Living Life As A Game: Through And Through 32 New Home

From outside the doors, Sun, Elizabeth, and Atid could hear a knock followed by a man yelling "Open up its the police!"

In response to the interruption, Atid told Elizabeth that he would postpone their talk for after he dealt with the police. He was after all the owner of the building and as the "perpetrator" of the explosion, he naturally had to deal with the consequences.

By the time that Sun opened the door and let the police in, Elizabeth had already withdrawn her needles back into her purse. The two of them were then pulled aside for some simple questions before being left to their own devices outside of the room.

One police officer pulled out a notepad and pen and asked Elizabeth "Do you know what happened here today?"

"Uh… I just heard a loud noise." The police officer wrote down some notes as she spoke.

"So you weren't present when that "noise" took place?"

"Nope. I was outside talking to my, uh… friend." Naturally, Elizabeth was referring to Jane and should they ask for proof, Jane as well as several dojo residents that were also nearby could corroborate her alibi.

"Ok, so why were you still in the room with those other two guys afterwards?"

"I know a thing or two about first aid and some practical medical knowledge… Just wanted to check up on or treat anyone that was hurt."

"Mhmm… ok I guess that's all we need from you for now. But in case we need you in the future, please give us your contact information." The policeman was a bit surprised to hear that such a young girl knew how to administer first aid, but he didn't look too much into the matter for now. To him, she could just be an eager student who started learning about medicine at an early age; nothing too insane.

Elizabeth complied with the police's request before being let go. She was escorted out of the building as the entire dojo would be shut down for the day as an investigation was conducted. Frowning in discontent for having her place of training out of service, Elizabeth decided to go settle her living situation.

She asked the police where Sun was, as she needed her trusty chauffeur to drive her to wherever it was that she decided would become her temporary home — probably some hotel near the dojo or something. But to her dismay, Sun was still being held for questioning.

As a result an unsightly expression developed on her face as she pulled out her phone to look up some places to settle down in. She grew more than a little spiteful as minutes passed and Sun had yet to leave the police's custody as the nearest hotel was 5 miles away. Sure, she could easily run the distance without problem, but Sun was suppose to be her chauffeur!

To normal people this "inconvenience" would be easily resolved with calling for a taxi or asking a friend for a ride. But no, Elizabeth had a wildcard neurotic personality, and losing her chauffeur not one ride after establishing him into her life made her more than just a little annoyed.

She eyed her phone as if she and it were mortal enemies for long enough that Jane had to walk over and ask what was wrong. Elizabeth said "I need to wait for Sun to finish talking to the cops so he can drive me to a hotel..." She didn't even try to explain the rest of the situation.

Consequently, Jane asked "Oh? Are you taking a spa break?" It was a random thought, but given how non-contextual Elizabeth's explanation was, the guess was as good as any.

"Uh… no? I need a place to stay for a while since it's entirely possible that those guys that attacked us know where I live..."

Just the mention of those people that attacked Sun and Elizabeth brought back that hateful aura Jane carried with her. But she quickly cooled off and said "A place to stay? Why don't you just live here?"

"H-here? Do you guys even have space for me?" Elizabeth didn't really know the living arrangements within the dojo as she never really thought about it.

"Of course! We have a bunch of empty rooms; especially in the female wing. Come, I'll show you around and you can decide if you want to stay or not." Jane took Elizabeth's hand and dragged her off to an elevator outside the scope of the police's investigation.

Female wing? Elizabeth knew the dojo was big, but there were entire wings dedicated to living spaces? And they were big enough to warrant needing to be separated by sex? She put away her phone and decided before even seeing the room, that she would be staying.

Elizabeth may have grown up in a household with all the money and luxuries that most could only dream of having. But, because of her feverish antisocial behavior and single-minded interest in gaming, she was used to living relatively close to the average person. Of course that discounted the near hundred-thousand dollar gaming rig she played on…

When Elizabeth was brought to one of the residential units in the dojo, she was given a tour by Jane. Jane walked around the fairly sized room and said "Not to brag, but the living spaces in the dojo are pretty good. All the rooms come with a bed, a TV, a laundry and dryer machine and a closet. If you decide to stay, we even have a fully decked out bathhouse!"

Elizabeth squinted her eyes at the mention of a bathhouse, wondering exactly how all these places fit inside the dojo. However, because she was rather fond of bathhouses herself, the thought only lingered at the recesses of her priorities. Thankfully, even though she wasn't inclined to ask where all these places spawned from, Jane's tour answered the questions one by one.

It turns out that the dojo, was just the bottom level of Atid's — big-ass compendium of — services. Elizabeth didn't know, first and foremost, because she didn't really care. She just showed up for the training in the dojo. Then there was the fact that she had only been here for the last couple days. It was never really hinted that, never mind the whole building… but the whole array of buildings within the block belonged to Atid!

When Elizabeth found out, she could help but think to herself 'Tsk! Makes sense for someone with his power to be so wealthy.' Even she herself didn't know what she was cursing. It could be because of her lack of desire to know more about the people around her or maybe just her own stupidity.

In any case, after Jane showed Elizabeth around the various places within the dojo's building, Elizabeth happily agreed to stay for the time being. Jane gave her the keys to her new room and told her that later, after Atid finished dealing with the police, they would discuss what she would pay while staying as a resident; if she was even required to pay in the first place…

Before leaving Elizabeth, Jane said "My room is 2234, it's literally like right over there. Today will obviously be an off day since you know… the dojo is shut down so we can't really use any equipment for training. So, if you're bored or something I won't really be doing anything."

And just like that, Jane left. Elizabeth wondered to herself if that was how people usually acted when they wanted some company. But no matter how hard she envisioned herself acting that way, the conclusion to each round of imagining led to her feeling increasingly weak in the gut.

She got over trying to act coy and began to take care of business. Elizabeth took out her phone and opened up the largest e-commerce app in the world; Amazon. For the next couple of minutes, she bought more sets of sports clothes and ordered them for the fastest delivery option that was available.

After that, she stored away her beginner armor set and began to train right then and there. She still had a deadline to meet and whether she'd admit it or not, watching the numbers to her skills and stats rise was starting to become addicting.

Now, because Elizabeth only needed to improve her Strength and Defense, she forgoed the process of a slow continuous burning routine that she had acclimated towards these past two days. Instead, opting to recklessly "waste" her Inner Strength in intense bursts of strength and body resistance training.

If not for the thick walls of her new room, people would likely be able to hear aggressive tapping noises come from her room as she did dynamic squats and jumping jacks. Within minutes Elizabeth would crash from the extreme usage of her Inner Strength as she did dozens of reps with only a single breath.

She alternate between the aforementioned exercises, meditation, and push-ups and squats for the next three hours before her Strength and Defense reached 20 and the breakthrough to Level 5 could be achieved at anytime.

Chapter end