Mr. Von, said in a soft voice. "You wish for land in the capital city, right?"
His voice was oddly melodious, making Eric frown. It was like he had a way to get inside someone's mind.
Eric slowly nodded his head. "Yes. A small one, if possible."
Mr. Von leaned back in his chair and adjusted his golden glasses.
"Small is possible." He said calmly. "But I cannot promise a cheap land, that would be too much even for me."
Ronic gave a dry laugh. "We already expected that."
Mr. Von opened one of the drawers beside him and pulled out a thick file.
He placed it on the desk and began turning the pages one by one.
"The capital is changing fast," he said. "Old districts are being bought, rebuilt, renamed. If you wait too long, even the bad areas will become expensive."
Eric listened quietly. This was exactly what worried him.
He wanted to have a home in the capital city before Mikhail graduated.
Mr. Von stopped at one page and pushed it toward them. "There."
It was a picture of a barren land with its trees and shrubs burned away.
'They really are clearing the area around the capital city.' Eric thought, nodding his head slightly.
Even though there wasn't much to look at in the picture, Eric still gave it a deep look.
Finally, he leaned back and looked at the young man. "I believe this isn't going to be cheap."
"That's true." Mr. Von let out a small laugh.
"You must know that the land in that specific area has already been booked by higher nobility and members of parliament. It is only because I know someone in the royal family that I am able to sell this."
Eric raised his brow at the mention of the royal family.
"He is a fallen noble." Ronic spoke softly in Eric's ear. "His connections are not to be scoffed at."
Eric nodded his head and straightened his back.
"Shall we talk about the money, Mr. Von?" He said softly before asking doubtfully. "Is your name really Mr. Von?"
The young man smiled and extended his hand once again.
"Let me introduce myself properly." He spoke gently. "My real name is Basil Duncan."
---
Mikhail spent almost the entire afternoon with his mother and Olivia.
There was nothing specific to talk about but Mikhail never noticed when the time passed.
When he was free, he immediately walked out of the house wearing a black mask.
'Now that my face is everywhere, it would be a problem if someone recognised me.'
He thought, walking down the busy streets of the city.
Though Methew sat calmly on his shoulder, which was more than enough to reveal his identity.
Mikhail kept on walking while he tried to use [Enhancement] on his hand.
'Hm, I think the effectiveness of the skill has increased by almost thirty percent.'
Mikhail clenched and unclenched his fist before he let go and stopped.
'I wonder how it will affect my luck….'
Mikhail had also been thinking about how to actively use the Akashic Space.
'For now, it only feels like a superficial place with nothing to offer other than summoning.'
Mikhail also wondered if the Akashic Space was like a soul world from the cultivation novels he had read.
'It does have similar functions….'
Mikhail let out a soft sigh and kept on walking.
'The most useful skill I got from this batch is identity stealing.'
Mikhail could already see himself using the skill to its fullest potential.
'I just need to kill those who are criminals, rapists or murderers, and surprisingly enough a noble checks all the boxes.'
Mikhail was already planning to steal at least one noble's identity.
Lost in his own thoughts, Mikhail finally arrived at a luxurious house.
He pressed the doorbell and waited for a few moments.
The door opened and a girl with long blonde hair and baby fat appeared in front of him.
"Hello, Carol." Mikhail lowered his mask. "Is Kevin inside?"
Carol nodded her head and opened the door fully. "Congratulations, big brother."
Mikhail chuckled softly. "Thank you."
"Kevin is acting like he became a king." Carol grumbled, walking by his side. "Urgh, he is such a pain, especially when mother isn't around."
'Wasn't he always a pain? And tame, what is he? A monkey?'
Mikhail only smiled and didn't say anything else. He walked inside and saw Kevin lying on the sofa.
"Yo!" He greeted with a bright smile. "See, they took you in because of me."
Mikhail flipped his finger, careful not to let Carol see.
Kevin didn't mind it as he made Mikhail sit on the sofa while Carol returned to her room.
"Did you get the letter?" Kevin asked. "They are asking us to visit the capital city in three days."
Mikhail blinked as he hadn't found anything like that. "Really?"
Kevin picked up a letter from the table and passed it to Mikhail.
Mikhail opened it and read its contents before giving a short nod. "…They are really calling us quickly."
"They must want us to settle in fast." Kevin said thoughtfully. "I heard the first practical training is to get inside a rift."
Mikhail nodded his head in response as he had heard the same thing. "You need to be an Ascendant to go inside a rift."
He was already one, and Kevin wasn't that far from becoming one either.
'Looks like we will be the first of our batch to go inside a rift.'
Kevin leaned back on his sofa and asked softly. "I wonder which rift they will let us practise in."
"Grade Five." Mikhail replied instantly. "There is no way they will let us enter any other rift."
Rifts were graded by their level of danger. In the history following the death of the Creator God, countless rifts had appeared.
Most rifts were only barren lands with unstable lifeforms, categorised as Grade Five.
Grade Four had monsters around level 30 to 40.
Grade Three had monsters mostly beyond human comprehension, and only those above level 50 could enter.
Grade Two was even more dangerous, where monsters at the level of demigods were not uncommon.
And there was no public information about Grade One rifts.
Mikhail kept on thinking about the rifts when Kevin suddenly said. "Are you ready to leave?"
Mikhail turned his head to look at the boy, who had suddenly turned serious.
"We were meant to leave this place sooner or later." Mikhail replied, smiling. "It's just that our time came early."
Kevin chuckled and leaned back slightly. "I am glad you will be there with me. I don't know what I would have done if I had to leave alone."
"I am not going to be your babysitter." Mikhail grumbled. "And don't think I will help if you piss off some noble."
Kevin gave him a quick glance. "What makes you think I would do anything like that?"
"Intuition." Mikhail replied. "You have always been reckless."
Saying so, he extended his fist towards him. "But that doesn't mean I won't take your side if your cause is justified."
Kevin grinned and fist-bumped him. "My cause is always justified."