Chapter 22: The Miller Estate
Before he knew it, about 2 hours had passed and Eric stopped cultivating.
He had sensed his dad's presence around him, which meant he had returned home.
'If dad has come home, that means we will soon leave for Liam and Lily's house. I better stop cultivating and start getting ready as well.' Eric murmured to himself as he got up from his bed.
A couple minutes later, Eric was ready to leave for the Miller Estate.
He was standing in his room, looking at himself in the mirror with a slight smile on his face. He was wearing pretty expensive and fancy clothes which made him look rather extravagant.
Due to his original good looks enhanced with his breakthrough in body cultivation, as well as his demeanor of an adult as he was actually a 24 year old man; Eric looked like a handsome young master and was very pleased with his current state.
Trying to not get carried away fawning over himself, Eric quickly took out the 'Double Experience Points Booster (24 hrs)' from his inventory.
With a single thought, he activated it and in an instant, the orb vanished and was replaced by a Scam System window.
[Special Effect: Double Experience Points
Description: The experience points awarded to the user for any successful scam will be doubled in amount.
Time Remaining: 24:00:00]
Eric smiled as he saw this and walked downstairs to the main gate of his house. In the living room, both his parents, who were also clad in expensive clothes, were waiting for him.
As Eric made his way to them, Blake opened the main door and revealed a luxurious looking carriage parked in front of their house.
Once they all got into the spacious carriage, it started moving at a rather fast speed.
They were headed to Greenwell City's Miller Estate. The Miller family was the family that led the Merchant Guild, a position that came with a lot of wealth. In all the major cities where there was a Treasure Pagoda and other buildings controlled by the Merchant Guild present, descendants of the Miller family stayed in large estates in their respective cities, known as the Miller Estate.
Greenwell City's Miller Estate was Liam and Lily's residence; and a place that Eric had visited a lot in his childhood. It was a pretty large plot of land with a backyard and garden, but the main attraction was the manor where the Miller family resided in. The manor was quite large; it was almost double the size of Eric's house.
The carriage stopped in front of the manor and Eric and his family got out, the butler of the Miller family ready to receive them.
The butler was a middle aged man with a neatly trimmed mustache and graying hair. He was called Butler Richard; or simply old Richard by people close to the Millers, like Eric and his parents.
As Eric's gaze fell on old Richard, the Scam System showed his profile.
[Name: Richard Jones
Age: 48
Date of Birth: January 30
Cultivation Level
Soul: Spirit Fighter Realm 4th Layer
Body: Not a cultivator
Mind: Not a cultivator]
'Even the butler has a decent level of cultivation.' Eric was surprised as he didn't previously know that old Richard was also a cultivator.
It didn't shock him much, though. In this world, being a cultivator is what brings one status. Strength is what makes one stand out from the masses and strength is respected the most. To be a butler for one of the sons of the Merchant Guild's Leader, being at least a Spirit Warrior is expected.
Before Eric got distracted with other stuff like this, he remembered his plan and went through it in his head once more just to be safe.
As the Tyler family followed old Richard into the Miller Manor, once they entered the main hall, Darren and his family were visible.
At the left side were Liam and Lily and Darren's wife, Patricia was at the right; while at the center of the room, straight ahead, stood Darren. They weren't particularly far apart from each other but were still positioned at different sides of the room.
As Eric looked at the people in the room; instantly, two profiles appeared in front of him.
[Name: Darren Miller
Age: 36
Date of Birth: March 12
Cultivation Level
Soul: Spirit Warrior Realm 7th Layer
Body: Not a cultivator
Mind: Intermediate Mentalist 2nd Layer]
[Name: Patricia Miller
Age: 34
Date of Birth: July 6
Cultivation Level
Soul: Not a cultivator
Body: Not a cultivator
Mind: Not a cultivator]
Darren Miller was a man of a rather tall, yet slender build. His face was clean shaven with gleaming green eyes and his light brown hair was neatly trimmed and parted. He looked pretty much like an adult version of Liam, which was surprisingly uncanny.
Patricia Miller was a woman who showed barely any signs of aging even though she was in her thirties, another trait she shared with Eric's mother along with the fact that she wasn't a cultivator. Her brown hair was braided and she had light blue eyes.
As Eric quickly analyzed the profiles of the two of them, he saw both his parents start walking towards the twins: his prediction was correct!
'Ok, while my parents congratulate Liam and Lily, I better scam their dad as quick as possible.' Eric solemnly thought as he walked towards Darren.
Darren noticed Eric walking towards him and smiled, as he spoke in a soft yet firm voice.
"Hey, little buddy. Won't you congratulate and talk to your friends first before coming here and talking to me?"
Eric replied calmly, but not trying to sound too mature.
"Good afternoon, uncle Darren. I came to you to ask about Liam and Lily's aptitudes. Are they really good enough for you to be throwing a party like this?"
Darren intently replied, "Oh, ho, ho. Yes, they indeed have really impressive aptitudes; the both of them do."
As Darren paused for a second, Eric internally smiled seeing that he had taken the bait.
"They may even be better than you, Eric." Darren said ruffling Eric's hair.
"Well, I don't think so. I bet that they have at most the same level of aptitude as me, if not lower. I beat Liam in a duel recently; he can't have a higher aptitude than me!"
Eric had pretty much mastered how to talk like an eleven year old at this point.
Before Darren could say anything, Eric continued with his plan.
"Say, Uncle Darren, what if we have a bet?"
"A bet, you say?" Darren was listening intently with an attentive expression on his face. "Go ahead. I'm listening."
"If my aptitude is higher or equal to Liam and Lily in all three paths, I win; and if I win, I get to choose any one item from the ground floor of the Treasure Pagoda's treasury to keep for free. How about it, will you accept this betting proposal?"
Eric had completed the last part of his plan and was now waiting for Darren's response.
After a couple seconds of consideration, Darren smiled at Eric and replied.
"You're an interesting kid, Eric… I'm in!"
Hearing the confirmation, Eric was filled with a sense of satisfaction and his face now wore an almost menacing looking grin.
Before anybody could notice, though, he returned to his normal expression and walked towards the rest of the group; which Patricia had joined while he and Darren were talking, with Darren.
'It's time!' Eric said to himself, anticipating the amount of experience points he would get for this.