The Innkeeper

“Welcome guest, I hope you’ve rested well.”

“Indeed, I have,” the cat replied with her previous pomp reduced though Lex didn’t seem to notice. “It has been a very pleasurable experience resting here, but unfortunately I must depart. I wanted to thank you for your hospitality.”

Lex was taken aback, he had not expected them to leave so suddenly when they had already paid for a month._.

“It’s my pleasure to host you. We will keep your room reserved for the rest of your original duration if you wish to return.”

The cat hesitated, but eventually said nothing. Internally she couldn’t wait to leave! The power she felt earlier was tremendous, and someone with that strength would not be afraid of her fathers influence. That meant that she wasn’t really safe, and she did not dare to tarry.

In the end the two left without saying anything. Leaving the Midnight Inn for a guest was extremely easy, they only needed to think about their intention to leave and they would be returned to the area they were received from – with the golden key in hand. The bull and cat returned to Earth for less than a millionth of a second before they tore open a hole in space and escaped. The tear was quickly repaired and there was no proof of them having ever been there, except for two keys which eventually dropped on the ground. The two didn’t dare take the keys with them, even if it could allow them to return to the Inn as they knew a higher powered being would be able to track them if they carried his treasure. Hours went by and the two keys lay on the barren ground until a hawker from the nearby village was leaving towards the city. He saw a shining glint on the ground and picked them up. He observed them for a while before trying to bite into one of the keys. He wasn’t able to leave a mark which meant it wasn’t gold, but regardless they looked pretty enough to where he could sell them. The hawker added the two keys to his wares. Lex had no idea that his two keys had been abandoned by his most powerful patrons, and then dismissed by a hawker as cheap trinkets, which was for the best as he would be dumbfounded and unable to react if he did.

*****

In Marlo’s apartment, the giant behemoth of a man was nearly ready to depart using the platinum key. He had pushed all his commitments forward and prepared the little gear he planned to take with him. Before him were a few pills that he planned on taking right before leaving, as well as a protective talisman he had planned on activating. But right as he was about to begin, his butler told him he had a guest.

When the man saw who it was he raised an eyebrow in curiosity. It was Lex’s female class fellow in his self defense class, Matilda. From head-to-toe she was covered in blood, most of it dried, some of it fresh from her wounds. The scene looked very familiar to how Lex had come to him just a short while ago. His new students really didn’t like living safely. That thought put a wide grin on his face.

“Come, let me fix you up!” Without asking the young girl anything he carried her to a small clinic that he had in his apartment. As a multimillionaire, what did he not have in his apartment? He lit up an incense and sprinkled a red powder over Matilda’s wounds that made her grimace.

“Clean her up,” he said to a nurse who was standing by. “Come to me when you’re done.”

Marlo walked to his lounge and waited for his student. None of his three students were normal this time around. Lex was someone his family was ordered to investigate – something that would shake the whole world if word got out because everyone would ask the question, who exactly could order around the Bravi family? Lex, as the target of the investigation, naturally wasn’t as normal as he tried to portray. His acting was not so bad, but as an experienced man Marlo could instantly tell when he was hiding something. Then there was Larry, the renown good-for-nothing of the once famous Dershaw family. His reputation was so astounding that when the Dershaw family was destroyed, and the few survivors banished to the moon, he was specially exempt from the banishment because his enemies found it amusing to watch him try and struggle. Finally, there was Matilda Ross. At first glance there didn’t seem to be anything too special about her, but in the little over a week that she had been his student she had risen from a stage 1 body tempering cultivator to stage 4! She also picked up combat skills like she was picking up money from the floor and her focus was the most extreme Marlo had ever seen.

Marlo continued to muse until finally Matilda entered the room. It appeared as if she had taken a shower and had changed into a pair of jeans and a shirt, with most of her body being wrapped in bandages under her clothes.

“How are you feeling?” Marlo asked, his voice filled with amusement instead of concern.

“Excellent,” Matilda replied, as if she did not look like she was at death’s door. “I need a little help. I want to enter the Grand Canyon tournament in two months, I need to get an invite but I don’t plan on joining any organization.”

“You know, you need to be at least a Qi Training cultivator to join, right?”

“Don’t I have two whole months to reach it?” Matilda asked, nonchalantly, before getting up to leave. Marlo burst into an excited laughter as he thought about what his student was planning. He never actually said he would help her, and she didn’t stay long enough to chitchat either. It was as if just letting her intentions be known was enough. When she left Marlo’s building two Bluebird agents were waiting for her, wanting to take her in for questioning. She expected as much, and didn’t resist. Her mind seemed to be elsewhere as they escorted her, and her eyes were filled with determination.

*****

Larry Dershaw, the heir to the family that used to be the richest in all of North America, slowly picked himself up off the floor with wobbling arms. He had a black eye and several bruises, but that’s what one should expect when they accept a job as a sparring partner in the Greavers Club. The Greavers Club was a small business that catered to the newly rich. They catered to those who had just entered the cultivation world, and had not had enough time to build up their resources and foundation. To train their children in live combat, they would join the Greavers Club and pay for sparring partners – though lately they had tremendous demand for one specific partner: Larry. Who didn’t like to take advantage of those who were down on their luck?

Since Larry got paid for it with resources, he usually accepted all requests. The Greavers Club would cover his medical expenses anyway, and weapons weren’t allowed so he never got seriously hurt. If his opponents tried attacking too viciously, the Club had overseers to stop them. Even as amusing as it was to bully others, they couldn’t afford an inquiry by Blue Bird.

“See you tomorrow kid,” said a particularly fat man as he watched Larry leave the practice room. Larry didn’t respond, but the fat man didn’t mind and simply watched him leave with a mocking look on his face. Who could believe that the welp before him once underwent a $300 billion procedure to allow him to cultivate, but still failed to do so. Nobody knew why he could cultivate now, but nobody cared too much either. Not everyone in the cultivator community took pleasure in bullying him, but everyone took him as an example of how quickly the mighty can fall in the cultivation world.

Larry was oblivious to all of this. Deep in his heart he knew the only reason he was continuing to struggle was because he had seen a small glimmer of hope. Would that glimmer of hope be strong enough to carry him on his journey? Even he didn’t know.