in front of him that was playing a movie, and he had headphones in.

They continued this way for a short while until Brandon finally arrived, Audery following closely behind. All eyes turned to him when he entered, and then turned to Audery. Everyone, even the fat man, breathed a secret sigh of relief when they saw her.

The couple smiled at the response, they were quite used to it. Compared to everyone else, Brandon looked much younger as he had broken into the Nascent realm at a very young age. He was also actually much younger than everyone else as well, so he maintained his youthful vigor in comparison to the rest. That, combined with the natural charm emitted by a high leveled cultivator paired with Brandon's usual cavalier attitude gave everyone here a headache. More than one young lady from their respective families had fallen prey to the old man's flirtations, though thankfully he never did anything beyond that.

In the entire world, very literally on all of Earth, Audery was the only person who could control Brandon. Not that bringing her along made things much better, the two were known for their endless shenanigans. There were countless international incidents that the two were suspected of being behind. The only time they had been caught was during an incident when Brandon was going around using the alias D. B. Cooper. They were also the reason that the Mona Lisa was stored behind a bullet proof glass case that actually had spiritual enhancements as well. No one could prove it, but it was also suspected that they were the source of the mystery at the Bermuda triangle.

All-in-all, the two were a troublesome duo, but they were still much better together than alone. Even Audrey, who seemed so demure most of the time, was not any less dangerous than Brandon. She had once changed the regime in an actual country because she felt the leader was not very handsome. The replacement, who she did consider good looking, then had a bounty placed on his head by Brandon.

"Welcome back to Earth Brandon. I hope you had a pleasant trip," said Richard politely.

"It was long but not bad, Rich. How have you been? How's the family?"

"I've been well. My family is doing well. This is my great-granddaughter, Selene. She is quite talented in cultivation, I'm hoping she will succeed me one day." He pointed to the young girl behind him, who bowed to the youngest Nascent cultivator, but had a look of hesitation in her eyes. Clearly she had been briefed to keep a distance from him.

"If you want her to succeed you, you need to feed her more. Look at how skinny the poor girl is, she's practically anorexic," said the fat middle aged man. Everyone directly ignored whatever he had to say.

Unlike everyone else here, the fat man was not originally a cultivator. He was a mortal who got lost in a forest once and ate some random plant that elevated his cultivation all the way to Nascent overnight! Since then it had become this guy's hobby to eat anything and everything edible all the time. All he did was eat. He owned several restaurants around the world and had even developed his own cultivation technique that revolved around eating that he passed down in his family.

"Can we focus on the matter at hand? I have things I'd rather be doing," said the Queen.

"Yes, it's better not to delay," agreed Sam, fixing his posture from his previous slouch. "I believe everyone here heard the invitation to the Midnight Games. I'm assuming that's why you're here as well, Brandon."

"Midnight games?" he said, questioningly. Like all the other two planets, the announcement was only made to leaders who were on the planet, so Brandon, who was traveling through space at the time, did not hear it.

"I'm not sure how you guys know about it, but I suspect we are talking about the same thing. Richard, since you've already selected an heir, you will also be particularly interested in this. I believe I've discovered a place where anyone can naturally break through to the Nascent."

All five other people in the room suddenly lost their slacked demeanor and looked at Brandon with eager eyes. This was not a joking matter.

"Let me start from the beginning," Brandon said, and started telling the group everything that happened, starting with Alexander's assassination attempt.

Once they all heard the story, they similarly told him how they all heard the invitation by name to an event called the Midnight Games. It did not even need to be debated if the games had anything to do with the Inn, it was already obvious. No, the people in that room were pondering over another question

"Selene, go out for a while. The following discussion is not for you," said Richard, dismissing his granddaughter. This was the point where normally Brandon would have dismissed Audrey as well, but no one suffered the illusion that the man kept any secrets from his wife.

"The question now is, do we report to them?" asked the fat man hesitantly.

"Naturally, we don't have any other choice," stated Sam bluntly. "If it is later discovered that we have been keeping secrets, we will immediately be replaced."

The room fell into silence. The Midnight Inn represented a great opportunity for them as well as for all of Earth, but whether or not they could avail such an opportunity was not up to them. After a few more minutes, the Queen took out a laptop from a bag she was carrying and opened it.

Instead of booting up, the laptop projected the image of a woman up into the air. She seemed surprised by the call of the five.

"What's the matter? Has something happened? Is it another Beast tide? It seems too soon for that."

The five exchanged looks, before turning towards Brandon. Since he was the only one to have been to the Inn, he should be the one to make the report.

"Earth has come into contact with other Star level civilizations," Brandon started off.

"That's impossible. Up to one million light years of space surrounding the solar system are under our surveillance. No one can enter undetected."

""It's not so simple. Let me explain…" Brandon started giving his report to the floating projection, giving clear details of everything he had seen and experienced. If anyone else were to see him they would be shocked! He was one of the leaders of one of the solar system. He commanded the largest cultivator army, and had endless resources at his disposal. Who could make him report to them? Yet here he was, along with all the other powerful cultivators of Earth, giving a simple report, hoping for a favorable response. At this moment, he was no longer a commander of legions - he was a simple subordinate. He was even well behaved in front of her. Though, whether that was because of the woman's status or his wife standing behind him, no one could say.