Although I managed to return home using an umbrella, I am still wet from it due to the strong heavy winds accompanied by heavy rainfall. Good thing I came home faster before I am soaked from head to toe.
After drying myself, I peeked outside to check if the rain has calmed down. Too bad that the rain is still pouring down hard and from the looks of it, only indoor activities for now. I have nothing much to do today here so I decided to go back to the Alternate World and decided to level up my Blacksmithing Proficiency.
The higher my proficiency in blacksmithing, the bigger chances for me to create higher leveled weapons. With the materials I purchased from Almira, I will have things to practice things. However, practicing the blacksmithing on an inn is a bad idea, besides the cramped room, I will need a spacious area for me to move around and to process the metals. This only means one thing to my situation right now.
I NEED A HOUSE.
Since I just decided to stay in the inn, I neglected the housing system. Now that I needed a forging area for blacksmithing needs, I needed to buy a house.
During the past timeline, I was too invested in getting stronger that I didn't bother to buy one of my own. I usually just borrow forge in blacksmith shops or even the forge of Almira just to forge things. Besides, a house in this game is also as expensive as hell.
One of the most expensive houses I have heard of costs 5 million gold but I am quite sure there are more expensive houses out there, I'm just not really much informed about it due to how I am so poor that time and whenever I got enough gold to spare, I would immediately exchange it for real money so most of the time, I am broke.
But things are different now. Since I am swimming in gold due to the guild tokens sold in the auction, I have so much gold to spare to afford expensive houses. Of course, I needed a house that can be installed or already has a built-in forge. And since my expertise fell in this area, I should be asking someone who knows things like this.
...
"Buying a house? Ah yes, you can purchase a house ownership certificate in the Adventurers' Guild. Registering a house to get a certificate is being done there so if you are planning to purchase a house, go to the Adventurers' Guild and look for the Real Estate Agent is there which is located on the fourth floor of the Adventurers' Guild. I didn't know the actual process though, I am sorry about that Master," Lina said as I asked her where to do the deed.
"Adventurers' guild eh? I didn't notice that before..."
"Are you going to buy your own house, Master?"
"Yeah. I can't perform blacksmithing inside the inn and I don't like to spend much money to borrow a forge. That is why I want to buy a house and install a forge inside to privately do some smithing."
"I heard a mansion would be a good house you needed if you ever want to install like a forge, Master. Maybe you should ask for some recommendations too to narrow down your search for the ideal house."
"Mmm, I will remember that. Thanks for answering my questions."
"I should be accompanying you for this one but I am currently busy at the moment so I can't do so for now. I will make up the time I missed by accompanying you to a quest or dungeon diving next time," Lina bowed as she apologizes to me.
"It's alright. What you said to me is already helpful."
After leaving the inn, I immediately headed to the Adventurers' Guild. During my past timeline days, to immediately gain lots of gold, silver, and copper coins without farming all day, I always go in here and pick quests every day. To think I am so oblivious that the Real Estate Agent that handles the housing system is also stationed here. Looks like there are still some things I am quite ignorant especially those things that I have overlooked in my past timeline due to how busy and rigorous my routine every day. Now that I have a more relaxed and easy life, I can now explore and learn more about these things.
The Adventurers Guild is a building located in every town and city in Alternate World. They act as the main place to find quests, turn in finished quests, register as an adventurer, guild formation, requesting some requests to other players, and more. For those who wanted quick buck and experience, this place is the best one to pick especially if you are tired of farming over and over without any much luck on getting gold and experience.
As expected, when I entered the Adventurers Guild, the whole place is packed with players. There are many players gathered around the bulletin board where requests and NPC quests are issued. On the tables, players occupied the place and currently discuss many things with their party members on strategies and other stuff.
There are 5 floors in every Adventurers Guild and these floors are all occupied by different receptionists that handle different things. The ground floor is the busiest receptionist because they handle the requests and turning in quests on players every day. The second floor handles the players who wanted to request help to other players making a new quest posted to the bulletin board. It is the second busiest floor after the ground floor though it is not as hectic as the latter. The third floor handles the guild creation and the adventurers' shop where players who managed to gain lots of contribution points can spend them in this shop.
As for the fourth floor, I don't think I have visited it before since the furthest I entered the building is the third floor and according to the other people, the fifth floor is the meeting room and break room of all the staff of the Adventurers' Guild so unless you have some business with the Guild Master, you are off-limits to the fifth floor. Since Lina said that the Real Estate Agent is located on the fourth floor, it is time for me to visit and see what it looks like.
Just like the other floors, this place is also the same as the counter and the receptionist. The only difference this time around compared to the other floors is that this place is devoid of players. The only person you can see here is the receptionist herself who is currently sleeping and no one else.
I can't blame her for sleeping on the reception table. With the level of the players and most tycoons are not bothering for luxury yet like houses, this floor would be empty. Approaching the table, she immediately stood up from her slumber and made a defensive stance.
"Guild Master! I swear that I am not sleeping while on duty!"
The action she made got me baffled. It was all sudden for her to act like that while I was approaching that I instinctively grab the versatile weapon, ready to parry whatever is incoming.
She quickly realized what she was doing and blushed profusely before covering her face in embarrassment.
"AAAAHHHHH! I AM SO SCREWED! WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING WITH MY JOB!"
She quickly fixed her hair and her stature before she awkwardly returned to her job. "Welcome, adventurer, what can I do for you?"
Although the situation is a bit awkward, I don't think it is necessary for me to dwell forever on what happened. I immediately ignored what happened earlier and quickly go straight to the point.
"I am here to look for a good house to purchase. Are you the Real Estate Agent?"
"Yes. My name is Ina and I am the one in charge of registering people's certificates when they purchase a house. Do you perhaps have a preference you wanted for your house? Like for example, near the sea?"
"Nah, it sounds good but I am here for practical use and not for vacation. Is there any house available big enough for me to install a forge, workshop, and pharmacy at the same time? It's preferable for me if it is located in this continent," I said. Some houses that fit my criteria might be located on the other continents that are unaccessible for now and by saying it, I might be able to narrow down the search.
She was surprised when she heard my preferences before she answered. "There are houses available but they are all located on other continents. However, we have one that is available but..."
"But?"
"But it was infested by the undead and a lich. It was a mansion that is sold and available to be bought but due to the undead and lich living in there, we are forced to lessen the amount needed to be paid on the property and we also issue a clearing quest there to anyone who wanted to buy the property."
When I heard the description, I think I know that place. I heard it before but I did not participate in it. If I remember it right, the mansion she was talking about is the lair of the Great Necromancer Lich. From what I can remember, this quest became a raid due to how difficult to kill the Great Necromancer has become. The reward was too great that it became the talk after the incident.
"Can you tell me more about it?"
"I will show you the house I am talking about first if you are interested," Ina said before she shows a photo of it.
It was not just a house, it is a mansion. Big enough for a whole guild to live in, to be honest. And the price is just 100,000 gold. Looking at the other houses, which has the range of 250,000 gold to 1M gold, this is just too cheap. But due to the quest issued, this might cause the cost of the house to fall so low despite being a high-end mansion.
"This mansion is big enough to fill all your preferences. It also has a basement too which is good. The only problem is that this place is infested by the undead and a lich which is why, if you wanted to get this house, you better kill the monsters first to make sure it became habitable. Of course, the price will remain the same after it was cleared. But we will only allow you to buy it after clearing its vicinity."
Seeing a rare opportunity looks like I hit another jackpot this time around. Why would I let it go?
"I will buy this mansion. Please give me a request to clear the location."