The Innkeeper

Chapter 1417 Vacation

chapter 1417 vacation

time passed, and eventually the day they were supposed to depart was just a single day away. lex had three invites to the expo, and hadn't yet decided who to take with him, which is why he had arranged for a meeting among the few he thought would benefit most from going out into the universe.

every other arrangement had been made, but the only thing that lex wasn't able to prepare sufficiently for was hiding his karma. he'd paid a tremendous price of a quarter drop of jorlam's heart's blood to buy a tome from the emporium that explained karma in great detail.

the tome was written by a heavenly immortal who was trying to understand karma long ago, and the exact details of the immortal were not exactly mentioned by the emporium when it was sold.

either way, lex spent a lot of effort learning about karma himself, and from the tome and from the temple of fasting. unfortunately, even with his tremendous perception and learning ability, the vast amount that he learnt was not nearly enough to figure out a way to hide his karma.

he even consulted a few other people, including the celestial immortals fahad and noor. there was no solution to his predicament. it sucked, but then again, he was used to things going wrong.

ultimately, he used his limited understanding to create a seal on his body that would hide his karma within. unfortunately, he had a strong suspicion that those truly stronger than him would have no problem detecting the seal. even if they could not see how much karma he had hidden, they'd be able to detect something was amiss, which was more than enough to attract the wrong kind of attention.

but it was still better than walking around with karma out on display.

the door to the meeting room opened and a few of the inn workers came in. luthor was not present, for he was still busy with ereboth. the evil, living planet once known as the insatiable was definitely completely satiated by luthor's presence and probably wished for him to leave day and night, but the man was not willing to go.

aided by ripley's insight, he was determined to turn all 10 dungeons into a unique experience that could not be so easily overcome, and would definitely attract countless guests. lex had no problem with that.

"since the point of going to the expo is to raise our exposure anyway, there's no point in treating it like work. we might as well treat it like a vacation and enjoy ourselves. unfortunately, we only have 3 tickets. but to make it fair for everyone else, even those not going to the expo can take a vacation as well.

"i've coordinated with some people i know, and made reservations in an amazing place on the planet dunya. you guys can go there whenever you wish, and increase your exposure that way."

lex grinned and waited for everyone's reactions, but they weren't the kind he had been expecting. instead of being excited about the opportunity for a vacation, everyone just seemed tepid.

after a couple of seconds of awkward silence, one person asked, "is it... mandatory to go on vacation? do we have to leave the inn?"

lex scratched his head, unsure of how to answer.

"i suppose not," he eventually said. "i just booked the vacation because i didn't want anyone to feel left out. considering we only have 3 tickets, i thought everyone would like the opportunity to go and explore the universe."

most of the workers just stared at each other, as if confirming whether the others felt the same way as they did. eventually, one of them finally spoke up.

"i get where you're coming from but... who would want to leave the inn? even going to the temple of fasting seems like... like a downgrade whenever we leave the realm."

lex was stumped, and more importantly dumbfounded that no one wanted to go on vacation. suddenly he was reminded of the system's chide about having no friends.

did no one want to go with him?