Chapter 57: Buying a Home

Hugh's fingers itched to pull out his Book and look at his stats, but he refrained and concentrated on the steps he needed to take to purchase a house. On the surface, it didn't appear very complicated. He picked an empty house, walked up to the door, and paid for it like he did with the shops. However, which house to buy was the question.

He didn't want to break Frankie's bank account by buying his own instance, no matter if the Medical Group was actually covering the bill, which meant he needed to pick a house in a neighborhood—and not every neighborhood was exactly identical. There were actually ten different variations of beach he could choose from, each with their own neighborhood titles such as 'Market Boulevard', 'Savant Circle', 'Luxury Lane', and 'Adventurers Avenue'.

As tempting as it might be to live among fellow explorers, Hugh chose 'Renaissance Row'. His training aside, when he came to the house, he wanted it to be a place he could relax and forget the rigors of the outside world. This particular neighborhood was noted for being queer friendly, nudist friendly, and artist friendly, according to the holographic salesman they talked with. The tides were set to encourage swimming with surf-worthy swells twice a week and weather would remain consistent with cooling breezes to counteract the heat. If it rained, it was promised to be an evening or nighttime event of limited intensity.

After they secured a temporary key allowing them to tour a neighborhood instance with available homes, they went outside and flashed it at the robotic gate guard standing next to the access tunnel embedded in the city wall.

The scent of tropical flowers and sea salt hit Hugh in the face once the guard opened the door and they were allowed to walk through, but the smells weren't unpleasant. It made him feel like he'd gone on vacation and he subconsciously relaxed in response.

Sand dusted the road weaving through the neighborhood and palm tress dotted the landscape in an array of shapes and sizes. No sidewalk was provided. In its place, a ridge of hard-packed earth gave them a safe surface to walk upon without having to worry about being hit by a car when more players started using them.

From their vantage point at the instance's entrance, Hugh had a good view of the ocean. No visible barriers had been placed to show players where the walls were, making it seem like the water spread out unimpeded forever. There were no distant islands, either, for a player like Hugh to feel the need to explore.

The left side of the road seemed to be a public access beach. On the right side of the road, identical glass-walled lofts lined up in a neat row facing the shore, their starter porches made to appear like rail-less wooden decks sitting on the sand. A string tied between two posts provided the only visible markers where one property ended and another began.

Dex guessed Hugh wouldn't want a place near the entrance. Not only would it be more visible to thieves, but it meant everything he did at home would be more visible to the neighborhood's other residents as they came and went. As an explorer, the last thing he wanted was someone complaining because they didn't like him swinging a sword around and training in his front yard when they drove by. So Dex dragged him deeper into the instance until they reached the end of the narrow island.

The house on the end was slightly more expensive than the others since the beach curved around the side, offering him his own private shoreline. The property actually ended a good fifty feet from the water, but he didn't think anyone would cross the road to walk the final strip of sand.

His Navigator worked hard to sell him on the place, pointing out he could put up a couple hammocks between the palm trees growing on the property and how it'd be nice to relax by a bonfire with a beer. Sand and palm tress weren't the only thing the beach naturally offered. The house's back yard did rise up slightly to provide a plot of arable land for a small garden, although it ended at a wall of sheered rock. Dex pointed out the rock would make a wonderful climbing wall with a few modifications, and the clifftop could be used as a launch platform for hang gliding.

"What's on the other side?" Hugh asked.

"Rental spaces for crab farming, fishing, and dry docks," Dex said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "There's a side road near the entrance leading to it, so you don't have to actually climb the cliff to get there. That's not important. Don't you like light shows? Look at the brochure. Once a month, the ocean waves turn luminescent for three days. There's also random shooting stars, occasional lightening on the horizon, and a yearly porpoise migration. Okay, that last one isn't a light show, but doesn't it sound fun?"

"Stop trying to play on my emotions," Hugh grumbled. "I already agreed. Give me some time to fall in love with the place on my own."

"I know how much you liked the Victorian neighborhood," he replied apologetically.

Hugh ignored him and walked up to the door to read over the purchase panel. The buyout price made him wince, but he thought he'd gone above and beyond his contracted terms to earn it. Not only had he given the Medical Group a three hour tutorial, but he'd provided them a few Legendary items potentially worth ten times the value of the house. He didn't count the time he spent accompanying Frankie since that was pleasure more than work.

With a few finger presses, he redirected the bill from his own bank account to the option labeled, "Contract 1A, Frank Jones – 1 Use." Another press confirmed he agreed to the neighborhood terms of conduct outlining the common rules such as cleaning up after pets and no littering on the beach. A final press confirmed the purchase.

The holographic menu disappeared, momentarily replaced with a large holographic banner saying, "Congratulations on purchasing a home!" Underneath, in smaller font, he read, "Your Tunnel Access Key has been placed in your inventory. To allow a friend to access your neighborhood instance, please refer to the visitor's menu on your Book of Life Housing page."

The informative holograms disappeared as soon as Hugh set his thumb against the door handle's biometric reader to unlock it and push it open.

The interior of the loft was white on white on white. Even the few starter furnishings the game provided, such as the living space's love seat and curtains, were solid white. Two bedrooms were positioned in the back corners of the building with a single bathroom sitting between them. The kitchen, if it could be called such, was contained in a long island bar sitting between the living room and the rear rooms.

"Hey, look at this," Dex said, drawing Hugh's attention to the front of the house. The Navigator had figured out how to unlock the windowed walls and slide them out of the way, opening up the entire building so the inside seamlessly flowed outside.

"That's kind of nice," Hugh reluctantly admitted. The improvement to his mood dipped again when he glanced at the bathroom door—the only solid door in the building. He didn't need to go inside to know it wouldn't be good enough for a big guy like him. Not only would the toilet, shower, and sink be crammed into the small space, but so would the laundry facilities.

Hugh pulled out his Book and tossed it on the kitchen island as he woke it up. Flipping to the housing page, he began the arduous task of choosing upgrades. The income from his viral video helped a lot, giving him the freedom to pick the things he really wanted instead of making do with what he could afford.

Both bedrooms received their own private Master bathroom, a closet upgrade, and a bed size upgrade. The existing bathroom was turned into a set of stairs leading up to a rooftop deck with safety railing. He also installed an outdoor shower, a picket fence around the property, and used the provided slider to change the sand to grass ratio so his entire back yard would be arable lawn while the front remained sandy beach. The last two large changes were the addition of a garage with full size laundry facilities and driveway.

He spent a few more minutes customizing smaller details, such as painting the exterior siding—what little existed—a midnight blue and staining the deck a rich honey gold. In the kitchen, he installed butcher block counters extended out to provide a bar and a larger farmhouse sink since both were timeless additions. In the bathroom, he went high tech with a top of the line walk-in shower, holo-mirrors, and a honeycomb of stone pressure tiles with backlit grout so he wouldn't have to turn the lights on at night.

All together, he spent twice as much of his own money upgrading the place as it'd been to buy the property. It felt a lot more like 'home' when he was done, though.

Hugh let his gaze sweep across the open part of the building, seeing the potential for the first time. He'd need to make a few purchases in Nexus—bedding, rugs, and a living room suite for both indoor and outdoor living—but he thought he could be happy living there.

His outlook improved even more when he looked out at the ocean. Unlike the cold, choppy waters he always saw from the shores of Roanoke Colony, the waves here were slow and peaceful. His instincts told him this was how the ocean was supposed to look, but he didn't think they existed this way in the real world. At least, not anymore. Perhaps once, but humans had screwed up the ocean currents with all the man-made landmasses they created off the planet's natural shores. A few such fabrications might not have done major damage, but now there were city colonies off every continent. It was impossible to imagine they hadn't done damage.

Was this the real reason Atlantis supposedly sank into the sea? Did the ancient Atlanteans, if they ever existed, realize what they'd done to the ocean and destroyed their home rather than destroy the planet with their hubris? Listening to the calming beat of the ocean waves crashing against the shore, Hugh wished his own generation had been as wise.

"You're quiet," Dex commented, joining him at the new kitchen counter.

"Just thinking," Hugh replied. "I'm going to leave the walls in here white since there aren't a whole lot of them and make the floors match the deck outside. I'm also trying to decide if I want to put privacy tinting on all the windows, but that's probably a no-brainer. What do you think about going with an Asian theme with the accordion doors for the bedrooms? Maybe black and white shoji screens? The Moroccan skin looks interesting, too, but I don't know think the dark wood would look good against the honey gold floor stain."

"Are you feeling okay?" Dex asked worriedly. "This isn't something you have to do all at once."

"I know and, yeah, maybe I'm a little overwhelmed. I just bought a house. I've never had one before, unless you count my parents' place. Using the Book's build menu to put my personal touch on everything is helping me feel like this place is actually mine, but it's still unsettling. I keep wondering when the owner is going to get here, then I remember that's actually me."

"Well, if adding personal touches are helping, why not do it right and summon your Vault? You have an entire section of Legendary housing goods you haven't touched and I bet you forgot about the Vault's garage."

Hugh's eyes widened in realization. He had forgotten there was more to his GameNet Vault than gear and scrolls. There were entire sections dedicated to cross-gaming vehicles and housing.

"You mean I can actually sit on the Audolix Throne and ride my Winged Nightmare? Oh my God! My Vault has the Dressing Room I got for the five year GameNet VIP achievement. Will it have all my Legendary costumes in it, too? Oh, and what about the Companion Corral with all my cosmetic pets?"

Dex grinned at how quickly Hugh grew excited and solemnly nodded to say, 'Yes—all that and more'.