บท 55: Buying A Mansion

"This is perfect", Ray exclaimed as he stood in front of a simple yet magnificent mansion.

The mansion looked less like a mansion and more like a fortress. It was divided into three separate regions. The outer region, the inner region, and the core region.

"Your insight is perfect sir, this is one of the most trending properties in the area", the man in charge said as he looked at Ray. The man had a cunning personality, so seeing Ray display this much emotion in the mansion, he tried to milk money out of Ray by using different tactics.

The man continued, "Let's walk inside and I will show you the features of the mansion".

"Okay", Ray nodded and started to walk along with the man.

The entrance had a simple large door of metal without any exquisite designs or patterns. It had a simplistic appearance that defied its toughness.

The simplistic appearance allowed it to maintain an integral internal structure that was hard to break while the door was also made of a tough alloy that had the strength and hardness of steel while being as light as a feather compared to other types of doors.

The door impressed Ray and his expression of the fortress-like mansion also increased by a notch.

After crossing the door, Ray entered the outer region and was left stunned by what he saw. It seemed as if a veil was lifted as he saw one of the most beautiful sceneries in his life.

He saw acres worth of land covered by greenery and vegetation.

Greenery and vegetation that someone like Ray had never seen in his whole life. As someone who lived in the modern era, an era where vegetation had almost been wiped out while the advent of System Online made it more evident.

Moreover, in a place like New York, where almost every piece of land was modernized to the brim, seeing such land filled with vegetation and greenery came as a pleasant surprise to Ray.

Ray continued to gaze at the land as he stood rooted to his spot. Not moving even an inch, only his eyes darting from one place to another, as if wanting to capture the beautiful scenery in his mind.

On the other hand, the man in charge looked back at Ray with a smug look on his face as he said,

"Sir, this property has many more wonderful places left to see, let's move on forward. After all, we don't have much time on our hands",

Ray nodded and continued to follow the man. Though Ray knew about the change in man's personality, he said nothing. He was here to buy the property and not to get into useless quarrels.

Ray surveyed the outer rim for half an hour and all he saw were gardens and open areas with lush greenery and trees. There was even a small area for farming vegetables and such, while there was also a small pond with fishes and a barn full of domestic animals.

Seeing all of the natural resources, as well as the opportunity to grow his food calmed down Ray a lot while his need for this property increased by several folds.

Moreover, this led to Ray think back to when he was young and used to watch films in which they depicted people farming and growing their food while making their life self sustainable.

As they had seen every nook and cranny of the outer region, they moved on to the middle region.

The moment Ray entered the big doors and set foot into the middle region, he was left stunned.

"Gasp",

He gasped while his eyes widened for what he saw inside left him pretty shocked.

"This..",

Ray was unable to find words to express his thoughts as what he saw was wonderful. If not for someone else, it seemed perfect for him.

'Indeed, a match made in heavens',

Though this was a house, rather a majestic stronghold of a mansion he was looking at.

There were halls, big halls with simple and practical decorations. Not only that, but the halls were also accessible from various entrances.

In total, Ray saw five halls, these halls could hold about a hundred people at once per hall. Meaning, that Ray could at least have five hundred people in the mansion at the same time. Not to mention the big and lavish open space filled with verdant greenery he saw outside.

However, his shock had not even subsided when the man leading him forward said,

"Sir that's not all, it's only the entrance of the middle region, let me show you more places",

"Uhm, okay", Ray fixed his composure as he said to the man in a deep voice.

However, his eyes shone with a certain glint, the glint of excitement.

The man then led Ray to different places, going deeper into the building.

On the way there, the excitement in Ray's eyes increased several folds while the smugness of the man leading Ray also increased after seeing excitement in Ray's eyes.

"Hehe, such excitement and yet, che!", the man clicked his tongue as he muttered under his breath.

"Did you say something", Ray who had good hearing due to the system enhancing his physique asked the man as he felt the man mumble something.

"uhh, no nothing. Let's move on to the core region as we have surveyed the middle region fully",

"Okay, lead the way", Ray said to the man expressionlessly while he organized his thoughts and recounted the places within the middle region.

"Five halls, seven rooms, two labs used for different purposes, a library filled with books, a store room filled with experimental equipment, three training rooms and two large kitchens along with an infirmary and the room that ha..", Ray recalled everything and felt extremely satisfied.

"I need to buy this place at all costs, it fits my needs perfectly", Ray clenched his fists as he made it his goal to buy the place.

With his eyes more calm and composed than ever while his gaze was resolute, Ray followed the man into the core region.

Surprisingly or not, the core region was small, furnished, and well-made. It had a certain warmth that a house contained.

Though it was small, it was by no means small compared to Ray's standards. It had a wide dining hall that could fit fifteen people easily along with a similarly large drawing/living room beside it. The rooms had plenty of air circulation that made the atmosphere in the place rather fresh.

There were also attached washrooms and a kitchen while there were also two independent studies.

Looking at everything here, Ray had guessed enough for the core region to be the living quarters of the owner and family. Seeing the number of rooms and the ample space provided pleased Ray.

He only had one thought in mind that he hesitated about. Thus, he asked the man leading him here,

"Do you know why no one has bought this property even though it is perfect, has all of the required commodities for loving, being rather extravagant? Not to mention the verdant and lush open area filled with gardens and farms".

To this, the man smirked as he replied smugly,

"Oh, we have a lot of people who are willing to buy the property, but the owner of this property has a rather famous status and he has three rules for selling the property,

One, that the buyer must be clean of any illegal activity and the money he obtained shall be through legal means",

"Second, the buyer must be someone with a high grade 'System'," said the man emphasizing the word system,

While third,

"The buyer must satisfy the owner's consciousness enough to buy this property",

Listening to all of this, Ray was stumped.

"Such a troublesome fellow", he grumbled inwardly.

He thought about it for some time and said to the man,

"How much is the property, I wish to buy it",

The man this time grinned and said,

"For that, only the owner will tell you",

"Okay then, let's meet the owner. I want to buy the property right now", said Ray slightly agitated.

"Now that we can not do sir, first we need to check all the documents and confirm the first two conditions and then you could meet the owner", the man replied even more smugly.

"That's why he was acting in such a way", Ray thought as he reached the limits of his patience.

After a minute of silence and calming himself down, Ray asked,

"You could at least tell me the name of the owner",

"There is no harm in telling you the name of the owner since you are eventually going to know it later on",

The man then continued, "this property previously acted as the residence of the dean of Earth's Supreme Academy",

Listening to this, Ray laughed out and took his phone out,

He dialed a number and called the number,

"Trying!, tringg!",

The call was picked up and a voice said,

"Hello little one, what do you need that you called a few days before the visit to Academy",

"Nothing sir, just came to look out for a property to buy and chanced upon your old residence near the academy, am thinking of buying it but the man says that I need registration and approval and whatnot",

Ray said all of this very slowly, letting the words sink in for both the person on call and the man who stood in front of him.

Since the phone was on speaker, the man could hear the conversation between the two parties. As he heard the conversation more and more, he become equally shocked while color drained from his face.

For he identified the voice of the person on the other hand being the voice of the dean of Earth's Supreme Academy,

"There are such identification processes and such, but for you, you just need to buy the property. I will even give you a discount", the dean said in delight when he heard that his previous residence was getting an owner. And an owner with someone having such great potential as Ray.

"Thank you very much, sir, let's meet tomorrow at lunch to settle the matters regarding the property",

"Okay I will be delighted to do so", said the dean.

After a few more pleasantries, Ray hung up the call and turned around to look at the shivering man in front of him.

All of his previous smugness was gone, replaced by fear. Fear of offending the dean and someone of his caliber.

Ray was amused at the man's reaction, the former healthy face seemed to look like that of a corpse, even paler while his legs trembled fiercely.

Ray turned around and only shot a look at the man before he walked back to the car and drove off.

Meanwhile, the man could not hold it anymore as his pants started to wet, and a nauseating spread in the surroundings while a yellow liquid appeared at the man's feet.

....

A/N:- Second chapter today as I had a day off. Have fun you guys and please support the novel by adding it to collections and voting powerstones.