The Innkeeper

Chapter 1903 of Narn

Lex did some warm up stretches as he got ready for the upcoming obstacle course. Mentally, he was also planning out exactly how much time he could spend on the course.

He had two time sensitive quests waiting for him.

The first quest, with a time limit of six months, was to make a total of 10 taverns. Fortunately he already had a few, so he only needed to make some more over the next few months. To expedite the process, he had Mary tell Orin to begin creating the foundation for the remaining taverns so that Lex could come and complete them – no time could be wasted.

It was most certainly not considered cheating if he had someone else complete the quest for him – he was just being a good CEO and delegating tasks.

His second time sensitive quest was to accept a Heavens Puppet as a guest at the Inn. He had no idea how to do that, so he had put up a quest in the Obsidian Club for a way to contact a Heavens Puppet. Although all of the system users in there were weak, they were still system users so anything was possible.

Simultaneously, he also told someone at the Inn to start collecting the general knowledge about what was going on in the various Realm wars that had started. It was fairly easy, since common knowledge could be bought from guests from a small amount of MP.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Lex knew that he could benefit from this somehow, he just wasn’t sure how yet.

It was at this time, he heard a very familiar sound – the sound of a new notification. Lex was lucky that Eclipse had her powers sealed, or she might have heard it too. After all, if even Wu Kong could see Mary’s hologram before she gained a commonly visible body, then Eclipse could most certainly see a lot more.

Lex looked at the notification and almost fell over.

New Quest: A guest of great prestige has requested a service, and as the best Inn in the universe, the Midnight Inn cannot disappoint! Host a Dao Lord tea party in a discreet location so that they can plot universal domination!

Quest target: Governor General of the Origin Realm + guests

Quest deadline: 1 year Origin realm time (Disclaimer: real time events may cause this deadline to short or lengthen without notice)

Quest Reward: Subject to performance

Quest failure punishment: The Inn cannot lose its prestige! Failure is not an option!

Remarks: A Primordial Garden, a Dao Lord tea party, and an Immortal System Host… it’s a romantic comedy waiting to happen!

Lex read the quest once, and then read it again, before dismissing the notification. It seemed he could not afford to lose in this obstacle course. The system had given him a pretty big hint, not that he needed one.

The Primordial Garden was the perfect place to host the tea party, but getting permission to have one from Eclipse might not be so easy. If he could use that as the reward for completing the course, his chances of making it happen might actually increase.

It was nice to see that the system hadn’t threatened him with death for such a critical quest, but he had a feeling that the outcome of failing this quest wasn’t going to be pleasant, and he didn’t want to find out if he was right or not.

“Alright, the Demi-Dao Lords have left the course, and we’ve sealed up all portals that might accidentally suck you in and throw you in some other part of the universe,” said Eclipse as she walked up to Lex. “But I have to warn you, the obstacle course is still not easy or simple. Don’t judge things here based on their cultivation realm: anything and everything Primordial is powerful, and cultivation has nothing to do with it.”

“That’s not a problem,” answered Lex seriously. “All I need to know is the entrance to the course, and what my target is.”

Eclipse nodded, and pointed to one corner of the mountain range. There was a massive lake there, surrounded by various cities and settlements.

“That lake was formed over a pit that’s really deep. At the base of that pit you’ll find your target. The entrance is right here, I can take you to it. All you need to do is bring that belt outside that lake and I’ll consider you having completed the obstacle course.

“During the obstacle course, there are no rules. You can use any means to complete the course, and I’ll count it. By the way, if you encounter trouble, there’s no need to hold back your strength, or spare anyone on my behalf. “If anyone fights, they have to accept the consequences. I don’t purposefully throw people into the course, but I also don’t ignore the law of the jungle. The Primordial times were filled with death and survival, and that theme exists in my garden too. Death is not evil, and life is not holy. In here, the only thing that really matters is how you use the time that you have.”

Lex nodded. Eclipse seemed like a very nice person in general, but it was impossible for someone so strong to be a foreigner to death and survival. If there was no real risk in this obstacle course, then it wouldn’t really be an obstacle at all.

“Don’t worry, I understand what I’m getting into. Is there anything special I need to know about the belt before I begin?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah, good question. Don’t put the belt on unless you want to use that as a reward for completing the course. That thing is called the Chastity belt of Narn, and it contains a whole galaxy inside of it.

“Once you put that thing on, you most certainly won’t be able to take it off until you become a Dao Lord, so think twice before accepting it as a reward. Of course, even if you do want it, I don’t mind. The premise is that you can complete the course. Now hurry up and enter the course. I’ll be watching!”