“Oh yes, that feels so nice,” Margaret screamed as I banged on her walls. The wood was old and of low quality. It was actually quite great having a hammer in my hands again. It was weird though, because I somehow had access to every bit of information required to work on the house, but all I did was smack into the wall and the wood I had collected from some nearby trees. and then sawed into planks, vanished from my inventory and replaced the old pieces of wood.
It was then a thought occurred to me, why were there “old” pieces? I had never witnessed my house becoming under disrepair or anything; it actually always looked quite immaculate. I shook the thought off and got back to work.
The house was rather small, to be honest, so I knew I knew I could give it a good overhaul. It seemed like the last owner had focused on planting high level herbs and trees.
Most players liked to just level building and paid for most of their materials, but in hardcore mode you kind of had to do everything yourself, which was why a lot of players avoided construction all together. It was nice, but most felt it was a waste of time when you could die at any moment. I disagreed.
***
Whack, whack, whack, wham. Whack, whack, bang, wham. My hammer banged away as I turned some normal planks into various furnishings. Chairs, dressers, and beds were my main priority. I had already replaced Margaret’s walls with higher quality wood and then chopped down a bunch of trees in order to make more rooms for the people to stay in.
“Wow, you must be really good at this whole building stuff,” Meredith exclaimed as her voice continued to pool in from all around me. The spell seemed to carry over the whole estate. I checked my mana and it was dipping low, down to about ten percent. I didn’t know how it didn’t cost more, but I wasn’t complaining.
“Thanks meredith, I did put a fair amount of time into it in a past life. I’m glad it paid off by allowing me to help you. Meredith chuckled and the ground below me trembled, which made my work station shake.
“Well darling, YOU can come back any time.” I silently thanked her and continued to work. I looked at my pile and realized I was about done. I went through a nearby storage closet and rummaged through it for some cloth. They might have been homeless people, but they still deserved a nice home to claim as their refuge.
I found some material that I could work with. I then looked around for a needle and thread and began to work. What came out of it was six fine red carpets. I usually liked to add gold trim and other materials to make it look fancy, but sadly the materials just weren’t there. It was at that moment that I missed my own house. I frowned and wished that we had come across it.
“What's wrong sweetheart?” Margret cooed motherly. Something inside me welled up and then overflowed.
“Nothing; I’m fine,” I said as a teardrop flowed out of each of my eyes and fell down onto Margret’s newly done floor.
“Oh hunny, I’m so sorry. You can tell me about it. I’m here for you.” Margaret was little more than a voice, but something about her made me feel like opening up.
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“I just really did love my old house. When I died I wished that I got to keep a combat skill, I even paid to almost insure it, but… I just love building up and maintaining a property. I put so much time and so many resources into my house that it’s a shame it’s going to waste.” I sat down on one of the chairs I had made, disheartened and void of motivation.
“Oh, is that all?” The house beamed. “What was your house’s name?”
“What??” I asked. “I have no idea; I didn’t have animate object in my last life.
“Hmmm,” she hummed. “What did it look like?”
“Well…” I began even though I didn’t get the point of answering the question.
“It was a large property, what felt like hundreds of acres actually. I had a large main structure that housed four bedrooms, a glorious kitchen and dining room, two living rooms, my workshop, and a few other rooms, all on the main floor.”
“Mhm, okay, what else can you tell me?” Margaret asked curiously.
“Hmm well the majority of the walls are made with rosewood and my furniture is all made with redwood. Also, almost EVERYTHING is gilded. I kind of just liked it that way…”
“Are you kidding me!?” Margaret screamed cheerfully. “You really do take care of your estates.”
“I guess, it’s just what I like to do,” I said, shrugging. “Anyways, so the main house has to be about eight rooms by eight, and then I have some trees, herbs, and other plant life. I have a workshop to the southeast, which connects to some halls I have for showing off my treasures and accomplishments. Below the shop is an area I use for training, though I haven’t shown it to anyone before, so I’d rather keep it a secret.” A smile worked itself onto my face even though I tried to resist it.
“Okay, okay let me see.” Margaret started. “ Rosewood, redwood, gilded, 8x8, good amount of vegetation, multiple other buildings, hmmm….” Margaret paused for a minute while she thought.
I turned to pick up some materials. The previous owner surprisingly had a forge sitting around, so I took to it and made myself my own hammer. The perks of being a Builder meant I had a high proficiency in most, if not all, skills that went into making the perfect house.
I had just finished making myself a hammer out of oak and iron when Margaret finally spoke up.
“Bradford! Yes, Bradford! He is a rather snooty bloke, but he is nice enough. He always used to speak of how well his current owner treated him, but as of late he has been quite upset with his vacancy.”
“Great I yelled! Thanks Margaret. I don’t know why he wasn't in with the others, but I guess I can at least call him up now. Does he have a last name? Most of you did?
“Oh, yes. It’s just Sogoyk.”
“Sogoyk… Isn’t that my username backwards?”
“Haha, yes good observation. It’s a simple yet effective trick actually. Every house does it differently”
“Oh, okay, thank you Margaret. I really appreciate it,” I said as I began to put everything back to normal.
“No problem! Anything for someone so willing to help out as yourself.”
“Haha, I guess that’s what I do,” I said smugly. “Oh wait, hey Margaret?”
“Yes sweetie?” She asked as a notification went off alerting me I had two percent mana left.”
“How did you know about another property portal? Like if you weren’t animated before, how do you communicate?”
“Oh well that’s easy silly…” Margaret started.
“Yeah? Then what is it?” I sat and waited, but nothing. I checked my mana and yup, it completely died. I checked my bag but didn’t have any mana pots or anything. I walked back to the portal figuring I wouldn’t find out. At least I got my portals “name” out of it.”
I walked to the end of Margaret’s property and jumped through the portal back to my friends on the other side. I stepped out of the portal and standing before me was Goliath. The hilt of the GDS #6 flashed through the air, cracking me on the skull. Everything went dark as I fell to the ground.