Chapter 438 - 432 : Prelude To The Tournament 1

"Ha. This should be enough, right?"

Staring at the bags filled with rocks Sato wiped the sweat off his forehead as he stood up straight and stretched his body. Finally, he then glanced towards the side.

"What do you think?"

"Meow."

Milo, who lazily laid on the ground and licked its paw, replied with its custom meow ignorant of what Sato was talking about.

"You're definitely a strange one. Even though I haven't signed a contract with you, or acquired the [Beast-tamer] subclass, you've decided to stick with me and help me out. Maybe it's my luck."

Unlike the [Summoner] class that already had a basic skill for it, players required a special beast-taming scroll to make a creature serve them.. The only other exception to this was the subclass, [Beast-tamer], which a lot of players have been trying to acquire. Not only could the class subject monsters to the will of the user but it could also improve the user's affinity to non-violent monsters. The subclass was so rare that many believed it didn't exist, but due to a rumour that had spread sometime in the past, some still refused to give up.

'Speaking about subclasses.'

Sato opened up his interface and skimmed through the latest notification.

[[ System notification :

Subclass [Miner] has been unlocked.

________________________

Subclass [Miner] has leveled up.

________________________

Subclass [Miner] has leveled up.

]]

Subclasses in Infinite Realm covered many aspects of life, from high to low. Jobs like farming, security, author, bartender, pub manager, and so on were even covered. But unlike the top subclasses, which went by the collective name of lifestyle classes, the lesser subclasses weren't so formal and could easily be acquired. 

Take for instance how Sato spent over 4 hours mining and not only had he acquired the subclass [Miner] but he had also leveled it up twice. Compared to [Blacksmith] that was still at the first stage for more than 2 weeks now, the difference was obvious.

'With this many minerals, I should be able to experiment on a few works.' 

Sato became enthusiastic as recalled the forging blueprint for the Metal-braced wooden bow and arrow he had gotten after the team had defeated the Kobold King. 

The main material needed for the bow and arrow was 2-star material Iven wood; which wasn't difficult to get, and 2-star metal Dawn Steel which was the main problem as procuring it in large quantities wasn't easy or cheap. However, thanks to the feline little fella that led him here, the hardest issue was solved with much ease.

"Alright then, lets' go." 

Saving the location to his system map for easy referencing for future use, Sato then departed the area alongside his new comrade, Milo.

Unlike arriving, leaving wasn't so easy. Because there was no official carriage station close by, Sato had to follow the main road and hope that a carriage heading to Black Rock City would pass. Otherwise, he would have to walk the distance back, and that wasn't much of an option.

Depending on the speed of the carriage as well as the number of stops it undergoes, it takes approximately an hour to an hour and a half for a carriage to reach the Maldora Canyon stop, which was still some distance from the actual site. If Sato were to trek the distance, even if it meant him running at full speed, it would take him at least 4 hours, if not 5 hours to make it back. This was equivalent to the amount of time he spent mining. Obviously, it would be a dumb decision to walk.

Luckily, Sato didn't have to wait long to get a carriage and return to town.

Black Rock City…

The sky had already begun to dim by the time Sato had alighted from the carriage. According to the ratio of In-Game time to Real-time, this meant that it was either 12 am or 12 pm(noon) in reality[1]. This time, however, it was noon.

'I'll have to log out soon enough and take a break.' Sato thought as he navigated his way over to the Blacksmith guild in the city.

During night times, the monsters in the fields get a nighttime boost, becoming stronger than normal while giving out fewer rewards. It wasn't just in IR but in other VR games that had nighttime in their universe collide with the peak hours of reality, as decided by Alliance Health laws.

The whole point of this was to diminish the enthusiasm of players and make them spend more time in reality, away from fantasy, and to prevent their mental health from being eroded by the time dilation. 

But as a way to somehow bypass this regulation indirectly, most VR games increased the luck of their players in fields at night times by between 0.3-0.6, while also adding special rewards. The increased luck only affected the quality of rewards and not quantity. So while the quantity of items gotten from loot isn't increased, nor the chances of even getting a reward increased, the quality of an item gotten would potentially increase. That means that the possibility of getting a certain reward at night time or successfully farming a rare piece of equipment was increased during the dark periods in games. 

However, when comparing this to the low reward quantity, it wasn't really worth spending such long periods gaming unless important.

The Blacksmith Guild in the city was a lot larger than the one in town. Just the guild's area alone covered a large expanse of space. There were a total of 5 buildings at the site; 2 stores; one 3-storey building by the left and a 2-storey building in front, a 3 storey-building to the right, a 3-storey dormitory behind, and a main building with 4 floors at the centre.

Confused about which building to head to, Sato made his way towards the main building at the centre as he felt that was the administrative block.

"Hold." Two guards in full-body black amour stopped Sato.

"State your reason for visitation." One of the guards said.

"I'm an apprentice blacksmith and new in town." Sato pulled out his apprentice badge and showed it to the two guards.

They both lifted an eyelid when they saw him do so using a space ring but they immediately recovered. Space rings weren't rare in the city and as guards of the famed blacksmith guild, they had definitely seen a lot of people with one. They had even seen the famed creators of such equipment so there was nothing surprising about it. They were all stunned that Sato, who claimed to have arrived from a town, had one. Thinking that he was a son of some nobleman, they had recovered immediately.

"I'm looking to rent out a practice room." Sato explained.

"Considering that you're an apprentice blacksmith, you should head over to the forging hall." The guard who previously spoke up replied.

The forging hall was the 3-storey building to the left when facing the main building's entrance.

"Thank you." After receiving directions from the guard, Sato then departed. But at the back of his mind, he was shocked.

The forging hall was an entire 3-storey building, with there being 4 other buildings. Ignoring the one at the front which served as a store from the number of people packed up as well as the design, Sato wondered what all the other 3 buildings served as.

'To own such a large expanse of space in a city, the Blacksmith guild is definitely a behemoth.'

Meanwhile, at the top floor of the main building which was the 4th floor[3], a sturdy middle-aged man stood by a french-style wall-to-floor window as he gazed at the city.

"How are the preparations for the tournament going?"

"They are doing alright, master. We just sent the news to the branch guilds in the various towns, I trust that within a week, more and more blacksmiths would be heading over here." A young man who stood behind answered.

"That's good. Do well to make sure that this doesn't become a bust. The neighbouring cities have already uncovered their own talents while we're lacking behind. I don't like it." The middle-aged man expressed.

"That little fool Owen told me that he found some talents in that backwater Riverdale. I do hope that they attend this and are a bit pleasing to the eye. One of the Marquis' sons is attending this event and he's looking for young up-and-coming blacksmiths to develop a force for his father. Even though we can't hand over our talents, we can still help him in this way and at least he would owe us a favor. Hopefully, that little fool is right this time around."

AN :

[1] Time dilation details in IR (2:1) :

Real-Time                              IGT IR

Wee hours of the day(12am-6am)        Night + Wee hours

Mornings (6am-12pm)                  Mornings + Afternoon

Afternoon (12pm-6pm)                Night + Wee hours

Night (6pm-12am)                      Mornings + Afternoon

[2] A reminder that the building styling is based on American standards. Ground floor(British/European) becomes 1st floor. So a 4-storey building is a 3-storey building by British/European standards.