Rick

Rick is the system-provided handyman at Lex Williams's Midnight Tavern in Babylon. His tired appearance and sparse speech conceal perfect reliability: he handles every miscellaneous task, controls the tavern's defenses, and becomes the unlikely courier who opens negotiations between the Crystal realm's peoples and its monsters.

Biography

The tavern's tireless handyman

Rick begins by restoring the neglected tavern exterior, then expands into cleaning, repairs, supplies, housekeeping, guest care, and staff instruction as the business grows. He rarely explains himself and often responds in grunts or sighs, but he fetches constables and doctors, carries injured guests, trains new workers, and produces whatever ingredients the kitchen needs. During the lethal darkness, his faith in Lex and the tavern remains steady while he helps maintain a refuge whose other residents are struggling to contain fear. (Chapters 324–356)

Holding the refuge together

When continuous monster attacks make personal supervision impossible, Lex gives Rick control of the tavern's security room and spatial formation. Rick keeps the defenses active during Lex's absences and later notices a distant assault, solidifying the surrounding space before reporting the abnormality. His response prevents entry or exit but buys time for Lex to assess the devastated town. When the crisis ends, Rick returns to repairs and miscellaneous work rather than seeking recognition, preserving the tavern as Babylon rebuilds. (Chapters 355–365 and 594)

A courier to the monsters

Lex chooses Rick to deliver invitations because his straightforward obedience reduces the risk of improvisation, despite his almost nonexistent cultivation. Rick nevertheless exceeds the assignment: aided by Zagan's scale and a monster catfish, he enters sacred territory, reaches the Poloids, contacts a monster representative, and returns with the catfish behaving like a loyal companion. His reports give Lex advance knowledge of the monsters' new country and make them participants in the political meeting rather than an ignored enemy population. (Chapters 691–705)

The attack on Babylon

When immortal Kraven break the tavern's formations, Rick survives under the catfish's protection, though he is left close to death. Lex orders him to press golden keys into the injured guests' hands and evacuate them, then relies on him to provide Zagan's scale for a desperate countermeasure. This is Rick's latest identity-confirmed appearance: the later phrase “Pat Rick” names a different joke character and is not part of his biography. (Chapters 708–710)

Appearance and personality

Rick wears an oversized casual shirt, has a slight belly, and is introduced with dirt covering his hands and face as if he has come directly from hard labor. His posture is languid and he seems perpetually tired, communicating through minimal words, grunts, and sighs. That surface indifference never affects his work. He is simple, direct, emotionally steady under siege, and so dependable that Lex delegates both defenses and sensitive diplomacy to him despite his lack of cultivation. (Chapters 324, 328, 353, and 691)

Abilities and cultivation

System-worker competence

As a tavern worker, Rick fulfills assigned maintenance and service duties perfectly and can source supplies, supervise cleaning, repair structures, serve guests, and manage household operations. His competence is broad rather than flashy and appears tied to his worker role; the narrative does not establish supernatural crafting techniques or specialized cultivation behind every completed chore. (Chapters 324, 331, 345–356, 594, and 691)

Spatial security control

Rick can operate the tavern's security room and space formation after Lex assigns him access. He uses it to repel monsters, solidify space against a long-range attack, and protect the building during Lex's absence. This is delegated facility control, not Rick's personal law mastery: the formation supplies the power, and sufficiently strong immortal attackers later shatter the external defenses and nearly kill him. (Chapters 355, 361, 365, and 708–710)

Monster diplomacy and handling

With Zagan's scale, Rick can direct a powerful but simple monster and travel safely enough to deliver invitations. He somehow earns the peak-Nascent catfish's continued loyalty even after returning the scale, then uses it to contact Edward and survive an immortal attack. The text does not explain whether this is a formal taming art, personal rapport, or an aftereffect of the scale, so no independent beast-master cultivation is inferred. (Chapters 691–702 and 708)

Relationships

• Lex Williams: Lex is Rick's employer and increasingly trusts him with security, diplomacy, and emergency evacuation.
• Roan: Roan is the tavern's bartender and Rick's closest working counterpart; together they keep service running through ordinary business and disaster.
• Zagan: Zagan's scale enables Rick to move among monsters and initiate contact with their political leadership.

Items

Rick has no finalized notable-item inventory. Zagan's scale and the golden keys are temporarily entrusted tools rather than finalized personal possessions.