A 10 feet wide, bronze colored watermelon appeared on Lex's desk, as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world. Lex, too, did not show an abnormal reaction to the massive watermelon, and simply summoned the Fruit Knife and dug deep into the watermelon.
The massive watermelon began to glow, as massive, bronze watermelons normally do when they are being absorbed by a magical knife to upgrade itself. The process would take some time so Lex brought his attention back to the Inn.
A scan of the Inn right before the event began showed a little under 1 million guests. Even if not a single extra guest showed up, and he maintained this number of participants for the entire 3 months, Lex would make 4.5 times more MP than he spent on the event just from the room rent. Just that thought put a smile on his face.
The opening ceremony took place at the colosseum in the village and featured Luthor giving a long and meaningful speech. This was already different from how Lex would have done things. Back when he hosted the Midnight Games, not a single one of speeches went longer than a few minutes. Still, that wasn't a bad thing. There are different expectations from different people, so for Luthor to give a long speech that enticed the emotions of those listening was not only a good thing, it was exactly what was expected of him.
The end of the opening ceremony was marked with exploding lights and a musical performance by one of the flocks of musical avian beasts who performed during the Midnight Games.
But, more importantly, it was also marked by an exhibition fight between two Golden Core cultivators which got a much more enthusiastic response.
These included some of the preparations Lex had to make in advance during the past week. Many things the system could take care of, but coordinating the schedules of actual people, it could not. Of course, the system made it very simple to hire them, so he wasn't complaining either.
While keeping up with all the activities, and the guests who were mostly focused in the village at the moment, Lex also checked up on the hired security. Thousands of Golden Core, hundreds of Nascent realm and dozens of Earth immortal humans showed up, and quickly changed into the suit and tie uniform of the Inn. Like previously, there was one cultivator above the Earth immortal realm, but it was not a dragon this time.
Instead, it was a Griffin. The creature had the body, tail and the rear legs of a lion, yet the face and wings of an eagle, with talons instead of front paws. Also, it was massive, with a height of nearly 40 feet, and a wingspan of nearly 200 feet!
The Griffin proudly perched itself on top of the spaceship, and surveyed the area with its head held high.
Lex was genuinely impressed, and even wondered for a moment where these hired guards came from. Perhaps he'd ask them using his Leo persona later, but for now he continued to survey the Inn.
Some familiar faces that he hadn't seen in a while started popping up. Alexander reappeared, though he was seriously injured and went directly into the Recovery pod. Lex did not fail to notice that Alexander's cultivation had regressed, and he was once again in the Qi training realm. It was unusual and Lex even thought something went wrong, but he did not look upset or alarmed.
He also saw Chen Lee and Lily, as well as Blane and Iris. Chen and Blane were some of Lex's oldest guests, and in fact had arrived at the Inn being dragged in by a zombie. How things had changed in just a single year. Chen and Lily were wealthy from running their business, and Blane had gotten married to his girlfriend Iris. They were having a reunion at the Inn, catching up and sharing details of their new lives.
He saw Golden Hair, the sloth of Nibiru, followed closely by Greens Haven, the deer, and Blood Fang, the wolf. He remembered the massive pressure he had felt the first time he saw them. Back then he couldn't even view their cultivation levels due to his low authority. Now, of course, he could see that they were at the Nascent level, with the sloth being an Earth Immortal.
While scanning the Inn he also discovered Larry, and while he was going to continue scanning the Inn, he heard them having an interesting conversation. Larry was sitting next to a few other guys, planning how to kill someone called Suzuki!
Well, apparently, the other person wanted to kill Larry first, so Larry wanted to kill him before he could get the chance. The problem was the guy in question had a very powerful follower who always obeyed his orders, and it was difficult to find him alone.
Lex noticed how, from time to time, Larry would lick his lips and stare at the spaceship, but did not focus on it too much. Instead, he looked for the person Larry wanted to kill, and actually discovered him at the Inn! He also discovered the-
Lex froze! He had scanned both the man and his follower to learn more about them, but the followers status was showing up with the all too familiar '*&%error%&*' sign! Why was he, as a system wielder, another man's follower?
Before Lex could think of an answer, he once again scanned the entire Inn. Only this time, he was specifically looking for the error message in scans. Other than John and Ming Jie, of whom he already knew, there was another girl with the familiar error message.
Countless ideas flashed through Lex's mind as he thought about what to do, or if he should do anything at all to begin with.
"Mary, send Larry a message through his hologram. Tell him about the Murder Ground, and how he can challenge someone to a one versus one battle to the death there."
A few different ideas had occurred to Lex over why a system wielder would be following a normal person. But regardless of what the answer was, if Larry tried to fight him... Lex did not see great odds for his survival. In that case, a fight directly with the man in the Murder Grounds was the best option, if a confrontation was inevitable.
"Also, Mary, send a message to Velma. I want to know everything about these two people she can discover."
The two people were, of course, Souta, the wielder of the Samurai system, and the girl who was accompanying J.F.K.
While he made a mental note to keep an eye on them, he could not focus on them completely. After all, he had an entire event to monitor.
Oddly enough, the next two to attract Lex's attention were some of his own workers. Anita, the beautiful lich, and Qawain, the sentient sword, had asked for the day off and were on a date. Considering that Lex anticipated additional security, he didn't see any reason why he couldn't give them a break.
So the fact that they were together, and on a date, wasn't what attracted his attention. Instead, it was the fact that behind Anita, a group of her undead were pulling along a massive stroller.
Inside the stroller was a creature Anita was claiming to have adopted, and the member of his own race that Abroar had brought to the Inn.
Even without the need for a scan, Lex recognized the creature, for Lex had been doing research on the more common, as well as the famous races of the Origin realm via the Henali portal. Still, to be sure, he scanned Anita's new adopted child anyway.
Name: None
Age: 03
Sex: Male
Cultivation Details: Golden Core equivalent
Species: Cthulhu
Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1
Remarks: Even living nightmares start out as babies.
It was as he thought. The creature was from a race called Cthulhu, the terrors from the great depth of the unknown universe! Before their mysterious disappearance a few hundred thousand years ago, they were responsible for the destruction of hundreds of galaxies. According to rumors, they were so terrifying that if one were to even look at them directly, they would lose their sanity and die from pure fear! Their voice alone, apparently, could cause the souls of those who heard it to wither and die. Instead of food, these beings fed on pain, fear, anguish, desperation and all sorts of negative emotions.
No one knew how or why their presence from the realm disappeared one day, but the fact that it did is still celebrated across the realm! Yet despite their apparent disappearance, one was being raised right here, at the Midnight Inn, adopted by its foster mother, a lich.
Lex could not help but sigh as he wondered if the system would automatically keep guests safe from the horror of the baby's cries, or if he should gift the unusual couple a pacifier capable of pacifying the eldritch horror that was their new child.