"Apoca-what!?" Aiden shrieked.
He hadn't spent so many centuries in another world only to return to a ruined place. However, it wasn't the first time the system had fooled him.
The deal they had back when he turned into a demon lord was for defeating three hero parties. Somehow, those three parties turned into 777. By then, only his skeletal structure remained, nothing else.
Thinking about those unpleasant memories put him in a foul mood. Aiden lunged towards the nearest window of his high-rise apartment.
The truth lay bare before him. There wasn't a single human in sight below, only devastation.
Buildings had crumbled, overtaken by the forces of nature. From a distance, he could also see patches of blood down below.
It wouldn't be possible for an ordinary human to have such sharp eyesight, but Aiden seemed to have retained some of his physical abilities from the Otherworld.
"Wait, I have the [Longsight], am I still a skeleton?"
He looked down to see pale skin covering his bones. But something was off. The birthmark on his forearm was missing.
Aiden forgot all about the apocalypse and ran around his massive apartment. He found a mirror in the washroom and stared at his reflection.
"What the hell? This isn't me!"
Aiden remembered himself as a chubby guy with freckles. Instead, he saw someone with a sharp jawline staring back at him from the mirror. Even his falling black hair had been replaced by blonde hair.
"Oi, system! Where the hell did you take me this time!" Aiden yelled, swinging his fists in the air.
[Host, this is your homeworld.]
"Yeah, and Satan is my bitch. How come a bustling world has been ruined like this?"
[Searching for Earth's records to quell the host's queries.]
[Last year, half of the planet got wiped out in a meteorite collision.]
[Host's actual body perished in that incident.]
[As compensation, a new body and multiple other rewards have been assigned to the host.]
"…seriously? A space rock? You couldn't come up with something original?"
[It is the most obvious extinction route for any habitable planet.]
Extinction?
Aiden looked out of the floor-to-ceiling window. The world wasn't like what he remembered, but it wasn't anything like extinction. At least not the one he had imagined.
[Humanity still survives. After all, they are like cancerous tumors, finding ways to exist even in more dire circumstances.]
"Did you forget I'm human too?"
[My remark takes you into consideration as well.]
"…"
[Proceeding with new system allocation and skill explanation.]
[Apocalypse Landlord system is now active.]
[You have learned a new skill: Maintenance.]
[You have learned a new skill: Shop.]
[You have learned a new skill: Management.]
[You have earned a new attribute: Funds.]
[You have earned a new rank: Caretaker.]
Aiden's frown deepened upon reading the skill names. None of them were skills that he was familiar with. It was given, considering he had earned a new system altogether.
"Open status page."
+++
Basic Information:
Name: Aiden Black
Status: Alive
Identity: Retired Demon Lord
Current Location: Ruined Residential Zone #3
—x—
Class Information:
> System rank: Caretaker
You are responsible for a single residential unit.
>> Rank Perks:
• One flat under system ownership (other than the owner's exclusive residence).
• Absolute authority inside owned property.
• Basic tenant registration.
—x—
Skills:
>>
Maintenance (Lv. 1):
• The host can perform basic repairs to existing structures within his properties.
• Allows restoring the durability of furniture and facilities.
• Slows environmental decay of said structures.
>>
Shop (Lv. 1):
• Allows the Host to access the system shop.
• The shop is used to purchase basic items using Funds.
• Limited to Caretaker-tier goods (more items and features are unlocked as the skill upgrades).
>>
Management (Lv. 1):
• View a tenant's information.
• Assign basic tasks in exchange for resources/rewards. The tasks can be accepted or rejected by the residents if loyalty is too low.
• Set simple property rules such as maintaining cleanliness.
>>
Sanctuary Barrier (Lv. 1) [Class Exclusive skill]:
• Provides absolute protection for owned properties.
• Owned units become impenetrable to harmful entities (that are not tenants).
• No external force can breach the shelter without the Landlord's permission.
• All hostile damage is nullified.
Skill Cost:
• Requires continuous Funds to maintain the barrier.
• Requires material upkeep (energy, supplies).
If resources are insufficient:
• Barrier weakens, allowing certain entities access to the property without needing the Landlord's permission.
• Internal systems (water, electricity, etc.) shut down if they were available prior.
• Comfort level, loyalty, and other stats of tenants decrease.
Note: All skills upgrade automatically with the host's rank.
—x—
Attributes:
>> Funds: $12,000,000
—x—
Residents:
Current Residents: 0 / 5
Note: The maximum number of allowed residents increases with rank.
+++
The sudden stream of information blinded Aiden, and he quickly closed the status page. Just looking at the bright, floating screen was giving him a headache.
"Even as a demon lord I didn't have such a long-ass status page," he grumbled, massaging his temples. "What the hell is this class?"
Still, he gave the skills a quick glance and realized why his building was the only one left standing.
It was because of his class-exclusive barrier preventing the monsters from destroying the building for now.
Aiden nodded, but he knew the barrier wouldn't last forever. It needed supplies to sustain, and if he didn't find a way to gather the said supplies, things wouldn't remain calm for long.
Just that one status page made him reconsider opening the other tabs. Unfortunately for him, it was the only way to complete his tutorial, and so he did.
The first was the shop tab. Before opening it, Aiden thought it would be the same as the shop he had in the Otherworld, but he was wrong.
Instead of magical artefacts, it listed a handful of survival supplies along with things needed for an apartment.
"Five liters of sealed water for $120!" Aiden shrieked.
It wasn't just water. For food, the shop only had military rations. Other than those, the shop also listed power inverters, emergency lights, first aids, reinforced doors, and other property supplies.
While it had a decent range of products, they were all priced wildly. There were other things as well, but Aiden could only see their silhouettes as those items would unlock once his class upgrades.
"I should check how to upgrade my class first."
Sensing his query, the system came online.
[There are two ways to gather exp as a landlord.]
[First: Complete tasks assigned by the system.]
[Second: As tenants gather experience, a small portion would be provided to the landlord as rent.]
"The second option is useless since I don't have any tenants. Let's just do the missions."
—x—
[Main Quest 01: A Place to Stay]
Description:
A landlord without property is useless, just like a property without residents is meaningless.
>> Objective:
• Register 1 resident.
>> Reward:
• Funds +$500
• Resident joining bonus +$200
• Resident EXP +5
• Landlord EXP +5
>> Failure Condition: None
—x—
Aiden's mouth fell open as the corner of his mouth twitched in rage.
"…I chose to do missions because I can't see anyone to recruit! How the hell am I supposed to get residents when all I see are monsters around the building!?"
With no other choice, Aiden decided to leave his safe haven and look for survivors to recruit outside the building. But the moment he touched the gate, a jolt of electricity coursed through his body.
"Argh! What the hell was that about?"
[A caretaker is forbidden from leaving their property.]
"Okay, I cannot leave, so how the hell am I supposed to find survivors?"
[The host must find the answer themselves.]
[This concludes the tutorial.]
[A has been awarded to the host for mediocre performance.]
"Mediocre? What do you mean by mediocre!?"
Aiden's forgotten rage as a former demon lord was slithering to the surface. The system realized it and bowed out before it could be unleashed upon itself, leaving Aiden with a virtual package.