The Innkeeper

Chapter 1796: Pieces

The ten minute wait before the auction began seemed to zoom by. In truth, the real reason for the wait was so that any potential buyers who weren’t present at the Inn could be informed and come on over. After all, this drop of blood was originally supposed to be auctioned in the second segment, not the first.

Mary’s eyes sparkled with mischief as she read the global chat, sometimes even responding to a few of the commenters by speaking out directly, since she was pretty much being viewed by everyone.

Lex remained on high alert the entire time. The security room functioned much better now, immediately detecting any kind of malicious event the moment appeared. Previously, there were many ways to bypass the detection, but now it was harder than ever. That was the main reason that there hadn’t been any major issues at the Inn recently.

However, the chameleon had proved that the absence of malicious intent did not necessarily mean that the target couldn’t cause issues. After all, the chameleon had appeared on stage, ready to interfere, and yet he lacked any and all malicious intent.

Of course, the security room couldn’t detect the chameleon’s malicious intent anyway, since he was a system user. It was Lex himself who had determined that the reptile had no malicious intent, which is where his confusion had originally begun from.

When the auction began, it took mere seconds for the price to explode. It went from 100 billion MP to 2.3 MT in less than ten seconds. 2.3 MT meant 2300 billion MP!

The crazy thing was that the ones bidding for the drop of blood were mostly Earth Immortals and Heaven Immortals. No Celestial Immortal had shown any interest in bidding on that drop of blood, regardless of how valuable it was.

To be fair, the wealth accumulated by most immortals was immense. To put it into perspective, the total value of all the goods and services produced in 2020 on Earth were approximately $85 trillion. That was 85 billion MP. That is the value created by a planet with very little spiritual energy.

For most 1 or 2 star planets, that number can be multiplied anywhere between 10 to a 100 times. Most Heaven Immortals have control over, at the very least, one entire planet if not multiple. In fact, it was more common for them to own several star systems. That is, they weren’t a part of an organization that owned multiple star systems, or even a good portion of a galaxy.

If a single 2 star planet produced 8.5 MT a year, and they owned multiple, then over the centuries of taxation, their wealth would be in the hundreds of MT at the very least. Realistically, this was still a conservative estimate on Lex’s part. After all, he himself had never been a part of such an organization, so he did not have an in-depth understanding of how they managed their resources and their finances.

When the price of the drop of blood reached 5 MT, Lex could not help but smile despite how seriously he was anticipating a threat. A majority of that 5MT would go to Pelvailin, but 1% of it would go to the Inn. Besides, this was just one item, and he himself had put up a few items for auction, which meant he was looking forward to a nice income soon. He would need it.

Around 10 MT, the speed of the auction slowed, and it seemed like that would be the final price. ‘Seemed like’ because just as the item was about to be sold, a fight in the chatroom sparked a bidding war!

CryMeARiver and LonelyAkorn started to compete, driving the price up to 28 MT before it was finally sold to CryMeARiver, ending the first segment with the appropriate amount of drama, suspense and sheer awe.

It was, perhaps, the first time that a majority of the mortal guests inside the Inn got a proper glimpse of the immense power available in the hands of immortals. After all, wealth, too, was a form of power.

While the guests of the Inn slowly recovered from the awesome battle of money that they had just witnessed, Mary concluded the first segment of the auction, informing everyone that the second segment would begin the next day.

Lex, however, paid close attention to a specific person during this juncture: the person who put up the chameleon for bidding.

It was an orc wearing heavy armor that was practically overflowing with powerful enchantments. A futuristic looking helmet hid his face, though the energy fluctuations he was giving off did not indicate that he was at all annoyed, surprised, or vexed by his item being removed from auction.

He, too, was a Heaven Immortal, though at a single glance it was obvious that his level was far above the chameleon. Moreover, he was not alone.

As he left his room and casually strolled through the Inn towards the destination where the dispute would be resolved, dozens of weaker orcs lined up behind him, following him closely even chatting amongst themselves as they went.

The whole group exuded a formidable presence, as if they were an experienced gang of mercenaries or adventurers. Warmongers, though, might have been a more accurate description for the group. All Lex needed to do was take a glimpse at their Karma, and he saw the immense violence they had wrought onto the Origin realm wherever they traveled.

The thing was, one might expect that such a group would be arrogant and aggressive. Yet there was hardly any Immortal who lacked experience and wisdom.

The nonchalance with which they treated even their current predicament spoke of confidence.

But… Lex didn’t care about them. They were not enough to threaten even him, let alone the whole Inn. No, Lex slowly started to see them for what they really were. Their entire group was a single pawn, placed strategically on the board by an unknown player, for a much larger play.

Lex leaned back. This was a game of Chess, or maybe even a game of Go. Both the chameleon and the orc were just pieces, just as he was using Mary and Z as pieces.

In that case, what was the opponent’s end goal? And how should he respond?

As Lex leaned back into his chair, he began to study not only everything that was happening within the Inn, but also the fluctuations of Karma within the Inn. There was a pattern in there somewhere. He just had to find it.