Chapter 32: More Than One Choice

The last guest came downstairs shortly after sunrise.

He placed his room key on the counter but didn’t leave.

"Owner Lin."

Lin Yuan looked up from the basket of vegetables in his hands.

"Yes?"

"How much for a month?"

Lin Yuan stopped.

"A month?"

"The room."

The cultivator tapped the key against the counter.

"I want to keep it for a month."

Su Mei looked over from where she was arranging bowls.

Most guests stayed one or two nights. Caravans sometimes remained for several days, but no one had asked to keep a room for an entire month.

"You’ll stay here the whole time?" Lin Yuan asked.

"Not every day. I’ll be traveling west and coming back."

"Then why keep the room?"

"It’s quiet here. I can leave some things behind, cultivate when I return, eat downstairs, buy supplies across the road."

He glanced through the open door toward Qiao’s General Goods.

"And I don’t have to find another room every time."

That made sense.

Lin Yuan considered the price.

"If you reserve it for the month, I won’t rent it to anyone else."

"That’s what I want."

They settled on a monthly rate slightly lower than thirty separate nights.

The cultivator paid.

Su Mei handed the key back.

"Room Three is yours until the end of the month."

"Good."

He went upstairs to collect a few things.

Xiao Lan watched him disappear.

"So we have someone living here now?"

"Temporarily."

"That’s still living here."

Lin Yuan picked up the vegetables again.

"Then we have someone temporarily living here."

Xiao Lan considered that.

"Sounds more official."

Lin Yuan went into the kitchen.

The problem appeared before noon.

A caravan arrived with seven cultivators.

They ate first and settled their Ironhoof Beasts in the stable. Afterward, their leader approached the counter.

"Four rooms."

Su Mei checked the keys.

"Three available."

The man frowned.

"Only three?"

"Yes."

"I thought you had eight."

"We do."

"All the others are occupied?"

"One is reserved for the month."

That caught his attention.

"People rent rooms here by the month now?"

"One person does," Lin Yuan said.

The caravan leader laughed.

"Then reserve one for me next time."

"No."

The answer came quickly enough that the man blinked.

"Why?"

"I still need rooms for people who actually arrive."

The caravan leader looked around the tavern.

"Fair."

They took the remaining three rooms. Two cultivators agreed to share, while the others continued east after resting.

By evening, every room Lin Yuan could actually rent was occupied.

Room Three remained empty.

Its owner had already left Blackstone.

Lin Yuan stood at the bottom of the stairs and looked at the missing key.

When the tavern expansion had been completed, eight rooms had seemed like plenty.

That hadn’t lasted long.

The following morning, Lin Yuan opened the Territory Core interface.

The familiar panel appeared.

Wandering Cloud Tavern

Quality: Low Spirit Grade

Capacity: 40 Seats

Guest Rooms: 8

Minor Qi Gathering

Dust Repelling

Comfort

Structural Reinforcement

Two options remained below.

Enhancement Available

Expansion Available

Lin Yuan focused on Expansion.

The tavern’s outline appeared in his awareness.

He adjusted the projection.

Extending the upper floor could create additional guest rooms. The lower floor could expand with it if he wanted more space there as well.

As before, the Core only provided a compatible design.

Timber wouldn’t appear from nowhere.

Neither would workers.

Lin Yuan would still need to hire craftsmen, buy materials, and wait for the work to be completed before the Core could integrate the extension.

He dismissed the projection.

Expansion could solve the room problem.

Then he selected the other option.

Wandering Cloud Tavern

Current Quality: Low Spirit Grade

Next Quality: Middle Spirit Grade

Enhancement Cost: 180 Low-Grade Spirit Stones

Lin Yuan stared at the number.

One hundred and eighty.

He continued.

Middle Spirit Grade Enhancement

Improves Existing Building Effects

Minor Qi Gathering → Qi Gathering

Dust Repelling → Improved Dust Repelling

Comfort → Improved Comfort

Structural Reinforcement → Improved Structural Reinforcement

Additional Effect will be generated according to building function.

His attention stopped on the final line.

An additional effect.

The Core didn’t show what it would be beforehand.

That was tempting.

So was the stronger Qi Gathering effect.

The Minor Qi Gathering inside Wandering Cloud Tavern already made his daily cultivation easier. A full Qi Gathering effect would be useful to both him and the cultivators staying here.

But 180 low-grade spirit stones was not a small amount.

Especially now.

Chen Wei’s estimate returned to mind.

A stable cultivation technique complete through Foundation Establishment could cost several hundred low-grade spirit stones.

Lin Yuan suddenly had several worthwhile places to put his money.

More rooms.

A Middle Spirit Grade tavern.

A cultivation technique for the realm beyond Qi Refining.

He had enough to keep progressing.

He didn’t have enough to ignore the order.

Lin Yuan dismissed the panel.

There was no reason to decide today.

Room Three remained reserved over the following days.

Its owner returned twice.

The first time, he stayed one night before heading west again.

The second time, he arrived after sunset, ate downstairs, cultivated through most of the following morning, and left shortly after lunch.

He seemed satisfied with the arrangement.

Other guests began noticing.

One cultivator staying across the corridor approached Lin Yuan after breakfast.

"I heard you rent rooms by the month."

"One room."

"Any others?"

"No."

"What about next month?"

"Ask next month."

The cultivator frowned.

"Can’t I pay now?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because then I’d have two empty rooms that I couldn’t give to anyone else."

The man glanced toward the crowded downstairs hall.

He couldn’t argue with that.

"Fine. I’ll ask next month."

Lin Yuan watched him leave.

Two people wanting long-term rooms wasn’t enough to change how he ran the tavern.

But it was enough to notice.

That evening, another caravan arrived late.

Only three cultivators this time.

They ordered dinner while their Ironhoof Beasts rested in the stable.

After eating, the oldest approached the counter.

"Two rooms."

Su Mei checked.

"One."

The man looked toward the stairs.

"Only one?"

"Only one."

He turned toward his companions.

One sighed.

"We should’ve stopped earlier."

The other glanced outside at the dark road.

"I’m not flying another two hours."

They took the remaining room.

One would sleep there.

The other two settled at a table near the wall and prepared to rest downstairs until morning.

They didn’t complain much.

But Lin Yuan noticed.

Later, when the tavern had quieted, he stepped outside.

The night air was cool.

Qiao’s General Goods had already closed.

A lamp still burned inside Duan He’s Beast Materials.

Several spirit beasts rested in the stable, and a wagon stood near the road with its cargo covered for the night.

Lin Yuan looked back at Wandering Cloud Tavern.

It wasn’t small anymore.

Forty seats.

Eight guest rooms.

A larger kitchen.

Two Spirit-Assisted Kitchen Stoves.

Yet tonight, two paying travelers were sleeping downstairs because he had nowhere else to put them.

The door opened behind him.

Su Mei stepped outside.

"Someone else asked about a room."

"We’re full."

"I told him."

"What did he do?"

"Asked if there was another inn."

Lin Yuan looked down the road.

There wasn’t.

"What did you tell him?"

"The truth."

"And?"

"He said Blackstone should get another one."

Lin Yuan was quiet.

Su Mei looked toward the open land beyond the other shops.

"He might be right."

"Maybe."

She returned inside.

Lin Yuan remained where he was.

Until now, whenever Wandering Cloud Tavern became too small, he’d made Wandering Cloud Tavern bigger.

His gaze moved toward the open ground beside the road.

This time, perhaps that wasn’t the only answer.

"Owner Lin!"

Someone called from inside.

Lin Yuan turned toward the door.

The decision could wait.

He went back to work.