The Innkeeper

The rank 5 commissions didn't really require hunting the golden core beasts. There were two of them within the vicinity of the city, and their presence kept the entire ecosystem balanced. They were also smart enough to not challenge the city, though they would not hesitate to act out if anyone entered their territory.

The tasks involved stuff like collecting molted scales or getting blood samples. Regardless, it was easy enough for Lex to do. Even though he noticed that the Golden core beasts had particularly strong bodies, and boasted strength above that of the norm outside of this realm, none were as abnormal as Lex. Which meant that, once again, Lex was done within a few minutes.

Once done, Lex simply walked around the city while he planned his next move. By now, the crowd around Simple Life had been dispersed, and only a few notable people remained. It seemed like a representative from both Torrin and Wood families had arrived, as well as a few other powerful people.

He had no intentions of getting involved with them as he found politics to be tedious, so whatever he did next would have to be somewhere else.

One drawback, he learnt, of being very strong was that it was more difficult than anticipated to keep himself ignorant. He had tried to limit his use of spirit sense so that he would not yet come across answers to why the crown was important or what purpose it served. But even so, just his normal hearing was enough to gather enough information to come up with an answer.

It seemed like besides humans taking to using the projections as a sort of caste and nobility system, the sealed domain also favored those with a higher projection. People could use their aura to open up certain portions of the domain that were otherwise sealed and contained phenomenal treasures and opportunities.

There were also certain areas from where one could gain control over certain sections of the sealed domain itself! It seemed like a group of families had taken control over various such regions, and thereby gained control over the entire domain.

It also offered a few other minor perks such as intimidating others with a lower projection level, though that would only happen if Lex let the projection leak out its aura. Speaking of which… letting some of the aura of his gold crowns leak out before leaving might be a nice touch.

As usual, just as the hour mark came by, Lex walked in. This time, instead of a bag over his shoulder, Lex was pushing a trolley. It couldn't be helped, since he had to bring a few jars of beast blood as well.

Everyone had been waiting for Lex, and had been on the lookout, so they were taken aback when he seemed to suddenly reach the entrance of the building without alerting anyone. They were even more surprised by how nonchalantly he seemed to be walking by, as if everything in his cart wasn't carrying an oppressive aura.

Before he could reach the private room, however, a man in the Simple Life staff uniform stepped forward with a smile. Lex had not seen him before, and was aware that he had only been recently called by the manager.

"Mr. Lex, thank you so much for completing these longstanding commissions. I'm afraid there's been a small lapse in procedure which is why no one informed you. For rank 5 commissions, there's a separate area to submit them. After all, our regular workers and appraisers cannot stand the aura of these objects."

"Oh, right, of course. Please, lead the way."

Everyone who had been standing in the lobby, hoping to get an opportunity to speak to Lex, missed out on the opportunity as he was led away.

Lex was led to the highest level of the building and into a large office where a few heavily armored men were waiting. Their purpose there was not to act against Lex or anything like that. The armor, instead, protected them from the aura of the Golden core beasts harvested parts.

They individually picked up the jars and the various parts and took them away, leaving Lex and the man alone in the room.

"They'll verify and tabulate your total income and rewards from all the commissions you've completed," said the man as he motioned Lex to take a seat. "It might take a couple of days to gather all 112,500 gold coins that you are owed, however. I hope you understand. We were not expecting anyone to go through all the tasks so quickly. By the way, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Cleath, and I am incharge of all Simple Life operations in the region."

"Well, Cleath, don't worry about the gold. Like I told Henry, I'll just take a couple of things from your inventory, and the rest you can hold onto as credit."

"Mr. Lex, you have been incredibly generous," Cleath said with a bow. "To be honest, it would probably be good for us to hold on to your income as credit. However, Simple Life aspires for simplicity in all its endeavors. Holding on to such a large amount that I owe someone else will make me feel uneasy. I would rather continue to operate normally, even if it somewhat affects our daily operations for a short while."

Lex raised an eyebrow. He was not expecting that. He could also tell that Cleath had no ulterior motives when saying this, and he was not trying to appear humble or honest when saying such things, but was actually being straightforward.

"In that case…" Lex spread out his spirit sense and covered the entire city. He even allowed some of the aura from his projection to leak out and be sensed by Cleath.

It took him only a few seconds to decide what to do, so he withdrew his aura.

"Bring me a pen and paper so thatI can give you a list of instructions," Lex said, but Cleath did not respond.

Instead he just stood there, stunned. What had he just sensed?