Chapter 36 - Achieving Independence
After Gustav picked an apartment, the agent, Mr. Kalu, took Gustav to where it was located.
It was only a few blocks away.
This was the edge of the city so Gustav could see the outline of a sparse forest behind this residential area with a well-structured road in the middle that led to the city borders.
They arrived in front of a seven-story building situated in the middle of the third street.
It was yellow and brown in color. It was well structured and didn't seem too fancy neither did it look poor.
Although this area was very far from Echelon Academy, transportation made the long distance seem useless. Gustav would be able to get to school within five minutes after walking to the hover bus station.
Mr. Kalu took Gustav to the third apartment on the last floor.
Each floor had about seven apartments but thelast floor had only four. This was because there was a big balcony up there that covered one-third of space.
The apartment Gustav was about to rent was just beside the door that led to the balcony.
The agent took him into the apartment and showed him how every room looked.
The apartment had two rooms, with a kitchen and a living room that was big enough to fit up to fifty people.
It was really well-spaced. Gustav walked from room to room inspecting everywhere with a satisfied expression.
Even though there was one extra room than he expected he still wanted to go ahead and rent the place after finding out the price.
"Fifty thousand rad?" Gustav asked Mr. Kalu.
"Yes, Mr. Gustav... is something wrong? We can bargain for it if you feel it's too expensive," Mr. Kalu proposed.
'Oh, so the price can still go lower than this?' Gustav was pleasantly surprised as he had been expecting it to be expensive than this.
"Well how about I pay forty thousand," Gustav decided to try out his luck. "Ah, Mr. Gustav forty is a bit lower than the bargain range, can we get it up to forty-five thousand?" Mr.Kalu asked with a wry smile hung on his face.
Gustav still wanted to bargain a little bit more but he remembered that Mr. Kalu had been nice to him since the start and also at this time he had enough money to spare so he decided not to drag it any further.
"Alright, then forty-five thousand it is," Gustav agreed with a smile.
The transaction was done in cash since Gustav didn't have a bank account.
Mr. Kalu was shocked that at Gustav's age he didn't have a bank account but he was lenient enough to accept the payment in cash.
This made Gustav add another activity to his to-do list, Opening a bank account.
Documents were signed and they still had to visit a government agency around that area for proper documentation and access before everything was done.
Around five pm they were done with the process and Gustav was given the key to the apartment.
Mr. Kalu left after a brief talk with Gustav about some other rules of staying in the vicinity.
Gustav stood in the empty apartment with a smile on his face.
"Now I can finally ha..." Before he could complete his words a notification popped up in his line of sight.
[Host has completed the goal: Achieve total independence]
"Hmm? Another goal achieved and this time it says total independence?" Gustav stared at the notification with a surprised look.
"Looks like renting an apartment was the last criteria for achieving this goal," Gustav held his chin in contemplation.
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[Goal rewards]
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Gustav stared at the rewards with a contemplative expression.
"Silent advancement... sounds like a movement related skill," Gustav had a slightly disappointed look because he already had dash and sprint, he was expecting something that didn't have to do with movement.
"I'll need to test this later," Gustav muttered and proceeded to open host attributes on the system interface.
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[Host Attributes]
-Name: Gustav Oslov
-Level: 4
-Class: ?
-Exp: 5260/9500
-Hp: 170/170
-Energy: 80/80
{Attributes}
»Strength: 32
»Perception: 30
»Mental Fortitude: 28
»Agility: 28
»Speed: 30
»Bravery: 28
»Intelligence: 31
»Charm: null
{Attributes point - 36}
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Gustav nodded after seeing his exp increase, "Around four thousand more to go," He muttered softly.
"The rate at which I'm getting exp is really slow... apart from the daily tasks that give me up to fifty, the weekly and monthly quests I completed, and the goals, there should be another way to get more exp," Gustav pondered. He remembered when he was making more research about earth's old days' video games, monsters would have to be killed to get exp but this wasn't a game, this was real life and he had no idea where he would come across monsters that he could defeat to gain exp.
He looked at his level again, "Only moving up three levels in two months is not a good pace... My stats are pretty much progressing well but my increase in levels not so much... I'm like what those old gamers would call a noob, I need to find a way to farm more exp if not it will take a long time for me to unlock shop function, and that class thingy... I'm sure that also has to do with levels,"
Gustav closed the system interface after a long contemplation on solutions.
He stared at the empty apartment.
"Time to go shopping for home materials," Gustav smiled and headed out.
He was still new to this area so when he got outside the building he had to ask around for the closest stores.
He walked past three streets before arriving at a place where several stores could be on the right and left sides.
This place was like a local trading area.
Gustav looked around before finding a store that dealer with installments and home appliances.
Gustav walked into the store which was still didn't have a lot of customers at the moment.
There were rows of gadgets and appliances beautifully arranged within the small store.
Gustav could see projector bulbs that were a modern replacement for television sets.
There was the web board which was a modern replacement for computers.
The entire store was packed with different kinds of gadgets and home appliances.
Gustav wasted no time in selecting the ones he wanted.
At first, the store owner wanted to send him out when he noticed there was a student in school uniform parading around his store and picking different things but when Gustav brought out a wad of cash, the store owner swallowed saliva and became very polite.
He personally showed Gustav around the store, helping him to pick up his desired appliances.
Seeing the way money made the store owner become humble Gustav decided to use him more to his satisfaction. Gustav told the man he wouldn't be able to get everything he bought down to his apartment because they were too heavy for him and he also needed to buy more things in the other store beside them.
At first, the store owner wanted to say Gustav had to find a way by himself but Gustav threatened to go to another store to get what he needed if the store owner decided not to assist him.
Seeing that he was going to lose quite a sum if Gustav decided to go elsewhere, the store owner had no choice but to help.
He first called two of his male workers to help but it still wasn't enough so even he had to assist.
They left the store and headed for Gustav's apartment. Each person was carrying about three cartons where the goods were kept.
They nearly cursed out loud when they found out that Gustav was staying on the seventh floor of a building without an elevator.
They would have to carry the goods that high.
Normally Gustav would be able to use the storage device to keep these goods but he wanted to punish the store owner for almost sending him out earlier.
Somehow the store owner turned out to be a chubby man with a pregnant woman kind of stomach.
'I'm only helping you exercise,' Gustav erased any form of guilt he felt after staring at the store owner who was currently sweating buckets.
Several minutes later they arrived at the top floor and took Gustav's purchases to his apartment.
After this Gustav headed to another store to get other things like cushions, mattresses, wooden structures like reading tables and shelves, e.t.c.
Unlike before Gustav carried all these things back to his new apartment by himself.
He was using this to complete the daily task.
While he was moving to and fro people in the neighborhood had been staring at him an intriguing look.
His face was unknown around here so it was pretty much expected.
He finally brought the last equipment he needed and was headed towards his apartment with a large box in his hand.
He got to the front of the building and was about to head towards the stairs when someone called out to him from the side.
"Hello, are you the new person who stays in apartment 48?"
It was a soft feminine voice.
Gustav turned to the right to stare at who had just spoken.