7 Chapter 5 : Incoming Storm

[[System : Audio call accepted]]

"Fudo, where are you ?"

"Haha, I'm awesome, I'm freaking awesome."

"What's with the noise?"

"Hahaha. Sato, you wouldn't believe what happened."

"Alright, let me guess, you got a mission."

"..."

"Fudo ?"

"Leave me alone, let me cry out my sorrow first."

"Stop joking around man."

"Alright, alright. So as I was heading over to Stone Creek Forest, I met a wretched NPC begging on the road. Smelling a mission closeby, I gave him 5 copper coins, however, he rejected and asked me for wine. Luckily, I had some so I gave him a bottle of sour wine. After he was done drinking it all, the bastard asked for more. Then I gambled on him and bought more. After that asshole had made me spend 20 copper coins on wine he finally revealed to me a mission, here take a look."

[[The Ghost Mansion :

Mission Rank : ?

Intro : Around 3 years ago, a wealthy merchant came to Riverdale Town to build his mansion. Eventually, he settled outside the town close to a lake and beside a mountain and hired a couple of guards. A week later, the maids and guards started hearing hoarse screams every 2 nights, and whenever they try to investigate, it stops. Creeped out, the merchant hired mercenaries to find out the source of the screams. They eventually found a hole close by that appeared out of nowhere, exploring it, they saw a monster deep inside which killed them with only 3 mercenaries escaping. Later on, the merchant relocated.

Description : Levi was one of the mercenaries who survived, but his brother and best friend both died, as such, he bears hatred against the creature but can't slay it. Fulfill his wish and slay the creature…

Basic Reward : Void Silver

Time Limit : 3 days]]

"Hey what's with this long mission detail ? it's quite detailed." (AN : PUN intended)

"I guess it's because the NPC was narrating his experience seeing as the mission is based on it. Either way, it's better since we don't need to stress ourselves much."

"Hmm, the reward…" Noticing the words in the Basic Reward section, Sato's breathing pace increased.

"I know right, [[Void Silver]]. A freaking 4 Star material. Even if the mainstream level becomes Level 30, it's still gonna be rare. With such a reward, you can't possibly reject the mission. And that's just the Basic Reward."

Being a Virtual reality, just like reality, infinite possibilities exist. Take for example, a mission to slay a dragon. A player can successfully kill the dragon but with low health left, whereas another can succeed with his/her HP above 50% or even 70% and so on. As such, there are different rewards given by the system based on performance, whereas the Basic Reward is given by the mission. The System's personal reward could be given in the form of an increase in loot rewards or increase in Basic Mission reward depending on the sort of mission.(AN : all these infos are stated on the forum by the producers and some info guilds, to be known later).

"So where are you Fudo ?"

"Right, I'll send you my location now."

*Ding*

Taking a glance at the location in the new message on his System panel, Sato referenced it with the System map.

"Hmm…I'm quite close. I'll be there in 15 minutes."

"OK, I can wait."

[[System : Audio call terminated]]

Staring at a mountain quite a bit far, Sato sheathed his sword once again running but this time without the fear of being hunted down.

'Need to hurry up.'

…

Meanwhile, in Riverdale Town…

In the Fallen Heart Kingdom, the power is mostly centralized at the capital city with the other cities having towns under them. Further down are the rural villages and tribes but these are mostly rare and hardly seen since most natives tend to move to towns or even cities in search of opportunities and a better sense of security.

Every city or town is classified into 3 major types; Primary, Secondary, or tertiary, based on various factors. This categorisation enables a city or town to gain more land, connections, and resources, increasing their financial power.

Just like Black Mountain Town, Riverdale Town is one of the 12 subsidiary towns under the secondary city, Black Rock City. Similarly, Riverdale is also a primary town flourishing in such wealth and culture that one might not realise that it is actually just a town. Home to merchants, lesser nobles, artisans, and people from various communities, it also happens to be one of the towns players can be spawned into upon initial entering into Infinite Realm.

Located in this cultural joint is the Green Relish Pub. A medium-sized pub with quality drinks, food, and accommodation at a cheap price, the Green Relish Pub ended up being a gathering place for most players.

"Hey, did you hear?" A level 1 assassin suddenly spoke up as he stepped into the Green Relish Pub, ignoring the NPCs while focusing on the players.

"What?" someone asked.

"Someone discovered a way to get [[Void Silver]]." the assassin replied

"What's that?" A level 1 berserker questioned.

"You don't know?! That's a 4 Star material, they don't even sell that in NPC stores."

"Whoa, quick, where do I get it?" Another player asked the question in all the players' minds.

With a smile that showed he was satisfied with the attention he got, the assassin replied "Someone released in the forums about a few minutes ago that as long as you give the beggar named Levi who's outside the city wine worth 30 copper coins, he will give you a mission with the Basic Reward [[Void Silver]]"

(AN :

1) Remember when we talked about rewards based on performance…, well if a player completes this mission better, they get more [[Void Silver]] ingots.

2) Yeah, Fudo spent 20 copper coins plus his beginner's sour wine (5 copper coins worth) to get Levi to talk while others spent 30 copper coins. That is because the NPC has initially felt that he shouldn't give anyone else the mission but more wine made him talk, and yeah the NPC 's have feelings. The game producers made them more realistic.)

"Why should we trust you?" A player asked the question in all their minds.

"Right? He's probably a pyscho looking to send us on a wild goose-chase." Another player said.

"Because the player who found the mission couldn't monopolise the rewards due to a group of people interfering and that said player is me. Also, you could simply check the forums and confirm." The assassin replied with a smile that didn't look like one.

"What am I waiting for then? " Standing up quickly, the berserker who had spoken earlier ran out of the pub together with some players.

"Boss, should we?" Looking at the bearded middle-aged man sipping beer, a level 2 cleric asked.

"Don't bother. The fact that the news has already reached here means it's either fake or it has been popularised. If it's the first, no problem but the second simply means we can't monopolise it." The one who answered was a middle-aged swordsman who sat at the same table with him.

"We might as well spend our time levelling up."

"Even so, we should try." Still persisting, the cleric spoke worriedly.

"Can you two just be quiet and let's see what the leader says." This time, it was the last man on the table, an elementalist who spoke up.

"Swift Blade."

"Yes Boss." The swordsman faced the bearded man with a look of inquiry.

"Since when do we ever worry about anything?" Speaking with a deep tone, the bearded man stared at Swift Blade.

"..."

"It might be too early to mobilise everyone but good opportunities like this don't come plenty. Zero!"

"Yes Boss!" Responding with expectations, the cleric looked at the man.

"The main legion hasn't yet migrated over to Infinite Realm, so head over there with Little Song's squad. Also take with you Dream Tiger."

Immediately, silence reigned upon the table as the three men stared with wide eyes at their boss.

"Boss, do I really have to?" Recovering from his shocked state, the cleric, though still retaining signs of shock on his face, asked with a surprised tone.

"With him on board, unless those freaks are participating, you should be able to complete the mission." the man answered White Zero with a nonchalant face while sipping his beer.

"Sure Boss, with Dream Tiger on the job you can count on me." Recovering fully from his shocked state, White Zero stated with full confidence after which he stood up and left the pub.

"Swift Blade, our levels are still low so I want you to head over with our current main force and reach level 5 at the very least before you take on any mission. Understood?"

"Yes Boss." With a wry smile, the swordsman left the pub leaving behind only their boss and the elementalist.

"Are you sure about revealing Dream Tiger this early?" Seeing as there was only the two of them, the elementalist addressed the man with familiarity.

"I thought you were keeping him as a trump card against the other guilds?" One has to know that in their guild, Dream Tiger is the third strongest in their guild lacking behind the elementalist and the middle-aged man, who happened to be their guild leader.

Apart from that, he was currently one of the youngest experts in the guild, showing the massive potential he has. As such, Dream Tiger had been kept hidden from the public eye, improving his martial arts and combat standard. That was until 2 years ago when he made his massive debut for the guild in another VR game, taking on 5 expert class players from a rival 2nd tier guild, Great Ark, and coming out on top with his opponents all dead. Apart from that, he also had other battle records which were enough to show his strength, after which he was kept away from the public eye to undergo special training for a year. Now no one knows what level he has reached, with some suspecting he might be only weaker than their guild leader.

"I know an opportunity when I see one, Uncle Jiro, and this is one we shouldn't miss."

"Whatever you say" Jiro responded, "But you should keep in mind that we ought to prepare. From the info I got, at Level 10, we all move to the city. At that point in time, guild wars would end up a common event."

"Don't worry about it, you have recently had a breakthrough, haven't you ?"

"How did you know ?" Surprise plastered all over his face as Jiro stared at the man.

"Cause I too have recently had a breakthrough." the middle-aged man responded with a grin.

*Sighs*

"I actually forgot, you're named Daichi" (AN : Daichi with the Kanji (Dai) meaning "big or great" and (Chi) meaning "wisdom or intellect". )

If the surrounding players had heard that, they would have been shocked. Hiroshi Daichi, the guild leader of East Crow and one of the top 400 of the Hermes Guild's 'Gamer Expert List'.

The "Gamer Expert List" is one of the lists composed by the Super Guild, Hermes, together with the "Greatest Of All Time", Newcomer List, etc. But what makes it special is that it ranks players based on combat standard and not combat records which the "Greatest Of All Time" uses. The top 200 in the list are normally referred to as "Kings" of which some are monster class experts. Whereas the top 400 are the top-of-the-class experts capable of handling 2 or more average experts and dozens of elites on their own.

(AN : Just gonna spoil it here; gamer ranks, I repeat gamer ranks not player ranks are classified as follows : god-level or god-ranked expert or destroyer, monster-class expert, pinnacle or apex expert, average expert, elites, veterans, noobs).

For Daichi to rank in the top 400 is a testimony of his top-tier gaming skills and combat standards. Once upon a time, 1st tier guild, Achilles Bow, once tried to recruit him, however, he rejected them. Out of anger, the guild tried to destroy his career and his guild. Vexed, Hiroshi Daichi (IGN : Troubled Sword) (AN : IGN; In-Game-Name) led a legion against Achilles Bow, conquering all their sub-bases in the VR game, after which he headed to their headquarters, turning it to rubble. After that, East Crow guild, despite being a low 2nd tier guild, became popular and rose through the ranks to become one of the pinnacle 2nd tier guilds with Troubled Sword's popularity and danger level rising. In the end, Daichi became 378th on the "Gamer Expert List" with his battle against Achilles Bow at their HQ in the VR game, taking the 217th spot on the "Greatest Of All Time". One shouldn't look down on his position as the top 200 are peak class experts who rival monster class experts, with some being monster class experts. So those players are normally beyond reach, leaving behind those below 200. In others, apart from monster class experts and their rivals, Daichi's ranks as the 170 strongest ever.

"With both our recent breakthroughs, we no longer need to hide some of our trump cards. We might as well use them to gain an advantage."

"You're right." Jiro nodded (IGN : Drunken Hog) picked up his cup and took a sip from it.

Unbeknownst to Sato and Fudo, East Crow Guild along with some other mid-tier guilds and countless other players had set their eyes on the [[Ghost Mansion]] mission.