The Innkeeper

Chapter 1378  Just a little bit

"So you're telling me that now some overpowered maniac is going to be out to hunt me down? Can you tell me who it is?" Lex asked, concerned but not too concerned. He was used to being hunted down by overpowered enemies. He was already thinking of how to respond.

"Unfortunately, I am restricted from sharing any information about our top customer, although I can tell you that the Emporium is not happy with how he has been behaving. But there is nothing we can do about it. Unless that customer breaks some Emporium rule, we cannot retaliate against him.

"I merely wanted to share this information with you, to warn you in case you wanted to… hold back on your shopping. This goes against company policy, which is why I had to do so in secret."

"Well, I am not so easily intimidated," Lex said. "But I also can't just act blindly without knowing who I'm up against. Is there anything you can tell me about this person? Or is there any way I can figure out who it is?"

Powell shook his head.

"I cannot share any information about said customer's identity whatsoever. I can only recommend that you look into some protective equipment which can allow you to divine the identity of anyone looking to harm you. Unfortunately, such equipment is in short demand since countless powerful and influential diviners seem to have vanished from the Origin realm some years ago."

Lex frowned as he tried to think of a solution. It shouldn't be too difficult, after all, Lex was a connected man now. Within the Origin realm, he had friends in high places. But no doubt, whoever had been taking advantage of the Emporium was also no doubt not a nobody. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"There's also something else interesting I can tell you in case you ever do become a top customer," Powell said, with a smile. "Within the Emporium, each Powell is ranked based on our performances. If you become the best customer, then I will automatically become the main Powell, in charge of all other Powells as well as the Emporium itself."

Lex raised his eyebrows, as Powell had indirectly dropped a massive hint, that whoever the top customer was, was being dealt with by the main Powell. But more importantly…

"Wait, does that mean you will take over? How does that work? Doesn't that mean the other Powell should sabotage you? But don't you guys share your memories?"

Powell shook his head with a smile.

"That's not how it works. All of us are one and the same. It doesn't matter which one is incharge. The only thing that changes is that the customer gets to deal with whichever Powell has more authority within the Emporium. Oh, and yeah if I become the main Powell, I will become like, super powerful."

"How interesting," Lex said. "By the way, if I ever wanted to meet the main Powell, you know, outside the Emporium, where might I find him?"

"It's tough to say. The Emporium owns a number of planets it uses for production, harvesting, and warehousing. You can try them, but the main Powell is usually very busy, and doesn't spend a lot of time outside the Emporium."

"I think I'll figure something out. I think I got the gist of things. Big bad guy out to get me, spending more money might make the bad guy act against me, yada yada yada, becoming a top customer gives benefits etc. etc. Is there anything I'm missing?"

Powell looked at Lex for a moment, stunned and unaware of how to respond.

"No, I think that's the gist of it," he said, sounding slightly defeated.

"Don't fret. I'm not saying you giving me this warning wasn't helpful, it was. It's just that I'm too used to dealing with unknown, powerful enemies. Whether it's a cult, a terrorist organization, a powerful empire, a strong family, a big sect, I can more or less deal with all of them. I suppose the top customer isn't someone from the Henali, right? If it was them, they wouldn't need to go around killing people just to intimidate them. As long as it's not some Dao Lord, I'll be fine."

"Dao Lords do not shop at the Emporium," Powell said gravely. "The Emporium has a strict policy to give anything a Dao Lord requires to them for free. We have never accepted payment from a single Dao Lord, despite serving one in the past once."

"There you go, so nothing I can't handle. As long as I can just learn who the enemy is, it should not be an issue. Anyway, Powell, this has been great and I really appreciate you giving me a heads up, but I've already been in this Vortex for a dozen seconds, and I can't really afford to stay disconnected from the universe for long. If there's nothing else, I'd like to take my leave."

"Ah, there is one thing," Powell said quickly, realizing Lex's urgency. "Do you still have the box I gave you with you? If so, can you return it to me with a key from the Midnight Inn inside?"

Lex raised an eyebrow, but didn't question it. He summoned the box, put a golden key inside, and gave it to Powell. It wasn't as if the keys of the Inn were exactly rare anymore.

"Excellent," the shopkeeper said with a soft smile. "You can leave the Vortex by walking through the wall. I cannot leave just yet, so you go on ahead."

Having a confirmation from Powell, Lex suddenly walked right into the wall, finally leaving the Vortex, and regaining his connection to the universe.

All the things he was disconnected from finally came back, and Lex felt like he emerged from underwater, finally able to breathe again. Being disconnected from the destiny of the human race was disconcerting on a level he had not anticipated.

But his smile did not last long. The moment he returned, he reconnected to Jack as well, and their memories resynchronized.

The thing was, unaware of what happened to Lex, Jack might have overreacted just a little bit.