The Innkeeper

"I would like to ask, how would you like to get paid?" Powell asked, smiling as if he was the one getting paid instead.

"Well why don't you tell me what options I have and then I'll consider it."

"Yes, of course. I'll start by explaining how the Emporium membership works. The most basic customers we cater to are non-members, but depending on how much money they spend, they can get membership for our establishment. But, the membership is not so simple, as it has levels.

"To grow from one level to the next, the first requirement is to spend a certain amount of money. However, clients of a certain stature automatically membership based on their cultivation. Body Tempering is equivalent to level 1, though they don't get automatic membership, Qi Training is level 2, Foundation is level 3, and so forth.

"To make it easier to understand, each level member has access to a greater number of our items. The information you sold to us touches upon the boundary of level 9 membership, but doesn't quite cross it, and so it is categorized at level 8. Suffice to say, for selling such information to us, you automatically get level 8 membership and have access to all our treasures or information up to that level.

"You can accept payment in the form of spirit stones, treasures, information, or store credit as you desire. I must let you know that this is only a small store, so we don't have all the items you might see on the list, but as long as it is within a branch on this planet we can have them teleported over from our other branches immediately, so it should not be a concern."

"That's great, show me the list. But at the same time, there are a few things I need, so how about I ask you about them, and you can guide me."

"Certainly," said Powell, as he handed Lex a tablet with a long list displayed on it.

"Well, first of all, if I'm going to trade for a lot of items, it'll be a hassle to carry all of them around, as I will be traveling for a short while."

"We do have a few items with spatial properties that are categorized as level 7, but unfortunately, none of them are on this planet. An alternative I can offer you is a locker. You can place any items you get in the locker where the Emporium will take responsibility for their safety. The locker also comes with a key, which you can use to teleport the contents of the locker inside to yourself. The key will be linked to you, so that in case you lose it, someone else cannot use it to retrieve your items."

"I guess that'll do," Lex said, disappointed he couldn't get the spatial items. He really wanted to be able to summon and put away his belongings the way he did with Inn related items from his inventory. Unfortunately, as uncooperative as the system was, Lex could only place items he got from the system in his inventory, not other things.

"Alright, the first thing I need, and I think this is the perfect planet for that, is some fertilizer for a plant I have at the Golden Core realm. I want to help it grow as fast as I can."

"Indeed, we have an excellent selection for that," Powell said, and pulled up some items on the tablet to show Lex. Lex did not hesitate to buy double the recommended amount of fertilizer for the Delinquent Vine back at the Inn. It was unfortunate that this planet only grew plants up to a certain level, as the options of fertilizers would have been even better options. Lex also bought various seeds and saplings for fruit trees and vegetables. He would need to grow the area for the greenhouse once he got back, but he didn't mind. This was a good problem to have.

Next, he bought an excellent binding technique for pets. It wasn't that he doubted Fenrir would not be loyal, but a binding technique would not only make it easier for Lex to communicate, and help grow Fenrir, it would aid in the growth of both Fenrir and Lex. As long as one of them was stronger than the other, the technique would have a nurturing effect on the weaker one, as a result of the technique. Of course, regardless of who was stronger, Lex would remain the controller of the technique.

He also bought some ointments that would help him increase the speed of his cultivation. It had become abundantly obvious to him that because he was cultivating the trinity, his body, soul and spirit, his speed was devastatingly slow. It was literally impossible to cultivate without external help.

He bought himself a self-activating defense treasure, in case he suffered a surprise attack like last time. He also did not forget to buy more detailed information about the X-14 system as well as the Dimitri family.

That took care of the things he already had in mind. After that, he began perusing the list for what they had. The list was... expansive, to say the least. He ended up buying a lot of things, as well as information, that he thought would serve him well in the future - including a seemingly indestructible locket. There was nothing else special about it, as far as anyone could tell, but Lex had a workaround for that, and anything indestructible had to be precious.. Unfortunately, Lex was severely limited in what he could buy as there was almost nothing above level 4 on this planet, in keeping with the buying power of this planet.

With quite a bit of credit left, and no idea of what else to buy, Lex spent it all on spirit stones, seeds, ores and a few pieces of technology. He had no interest in maintaining any credit at the Emporium, as he had no idea when he would encounter it again.

Then, stuffing everything he bought into one of the Emporiums lockers, Lex finally left. He'd ended up spending over an hour here, much longer than he was expecting, and now he just wanted to leave as quickly as possible to avoid any possible trouble. Putting on a mask he bought before leaving the shop, Lex stepped out confidently and hailed an Air pod to the train station.

He was expecting that the 'trains' here would actually be vastly different from what he was used to on Earth, but that wasn't actually the case. The trains looked remarkably similar to bullet trains back on Earth, but Lex wasn't in the mood to speculate on the reason at the moment.

Since he had obtained information on this entire star system, he naturally also knew a lot about this planet. He already had a destination in mind, and after buying a ticket for a private room, boarded the train. To Lex's great relief, no problems occurred while he waited, and eventually, the train departed safely.

*****

Tetsuya did not avoid the public crowd as he dragged Darius' body back to his house, and left him lying in front of the gate once he arrived. If something still happened to him after Tetsuya brought him back home, then no one could blame him.

He wasn't really afraid of any retaliation, as the only ones on this planet he feared was the Dimitri family. This was because on this planet, anyone who surpassed the Foundation realm and entered the Golden core was asked to leave the planet. The only Golden core experts on this planet were direct Dimitri family members of employees. The reasoning for this was complex and served many purposes, but the result was that Tetsuya felt extremely safe.

He had even fought off Foundation enemies while he was still in the Qi training realm, let alone now that he was in the Foundation himself.

It was this well earned arrogance that resulted in what happened next. Darius had hired sufficiently skilled people long before today to take care of Tetsuya, it was just that they happened to act shortly after Lx thoroughly humiliated Darius in a public way as they were making preparations.

The moment Tetsuya entered his home, it exploded. This was not a small explosion that could be covered up by local forces, this would directly attract the attention of the Dimitri family. But the assassination was far from over.

Wounded, Tetsuya was trying to understand what happened from behind the protective cover of a defensive treasure, when something rammed through the cover of the treasure and directly blew his right arm off! It was only after he suffered the injury that the sound of a sniper shot rang through the street.

Tetsuya, despite still being in shock, tried to move away but the trap this time was too well devised. Before he could move, however, another shot blasted a hole directly through his chest. Tetsuya could not even fall as he was already on the ground, his eyes wide open in shock, his brains slowly shutting down, when a piece of debris fell on top of him, supposedly crushing him.

But before he was crushed, it happened to break the golden key, teleporting the critically wounded man away. But no one saw him disappear. All the cameras which had been recording the whole incident caught a massive piece of debris crushing his body, before it too was covered in the fire that the explosion had started.

Far away, the sniper sent the video to Darius before packing up and starting to run away. He had to get off this planet, or he would be the next one to suffer.