This feels really good...I have my own place, one that I own myself instead of renting.
I honestly feel kinda giddy...I was pretty constantly broke during my previous life since most of the money I earned went into paying off the debt my deadbeat father had saddled me with, I couldn't even have dreamed of buying my own property back then.
And now, here I am, the owner of a pretty fucking nice apartment. I settled the payment and got ownership of the place right away, which was two days ago.
Yesterday, I went on quite an online shopping spree, buying a whole lot of furniture and appliances for my new place, which were delivered by around evening.
I spend a few hours setting up and organizing the furniture, before heading back to the apartment I'd been renting to clear out all my stuff and move out.
It was pretty late by the time I was done with all that, so I went straight to sleep in my new bedroom, on a brand-new king-size bed with the most comfortable mattress I've ever laid on.
The second bedroom is still empty, I want to plan out exactly what I want to put in it before buying stuff for it.
The I-Watches also work as gaming consoles, so physical consoles aren't a thing anymore.
So, along with the mini-fridge and shelf I'd already planned on, I think I'll get stuff like bean bags, make it a space to chill in. I can use it to smoke and drink in, that way, I can keep my bedroom clean.
Hm?
I glanced at my I-Watch as it dinged with a notification, tapping on the device to bring up the display...oh, it's a message from Ariella.
I've been keeping fairly regular contact with her, we chat every few days for a bit to catch up.
She's been pretty busy at the Guild she joined, going on a lot more raids than my grand total of one since graduation, since her Guild wants to train her up as fast as possible.
There are four Guilds in Sanctuary Theta, the Demonsbane Guild, the Dragon Slayer Guild, the Paragon Guild and the Diva Guild.
Ariella had joined the Diva Guild, which was made up almost exclusively of female Hunters, with only a small handful of male Hunters.
All four Guilds had made offers to Ariella, and she went with the Diva Guild because they made her the highest offer.
After she graduated, she was giving a starting rank of K-Rank, and a couple of weeks ago, she got promoted to Ace Rank. I haven't seen her in person since graduation, I wonder how much stronger she's gotten?
I then opened her message, a slight smile spreading out across my lips:
Ariella: good morning kai
Ariella: how r u doing?
Me: Hey, good morning, Ariella
Me: I'm doing good, how are things with you?
A: not 2 bad, jst finished another raid yday
A: pretty tired
Me: Nice, keep up the good work
Me: Getting along with your Guildmates alright?
A: yh theyre all pretty nice n friedly
A: *friendly
A: hey is it ok if i call u?
Me: Sure, go ahead
As my I-Watch began ringing, I tapped on the display to answer the call on speaker. If you don't want anyone hearing your call, there's a function that manifests a physical hologram of an earpiece around your ear, which works like the Bluetooth earpieces of my previous era.
"Hello?" I greeted her as I answered the call.
"Hey! It's been so long since I heard your voice," She responded cheerfully.
"Yeah, it really has been a while. So, what's up?"
"Nothing much, I just thought it'd be nice to talk to you. You're not busy, are you?"
"Nah, I'm just chilling at home. Oh, on that note, I just bought a new apartment for myself, moved in yesterday," I replied with a smile.
"Hey, that's great, congrats! Maybe I should get my own place soon too," She mused thoughtfully.
"Yeah, since you've been going on High Level raids lately, I'd imagine you should be able to afford it pretty comfortably."
"Mhm, it's pretty crazy, I've got way more money than I know what to do with. At this rate, I could retire by the end of the year and live comfortably for the rest of my life. We'll, not that I'd do that, of course."
"Same here, even with Mid Level raids, I could probably earn enough money in two or three years to easily last me the rest of my life."
"By the way, any updates with that Enrage Skill you mentioned before? Have you started training with it yet?"
I've kept her up-to-date with my Skills, I ended up telling her pretty much everything that I've told Charlotte, plus a bit more, I kinda felt bad about telling someone else something that I haven't told her, so yeah.
There are still a fair bit of lies mixed in, though.
"No, not yet, still waiting on the Chairwoman to get back to me."
"Cool...you know, to be honest, I felt kinda disappointed when you first told me that I'm no longer the only person who knows about your powers. I know it was inevitable, but still, I liked it when it was a secret just between the two of us," She admitted sheepishly.
She's as adorable as ever, I see.
"Yeah, I really wasn't planning on revealing it to anyone else so soon, but I didn't really have an option since the Chairwoman had already figured some of it out, it would've been impossible to hide the fact that I can keep growing more powerful.
But, it did work out pretty well for me in the end, what with the Union helping me get stronger while hiding my powers publicly."
"Yeah, that is pretty cool, you're basically getting the VIP treatment," She laughed in response, before adding curiously, "If you don't mind me asking, what's your Power Level right now?"
"I just crossed 420,000 by the end of my last raid. What about you?"
"Woah, you're really catching up fast, I'm going to need to step things up. I just crossed 500,000 a few days ago, progress has been kinda slow since graduation," She sighed in response.
Then, she's officially crossed the threshold into Ace territory.
"Yup, looks like I'm steadily closing the gap, but I guess you beat me to reaching Ace level. I'll get there soon enough, though.. Best not get complacent, or I'll leave you in my dust," I replied teasingly.
"Hmph, challenge accepted, bring it on!" She declared with a huff, before letting out a giggle.
"Joking aside, the fact that you've crossed the 500,000 mark just over two months after graduation is seriously impressive, way to go."
"Thanks, I appreciate that, though it's not nearly as impressive as how much you've gotten stronger."