Chapter 441 - 436 : New Development And Progress

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Beginning mind transit in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 ]]

From darkness to light, Sato's vision changed as he found himself in a plain room decorated with simple furniture. 

Apart from a bed, a wardrobe, a chair, and a desk, there was nothing else in the room. The room was painted peach and gave off a light and relaxing smell thanks to the scented candles present.

This was the basic style of common inns in IR. The ones in the town were slightly worse but basically, most of them looked the same. It wasn't that there were no good or fancy inns but that this setup was limited to the 'common' ones.

Just as we have in reality, there were different grades in the hospitality of the inns in IR. The grading system was equally the same as in real life, starting from an unranked up to a 5-star hotel. With the increase in stars, the luxury, hospitality as well as treatment in each place would differ by a large amount. 

The inn Sato stayed at was an unranked one and it cost 45 copper coins per night and 80 copper coins for 24 hours, and this was the cheapest inn he could find. Compared to the offers of 15-30 copper coins and 25-55 copper coins respectively in towns(for all ranks), the inns in the city were a lot more expensive. This was even more so since Black Rock City was a big city even when compared with other cities.

Since he only needed it to log off, Sato had only paid for a full day before entering the room and logging off earlier on. 

In IR, when players logged off, they would usually appear at the spot they had logged off or the official respawn point after death which was usually the centre of the town or city they belonged to. In most cases, players preferred to log in at the spot they logged off as it was more efficient, especially in cases where the said player might have logged off due to an emergency. In such a situation, if they had pre-selected their return spot to be the same as their respawn point, the player would have to begin making their way to their original location which meant that more time would be spent doing so.

To avoid such a scenario or anything similar, most players set their return spot to be the same as their departure point. Because of this though, players would need to find a safe spot to log off lest they log back in in the middle of an ambush or a dangerous situation. Hence most players either picked isolated spots if they were outside of a safe zone and hotels or inns if they were within a safe zone.

"Here. I'll be going now." Sato dropped the key back with the innkeeper downstairs as he departed the building.

"Please come again and take care." The innkeeper, a middle-aged woman, smiled as she waved him off. 

During the 1 week Sato had been in the city, he usually lodged at their place whenever he was in town as it was close to the Blacksmith Guild. As a result of this, there was a bit of familiarity between Sato and the innkeeper. Also, the innkeeper had noticed that Sato was an Apprentice blacksmith as he always left the Blacksmith guild's building and usually came back covered in soot or smelling like smoke and molten metal. Because of this, she began treating him a bit better than the others due to his special status. This was what the developers meant when they said that every NPC had its personality and thought process. However, Sato didn't know this neither did he care.

*Rustle*

*Gallop*

As Sato stepped out of the building, he was greeted by a lively scene just in front. Carriages were dashing past him and both players and NPCs filled the street.

It had already been a week in real-time since Sato had arrived in Black Rock City. That was the same as 2 weeks in the game. This was more than enough time for about 65% of the first batch of players in Black Rock Province to make it to the city. Currently, the streets of the Black Rock City had players walking through them and it wasn't strange for one to even spot a level 11 player. Level 12 players were taken as experts whereas level 13 players were very rare. 

This was understandable as the current highest levelled player on the [One Above All] rankings was a level 14 player who was a recognized guild expert with the title of 'King'. he had only just reached the level a few hours ago and was based in another kingdom far from the Fallen Heart Kingdom.

While the player was indeed recognized by the rankings as the highest levelled players, insiders knew that wasn't so. Apart from their face(MVP) and most popular players, every top guild had their strongest men hide their levels from being displayed on the least, keeping it almost like a company secret to use to their advantage. Even Sato knew that the supposed 'highest levelled player' wasn't really worthy of that title, after all, he(Sato) was already at level 16! 

The only reason he didn't appear on the list was that, just like the hidden experts of the top guilds, he had kept his level hidden.

"Where are you guys at?" Sato called Fudo and asked.

Unlike Sato, who went offline during the night to take a break, Fudo, Yato, and Katsuo had been gaming all through the day and night. They were eager to have their level approach that of Xue Yan, at least, so that the overall strength of the team would be boosted.

"Oh? You're finally online. We're at the gambling house, hehe. Just kidding. We are on our way back to the city. The carriage encountered some wild creatures but luckily the guards handled it." 

Nighttime within the game was a very dangerous period as, during this time, strong monsters tend to lurk closer to the city. Luckily for most, the carriage companies usually hired a few guards from the adventurer's association to work with them, though not a lot. So while players' safety wasn't certainly guaranteed, they would at least have a sense of reassurance.

"Okay then. When you guys make it here, meet me at the auction house." Sato ended the call once he received an affirmation from Fudo.

Following that, he then made another call, this time to Seiichi.

"How's the trade going?" Sato skipped pleasantries and asked.

"Good. I've reviewed a store in the outer region and I checked their price. It's not bad but it's not something we could get so soon with the current funds we have on hand." Seiichi replied.

Sato sighed as he said,

"Don't worry about it. I'll think of something. As for now, just keep an eye out for a good store or at least, try and find a reputable NPC store to partner up with for now." 

After he had made it to the city, Seiichi finally got his subclass. But different from the others, he didn't choose a battle-related one or a production class, instead, he got the [Merchant] subclass which was closely associated with dealing in trades between players and NPCs. Unlike the other two types of class, the [Merchant] subclass only offered players an advantage when it came to business or trade but even so, it was difficult to play considering that only those knowledgeable about business and finance would be able to use it to the fullest. Seiichi, however, happened to be one such person.

Being the son of a business mogul, he had taken classes regarding entrepreneurship, business management, accounting, and similar other courses from a very young age. Also, since he was going to be in charge of the team's finances, having a subclass that worked well with his role would prove very useful.

After he was done with Seiichi, Sato then sent Xue Yan a message to meet up with him. Similar to him, Xue Yan had spent the week focusing majorly on her subclass. This was partly Sato's doing and partly her wish so it didn't coincide negatively with her. During this period, Xue Yan had improved on her success rate regarding the production of powerful talismans and enchanting weapons. 

Combining Xue Yan's skills and products with Sato's and Fudo's, the trio was to form the foundation of the team's wealth for future plans and activities.. However, this was on the basis that their production abilities improved with time and maintained a certain standard, else they would lose their ability to sell in the market.