The Innkeeper

"System, scan again!" Hargreaves said desperately as he looked at the treasure land around him. The air, the dirt, the wind, the dew, all of it had grades he could never hope to get access to in his life, just waiting for him to pick up. Yet no matter what he did, he could not lift it, not put it in his spatial ring, nor withdraw it into his system inventory!

New Notification: The number of Spiritual Treasures discovered in Hosts vicinity are: 99+! Please collect to advance on your path as a cultivator!

Hargreaves began to pant, his eyes turning red as he stared out at the courtyard in front of him. Once he was sure there were no traps around him, he withdrew his clone and activated his strongest technique!

The Buddha Palm was a technique given to him by the System for completing a quest, and could quell all forces, forcing calmness and stability, getting rid of all anarchic forces. In essence, it could break through defenses, neutralize attacks, and make everything return to its base state.

It was an incredibly versatile and powerful technique, and he used it as a secret weapon against other wizards. It was most effective at neutralising spells, so it had never failed him yet.

Hargreaves walked over personally and tried to pick up the grain of sand with the technique active. He felt its rough texture, felt it poke his skin, yet the thing he did not feel was it leaving the ground.

Hargreaves helplessly looked around him. It wasn't as if the courtyard was stationary. He could smell the flowers and play with the vines. He could feel the cold dew on his fingertips, but the moment he tried to make use of it, or take it away, it would stop, as if they existed in two different worlds.

A painful reluctance filled Hargreaves heart, but no matter how he tried, he could not take away anything from the courtyard. If the elders of the Prometheus empire ever saw this place, he had no doubt that the whole civilization would invade it. Of course, Hargreaves had no intentions of sharing this information with anyone - nor would he know how to even if he began.

Apparently, not everyone could get the obsidian key.

Once he recovered from his mental turmoil, Hargreaves noticed that the courtyard wasn't entirely sealed, and that there was a way to enter into the main building at the head of the courtyard.

Hargreaves sighed, bent down and ran his fingers through the sand in the zen garden, leaving a distinct disruption in the otherwise perfectly raked sandbed. He had no problem, and the sand moved along his fingers.

As long as he was not greedy, the sand would do as he wished. He finally let go, and began walking towards the door. At least he had the benefit of not getting sand everywhere this way, which was kinda nice.

Doubt and hesitation filled Hargreaves' mind as he entered the building unsure of what to expect. What he was not expecting, however, was that the building was actually quite cosy, with a small yet comfortable bedroom, a lounge, a Quest room and a Meditation room.

The Meditation room required something called MP to use, of which Hargreaves had none at the moment. There were a set of instructions on how to get MP, and though he was curious, he was more attracted towards the Quest room.

It could be a coincidence that the Quest room had the exact same font as the Quest tab in his System, and that the Quest room radiated an ominous and formidable aura that forced Hargreaves to treat it with reverence. He didn't think so.

Yet when he turned the knob, the door didn't open. Instead, a prompt appeared in the air, almost making him mistake it for his own System interface. But it was not. Upon closer inspection, it did not look anything like his System interface at all, and instead was clearly heavily influenced by the theme of Obsidian.

He read what the prompt had to say.

"Dear resident of courtyard 1126,

This message is to inform you that access to the Quest room is sealed until you completely accept your membership into Obsidian, and take upon your oath to secrecy. To view the conditions to confirm your membership into Obsidian, and accept or reject them, please make your way to the Stone Temple on the peak of the hill.

Regards,

Obsidian Sage."

Obsidian Sage was, naturally, the new identity Lex picked for himself within Obsidian. The key to a good mystery was not to have a complete absence of information. Instead, it was to sprinkle small hints of information, and allow everyone to draw up conclusions of their own.

Through his identity of Obsidian Sage, Lex would give out quests, manage rewards, and keep Obsidian working in a fair manner for all the members to use. He would never reveal his body - at least if he could help it - nor share any hints of his origin or background. He would, at most, display his power and might to establish himself as the foremost power amongst these fledgling system users.

This added a layer of security for the Inn as well. If the Midnight Inn suddenly had a special membership exclusively for system users, sooner or later it would be revealed. Then people might wonder if the Inn was a System as well.

But by creating an enigmatic and powerful figure who ran Obsidian, all attention would be diverted to the being who could make the Inn give him the right to establish a special membership.

Then, if the presence of a membership for system users was ever revealed, the suspicion of being a System user would not fall on the Innkeeper, but the enigmatic Obsidian Sage, of whom there was little to no information.

Hargreaves read the message again and again, ensuring he didn't miss anything. He knew well enough that nothing affiliated with the Systems was as it seemed. Though this Obsidian was not technically a part of his System, he couldn't be sure.

A part of Hargreaves wanted to exit. Whatever this place was, he was too low levelled for it. He could always return when he had a higher cultivation, and try his hand then. But he also knew that if he had access to the resources of this place, his cultivation journey would be much easier.