Lex sent Paul and Mei to a different room so that the two of them could talk amongst themselves privately, and figure out what they wanted to do. Lex did not think that Mei would leave her army behind, or abandon the Origin realm, in which case there was nothing he could do to help her.

The reason he kept wearing a mask was to hide his identity so that no one could associate his actions to the Midnight Inn. That was why he did not use the Masked Tyrant technique out right, for that mask was too identifiable since it made Lex look like a devil!

There was one more reason, though. Just as Velma was currently in the Artica race with the Humanoid Alliance, he had one member of the Midnight Inn inside the Origin realm, carrying out a long-term mission.

John, the former assassin, who lost his system, had been given a mission by the Innkeeper to search for other system users so that Lex could invite them into Obsidian. It was because he was busy carrying out such a mission that he had not been seen inside the Inn lately.

This kind of mission was an arduous one, especially since there was no way of knowing when or even if he could get any results. Well, John had just tried to return to the Midnight Inn, but had been unable to since the Inn was in lockdown.

Lex going in and out was still possible because of his high authority over the system now. That was also why he could bring in and take people out

personally. However, he could not grant someone else the ability to come and go during the lockdown.

Fortunately, Lex had already prepared for the possibility of the Inn going into lockdown when he had sent John on the mission. Though, at that time, the situation was not nearly as complicated as it was now, Lex preferred to be ready for a diverse set of scenarios. John, as a former assassin, also understood the necessity for contingency plans, which is why he did not panic when he was unable to enter the Inn. Instead, he activated some of the plans that they had.

Lex closed his eyes, and focused on maintaining a calm and clear head. He could not turn off his Dao Intentions for the protective barrier around this planet required the technique to be active. After all, the fallout from the collapse of an incomplete black hole was not something that would just go away quickly. In fact, it would not go away on its own at all, and would require a targeted effort to clean up the mess.

That was the Origin realms headache, though. He had no intentions of getting involved. The reason why he calmed his mind, though, was because he was simultaneously going to use the system to activate the Remote Presence feature which allowed him to project a hologram of the Innkeeper anywhere inside the Inns territory.

While this kind of multitasking was normally not an issue for him at all, his Dao Intentions were uncontrollable. He had no idea what might accidentally happen, so it was best to remain extremely cautious.

Within the Midnight Inn, the Innkeeper's projection appeared within his office before he accessed the Henali portal from there. Since the Midnight Inn could now maintain contact with the Origin realm permanently, it could also access the Henali portal at all times.

While this portal was not exactly the most secure location, it was also a convenient place to exchange coded messages.

The Innkeeper accessed a certain online community for classic films, and within that accessed the room for a series of old films called John Bond that had been directed by otter type beasts.

The room had decent traffic, considering the ongoing war in the Origin realm. Due to its overwhelming size, much of the Origin realm was actually undisturbed by war. After all, how many galaxies could they target? Even in those galaxies, how many star systems actually suffered from an attack? The answer was not many, meaning many 1 and 2 Star planets were actually left undisturbed, allowing such online communities to remain undisturbed.

Ignoring most of the common discussion boards, he entered one that was titled 'John Bond: Tomorrow Dies Today' which was a fanmade movie, and was not a part of the official releases.

Amongst the tens of thousands of posts on the discussion board, Lex quickly identified John's actual message, and left him a coded message asking him to lay low. He also told him the protocol to request an emergency evacuation if needed, but John responded that he was not in any trouble, and could continue hiding on his own.

Instead, using their code, he left behind hints of his discoveries, before deleting the message a few seconds later.

Within the Innkeeper's office, the Innkeeper disconnected from the Henali portal and leaned back into his chair, lost in thought.

Apparently, John had stumbled upon a secret community of system users. This was the second such community Lex was aware of, besides Obsidian of course. The first was the chat room for system hunters.

It seemed that the trend of forming a community for system users was quite prevalent, and he was not the only one who had ideas of developing like that. However, unless he went and met John, he wouldn't be able to learn the details. All he understood, for now, was that it seemed like some kind of... online market for system items? He couldn't be sure of the exact details for now, but he was certainly curious.

He wondered if he could find a way to visit John soon and learn the details. As it happened, at the same time, somewhere else in the universe, Daekol entered a seemingly cheap thrift shop. The realm was an immature one, and one of lesser importance at that. It was in a forgotten corner of the universe, or an ignored one at the very least. There seemed to be nothing of importance here at all, which was the perfect cover.

Ignoring everything, Daekol entered the back of the shop, and walked into a dark room where nothing was visible, save the entrance which was also the

exit.

"I need one of your products," Daekol said, addressing one of the senior most members of the System-hunter chatroom.

There was no response, nor movement within the darkness, yet Daekon knew that his words were not ignored.

"The highest quality available - targeting at least an SS rank system. I need complete host isolation, and possibly even a system dormancy token if there's

one available."

Daekol still received no response, however a crystal seemed to appear mysteriously within his hands. The crystal contained information on a few difficult tasks that needed to be fulfilled - dangerous tasks that seemed almost

impossible to complete.

"I'll be back in a few years once I complete these," Daekol said as he turned around to leave. "If the products aren't ready by then... well, you know what

will happen."