The Innkeeper

Chapter 1347  Ereboth the Insatiable

Normally, faced with an unknown entity, the first thing Lex would do was scan them. Considering that his scan was now able to even detect people up until the Celestial realm, it was much more useful.

Unfortunately, the system scan never worked on others with systems, so Lex would have to gather all pertinent information himself, which for a few things wasn't difficult. Even with Lex's extremely limited experience with living planets, this being the first one he had met, he could tell that the planet in front of him had a cultivation of its own, and it was at, if not near, the very peak of the Celestial realm. "Greetings guest, to the Midnight Inn," Lex said. Pretending to be completely calm in front of a considerably superior entity that was capable of easily killing him actually made Lex feel slightly nostalgic. It had been a good while since he had done something like this.

"I am the Innkeeper, owner of this humble establishment."

Lex did not continue. Usually, the initial introduction would be followed by a few other lines which would help guide the thoughts of his target along the lines that he wanted. The issue right now was, he had no idea how this planet had entered the Inn, what its intentions were, and what Lex could possibly offer it.

"I am Ereboth the Insatiable," the planet eventually said, after a few seconds of silence. "Are you truly the Innkeeper? From the… from the…"

Lex should have known his reputation preceded him. He wondered which of his numerous feats had reached the sentient world. Was it the Midnight Games, which had swept a good portion of the Origin realm? Was it his act of almost slaying a Deity? His latest cooperation with the Henali? Or perhaps it was…

"Are you the Innkeeper from the Midnight Inn comics?" Ereboth asked with a hint of excitement. It was a good thing Lex had long mastered the art of self control, or his disappointment would have been palpable. How could he not know about those comics? Velma had been writing them under her pseudonym and publishing it on the Henali portal. The comics had become so successful that she, as the author, had developed a cult following and had gained many suitors who wanted naught but to marry her. "Rather than saying I am the Innkeeper from the comics," the Innkeeper spoke, his voice calm and patient as ever, "it would be more accurate to say that those comics are about me"

The planet trembled visibly, filled to the brim with excitement.

"Oh man, I can't tell you how much of a fan I am!" Ereboth the Insatiable exclaimed. "Even though the Henali locked me in my prison, they were nice enough to leave me a connection to the Henali portal so I could stay up to date with all the latest news. You can imagine how boring and monotonous eternity gets when you're restricted to a single galaxy where no one is as strong as you."

Ereboth was speaking in a jolly and jovial tone, but Lex was far from the weak Innkeeper he had once been. His cultivation realm was not the only thing that had grown, so had his various abilities and instincts. From Ereboths seemingly simple words, such as exclaiming how boring it was no one else was of his level, Lex felt an immense amount of bloodlust. In fact, every single action that the world did, every single word that it spoke revealed an underlying aura, hidden to all but the most observant.

Lex did not think he'd ever met anyone with as much blood on his hands as Ereboth. Actually that might not be true, but he'd certainly never met anyone with as much of an insatiable desire to kill as much as the planet. He absolutely could not take it lightly.

"Monotony is also an opportunity to temper oneself," Lex spoke, not really saying anything. "I am sure one such as you found ways to occupy yourself."

Lex needed an opening. He needed the planet to reveal something about itself, or perhaps its intentions. He could not randomly talk to it about systems, let alone ask him to use his superior authority over it.

"Hehehe, well I found a few snacks here and there to munch on to fill the time," Ereboth said, its shape suddenly beginning to change. Instead of remaining in the form of a suppressed planet, it transformed into the appearance of a human, similar to the Innkeeper, and finally sat down in front of him.

"Speaking of snacks, Innkeeper, I read something interesting in your comics. I wonder if the same is true for reality. Is it true that… once the Inn is attacked, you keep the attackers locked in your Inn as prisoners?"

Although Ereboth spoke politely and with a smile, Lex immediately sensed an immense amount of malice within the planet's words. In fact, now that he was sitting in front of Lex as a human, his expressions were even easier to read, and they were not pleasant.

There was also the fact that Lex himself had read all the comics Velma wrote - simply to make sure she did not reveal something best kept secret, and not at all because he liked reading comics of himself acting cool. Nothing in the comics had ever hinted at the Inn keeping prisoners. That would create a very bad impression of the Inn, and Velma would never do something like that. After all, if guests read about the fact that the Innkeeper could forcibly shut down their ability to leave the Inn, they absolutely wouldn't feel as relaxed.

Before Lex could answer, Ereboth continued. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Instead of keeping your prisoners captive within the Inn, wouldn't it be better to send them elsewhere? Maybe a proper prison world? I don't know if you know this, but Henali sends all its death row convicts from across the entire realm to me to… take care of. You could do much the same."

Suddenly, Lex experienced something he had never felt before - at least as the Innkeeper! He felt himself locked onto by a malicious spirit sense! Despite appearing with the aura of a Dao Lord, Ereboth had dared lock onto him!