Jacob stared at the "farmhouse" in front of him with little to no remorse at the broken, shoddy waste of wood that was the cabin he is seeing. It was, by all means, not a farm even when the mayor insisted that it was, looking back, maybe buying the thing for 5 gold had been way too much, it's at least 3 or 4. And that's what? 500 to 1000 Silvers cheaper?
He had checked the prices on his way to his new plot, and a single silver is enough to feed a family of 5 for an entire day in some of the shops. Hell, 3 silvers are enough to buy him an entire leg of some pig-like animal, or at least the equivalent of it in this world- still, that leg was by no means small. Jacob sighed and walked forward, if he bought this place for the original price, he would've stormed back to the mayor's office and demanded a refund, the bastard thought he can scam him after all.
"At least the place is big." He said under his breath as he cautiously placed a hand on a wooden beam, the massive, cavern-like living room was the first thing that greeted Jacob when he went through the door- which, because of the house's disrepair, broke down from the hinges after Jacob simply pushed it, - and he must say, it is actually pretty spacious, enough for him to fit three long couches in a semi-circle at the center with room for more.
Come to think of it... Jacob slowly crept forward, one careful step at a time. It wasn't visible from the door, but the living room had two different layers; the circular part at the center which he had to go two steps to reach, and everything else around it, also shaped in a loose circle. Jacob nodded in satisfaction as he went down the last stair and into the center of the room.
He can already see it, there would be a circular rug here with a sea-dollar pattern as well as the three couches of his imagination, all of them snugly fitting to one another, just a foot shy from the square glass coffee table that he's gonna place in the middle of the three couches, then at the front? A TV. Or maybe an equivalent of it?
"Hm." Jacob hummed, do TVs exists here? Wait, of course they do, how else would long living creatures like liches and dragons spend their time? Studying all the time? They probably have the equivalent of it in the form of scrying balls or some such.
Or at least Jacob hoped so.
Shaking his head free from the distracting thoughts of possible entertainment, Jacob made his way back up the second layer and took a look around, now that he knows the house won't just collapse on him, Jacob took every detail in- Four beams were placed strategically somewhere in the room's center, just outside of the actual one, and to the left and right, two windows were placed side by side, giving him a rather picturesque view of the fields as well as... A windmill?
Jacob scooted over to the left window to make sure he was seeing things right and yep, that is a windmill alright. Not the electricity powered ones, but an actual windmill- the type that grinds down rice. Jacob mused that it was interesting to see that the property had come with something like this before moving on and putting his attention elsewhere, mainly the three doors at the back of the room.
Walking closer to them, Jacob inspected the doors one by one, and all of them led to three different rooms of varying sizes with the one in the middle having the biggest room as well as a semi-intact bed with a horse toy sitting at the middle.
Jacob turned back and then paused- he looked back to the bed to see the horse toy again and saw that it was now gone. Still, he could've sworn that the thing was the cleanest object he'd seen in this house by far.
And he's also sure that he saw it clear as day. Shivers went up his spine and a part of him wanted to run away but he shook those thoughts off, he had magic and if there's anything that ghosts are weak against, it's that. Jacob channeled a [Sharp-Bolt] spell and yelled, "Come out! I saw that horse!" He yelled but got no answer, fine then, Jacob pointed his palm at the bed, "I'm gonna destroy this thing if you don't come out."
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Again, no answer, so Jacob decided to do what he said. It was already broken, anyways.
Once the [Sharp-Bolt] struck, dust flew around and blocked everything, the house started to shake and the ghost, or wraith- decided to come out and swiped Jacob by the front, he raised his hand in time to block the attack but that resulted in a gash going down his forearm.
Well, at least the ghost is actually real. With a self-satisfied smile, Jacob began to channel [Locate] and then activated it, the spell asked what Jacob wanted to find and he answered 'the ghost.' without hesitation. Once the magic circle disappeared from his mind, it was replaced by the feeling of knowing something moving around him, it circled around the room as if checking for any lingering damage that might cause the house to collapse and as it did, Jacob began to channel a [Shield] spell.
His magic circle was shaking when the ghost came back to him and when Jacob thought that it was gonna go for another swipe, Jacob activated the spell directly in front of it, blocking the attack and causing a ripple to form on his barrier. Jacob grinned, "Found you." He said ominously as he channeled [Sharp-Bolt].
He pointed his palm at where he felt the ghost is and as he did, the invisible thing waved back and forth, slowly, at first, then it got faster and faster as Jacob kept his hand pointed at it. "That's right-" He deactivated his [Shield] and cast [Sharp-Bolt], it flew then struck, disappearing in thin air as if the yellow bullet of energy was never there to begin with. "-Panic."
The ghost did so, but not before going for another attack which Jacob easily blocked with another [Shield].
Compared to when the thing thought Jacob couldn't see it, the ghost was now moving in erratic circles while going as fast as it possibly could, it was a far cry from the calm and careful approach of the thing earlier, where it chose to get out of Jacob's way and stayed out, waiting until enough time passed when Jacob would be less suspicious of it attacking him. This tactic, Jacob assumed, made it harder for him to shoot the ghost without possibly predicting it and it would be right- well,sort of.
Jacob kept his hand down as he channeled [Sharp-Bolt] as to not give away where he was pointing, then he watched carefully, waiting for a time when he knows the ghost would continue moving forward instead of changing direction- His hand shot out and an oval bullet of yellow energy shot out of his palm, striking the ghost as it passed through the middle of the large living room.
Jacob felt it falter, then it stopped in its tracks and stayed there, unmoving. He channeled another [Sharp-Bolt] and aimed. That was when the creature decided to speak, "Wait!" an ethereal sound echoed across the room, it sounded too far away to come from the ghost but it came there all the same. Jacob continued to channel his spell, did he want to hear the thing out? "Again, I said wait! I can help you!"
He scoffed, which seemed to have caused the specter panic, "No- I mean I know a lot about this house that you don't?" He continued to channel the spell but then curiosity struck, he activated [Haggling] and the Skill told him to push on, but not too much.
Jacob decided to follow the feeling, "Talk," He said, "But say something wrong and I shoot."
"Okay, okay- first, I can be a guardian of this place." Jacob nodded, a gesture for him to continue, "I always have been, actually." It said, "And I think I can continue doing it even with a change of owners."
[Haggling] didn't really tell him anything, it just kept giving him the feeling that said to put a bit of pressure, but not too much. "And how do I know you won't just murder me in my sleep? Or spy on me for that matter?"
"Well... you're a mage right?" It asked and Jacob nodded, "Great! That means that you can actually lock me down with a spell and I can serve you."
"That's not an option." He answered, remembering his current 4 spell limit.
A laugh reverberated, "If you feel bad for chaining me down, don't I'm fine with it."
"Doesn't mean that I am." He said, "Any other option?"
"You can make me a phylactery?" Jacob didn't miss the part where he can sense the ghost moving slightly as it spoke. Was it stalling for time? Definitely, and Jacob decided to indulge by stopping his channel with [Sharp-Bolt], the spell's magic circle in his mind is as empty as it can get. "So?"
Jacob shrugged, "What do you mean so?"
"I'm literally handing out my life to you!" it said, "It can't get any better than that!" Jacob felt him move again and that was it, he had enough, he activated the spell and when it landed, [Locate] turned off.