Chapter 138 - 134 : At The Blacksmith Guild

After Sato had sneaked away from the location of the scene, he headed to the Blacksmith guild at the West Gate's district. His main reason for doing so was to research more on the Blacksmith occupation.

After having accepted the mission [Master Owen's Trial] from the Master Blacksmith, Owen Triastis, Sato hadn't yet made any achievements on his sub-class. The mission's duration was only 1 week long and the 1st day was about to go by. Though looking at things from that angle, one would presume that there's still time but Sato has questioned why the System would set such a long duration for a supposedly 'easy' trial. The conclusion he arrived that, the Blacksmith sub-class might be one f the toughest sub-classes ever. This was especially so since he had spent more than 3 hours trying to forge a Low Tier Mortal rank short sword and had still failed. If it were in other VR games, Sato would have succeed in 3 or so tries.

Sato presumed that Infinite Realm wasn't like those games that directed you on everything or took control of you while forging. Infinite Realm required the practitioner to be aware of his abilities and relate with the class. In other words, if he was right, real life Blacksmiths would have a way more easier time than newbies like him. Ever since Sato was born, apart from VR games, he had never come in contact with a hammer. Hell, who still uses hammers even.

'Since I don't have experience, I need to get it. But finding Blacksmiths in reality is a whole lot easier than one would think and practicing here is a lot expensive.' Sato sighed. Even though he and Fudo had made a killing after the Goblin skirmish, he would only be able to afford a few sets of materials. After he was done with that, then what next? It wasn't like money grew from trees or anything plus he would still need those coins to help set up the foundation of his club.

*Sighs* "Life really likes kicking people in the nuts."

As for why Sato was heading to the Blacksmith guild without any plans on forging? Who said that the Blacksmith guild is only for forging?! There were books that he could read there and each of them contained not only the necessary knowledge on Blacksmithing but also the experiences of his seniors and predecessors. If he could read those books and understand them while taking out the important points, Sato's success rate in forging an equipment should increase.

'As they say, knowledge is power.'

Since the hotel he had lodged in was in the West District, it didn't take long for Sato to reach the Blacksmith guild. By the time he had reached there though,it was already 6:24 PM; 6 more minutes before Yato and Fudo would log in.

'Still enough time…'

Walking through the arch doors of the guild, Sato once again stepped into the hall and was still greeted by the same sight of an empty building…not! Surprisingly this time, unlike the last, there a small crowd of players lined up at the counter.

'It seems like they now know.' Sato smirked.

The intel that one would get a couple extra attributes after receiving a sub-class wasn't known to everyone back when Sat had registered. It was only a few hours later that a lot more people began to know of this. After that, most sub-class guilds were filled up with players wanting to gain a few extra attribute points. Even if it was still quite early in the morning (IGT), the Blacksmith guild was open quite sometime ago and so the players were able to have lined up already. They took this opportunity to do so because once the sun comes, out the environment would get clearer and so, it would be pointless to keep standing there instead of leveling up.

According to an estimated statistics by one of the top informant guilds, the super guild Hermes, each novice town (towns players could spawn in) had at least between 1000 - 2,000 players. That sounds like small number but have you ever seen a crowd of 2,000 people? Then you should know how incredible the sight was. 2000 players all crowding the different sub-class guilds just to register, it was understandable that not everyone would have been able to complete theirs yet.

'But that doesn't bother me.'

Sato walked forward, directly avoiding the queue and heading to the counter up ahead.

"Hey, who is that guy? Is he crazy?"

"He actually dares to cut the line?! Who does he think he is?!"

Some of the players began complaining upon seeing Sato's actions but Sato directly ignored them.

"Hey." A burly man blocked Sato from going forward. "Go back and join at the end of the queue."

The man had a metal armour on and a large axe hung behind his back. One look and one would know that his class was a [Berserker].

"Why?" Sato glanced up at him and asked.

The man was quite tall that Sato barely reached up to his neck. Due to the allure of the riches of VR gaming most tall people abandoned the idea of participating in sports and decided to become gamers. Th best part for them was that no matter what case it may be, tall people were always welcomed in any sports and this included E-sports. The [Guardian], [Paladin] and [Berserker] classes were a good example of this and so, most tall people tend to chose those classes.

"Because we all came before you for the registration and it would be disrespectful of you to jump the queue." The man replied.

"On normal days, I might consider your words but today I'm in a hurry so move out of my way." Sato replied plainly.

"No." The man straightly replied.

"...are you sure you want to do this?" Sato said to him.

"Try me." The man replied fearlessly.

As Sato was about to settle this in his own way, one of the receptionists in front had noticed the commotion and walked over.

"What's going on here?" A soft voice asked with a stern tone.

Glancing at the speaker, Sato saw that it was the NPC receptionist he got acquainted with before, Amelia.

"Oh? It's you?" Amelia sad with surprise. She had a good memory so it was understandable that she remembered Sato.

"What's going on?" She asked again but this time with a soft tone. She wasn't yet an official blacksmith or even an apprentice so technically, she was lower ranked than Sato. Hence, there was no need on being strong on him.

"He's blocking my way." Sato explained while pointing at the huge man.

Amelia glanced at him and asked "Why are you doing so?"

The huge man had already felt that things had gone south with Amelia recognising Sato and it even became worse when she addressed him with stern tone but Sato with a soft voice. Nonetheless, he didn't care much.

"He was jumping the queue." The burly man replied in a simple manner just as Sato had done before.

"And so? Do you know who he is? There's no reason for him to queue with you guys so why are you blocking his path?"

"No reason?" The huge man inquired.

"He's already an apprentice Blacksmith so his has his liberties in the guild." Amelia replied without any emotion.

"Oh? I see. Then it's my bad." The man said before turning to Sato. "I apologise." He bowed his head in apology.

'Huh?' Sato was surprised. He never expected the man to apologise from the start especially after seeing his strong front. 'Maybe I misunderstood him.'

"No problem. I too am at fault since I didn't bother to explain properly." Sato bowed slightly.

"Okay." The man said before returning to his spot at the queue. Sato, on the other hand, went forward together with Amelia towards her counter.

"So what can I do for you today?" Amelia smiled at Sato.

"I need to know the location of the Blacksmith library and also get access to some good books. You've been here for awhile right? So you should know some."

The reason Sato had asked her this instead of an actual Blacksmith was because Master Owen had previously mentioned that most of the Blacksmiths are busy people so they aren't enthusiastic to visits. Rather than looking for a genuine Blacksmith to ask such a simple question, he might as well ask a receptionist. Since they have been here for a while, some of them might have gone through the books at the library. This was especially so for those who would want to become one.

"Hmm." Amelia pressed a finger on her chin as she ruminated her words. "Well, the library isn't off limits to anyone so you're free to go there. As for a book to read, it depends on what you're looking for. I have indeed been here for quite a long time already but I wouldn't dare to say that I know all the books. However, I could recommend you some of the ones I've gone through."

"No problem then." Sato replied.

"Okay then. Follow me." Amelia smiled as she left the counter. She glanced over at the resting area and said to a lady who was going through a book "Hey, Shirley,could you please take over for me?"

"Huh?" The lady looked up to see who spoke. Upon seeing Sato beside Amelia, she smirked and replied "Sure thing."

"Alright then, let's go.." Amelia said to Sato.