Chapter 122 - 118 : Heading Back

"That's enough for today. Let's stop here."

With the fall of the last Kobold, which was a level 7 creature, Sato stared at his teammates.

"It's almost 5pm in real time. *Sighs* Can't believe we've been at it for 4 in game hours." Fudo sighed.

"Alright. So how many [Teleportation runes] do we have?" Sato asked the squad.

"We already completed for ourselves the double requirement and this includes Xue'er's. Counting in the ones we got from these last batch, I'd say we have 3 extra runes." Lu Zhen replied him after recounting their expedition.

With Xue Yan's map, they were able to reach the Middle region's 5th floor in time about an hour ago or so; this was in real time of course so when calculated, it becomes 2 hours in game time[1].

Unlike the 4th floor and the other lower floors, the 5th floor monsters weren't your regular Rock Golems. The new addition were similar but also different from their old counterparts. They were miniature Rock Golems, human sized Earth golems and so on. There were even a few totally new monster species down here; the Earth moles and a few Ground Rats which were based off a few creatures that existed in the Old era.

The Earth moles and Ground Rats were human sized rodents that had quite a superb dexterity and fast reactions. During their first encounter with these creatures, Lu Zhen had almost died as he was caught off guard by a tail whip from a Ground Rat. If not for Fudo's great timing, he could have been dead after all, these creatures were all level 7 at the very least. Yes. The monsters on the 5th floor were all level 7s though they sometimes spotted a few level 6s here and there.

"Good. Hand me those ones." Sato outstretched his hand. Lu Zhen then dropped the remnants of their hunt into Sato's hands before stepping back.

"Okay. Let's test it out then." Sato pulled out two [Teleportation rune] before dropping the rest into his storage bag. "Oh, right! Just in case it works, we meet later; possibly by 9PM real time or I might just call you all."

"Okay."

From the info about the [Teleportation rune] Sato got from the item's details and also the beginner knowledge he had read in a Blacksmith guide book, runes usually worked by using mana. This sounded bias as Physical classes can't use mana so the runes also had a secondary activation path. It could either be by using blood or expressing your intentions on the rune[2]. The [Teleportation runes] were equipped with all of the above named activation sequences and so, even if one wasn't a mage class, they could still use it.

After receiving their replies, Sato used one of the [Teleportation runes] to save his current coordinates. Doing this wasn't so bad as all one had to do was glance at their location while clenching the rune in their hand and then say "save location" or something similar, in their head. Using this method, Sato saved his current location's coordinates before dropping the [Teleportation rune] that had the coordinate into his space bag. [Teleportation runes] they got all had a blue colour but after having saved his coordinates, the one Sato had held became red.

'Now, to try this.'

[Teleportation runes] had two simple functions, first to store location coordinates in Black Grill's Cave and the other to arrive at the stored location. Logically speaking from this angle, it is impossible for a [Teleportation rune] to send them to the entrance of Black Grill's Cave unless the coordinates were stored in it but Sato had an instinctual feeling that it could do so. Why? Because not only was the [Teleportation rune] only practical in Black Grill's Cave but also because he believed that it would be weird for the System to have made it possible to return to the last floor explored but not the entrance; but it being weird didn't mean it was impossible for the System to act like that. Of course, this idea of his could only proven to be true if he could demonstrate it in action. If it where anyone else, they might not know how to do so but Sato had already thought it out and he did so with a question.

If [Teleportation runes] could send you to the location stored in them, what would happen if you activate them without storing a location?

Normally, one would answer "It wouldn't work" or something like that but Sato thought otherwise.

'It has a chance of working, though a very small one, but if it does, it should send us to the exit or maybe a secret chamber. Either way, it's a win-win.'

Taking a deep breath, Sato squeezed the [Teleportation rune] in his hand as he yelled in his mind, 'Teleport'.

The others then watched as a tons of tiny blue runic symbols appeared out of nowhere and clung to Sato's body as he was engulfed in a dazzling blue light, turning into a human sized blue sun. In less than 2 seconds, this phenomenon was gone, together with Sato's figure.

"Did it work?" Xue Yan hesitated before asking.

Xue Yan was actually against Sato's idea as she thought that it wouldn't work. The reason why she thought so was that most games were systematic; if they said that swords could only be used to stab then it could only be used to stab and not to slash. She thought that Infinite Realm would be exactly like that so she felt that Sato was just doing something that was no good to gundy[3]. Now however, seeing a reaction occur before her eyes with Sato going missing, Xue Yan was starting to think that maybe she was wrong.

"Let me call him first." Fudo hurriedly opened up his system interface and seeing that Sato's name was colored green, signifying that he was alive, he silently breathed a sigh of relief before clicking on the name and tapping the audio call button.

[[System : Outgoing Audio call.

Calling Sky Blade… ]]

[[System : Audio call accepted]]

"So what happened? Why didn't you call back? Did it work?"

"It surprisingly did work." Sato chuckled in response to Fudo's questions. Even though it was his idea, Sato had actually felt that the chances of it succeeding was less than 50%.

"For real right? You didn't get sucked to a void crack or something or even into a hidden chamber?" Fudo asked.

"Nope, none of that."

Fudo sighed. "Damn."

"Oi. Fatso, don't tell me you wanted to me to go missing or something?" Sato's voice sounded in his ears.

"Hehe. Not really but finding a hidden chamber would have been much better than just being sent to the exit." Fudo chuckled. That was indeed true. Though being able to return to the main entrance was already good enough, if they could enter a hidden chamber, they would have been the first to reach there, explore it and possibly find some good treasures.

"Enough of your dreams, get over here with others too."

"Roger."

[[System : Audio call terminated]]

After ending the call, Fudo turned to face the others.

"So, how did it go?" Lu Zhen asked. Fudo had answered the call in a private mode[4] so Lu Zhen couldn't hear anything. Though he could see his lips moving, he didn't know how to read lips.

"It worked...?" Xue Yan, unsure of her statement.

"Yep. We can easily return now." Fudo grinned.

'To be able to see a feature like that without any direct hint...that Sato guy is smart.' Xue Yan was in awe of Sato. She always prided herself of being smart but she never thought in that direction. While she looked at Infinite Realm as the usual other VR games, Sato had already accepted it as another reality.

'I guess it might not be bad being in this team if he's the one leading it.'

After a short period of amazement together with admiration at Sato's ingenuity, the team all proceeded to take their [Teleportation runes] out before saving their current coordinates on one of them and using the other to leave the place. Multiple 'blue suns' formed before disappearing within seconds with no sign of any living creature apart from the indications of a battle being all over the place.

However, even though there was no sign of any living creature, that didn't mean that there wasn't any...

With a short flash of blue light, 3 figures appeared by a dark spot close to the main entrance of Black Grill's Cave. These three were Fudo, Lu Zhen and Xue Yan. The [Teleportation rune] didn't send them exactly at the entrance but rather at a hidden spot that was blocked off by a huge Boulder from the main road. There was a formation engraved at the spot they stood. This place was just a few metres away from the entrance; give or take, 40 metres away.

After regaining their senses, the three began looking around for Sato.

"Over here." Sato waved at them. He had been standing guard by the boulder so they didn't notice him immediately after they had arrived.

"That was cool! Let's go at it again." Fudo exclaimed. After he activated the rune, he only felt a strange feeling of weightlessness before his entire vision was occupied by total darkness and the next thing he knew, he was here.

"As long as you do mind having a way to return back, you can use your last rune." Lu Zhen smirked.

"Tch. It isn't as if you don't know that I was joking." Fudo twitched his lips. He might like yo play dumb but he wasn't really dumb. Fudo obviously knew that using his last rune just for fun would really be stupid; same as shooting himself in the ***, since he wouldn't be able to return unless he hunted down a Kobold by himself.

"Enough. The main road is this way. Once we leave, we go out separate paths till 7pm real time. 4 in game hours should be enough for everyone do prepare right? Then till we meet again."

Once he was done with his short speech, Sato walked out towards the entrance with Fudo following close.

Xue Yan and Lu Zhen walked out together but they didn't talk to each other all through their amble till they were close to the "gate".

"He was really telling the truth." Xue Yan broke the silence as she looked at the bustling entrance filed with players and hawkers.

"He might seem unreliable with his rude behavior and cold face but he's a nice and honest guy." Lu Zhen commented.

"You sound like you've fallen for him."

"What the heck? No! I'm as straight as a ruler for godsake!" Lu Zhen quickly retorted.(AN: Don't get offended here)

"Pfft. You should really see yourself right now." Xue Yan laughed prettily. She was already a goddess with her cold personality; a smile on her face just seemed to brighten the area and turn it into a day in a flower field at Springtime.

Lu Zhen smiled seeing her like this.

"Huh? What's wrong with you? Why are you smiling?" Xue Yan stopped laughing.

"Nothing. Just seeing you happy makes me happy too."[5]

"...are you hitting on me?" Xue Yan stared at Lu Zhen strangely. Her cheeks had a light Rosy colour to them but Lu Zhen didn't see this.

*Coughs* "What the heck? I give up. Looks like your brain isn't functioning as usual." Lu Zhen retorted while knocking in her head.

"By the way, where will you go from here?"

"Back to town I guess." Xue Yan replied slowly.

Lu Zhen stared at the players in front before saying "Okay then. Since I have nowhere to go now, I guess I will follow you. We have a lot of catching up to do after all."

"Hmm." Xue Yan softly nodded.

AN :

I have sinned against you all. This was supposed to have come yesterday to tell you all of the premium stuff but I had a night shift and slept off.. So, today I will be skipping work…next chp will have my explanations and apologies.