10 Inspection

Ensen woke up pretty early the next morning. After all, he basically just slept and relaxed all day yesterday. After he had woken up, he swiftly checked his phone out of habit and noticed an email, informing him that he had a new message on the real-estate site. Eagerly opening up his web browser, he made his way to the site and checked the message. Against his expectations, it was not from the seller of the plot but from the inspector they hired through the real-estate website.

Out of curiosity, Ensen opened the message. The message itself was straightforward, asking when he was free today.

'He sure is all business.' Ensen thought as he clicked on his profile, interested about the person the seller had hired.

Upon looking at the profile, he was immediately impressed. On the page was information about his certificates and degrees, pay-rates, and contact information. His name 'Geoffrey King' was at the top of the page with grand bolded characters.

'Wow, he really did hire the best of the best.' Ensen contemplated, happy that most if not all the flaws that needed to be fixed would be discovered by him. After all, nobody wanted to be in a building with structural flaws or other issues.

Upon finishing analyzing his profile, he quickly replied that he would be free all day today.

Ensen quickly got out of bed, heading towards the kitchen. He wanted to be prepared if he was asked to meet today, plus he also wanted to try to improve his abysmal cooking skills.

Heading towards the stove, he slowly turned on two burners while grabbing 2 pans, a couple of strips of bacon, and an egg.

While cooking, he focused as much as he possibly could towards doing his best job. He couldn't be certain, but he thought he saw a flock of birds seemingly fleeing the area from around him, but he must have just been imagining things.

After a few minutes of cooking, the egg was... completely beyond finished. It was slightly charred. He quickly took it off the stove and set it onto the middle of his plate. After that followed the bacon, Well most of it at least. The bacon itself was stuck to the pan and had to be torn off. Afterward, he managed to rip off what seemed to be three mangled pieces of bacon that were somehow burnt and soggy at the same time. He swiftly moved to his little dining table, marveling at how well of a job he had done.

He swiftly ate his breakfast, mocking the system for his 'unjust' evaluation of his cooking. As if speechless from this act, the system didn't respond.

Deciding to check his phone again, he was met with a response from the inspector. Opening the message, it was as straight-forward as the last message. Simply asking if meeting at the plot of land at 12 pm, at noon.

After agreeing with the meet-up time, Ensen began to do miscellaneous tasks around his apartment to clean up a bit. He washed the dishes, did his laundry, cleaned the apartment in general, and a few other things. Then it was finally time to head over to the land.

After checking the weather forecast on his phone, he quickly changed into his signature blue jeans and a blue t-shirt, preparing for an incredibly scorching day ahead of him.

After grabbing his keys, he made his way towards his vehicle, hastily driving towards the location of his future Academy... well hopefully anyway. While he was slowed down by unfortunately ending up behind a school bus for some of the ways, he finally arrived at the entrance to the plot.

His heart nearly leaped in admiration after seeing the lush dense forest again. Trying to force his eyes to remain on the road, he quickly arrived towards the opening where the building stood. Noticing that there was a large silver truck parked near the house, Ensen pulled up just a little way from it.

Turning off the engine, Ensen hopped out of his car and began walking towards the run-down school. While he was walking towards it, he noticed a middle-aged man dressed in a dirty light-grey shirt with a yellow and orange reflective vest overtop. He also had a tool belt around his waist and dirty, slightly brown jeans, most likely from stains of dirt and mud. He was holding a rather large clipboard with his right hand.

Ensen observed that he was slowly coming strolling over to his direction, seemingly in deep contemplation. Deciding that he should meet Geoffrey halfway, he began walking.

Once they met, Geoffrey just stared at Ensen. For nearly an entire minute they just stared at each other until Geoffrey finally began talking. "So, you're the person thinking about buying this property?" He said in a gritty but surprisingly powerful voice.

"That's correct. Thank you for doing an evaluation of the house. So how does it look?" Ensen said, trying to ignore the intense staring. He was eager but also scared about what the results may be.

"Oh yeah, I have the cost for removal right here." Geoffrey said, handing over the clipboard in his hand with a neutral expression.

With a slightly puzzled look, Ensen received the clipboard and took a swift glance at it.

'Well I can't be too mad, I mean what reasonable person would want to fix this building up.' He thought, realizing his insanity towards the project. But even if he was seen as insane, it didn't change the fact that he wanted to restore the school to its former glory... which wouldn't be hard considering how tiny the school truly was.

"I'm sorry, but I actually want to restore the building, not tear it down. Could I bother you to make a similar list for the cost of that?" Ensen said with an awkward smile, grateful he took the time to map out the costs even if it wasn't for the correct action.

Geoffrey narrowed his eyes, seemingly staring into the soul of Ensen.

"Why do you want to restore it?" He responded suspiciously as if wondering if this whole thing was an elaborate joke. His face shifting into a slight frown, the only change in expression Ensen had seen from him thus far.

Deciding not to argue with him, Ensen spoke "I wish to restore the building so it can be used as a school once again. I know it will be costly, but it will also be worth it."

Much like earlier, Geoffrey simply stared at Ensen for an entire minute before sighing. He rudely grabbed the clipboard out of Ensen's hands and began walking back into the building while saying "Give me a few minutes and I'll get you an estimate, it won't be as accurate as this one, though." he said, shaking the clipboard with his hand. Ensen returned to his rundown car, gently leaning against the hood while staring at the gorgeous clouds overhead, before slowly moving his gaze to his surroundings.

It was as if the land itself spoke to Ensen. Ever since he arrived here, he felt the surroundings became increasingly beautiful. He noticed tiny details he didn't before, such as chipmunks roaming the forest, the sound of happy birds chirping, and even the grass. Although it was severely overgrown due to poor maintenance, there was something charming about it.

After a few minutes, Geoffrey came back with the clipboard in his hand. After handing it over, he said bluntly "The estimation for the removal is at the back if you change your mind. Anyways, I need to be going now, I have another job I need to get to."

Without leaving any room for discussion, he climbed into the driver's seat of his car and quickly left.

Looking down at the piece of paper, the first thing Ensen noticed was it was about three times longer than the removal list. There were multiple issues involving potential renovation. Some of the things listed were checking for and removing asbestos, checking and repairing the foundation, and many more tasks that were essential towards the building being deemed safe. The list went on for a long time, before finally coming to a halt near the end of a paper, with a large number taking its place.

Slightly shocked by such a big estimate of the cost needed for the renovation, Ensen began thinking of his options. While such a large renovation cost would definitely hurt his bank account, he could most likely negotiate a better deal buying the land due to both the removal cost and the renovation cost of the building.

With mixed feelings, Ensen decided to take a little stroll on the shore of the lake. He looked out across the lake, with nothing but pure nature in his sight. Dense forests surrounded the lake on almost all sides.

After finishing his little stroll, Ensen decided to proceed with his plans on renovating the pre-existing building but also keeping an open mind to other options.

He decided to slowly head back to his car while taking in the scenery once more. After he had returned to his car, he slowly got in, wishing he could stay longer before heading on the road. He made his way over to the same burger place he had previously ordered food from when checking the plot out. After ordering the same through the drive-through, a burger with poutine, he pulled up to a parking spot and quickly ate his food.

He quickly got out of the car once he had finished eating to throw away his garbage. When he returned to his car, he noticed a blue box was in the position where his steering wheel previously was.

[Chain Mission 2: Testing the water]