The Innkeeper

Lex listed a few of his ideas out to the system to see how it reacted. He had many more items on the list, but he needed to go priority wise. For example, he was also curious as to how exactly the Inn ensured any external worker he hired would stay loyal?

Even if he didn't count the fact that Zagan could wake up at any moment and possibly resume its monster lifestyle, he expected in the future he would get the opportunity to hire many talented workers, not all of whom can be replaced by the workers that Lex hires through the system.

He still had a bounty on the head of that Kraven who attacked the Midnight tavern, and whoever killed him would on doubt be extremely powerful as well as ambitious. Lex had no problem with his workers being ambitious so long as they didn't turn it against the Inn.

The system did not respond immediately. It glowed and hummed and buzzed, no doubt processing his request and trying to figure out the best possible outcome.

"Whether through the lockdown, or by any other means, the Inn cannot stop accepting new guests for too long. So a complete shutdown is out of the question, though for a certain amount of time it should be fine.

"Controlling where the Inn is accessible from… that's a pretty advanced feature that requires a lot of authority. Since you're not even fusing with me then… the best I can do is offer it as a reward for a quest. But the quest difficulty will be high, and it will require a high rating as well. Even then, it won't be exactly as you wish. There is no way you can control the cultivation level of the guests you receive, but you can limit access to the Inn to planets that have been linked to the system already, maybe. It depends on your performance.

"Moving onto matters of security. I would like to tell you that the Midnight realm is completely safe and secure, but unfortunately I cannot do that. The previous location of the Inn was completely hidden because of its small size. The new Midnight Realm will most likely be a massive strain on me. Chances are high that your Innkeeper authority won't even extend to the entire realm.

"There are many operations that I will have to prioritize, and keeping the Inn hidden is one of them. But I cannot promise anything. In fact, you will most likely be getting a number of quests related to ensuring or contributing to the Inns safety. In summation, the severity of the situation can only be determined once the realm has been fully established, but you should expect to have to put in some work.

"As far as the matter of security is concerned, I already gave you the Butter knife. I am an Inn based system, not a weapons manufacturer. Giving you powerful weapons is not a part of my prerogative."

"The Butter knife only works on cultivators I can already defeat! Not to mention, do you know how hard it is to upgrade that thing? I literally have access to a shop that sells almost anything available on the market, and I still cannot find the items needed to upgrade the Butter knife!"

"It's a weapon that lets you perform one hit kills. How can it be easy to upgrade? There's no point in arguing with me about this. There's nothing I can do for you. The only advice I can offer you is to grow your authority quickly to get access to new features that may help you out."

"Alright, well, if you can't do that, then what about the security room? It's supposed to be able to detect anyone with any malicious intent towards the Inn, but it hardly works on anyone strong enough to actually cause the Inn harm."

"As far as I can tell, it's working fine," the system responded, with a hint of exasperation in its voice. "Give me a break, okay. I am literally broken. If you have such a big issue with my performance then maybe you should've helped repair me instead of fixing your cultivation technique!"

Lex was stunned. The system suddenly went from kindly explaining everything to almost sounding offended! If Lex didn't know better, he would say that he hurt the system's feelings. So apparently pointing out performance flaws is a big no. It was strange to know his system had insecurities.

"But that was my quest reward! If you want to fix yourself, why don't you just summon more Protos energy and use it on yourself? You're the one who gave it to me to begin with."

"That's not how this works," the system responded sullenly.

Lex suddenly felt awkward. The system was clearly in a bad mood, but Lex's time was limited so he couldn't stop with his requests. Should he just… just move on.

"If it's any consolation, I've been doing my best to get you other systems to absorb."

"I don't need your consolation," the system responded, though its sunnier voice told a different story. "Move on. What else do you want? If there's nothing left, I have the development of a realm to oversee."

"There are still a couple of things. I want to know how you can ensure that new workers obey the Inn's rules. Is there some kind of punishment? If not, how can I ensure they won't turn against me?"

There were plenty of ways to make sure workers, such as Zagan, stay loyal. Lex himself preferred to let everyone be afraid of his Dao Lord realm. But fear as a deterrent only worked on those with something to lose, or someone who was sane. He needed some kind of restriction from the system that would help.

"When someone joins the Inn, they will feel more amenable to it. But that's the extent of what I can do. I've already given you great leeway with the workers you can hire."