The Innkeeper-Novel

Lex twirled a pen in between his fingers as he looked at the page filled with his notes. It hadn't taken him too long, an hour at most, to list everything he knew about them completely and try to analyze what secrets they hid.

Larry's was pretty straightforward, especially since he had seen his fight in the Murder grounds. Perhaps it was his affinity, or maybe his cultivation technique, or something else entirely, but it was obvious that it had something to do with metals.

Using the clues that he had, as well as the nature of the universe to do absolutely absurd things, Lex concluded that Larry's entire body had either turned into metal or was in the process of it. He had complete control of the metal within his own body, as well as potentially complete control of great influence on external metals. He could heal his body using metals, and there was a huge possibility that he could also cultivate by absorbing metals as well.

A single glance was all it took for Lex to locate the various metal extraction requests he was doing through the Guild room. That information only reinforced all the guesses that Lex had about him. In fact, he further went out on a limb and guessed that the whole reason Larry was being hunted, and that his family had been targeted, had something to do with his metal related abilities.

It was very standard protagonist stuff, with extreme potential for growth. If Lex could provide him with a continuous supply of metals, he had the potential to become a great worker at the Inn.

Next was Noman. His utility need not be explained, and Lex valued him a lot as a potential worker. His curse was a potential risk and a threat, and would require Lex to do some research on it.

With Rafael, Lex was unable to guess his secret, but Lex firmly concluded that his personality had already developed greatly, and that he was a man with a goal. It would not be easy to influence him unless it related to his goals, so regardless of how valuable his secret might be, he was not a good candidate as a worker.

That left behind Anakin and Souta. Anakin seemed easy to approach, but he hid his true intentions deeply. Or at least that was Lex's conclusion. As a result, it was best to observe him some more before making a decision.

Souta, on the other hand, was very straightforward despite his secrecy. Lex only needed to find a single way to penetrate his wall of secrets, and then everything that he was hiding would be displayed openly for Lex to see.

He took a few more minutes to stare at the page while he devised a plan of action, before turning his attention back to his festival. More or less, things had been going well so far. Now it was time to plan for the series of events that would kick off at the start of the third week.

Lex smiled as he pulled up the proposals brought forth by the planning division. There were 3 main things that would occur during the next few weeks, and two of them would require a major redesigning of the Inn - even if it was temporary.

The more he looked over the designs, the more Lex smiled. The latest proposals had even sought to include the endless shower of lightning tribulations at the Inn into the next two events.

It was bold, and Lex liked it. He began working to finalize all the changes and configure them so that they would automatically be initiated at the start of the third week.

While these two events would cater to the common, or less adventurous guests, the third and final event was targeting those who had more of a taste for risk and reward.

The minor realms that had been connecting to the Inn had reached 337 in number, and there were still more that were being connected. While Lex could completely control the opening of the gates to the minor realms, as well as their locations, he could not look inside of them. As a result, he really had no idea of how dangerous or safe they were. But they were a part of the Inn now, so it wasn't like he could ignore them either.

The third event would include a hunt to first locate the entrances, which Lex would hide across the Inn's landscape. Then, after signing a disclaimer stating that the Inn was not responsible for any danger or harm that befell them if they chose to enter, the guests would be allowed to explore the Minor realm freely.

This way, not only did Lex get a great event that could entertain guests who weren't particularly interested in festivals, he could begin to gather information about those Minor realms. Once he knew what those realms actually contained and the amount of danger they wrought, he could incorporate them into the Inn regularly, and charge guests to enter and explore. That would happen after the event was over, of course.

"Hey Lex," said Mary, who appeared beside him. "You remember that area you were planning on building for your spirit guests specifically?"

"Yeah, I remember. I'm planning on focusing on it once the festival is over and I have free time. I want to research it properly before I establish it. Why?"

"Well, I think you may want to establish it a little sooner," she said with a shrug. "Pretty much everyone who died trying to overcome tribulations is turning themselves into a spirit. We already have 12, and at the rate that things are going, I think that number will only increase."

Lex was surprised at what he heard. He scanned the Inn to see what he could find, and just as Mary said, found a total of 12 permanent spirit guests. What she had failed to mention was... 11 of those spirits had fit themselves inside a trench coat and some jeans - God only knew where they found those - and were walking around the Inn pretending to be a normal man.

Was this really the kind of behavior someone recently deceased should have?