The Innkeeper

Chapter 1401  Void Aegis

"Excellent," said the Innkeeper. "Then I will leave it to you to review the dungeons. Luthor will explain their intended purpose and target audience, and you can determine if they meet the standard. Once they pass the audit, we'll officially open the dungeons for the public to view."

"I am overwhelmed by the grace of your trust," Ripley said, bowing much too deeply. "I will do my best to live up to your expectations. Before I depart, if you do not mind, there are a few things I would like to give you." Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Oh? What do you have for me?" the Innkeeper asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

Ripley smiled faintly, as if he were aware that all his actions and intentions had already been seen through.

"A nominal gift from the Versalis Bank," Ripley said, as he placed a spatial ring forward. "Recognizing the Midnight Realm as the Innkeepers Seat of Power, the Versalis Bank gifts a Void Aegis, able to hide the location of a realm within the Void, making it untraceable under ordinary circumstances. A humble gift, but one I hope can put you at ease while you let your underlings manage the realm."

"Thank you for the gift. This is quite thoughtful," the Innkeeper said, showing none of his internal excitement. Of course, Lex would have to check the Void Aegis himself before using it. Who knew if it wasn't some kind of secret tracker that the bank could use?

"Besides that, for your staff to receive increased exposure of the universe at large, so that they may better manage your realm, I have three invites to the New Age Expo, sponsored by the Versalis Bank and its partners.

"The New Age Expo, taking place in the Artica Major realm, is an opportunity for new powers to reveal themselves, as well as to create possible alliances, agreements, and generally gain exposure. Of course, that is only the first part of the Expo. The latter parts of the Expo are mostly for the ruling force of the Artica Major realm to reveal their plans for the future.

"Considering that the Artica realm is a rare example of when a non-major race takes control of a major realm, this Expo is possibly the first universal exposure of one of the future major players on the universal scale.

"The Expo is actually just a few months away from taking place, so if you wish to send someone you will have to decide soon. Considering the short notice of the invite, and that it might not be so easy to get a permit to enter the Artica Major realm, if you wish to send someone, you can just inform me, and they can join the Banks delegation when they go."

"You should not have gone through so much trouble," the Innkeeper said politely.

"No, it's no trouble at all. Since the bank is a partner of the Artica race, after whom the realm is now named, getting these invites was no problem at all. Besides, a preliminary summary of my audit states that while the Inn workers have no major flaws, their lack of exposure may soon become a handicap for them when they deal with inter-realm guests."

"In that case, you have been extremely thoughtful in your gift once more. I will see to it that once the audit is complete, you attain an honored position among our guests."

"Please, Innkeeper, it is my personal pleasure," Ripley assured the Innkeeper.

Since there was not much else left to say, they bade their farewell, and Ripley followed Luthor as they ventured out to Ereboth within the sealed galaxy.

"What is the underlying premise for these dungeons?" Ripley asked Luthor as he took a few notes on his clipboard.

"There are two simultaneous purposes. The first, and foremost, they exist for the sake of novelty and entertainment. The dungeons offer a unique experience as a result of certain features only Ereboth can offer. It's not just about going to dungeons - it's about living through real-life game mechanics. You see, as soon as a guest arrives on Ereboth, they gain what we call a basic system.

"By completing objectives, following quest lines, going through various dungeon levels and accumulating achievements, the players, or guests, can gain levels. The gain of levels, as it turns out, contributes to an actual gain in strength, which brings us to the second purpose of the dungeons.

"They exist to challenge, and strengthen those guests who seek to practice their skills and hone themselves in real battle, while maintaining a safety line. The Ereboths unique leveling up methods, and the dangers and challenges of the dungeons, many guests are sure to find it a satisfying challenge.

"However, due to the very nature of the dungeons, they are not entirely safe. If a guest is too slow to use their keys to escape, when faced with danger they may actually lose their lives. Also, Ereboth himself has placed a few restrictions. No guests in the Celestial realm, as well as the peak of the Heavenly Immortal realm are allowed.

"Considering that these dungeons can provide actual, permanent growth in strength of those who enter, I think such restrictions are not so harsh. After all, it is probably much harder to induce growth in them using Ereboth's unique powers compared to those who are weaker."

"I'll be the judge of that," Ripley said as he put on a pair of combat goggles, and took out his personal weapon, The Pen That Is Mightier Than The Sword. The name was a handful, so he preferred to just call it his pen.

After that, Luthor and Ripley walked through the portal linking the Midnight Inn and Ereboth, entering the first of his dungeons.

Lex, meanwhile, still in his office studied the Void Aegis as well as the three tickets to the New Age Expo.

Although he did not let Ripley know it, this was a huge windfall for him, especially the Void Aegis.

After putting it in the Gift Shop for a split second, Lex read the description and withdrew it. There were no hidden backdoors hidden in the device, and no obvious flaws. Although it was not a perfect solution, at least it would provide the Midnight Realm with a basic amount of protection.

As such, not only did Lex want to use it immediately, he also wanted to fuse it with his system! As long as he did that, he would be able to upgrade it in the future. Previously, he had fused one of the Henali portal satellites into the system, hijacking a point of entry into it that was undetectable even by the A.I. that ran the portal.

Now, fusing the system with this Void Aegis would be even simpler, as he did not even require a quest or prompt for it.

Back when he designed the Tribulation rooms, he had gained the authority to design his own rooms, as he liked. The reason he did not use that authority often was because it seemed like any room he personally created would be more MP intensive than rooms created by the system itself.

But, he also understood why such an ability was necessary. The rooms provided by the system were generic, yet sometimes the Inn required extremely specific rooms that catered to a very specific race of guests.

One such example was the Spirit Circus that Lex had created. It wasn't a popular room because it was only useful for the Spirit race. But for those guests of his who donated all their wealth in exchange for living in the Inn as Spirits, it was a great place to spend their time. It was not a literal circus, but just a series of entertaining facilities specific to the Spirit race that were all jammed into a single room.

That was just one of the many things he had to do to ensure that his guests' satisfaction levels with the Inn stayed high, otherwise things would get more expensive for him.

The point was, he could create rooms of his own, and the limits of what he could do with those rooms was pretty open to interpretation.

Deep within the lands of the Inn, far away from everything else, Lex created a sealed off area, and within it created a dome. This would be the Realm Protection room. For now, it would only host the Void Aegis, but as the realm grew, if he needed to add more things, this would be the place to do it.

Within, he placed the Void Aegis, and then started fusing it with the room, turning its ability into a feature of the room itself.

In truth, the Void Aegis was not so simple to use. It required an enormous power source, not to mention an extensive foundation to support and run, not to mention countless auxiliary formations. But, by turning it into a part of the system itself, the system would take over the running of the Void Aegis itself.

The only question was… would this be a self-sustaining feature, like the secret entrance to the Henali portal, or would Lex have to pay MP to sustain it.

A few moments later, he got his answer, and it seemed like Lex had been very conservative in his expectations of how he would have to pay to keep his realm hidden.

Lex sighed, and turned to look at the Expo tickets. He wondered if he could sell them in the Guild room.