Chapter Twelve

In front of him were literal mansions. He was reminded of the many celebrity mansions he had seen on the television. The prospect of living in a place like that was more than just a dream. It felt expensive even dreaming of it. When he checked the prices, a lump formed in his throat. "It costs just as much on the app as it would with our realtors." He looked for the directions tab in order to find out where it was located, yet there wasn't one. "Is this a glitch in the system?" He clicked on the filter setting and placed it 'From Cheapest Up' and refreshed the page.

When it refreshed, he was greeted by what looked like shacks. Their flimsy boarding seemed like they would tumble with a slight breeze. Those buildings went for a couple thousand dollars. When he saw the cost, he couldn't believe they would cost so much. He kept scrolling until he saw the quality of the building going up slightly. Instead of a dilapidated shack, he began seeing one bedroom, one bathroom homes without any amenities. As he searched through descriptions, he continued going past a few, until his eyes set on one.

[Reasonable Living. This home has all amenities including two bedrooms with beds included, a refrigerator, stove and storage space in the kitchen. This home has a bathroom in each room. Price: $25,000. Click to view.] Jason went over the description a couple more times before his finger hovered over the [View] button. As soon as he did, his vision went dark as he was transported.

Jason's eyes went wide as he came to within the house he was viewing on his screen. "If realtors had this kind of tech, it would save on travel expenses for sure!" He looked for the realtor he was meant to meet, but all he saw was a ten minute timer hovering on a wall. "I guess I just have a time limit then."

He looked from the timer back to where he had appeared. He was in a big, open area which had to be the living room. As he looked around, he saw power outlets as he would see in a living room which confirmed his suspicions. He then went into the hallway which had four rooms. He could see which were the bedrooms by the twin beds within them. He walked through each and went through the walk in closets to the bathrooms. Each one had a whirlpool tub, a sink with a large mirror atop it, and a closet space for towels. Jason whistled in appreciation.

He left the last bathroom and went to the next room which had a dark wood floor instead of the white carpet. The room was empty, yet gave off the appearance of a dining room. He walked through it into the full kitchen that was described in the app. After admiring it for a moment, he went back to the living room, to the front door. When he opened it, his heart nearly stopped.

Outside, all he saw was two acres of luscious green grass, two trees and an unending white mist which seemed to permeate the space. He couldn't hear any birds chirping, nor any type of wildlife. Everything was completely quiet. Not even a breeze interrupted the quiet solitude. "Where the hell am I?"

He pressed a link on his phone, and the dark space appeared once more as he was transported back to his room. He looked at his phone again and noticed only a minute had passed. "The house is in the same realm as the dungeons?" He looked through the other tabs on the phone, yet he came to the decision to earn all of his equipment instead of purchasing it. Instead, he went back to the [Easy Living] house. His thumb clicked on purchase. [Are you sure you want to buy this home?] A standard question prompt appeared with a [Yes] and [No]. Jason hovered over the [Yes] but didn't press it. Then there was a loud thump, resulting in his finger grazing the button. He went pale as he realized what just happened.

[Congratulations on purchasing your new home! Would you like to purchase furniture? Available funds: $5,259.]

"Shit!" His eyes went to the available funds and he almost chucked his phone out the window. He regained his cool as soon as he remembered a quest that appeared after he had hit level 4. Scrolling to his quest page, his heart began beating at a slower rate again.

[Quest: Attain Level 5.

Rewards: Copper Sword, $1,000.]

Jason sighed as he found himself drawn further into the game's world. Though it was his fault that he had purchased the home, he felt slightly cheated. He spent years saving up that money in the hopes of going out and living on his own. In a way, he was doing just that now. "I thought I'd save enough money to live in a suburb, not another realm." He sighed as he went downstairs to investigate the thud.