I turned back to Basil and started to speak.
“Are you re–”
A window opened and I stopped talking.
Acquire residence?
I paused. It was a system prompt. I had said I wanted the house just a few minutes before. Was the system listening? I didn’t think I had said anything aloud. Which was even more concerning. Was the system listening… to my thoughts?
After a long moment, additional information popped up.
The owner of this residence has died. As the nearest lord, and the one responsible for clearing out the zombie infestation, you are eligible to claim ownership.
Acquire residence?
I dry swallowed. This is another twist in a long night I had not anticipated. Attending a party, especially one hosted by people much richer than yourself, usually ended much differently when it was life-altering. The window shook as if to get my attention. I mentally accepted.
Congratulations on your new domicile! As the new owner, you can rename the property.
Current name: Humblecreek Chateau
Suggested name: Blackwood Manor
I snorted. ‘Humblecreek Chateau?’ What about this property suggested humble? The old name was trashy. I did like the ring of the suggested replacement.
“Hey, Basil.”
“Yes, boss?”
He looked up from the key fob he was inspecting. One of the multitude of vehicles chirped in somewhere behind me.
“How does ‘Blackwood Manor’ sound to you?”
He didn’t respond, eyes glazing over as he pondered. Just when I thought he wasn’t going to answer, he finally did. “Like words, boss.”
I felt like face-palming. I didn’t give him any context, sure, but I thought he was smarter than that.
“I mean for the house.”
“What house?”
I looked at him pointedly. He turned around, looking at the mansion, then back to me.
“This is a castle.”
I was starting to understand him better. He had a very literal mind, and as casually as I spoke- acting as if he was a native English speaker like me- a lot went over his head.
“Ah, right. Well, in English, a manor can be a castle. It really just means a fancy house where the gentry or nobility live. I guess, as weird as it is to say, I am nobility now.”
“Of course you are, Boss.”
I nodded, realizing he wasn’t going to be of much help. Shrugging internally, I accepted the name change.
Property name changed. New name: Blackwood Manor.
Would you like to set this as your seat of power?
I paused again. Seat of power? Sounds important. I mentally accepted again.
Congratulations! You have gained your first property. Title upgraded: Noble II. As the first to own property under the new system, you gain a new title: Prime Realtor.
“Cool, new title.”
Basil whipped his head at me so quickly, I was mildly concerned he would accidentally break his neck.
“New title? Again? Are you serious?”
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I nodded. “Yeah. Prime Realtor. Oh, and I upgraded a title, too.”
Basil looked faint. I have no idea how a zombie can look faint, but he managed it.
“I think I need a lie down.”
Following up on his words, he slumped along the nearby wall until he was on the ground, then squirmed until he was flat. I ignored his antics and pulled up my status window, then opened the titles.
Titles: Primordial Undead, Prime Undead, Reborn, Primal Rebirth, Star-born: Dragon, Noble II, Prime Realtor, Royalty, Capable
Primordial Undead:
As the first Undead in your universe, you are the strongest.
+100% to STR, CON, +1 to Luck
Prime Undead:
As the first Undead on your planet, you are among the strongest.
+25% to STR, CON, +1 to Luck
Reborn:
You have been remade into a new race!
+1 to luck
Primal rebirth:
As the first to be reborn in your universe, you are one of the luckiest ever born.
+1 to luck.
Star-born: Dragon:
Dragons are known for wisdom, wanderlust, and hoarding; they build wealth through adventuring.
+5 luck
Noble:
You have seized control of a region!
+1% to all stats!
Noble II:
You have seized control of a region, and set a seat of power!
+2% to all stats!
Prime Realtor:
You are the first to acquire a property in your universe!
+1 to CHA, LUCK
Royalty:
As the first to seize control of a region on Planet Earth, you gain the title Royalty.
+1 to all stats!
Capable:
As the first to unlock an ability on your planet, you are among the strongest.
+10% to abilities.
Some of the titles seemed unfamiliar, but maybe I had just overlooked them. It looked like the upgrade had been a flat increase, instead of stacking. I was already incredibly lucky, but my inner loot goblin wanted even more free stats.
“You okay over there, Basil?”
He waved a hand at me, then let his arm fall over his face again. His muttering was too muffled by his beefy arm to be audible.
“C’mon buddy. Let’s go.”
“How many?”
I paused and turned back. “What?”
“How many titles do you have?”
I did a quick count. “Uh… nine? Yeah, nine.”
Basil bellowed, arms to the sky, shaking his fists.
“NINE?! NINE TITLES? By the gods…”
I shrugged. “I just keep getting them. Can we go?”
Basil groaned like a middle-aged man as he stood. It was weird, because while he was centuries old, he hadn’t behaved any older than me for most of the night.
“I better start getting some second-hand good luck from you.”
“Didn’t you get your first level up in over a century tonight?”
Basil paused. “Shut up.”
He followed me to the car, got in, then sulked in the passenger seat.
“Put your seat belt on.”
“My what?”
I exaggeratedly put mine on.
“Why?”
“Because this is a fancy car, and it will probably annoyingly beep or chime or something if you don’t have your belt on.”
“I can deal with a little beep.”
I shook my head. It didn’t seem like it was worth fighting him. Besides, he was already dead. What would a car accident do to him?
I pressed the start button, and the motor rumbled to life. Basil’s eyes went wide, and I suddenly had a grin to match.
“You’ve never been in a car before, have you?”
“Never a car, nor a carriage.” The hint of nerves made me even more giddy.
“This is going to be fun.”
“What is?”
Before he could get another word out, I threw it into drive and gunned it. He let out a yell that grew in pitch and volume until he sounded like an angry tea kettle. We flew down the long paved driveway, and I braked hard before swinging onto the county road. Basil was bracing himself with on hand on the dash and the other gripping the oh-shit handle like his life depended on it.
We bumped along the road. I remembered the mansion being fifteen to twenty minutes outside the city proper, out in the suburbs, but with enough land that neighbors weren’t close. We drove for forty minutes before seeing what looked to be well-spaced neighborhoods. It was almost like everything had grown distant. More land between the houses.
“Uh, I don’t remember this being like… well, this.”
“What do you mean?”
Basil had finally started to relax, though with the roads being oddly clear and dawn on the way, it was a smooth drive.
I shook my head. “I don’t remember the drive taking this long. It’s like there’s more land than before.”
“Ah, you must have had a small planet before.”
“I mean, I guess? Not really. Our planet was right in the middle for size in our solar system, before the, well, System.”
“The System probably doubled or tripled the size of the planet to adjust for life after the System is established in your universe.”
I nodded slowly. “More space. More resources. Less reason to fight amongst ourselves.”
He nodded in return. “Exactly. Instead of fighting each other over resources, you can focus on getting stronger, as well as defending your lands from the monsters and hostile external forces.”
“Monsters?”
“They likely aren’t spawning yet. Magic is still weak here,” he said with a hand wave. It looked like he was trying to grab the air. “You also skipped the tutorial, which most of the rest of the planet are likely still in. In fact, I would guarantee it. You probably won’t be seeing anyone for a few weeks at least.”
“Good to know. Guess I can take the time to level up. Surely there’s other places I can get XP, right?”
“Yes. There should be dungeons either erupting or constructing right now. That’s part of why the tutorial is here, now. It gives the System time to naturally fold new mechanics into your universe.”
“A peek behind the curtain, cool.”
We drove on in silence for a bit longer. I tried the radio, but nothing was being broadcast. By the time we rolled into the city proper, I was bored. We hadn’t seen anything living, and it was well after sunrise.
“We haven’t run across anything interesting.”
Basil pointed deeper into the city. “That looks interesting.”
I looked where he was pointing and had to agree. A massive skyscraper dominated the skyline. I had to check it out. “Yes, yes it does. Let’s find out what that is.”
“Make it so,” Basil said. I shot him a glance, but he didn’t seem to know he’d made a reference.
“Damn, that makes me sad. I hope my folks are alright.”
“Why?”
“Oh, you just made a reference to a show my parents love. It’s called ‘Star Trek,’ and it’s probably a big part of why I haven’t freaked out yet. It sort of prepared us for aliens and other worlds.”
“Interesting. Regardless, we’ll be at the tower soon. What do you want to do when you get there?”
I frowned and thought about his question. It was a new building, that much I was sure of. But what could I do there? Why did it feel so important that I get there? Questions that only time could answer.