Chapter 32

Until August 1st 2021, the Ko-fi(https://ko-fi.com/casualcacophony) tips will have double value, meaning that for every U$20 in tips, an additional weekly chapter will be added to the queue. Every single dollar counts. The tips are cumulative, so 20 people tipping U$1 or one person tipping U$20 equals to one additional weekly chapter on the queue all the same.

If you can't copy the link for some reason, just look for CasualCacophony on the Ko-fi website, I'm the only one there.

Please, disregard the ludicrous 2K 'goal', which isn't by any means an actual goal. I just set it like that for the sake of transparency, to make sure that the total sum of tips during this period will be visible there, since there is no way in hell that they'll even remotely come close to that.

The reason for me doing this is because I'm trying to make a bit of money, in order to start making things a little bit better for myself. By that I mean buying meds if I need them, instead of riding things out, food, replacing my tattered clothes with cheap but new ones, getting prescription glasses (they broke like 5-6 years ago), and things like that.

Will this work? I have no fucking clue, but I know for sure that it won't if I don't give it a shot, so here we are. I'll be posting this with every public release during this period.

Thank you for reading this, and for reading my novel. I wish you nothing but happiness. 😁

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As the waitress left, Lìshǐ Fen opened her suitcase. "Here are the papers that you need to sign, and the deed to the property."

He just picked up the pen, and signed where he needed to, without asking questions.

She looked at him with a hint of curiosity. 'That is not carelessness, nor bravado, but genuine confidence. It is like he had already read it and confirmed the contents beforehand.'

"Done."

She separated the paperwork. "Here are your copies. Nagamine-sama told me that you do not need me to help you to register yourself to the house. It is a fairly advanced smart home, so there are no physical keys."

He smiled. "I'll be fine."

She started to organize and put away what she was taking back with her. "If you need anything else expedited in the future, just call me and I will take care of it. I assume you already have my number."

He also started to put everything inside his backpack. "I do, thank you."

After everything was in order, she got up, carrying her briefcase. "I will leave you to your meal then, have nice day."

"Likewise."

He watched her leaving, then pulled out his phone, and called Trish.

She picked up fairly quickly and spoke enthusiastically. "Hey, I'm still at home. Are you at the gym already?"

"Nope. I called to ask you to meet me somewhere else, if you don't mind. I have something to show you, and come prepared to not go home tonight. It's a good thing, before you start worrying."

She instantly became curious. "Okay mystery man, where do I need to go?"

"I'm at the Sunflower Cafe near Tokyo U. There is no rush, finish whatever it is you need to."

"I'll be there in half an hour."

"Alright, see you soon."

Soon, his order came, which he ate with delight.

Around twenty-eight minutes after he ended the call with Trish, he felt her getting closer in her SUV, then parking it.

She entered the cafe, wearing tight jeans, a tank top, and a leather jacket, with her hair tied in a ponytail, attracting the eyes of many.

Approaching Asahi's booth, she smiled.

He got up, and gave her a light kiss. "Hi, do you wanna order something before we go?"

She shook her head. "I'm too curious to see what you have to show me."

He smiled. "I think you'll like it. Let's go then. I've already paid the bill."

Together, they left in her SUV. He input the destination on her GPS, which only made her even more curious.

The drive was quite short, less than ten minutes.

They arrived at a huge property, with a 5m-tall wall, with a very high-end electric fence on top.

The front gate was modern, with a slight antique touch, which was the whole theme of the property.

As Trish stopped the car in front of the large gate, next to the right side of the car, the driver's side, there was a pole with a videophone.

She looked at him, quizzically. "You sent me a message on Friday, saying that everything went well. How well exactly everything went?"

He smiled. "Extremely well."

Suddenly, a black rectangular device with blue circuitry appeared, floating between the car and the pole. The device touched the videophone, which was off, turning it on completely, then disappearing.

Asahi raised his hand, making a small remote control appear on his hand. After he pressed a button, the gate opened.

Trish was chuckling at Asahi's calm demeanor, like what they were doing was just a regular Monday to him.

As they drove through the property, which had automated irrigation for the beautiful plants, Trish noticed a huge grin on Asahi's face. "What happened?"

"You better park first, just in case."

Looking at him quizzically, she parked the car in front of the large mansion.

Still smiling, he nodded. "Please, let her see it."

[ Congratulations, you have entered a property that you own for the first time. Property Management Mode has been unlocked. ]

Below the text screen, there was a holographic blueprint of the entire property. Around the blueprint, there were several other screens, with renovations, upgrades, purchases, editing, and many more options.

Her eyes widened. "That's incredible!"

"Right? Let's sit down and take a look at it. Oh, System, if I build a structure, and want it gone for like a week or whatever, would I need to pay again to rebuild it? Better yet, give us a rundown of the basics. Also, if you have any recommendations, please, tell me."

[ No. All removed structures will be archived for you to use them again, if you wish so. All upgrades and changes to structures can be reverted as well, including the reversion itself. You can also bind objects to the property during their purchase, lowering their price by 80%. ]

[ My suggestion is to buy a Manager Artificial Intelligence for 50,000P. The A.I. will be as powerful as the computer you use to run it. Buying a computer from the Advanced Technology, and bind it to the house is the best option. Bound objects will automatically be relocated to their original place if taken out of the property. ]

[ After you start to own multiple properties, you will only need to have a computer on them to serve as a connection. One Artificial Intelligence is sufficient to manage all of them, since the more computers are connected to the Artificial Intelligence, the more efficient they will be. ]

[ Any Artificial Intelligence provided by me, is in a sense, an extension of myself, so the chances of them going rogue is zero. Additionally, you will be able to communicate with them from wherever you are. ]

Both of them looked at the text, then at each other with sparkling eyes.

Asahi pointed to the grass nearby. "Please, build a gazebo there, a nice large one, matching the property's theme."

Instantly, a path paved with the same dodecagonal tiles as the main road of the property appeared, with a dodecagonal large area at the end. In that area, there was a masterfully crafted gazebo matching the rest of the property.

Trish felt goosebumps. "That's… a bit scary. Fuck."

Asahi caressed her back. "Want me to slow down? Sorry, I got carried away."

She shook her head. "I'm fine. It's just that… this is stuff that I wrote about, but never really expected to see it happen. Besides…" The tension in her body started to go away, and a tinge of red appeared on her cheeks. "…this is you trusting me, isn't it? It's a good thing, as far as I'm concerned."

He blinked, then slowly brought her closer to him, and kissed her. "Yeah, it's a good thing."

Making a large dark-gray bean bag chair appear inside the gazebo, and holding her hand, he walked towards it, gently bringing her with him.

He sat, almost lying on the chair, with her doing the same beside him.

Before looking around the many new sections inside Property Management, Asahi bought the A.I. that the System suggested.

The computer he chose, originally cost 1,000,000P, but since he chose to bind it to the house, the price was reduced to 200,000P.

It was a Self-Sustainable Bio-Psionic Supercomputer, that abdicated portability for performance, requiring an entire room. He chose a room on the underground floor of the house, near the training room.

He also spent 20,000P to reinforce and secure said room, making even his artillery orb unable to scratch it.

As for software, he spent 50,000P -already counting the 80% discount for being installed in a bound item- to give it an advance OS and the matching apps that it would need. The computer itself was able to use the countless 'primitive' satellites around earth to connect to the internet, with a speed that surpassed any connection on the planet.

The last component to making the A.I. fully functional, was to install invisible communicators around the house. Although the computer that he chose would allow it to communicate telepathically, it was better for it to have an actual voice, to not draw more attention than it already would.

He even gave the A.I. a name.

"Aurora, is everything running correctly."

A disembodied soft and delicate voice spoke.

– Yes, everything is running perfectly. –

"Would you please download my favorite video game soundtracks, organize it in playlists by mood and activity, then start playing it?"

Instantly, relaxing music started playing, without anyone being able to distinguish where the sound was coming from. It was like reality had gained background music. As Aurora was an extension of the System, she already knew everything about Asahi, and was updated regarding any changes in him in real time.

Trish closed her eyes, enjoying the ambiance, and spoke with a joking tone. "I'll sign over my apartment to you as soon as possible. Just give me a mini-Aurora."

He laughed, and kissed her cheek.

After enjoying the music for a bit, they went back to browsing.

There was a lot that he could change in the house. He could basically turn it into an impenetrable fortress, that no one on earth could even hope to break in. Not even a dozen hydrogen bombs would be able to put a dent in it.

If only he had the millions upon millions of points that it would cost to do so.

When they realized, the sun was starting to set.

Asahi turned to Trish. "Let's go check the training room."

She nodded, with an excited smile.

As they walked towards the house, he remembered something. "Aurora, would you please make so that the bills to the house are charged by debit on account, using my bank account?"

– Done. –

"Thank you."

Trish displayed a bright smile. "From a writer's standpoint, it's really interesting how politely you talk to the System, and to Aurora as well."

He shrugged. "I mean, no matter how much control I have over them, at the end of the day, they're both my superiors by scales that my mind can't even begin to comprehend. If I can't even give them a please and a thank you, which I do for regular people, that would be kind of fucked up."

She chuckled. "I can't really argue with you there."

As they entered the house, which was completely empty, the lights turned on.

He looked at the quite large foyer, and modern staircase. "System, create a dampening effect on the entire structure to reduce the reverb by an amount that you find appropriate for my needs. Also, change all door to automatic sliding ones, following the theme of the property, please."

[ Done. ]

"Hello? Ah, much better. The sound is not bouncing around like crazy."

Trish blinked. "Me transferring my apartment to your name is starting to not be as much of a joke."

He laughed. "If you want to, I don't mind. I'm kind of tempted to buy the apartment that Mayumi and I live in from Tokyo U. I can just offer twice the value; they'll probably sell on the spot."

She hugged him from the side, with one arm. "Don't you dare become a young master that throws their wealth around."

He looked at her, frowning. "How dare you? Despicable!"

Looking at each other, they started laughing.

They headed to the underground floor, where the training room was located. As they walked through the house, the lights turned on.

It was one of the five rooms on the underground floor, and was quite different from the others.

The entrance led to a set of stairs that went even deeper underground. The room itself, boasted a ridiculous size of 30x20x10m. It was completely reinforced, but baren.

"System, can you reinforce it like you did for Aurora's room?"

Instantly, the entire room changed to a pith-black material, that he knew was also enchanted.

He stomped the floor, and felt the impact being absorbed, then looked at Trish. "I wanna test a device, which is something that I bought just in case before going to the Justice Department. Brace yourself, because it's a bit insane."

She took a deep breath and nodded.

The small black sphere appeared floating near them.

"System, give me a 5m cube of reinforced concrete, please."

The giant cube appeared 10m away from them.

Suddenly, the orb shot eight light-blue rays, with electricity twirling around them, in the span of two seconds. They tore through the block more smoothly than a hot knife through butter. Not only could the orb shoot the rays, but could also maintain them like a 20m-long energy blade, for enough time to do a 30° cut with them.

The huge block was turned into several pieces like it was nothing.

Trish blinked. "A bit insane, huh?"

He made the orb disappear. "System, please clear the rubble." As it disappeared, he turned to Trish. "Are you okay?"

She took a deep breath. "I am. It seems that I'll have to get use to my sense of reality being shattered when I'm with you."

He held both of her hands. "If it's of any comfort to you, that's how I've been feeling daily, since I got the System."

She chuckled, stepping closer to him, and giving him a light kiss. "It is. At least my expectations have been set to expect literally anything that my mind can come up with, and more."

He nodded. "That's about the right mindset."

She displayed a pensive expression. "May I know what kind of boosts are active on you right now? Stats-wise, I mean."

"Intermediate ones for the basic stats, except Appearance, and the basic ones for Psionics and Transcendence."

She chuckled. "Did you notice that despite your Appearance not being at 9 or 10, you already attract quite a lot of attention?"

He nodded. "Because all aspects of my appearance are at 8, which probably has a stronger effect on people."

She smiled. "So, do you want you still want to train today?"

He shook his head. "I wanna just enjoy your company."

She wrapped her arms around him. "I'd like that quite a lot. What do you have in mind?"

He smiled. "How about we lie on that bean bag chair, under a blanket, in front of a fireplace, and talk about novels and writing until you're sick of it? Meanwhile we can snack on whatever you want."

Her eyes sparkled with excitement. "Really? I'd love that!"

With a giddy Trish holding his hand, he went to the empty living room, where he made the bean bag chair appear. As she went to her car to pick up her backpack, he changed to shorts and a tank top. She then changed to her pink pajamas with a kitten pattern.

After lighting up the fireplace, they crawled under a blanket, lying on the bean bag chair.

They talked for hours upon hours, while enjoying some delicacies from all around the world, using a floating tray as a table.

That night was quite special, and they talked until around 3am, falling asleep while spooning.

A little before 7am, Trish woke up. Since her body was already beyond human, and she also had Mind Fortress, like Asahi, she needed less sleep.

Opening her eyes, she saw Asahi looking at a tablet device. He was reading comments and messages from his readers.

She moved closer to him, laying her head on his chest.

Smiling, he wrapped his arm around her. "Did you sleep well?"

She caressed his chest, speaking with a sleepy voice. "Yeah…"

He kissed her forehead, and kept reading.

After a bit, she chuckled. "I can't believe that I'm glad that we didn't have sex last night."

He caressed her side. "Same for me. I really enjoyed last night as well."

"Are you planning to move to this house?"

"Nah. Maybe down the road, but not anytime soon. I wouldn't live here by myself, and can you imagine how insane I'd need to be, to even entertain the idea of asking either you, Mayumi or Fumiko to live here with me? True, Mayumi and I live together, but moving here would have a completely different connotation. I might not be the most knowledgeable person regarding relationships, but even for me, that would be all kinds of yikes."

She laughed. "I really, really like you, and I'm flattered that you included me in that, but if you asked me to move in with you, I would sit you down and have a serious talk with you. True, you entrusted us with your secret, and that's huge, especially if you take into account its scope. But that and moving in together are completely different things."

He chuckled. "Right? But what I'll do, is make this house a kickass place, and give the three of you free access to it. Which of you will actually live here with me in the future, if any, that's something we'll see with time."

She smiled. "If any?"

He nodded. "I'm not naïve, and I don't know what will happen in the future. Many things can happen that might lead you all to a different path. Does that idea scare the ever-living crap out of me? Yup. But still, it can happen."

She lightly slapped his chest twice, then caressed it. "Good for you, that's a really healthy mindset."

He put his tablet device back in his inventory, and made a personal cleaning device appear. "If you think that it won't make things uncomfortable for you, I'd like you to keep this one. You don't have to worry about it if someone wants to take it from you, since it's cheap, and the System can just disenchant it at any time."

She gently took it, pressed the button, then kissed him. "Thank you, I'll gladly take it. This is absurdly convenient."

"We should eat and get ready to leave. I told Fumiko and Mayumi that I'd be home by 8am with breakfast and the cleaning device."

She nodded, and kissed his cheek.

They had a nice breakfast, before changing and leaving the house.

Asahi had a bright smile on his face.

Not only that night of just them hanging out and talking, brought them a lot closer, but now he had something that he wanted to do long term.

Owning many properties around the world, building an ace up his sleeve for worst case scenarios.