Chapter 228 - 222 : Unknown Seeker

"I accept."

[[ System notification :

The Caventry's Path (Series)

Mission rating : A 

Mission Status : Accepted(In Progress)]]

Saimon smiled as he had Sato's words. With his body almost completely faded, he nodded at him.

"Alright then. I wish you the best. Don't overdo things. It would be too bad if I don't see you anymore after all, you're the first visitor the hall has had in over 500 years."

Having said all he wanted to, Saimon 's body turned translucent as he vanished completely from the premises.

"He didn't explain the goal of this trial." Sato thought out loud as he stared at the spot Saimon previously stood. 

Glancing around, Sato tried to spot any hint or clue that would help him pin down the aim of the trial.

"Hm? How?"

He didn't know when but Sato had suddenly noticed a rainbow fog that surrounded him and was closing in on him at a slow pace.The fog was looking ethereal and with the unimaginable colouration of assorted colours, it was elegant and appealing. However, Sato felt otherwise. 

While an average human would get an enticing feeling from the rainbow fog, Sato's senses gave him a tingling sensation as if warning him about them. Just like an average person would in this situation, Sato's mind was beguiled by the rainbow fog, making him want to approach it but thanks to his strong mental will, Sato was able to resist it. It was this very weird feeling that flipped Sato's alertness.

'This feeling…' Sato began to frown as a small sensation of fear began creeping in.

[[ System notification :

[Hiatus Feature] activated.

Player is required to go offline and make proper preparations for the mission according to the *Long term Online Preparation Manual*.

If preparations have previously been made or is deemed unnecessary, the trial would resume. Do note, the System strongly suggest Player to make appropriate preparations according to the *Long term Online Preparation Manual*. ]]

'Another system notification. It looks like this mission might be much more dangerous than I thought.' Sato sighed internally. 

With the notification's appearance, the rainbow fog had stopped spreading giving Sato some breathing space.

Sato then checked out the 'Long term Online Preparation Manual' according to the system's instructions. Without a doubt, the statement 'the System strongly suggest Player to make appropriate preparations…' had grabbed his attention. If the System had gone so far as to put that in the notification, it means that the mission was no joke and the dangers involved would most likely affect his real body.

"Indeed. It seems it's that bad." Sato sighed once more.

The Long term Online Preparation Manual was a simple instruction 'booklet' that helped players prepare for long term online connection. Pro-gaming had become a highly regarded occupation ever since the VR sector had massive improvements. Actually, a bunch of other occupations related to entertainment began to shift over to the Fr sector thanks to the fact that just like animations, anything is possible in VR. However, the change in the gaming sector was the most impressive since VR initially began with it. Because of this, a lot of people began to devote their lives to gaming, trying to climb the ladder of success and as things went on, the trend of extremists[1] became popular. 

Gaming extremists/addicts, people who, even at the cost of their mental and physical health, would still keep gaming. While there were a few ways to stop this - for example turning the servers off on a particular day of the week - such methods would sometimes raise dissatisfaction amongst users. As a result, games that didn't make use of such policies adopted the practice of educating players on the dangers of constant gaming and also giving them certain measures to take to reduce the effect of long term gaming. 

The Long term Online Preparation Manual preparation manual Sato just checked out was one such method developed by a verified health care agency for gaming addicts or extremists. This included stocking up on energy drinks especially if one had a cabin since the drinks could be connected to the cabin and at certain intervals, injected into the player's body. For those who used VR helmets though, alarms had to set that would go on at certain times in the day reminding the player to have a meal or take a break. To prevent their game progress from being affected, a special feature, which was only limited to headset users, would activate, pausing their progress in the gaming and leaving it unimpeded. To prevent players from cheating though, this feature was strictly controlled and monitored by the system and wouldn't activate except in scenarios like this.

"I already have a bunch of energy drinks enough for 2 weeks but I think its best to get another." Sato sighed as he began logging off. Because the [Hiatus Feature] had been turned on, the progress in the mission was brought to a stop hence the reason why the rainbow fog had halted diffusing.

[[ System notification :

Logging out from Infinite Real…

Disconnecting from the Heavenly System Universal server…

Disconnecting Neurolink…

Awakening process beginning...

Prepare in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 ]]

"Ha…" Sato released a deep breath upon regaining conscious and taking off the helmet.

"Looks like I've gotten used to the process." Sato smiled lightly as he stood up from his bed.

Glancing at the digital clock by the side, he noticed that the time was 9am, roughly the time the store would open. Because of this, Sato scrapped his original idea of ordering the energy drinks with delivery and decided to walk over there. First of all, he wanted to work out a bit and stretch his legs. Secondly, Sato wanted to go school and round up all the documents and necessary school works needed before graduation. 

Going downstairs, he noticed that the house was empty and saw a message displayed on the LCD panel of the table. Apparently, Old Juro had taken Alice with him to the hospital whereas Hayami went out to hang out with her friends. From his grandfather's statement, the old couple would be out till 4 in the evening and the same went for Hayami.

"She's already a grown-up." Sato sighed as he thought of the little sister he doted upon. 

Apart from his grandparents, Hayami was the only true family Sato had left. Their parents had died long ago so he ended up taking on the responsibility of raising her alongside the old couple. As for the paternal side of his family, Sato never gave a f**k about those guys and it wasn't like they felt any better about them(Sato and Hayami) too. Sato was even sure that if they knew where he and his sister was now, they would capture them. If it wasn't for the Alliance's laws, he and Hayami might end up worse.

Eliminating such depressing thoughts from his head, Sato exited the building after making sure that he had enough funds in his account. His destination was the usual Gamebox Guide.

.  .  .

.  .  .

.  .  .

"You say his teacher is possibly a grand-master?" An old voice resounded in a dojo at a certain place.

"Yes, master." A young man who was sitting in a seiza replied. If Sato, Yato or Seiichi were here, they would remember the young man as Wu Shiyi, the guy who was hired by Yamamoto Ichiro to beat them up before[2]. 

In front of him was an old man that had his back facing him while practicing calligraphy on a bamboo paper. These days, bamboo were quite rare thanks to the constant development of the environment, wild life was quite difficult to spot. Due to this, plants like bamboos were quite difficult to find and could only be grown in greenhouses, making their cost sky-rocket. To be able to get a bamboo slip meant that the old man either had a bamboo garden somewhere or he was stinky rich to be able to afford such for luxury. Funny enough, the answer was both. 

"Hmm…There aren't a lot of grand-masters these days much less here in Shinjuku. I would like to meet the young man, Yi. Schedule a meeting for me, okay?" The old man's voice resounded again.

"Yes, master." Wu Shiyi bowed.

"Alright now. You can leave." The old man said without turning back.

Wu Shiyi then bowed in response, stood up and bowed again before leaving. Once he was gone, the old man stopped writing, gently placing the quill feather he was using to write by the side.

Staring at the bamboo slip before him, the old man sighed as he mouthed out his thoughts.

"After all these years of searching, I've finally found you. It's probably you, old friend."

What was written on the bamboo paper turned out not to be calligraphy but a painting. It was a painting of a middle aged man.. If one focused carefully on it though, they would notice that the man in the painting had a few similarities with Sato's grandfather, Noguchi Juro.