The Innkeeper

Quest Reward: Subject change based on value of item sold

Remarks: Gotta get that cash money, baby

Lex was… intrigued, to say the least, not only by the quest but by the remark the system gave. Had the system been watching late night tv?

Still, this was the first special quest he had received, and he was interested in learning about it. But first, he had to investigate the situation on this planet, and learn if there was anything he should avoid.

He turned on his ‘generic Jotun communication wristwatch’ to see if it worked. A hologram appeared before him as the watch tried to connect to any available networks and, after a few minutes, successfully connected to the local planetary network.

As much as he wished he could Google things, the watch provided him with similar functions and Lex looked up anything he could about X-142. Soon, the watch opened up a historical and cultural website that detailed the occupation of this planet.

About 3000 years ago, this star system had come under the control of the Dimitri family, a legally recognized noble family in the Jotun Empire. They were a business oriented family, and used this entire star system as the foundation of their agricultural business. Not only had they colonized all the planets in this system, the X-14 system, and regulated each planet to be suitable to grow certain kinds of crops, they provided safe and accommodating planets for the citizens of the empire to settle and work in.

The rest of the page was filled with endless praise for the Dimitri family, which Lex directly dismissed as propaganda. He breathed a sigh of relief, as he had landed on a planet under the control of the Empire. He knew from the conversation with Crawford-981 that the galaxy that Vegus Minima was from wasn’t fully under the Empire’s control, so it was really up to his luck whether he would land on such a planet.

Fortunately, he had, and even had a plan of action he had devised in such a situation. The first and most important thing to remember was that while it was alright for Lex to create an account on the Henali portal, something akin to a universal internet, he must absolutely not get himself registered in any Jotun empire facility.

This was because the Jotun database was apparently shared, if not galaxy wide, then at least over several stay systems. Furthermore, every few decades, the databases would be compiled together. Lex doubted that amongst the probably hundreds of trillions of citizens in their database, they would notice him even if he did regularly get registered or scanned at various planets, but Lex did not want to leave a record.

As for why it was relatively safer to log into the Henali portal? It was because no one he ever talked to had ever heard of any kind of disciplinary force, or in fact any force altogether, associated with Henali. Whatever it was, it was clearly targeted towards much higher leveled cultivators, and people with less power or authority than a certain level weren’t even qualified to know about it.

As a result, the Henali was very openly used to conduct shady business, and even the Empire couldn’t do anything about it, as they could not even get the real identities of the users.

Still, all of that was for later. Right now, Lex had to do a few things. He had to find cheap accommodation, find Infinity Emporium, and think of a way to earn enough money to help him survive however long he would be here.

‘How convenient would it be if I had a branch of the Inn here,’ Lex thought with a chuckle, then froze. That wasn’t a bad idea. He quickly put down having branches of the Inn on various planets as an idea to look into.

Lex looked towards the nearest vendor, a man… er, beast? The nearest vendor was humanoid, but with thick, purple skin and a face that looked like that of a tiger, but with two protruding horns on his forehead, with long, flowing white hair.

Lex had no idea what race he was, but walked up to the man and asked, “Hey, any idea where I can find the Infinity Emporium?”

Unaware of the particular customs on this planet, Lex was concerned about somehow offending the man, but apparently he did not need to be.

“Maybe you buy something, it’ll jog my memory,” the vendor said with a smile. It was completely not the vendor’s fault that his toothy smile exposed some vicious-looking teeth and looked more intimidating than friendly.

Lex looked at the vendor’s wares, and his monocle scanned the items. He wanted to find the cheapest looking thing but… he had no idea what anything on the stall was. There were blades, that much was certain. But these blades were unusually shaped, with odd curves and blunt ends that clearly indicated they had a very specific purpose.

“My friend, I need to sell something to the shop, as I don’t currently have any money at all.”

“Teh, cheap,” the vendor muttered under his breath, but then explained the directions to Lex anyway. It seemed that despite his grumpiness, the vendor was a good man- eh, beast-person-thing.

As Lex started following the directions – and only then realizing he was still wearing his bathroom slippers – Lex thought about what to do once he reached the Emporium. The easiest thing would be to sell an item from the Inn, but he didn’t want to do that. He could sell one of the items or pieces of gear he brought with him, but that would depend on what kind of shop the Emporium was.

When he reached, he saw a modest sized building, but one with a spectacular finish. That was not to say the other buildings weren’t well designed, but something about the Emporium was just eye-catching. Lex considered inquiring about its architect for a moment.

One other thing that stood out about the Emporium was the large number of people going in and out. The shop was clearly a popular one. Since there was no particular line, Lex simply stepped in the shop, following one of its customers, but was taken aback once he stepped in.

The shop, though simple, was absolutely gorgeous! A red carpet ran from the front door to the counter, spread over a milky white marble floor. The walls were carved with various designs, with a few pillars half protruding from the walls. The ceiling was painted as well, not to mention lined with elaborate woodwork.

But despite its spectacular splendor, what surprised Lex was that he was the only other customer in the shop. All the people Lex had seen entering had disappeared, and only a single man stood behind the counter, grinning at Lex. It seemed as if he was able to tell what had surprised Lex, and was thoroughly enjoying the reaction.

“Welcome to the Infinity Emporium. Please, do not be alarmed. This is just a bit of clever use of formations to give each customer their privacy while shopping. We value our clients’ privacy highly.”

“Not bad,” Lex commented as he stepped into the shop. He took a look around, and though the shop looked amazing, he could not actually see any wares. Should shops display what they’re selling?

“What kind of business do you do here?” Lex asked curiously.

“We can provide anything you wish for. Anything legal, that is. Of course, we have a membership program, and if your membership level is high enough, even some things that aren’t legal can become an option.”

“Uh, are you sure you should be saying something like that so… openly?”

“Why, of course,” the shopkeeper replied while laughing. “The Dimitri family, and everyone else relevant, know about our business. They are not very concerned, and even they themselves sometimes shop with us.”

Lex raised an eyebrow as he wondered about the man’s words.

“And do you buy things from customers?” Lex asked.

“So long as an item has any kind of monetary value, we can take it off your hands.”

Lex wondered about the man’s answer and considered his actions. The rarer the item he sold, the better his reward from the system would be. Since there was no time limit, it wasn’t as if he had to sell something right away. He decided to wait a while before selling something, hoping he could find something on the planet. And, if he wasn’t able to find anything, he’d just sell a golden key.

“Since you sell everything… I’m pretty broke right now, and need information on a cheap but safe place to stay, and a possible way I can earn some money.”

“Excellent. Since you are on a budget, I’ll compile the cheapest folder I can. That’ll be 1 spirit coin, sir.”

Lex handed over the coin, which, by the way, wasn’t exactly a cheap price for some basic information. But since Lex didn’t want to waste time figuring out things on his own, this would have to do.

After accepting the coin, the shopkeeper handed over a simple folder, summoning it out of thin air and grinned at Lex, as if he had just spent millions in the store instead of a single coin.