Lex opened his eyes when he reappeared at the Midnight Inn. Although he had said his first action would be to use his quest reward, in truth, the first thing he did was to go and check up on Luthor, Z and the others.

Not much time had passed for those at the Inn, but decades had passed for those who had taken the tavern to Abaddon. They had completed an arduous mission, and would be changed from it forever - hopefully for the best.

Though they had not shown it at all, Lex knew that they were weary. How could they not be, when even Lex felt weary?

The group reappeared inside a vast field, away from the hustle and bustle of the Inn, and discovered that the Innkeeper was already standing in front of them, waiting for them. Of course, in truth, it was merely a projection of the Innkeeper prepared by Lex for their arrival.

"You have all been through a lot," the Innkeeper said softly, looking at them all with kind eyes. "I thank you for your service."

The Innkeeper nodded to the group, and was about to even give them a small bow, but Luthor stepped forward as soon as he saw that, tears streaming down his eyes.

"Please, Innkeeper, do not bow to us," the hardened man said, holding back his sobs. "It is our utmost privilege to serve the Inn. A privilege!"

Lex, through the Innkeepers’ eyes, looked at Luthor fondly. See, he knew Luthor wasn’t a bad man! He just had a penchant for interrogating his enemies for the benefit of the Inn - nothing more.

"No, your actions deserve recognition," the Innkeeper said. "You have completed the first ever task of taking a tavern to our guest, and accompanying them with it on their journey. One day, in the future, you will look back on this day and realize that it was the foundation laid for much grander things to come in the future.

"There will come a day where the Inn will open its doors to the universe in full, and Abaddon will be just one of the many peculiar places across the universe that we will have to deal with. As such, every step we take towards achieving that goal, every one of our achievements needs to be acknowledged. The legacy of the Inn will be built over the course of a million such missions, but not a single one of them should be overlooked, and not a single one of your efforts should be denied."

The whole group was feeling very emotional, but perhaps none of them were more so than Little Blue, who had his first ever field trip outside the Inn. Now that he was back, and was even being acknowledged by the Innkeeper for his efforts, the little whale, or rather the little Kun Peng, could not help but swoon.

Sunny, who was feeling socially awkward, flew behind Little Blue, chasing it across the horizon, squawking and squeaking as it tried to keep up.

The rest also felt incredibly touched by the Innkeepers gesture, suddenly feeling as if all their efforts was worth it.

"All of you, get some rest. I know many of you might want to undertake their lightning tribulation, but it would be best if you recovered to your peak state before doing so," said the Innkeeper, nodding towards the mortal workers. "The rest of you also deserve your rest. Take some time off, and only return to work once you feel ready."

"Innkeeper, what about the auction?" Z asked as he stepped forward. "When are we going to hold it? I know you want us to rest, but I really want to take part in it as well."

The Innkeeper smiled. Yes, the auction. The Midnight Inn had held an auction before as well, and now it was time to hold another one. Originally, Lex planned to advertise the auction for a year or so before holding it, but now that he was in a crunch for cash, he would have to hurry up.

It was a bit of a waste. After all, treasures accumulated from within Abaddon over the course of a couple decades were extremely valuable, and would attract no small amount of competition. But the need of the moment was great, and so some of these losses would have to be tolerated... oh wait, Lex had a great idea!

"The auction is going to be split in two," the Innkeeper said. "The first will be a small auction to spread awareness, and tease some of the many items and treasures you have collected. That will be held in a week. This auction will only be a prelude to the much bigger auction that we will hold in a year’s time. Only those who have a minimum of Tier 4 Privilege at the Inn can participate in the auction. If you really want to participate, then I won’t stop you."

By holding two auctions, he could maximise his income, as well as raise enough funds to get by for a short period - barely.

"Send out invites to our dear guests. The Versalis Bank, the Henali, the Devils, and all such loyal guests of the Inn who deserve our special attention."

All the workers who were feeling tired and exhausted were suddenly refueled and filled with endless energy at the thought of holding an auction. They wanted to be the ones to host it themselves - after all, who knew better the value of the treasures they collected than the ones doing the collecting?

Vacation? Rest? Such things did not exist in their vocabulary.

Lex was about to continue to chat with them when Gerard suddenly showed up outside his office, looking troubled. That was probably something Lex should give his attention to, so he concluded this round of pep talks and allowed them to begin working on setting up the auction. So much for dealing with quest rewards first.

The Phantasm Core would have to wait a little bit more before he found out what it was really worth.