“So which sub-class do you plan on getting?” Fudo asked Sato while they were at a pub having lunch with their hard earned money.

Even though Infinite Realm is a VR world, the producers were so obsessed in pursuing reality in a digital world that they made it so that if one didn’t have a good rest and a good meal in-game, their avatars may end up lagging due to a reduction in some hidden stats, particularly stamina. As such, players usually either have a meal or take a break or even do both whenever they are free to avoid a reduction in their [Stamina] points.

Still going forward with their idea of pursuing reality in a digital world, the drinks and food in Infinite Realm all gave a different taste and feeling compared to that of other VR games. This was made possible by collecting data on the various kinds of edible and inedible meals available and even theorising the tastes and feelings of food that might not even exist. The end result; various assortments of food and drinks in Infinite Realm, almost infinite in numbers, boasting different tastes, looks, feeling and smell to the extent of some being literally non-existent in reality.

As such, some players decided to engage themselves in the activity of tasting the various different meals available in a VR world unofficially nicknamed as the ‘digital gourmets’. Fudo happens to be one of them. (AN : Precisely why he hopes to roast monsters)

“Probably the blacksmith class or the alchemy class.” Sato said while staring at the table filled with food of which 90% of them belonged to Fudo. ” Are you sure you can finish this?”

“Haha, you underestimate me.” Fudo chuckled. ” This is a VR world not the real world. So no matter how much I eat, I can’t get any fatter.” Fudo smiled while munching on a big piece of meat.

“At least you know you’re fat.”

“…”

Fudo did have a point in what he said. In a VR world, no matter how much you eat, you don’t get any fatter because all that is just a bunch of numbers and strings. However, he made a mistake. This was Infinite Realm, a world that pursued reality by all means. Even though your avatar can’t have a permanent change in appearance without an equipment or such hence it can’t get fat through eating, you will still get cramps from over-eating.

In the end, Fudo spent 15 minutes in the toilet and paid for the rest as take-outs with Sato heading towards the Blacksmith guild to register as one.

Being the economic centre of Riverdale, the West district also housed most of the Sub-class guilds’ branch offices. This enables them to be able to purchase their materials directly from the stores and markets close-by. Sub-class guilds like the School of Cookery normally build their branches in populated areas, in this case, it was in the South district.

The Blacksmith guild was located in the Sira avenue, which accommodated the various sub-class guilds including but not limited to the Alchemist guild, Engineering lab, etc. The infrastructure wasn’t so awe inspiring as this was a town branch. Nonetheless, it was still pretty impressive. Reaching a height of about 3 storeys (AN : It might look wrong but its BrE), it had a 3 metre high arch styled door at its entrance. The entire building was built with a metal theme with glass windows(AN : Of course the windows are made of glass *facepalms* wait…I wrote this…) of which one of them was a French styled floor-to-ceiling window, specifically the one on the 3rd floor. Beside the building was a Smithy that tended to the public.

Entering the building, Sato was greeted with the sight of an almost empty reception hall with only a couple of players, number around 7 or so, and a few other NPCs.

‘It seems like not a lot of people are interested in blacksmithing.’

Walking forward, Sato joined the little queue of players and NPCs at the counter and waited until it was his turn. Since it was a primary town, the employees available were enough to be counted on one’s hands, As a result, despite the small number of players and NPCs present, a queue had ended up forming.

“Next.” The NPC receptionist called out.

“Here.” Steeping forward, Sato finally had a good view of the receptionist. The NPC receptionist was a blonde haired pretty young lady probably between the age of 19-21. If Fudo were here, he would pretty much start flirting with her or even scream ‘Gorgeous’. On the left side of her chest was a name tag with the words ‘Amelia’.

“Intentions for coming?” the NPC receptionist, Amelia, asked with a corporate smile on her face.

“I would like to register as a blacksmith.” Sato stated firmly.

“Another one..” Amelia bent her head down mumbled quietly. Even still Sato heard her clearly.

“Name.”

“Sky-Blade.”

Amelia’s face twitched while she thought ‘All these people coming to register today really have weird names. Gate of hell, Pumpkin peach, Catastrophe now this cute guy is called Sky Blade. Why isn’t there anyone normal?!’ (AN : Yes, NPCs have thoughts.)

Picking up a circular token with the number ’23’ written on it, Amelia passed it to Sato and said “This will be your tag of identity. Hold the insignia at the top with your finger for at least 3 seconds and it will be yours.”

Following her words, Sato pressed his thumb at the insignia at the top for 3 seconds. Once he removed his thumb, he noticed a red liquid slowly seeping into the token.

Seeing the look on Sato’s face, Amelia said “The token absorbs a drop of blood from your finger to sync itself with you. That way, only you can make use of it. It expires after a month so you have to have done the exams and become an official blacksmith. AS of now, congratulations, you are now an apprentice blacksmith.”

Immediately following her words was the sound of the System notification ;

[[ System Notification :

Congratulations on becoming an apprentice blacksmith.

+10 Relationship points with the Blacksmith guild.

2% discount on any product or material bought at a Blacksmith guild. ]]

[[ System Notification :

Congratulations on getting your first sub-class.

+1 Potential Point

+5 attribute points ]]

‘Impressive, I get 1 level’s worth attribute points just from this?!’

Interrupting Sato’s fantasies, Amelia pointed to the side “Take a seat over there and wait awhile for Master Blacksmith Owen to come over and address you all.”

Nodding in acquisition, Sato walked over to a waiting room, which had two long couch and a centre table on which a pile of books were atop, and sat down together with the other players from earlier on a couch.

Studying each other, Sato noticed that of the 8 players present, only 2 were females. One of them wore a black cloak shielding her face from the view of others but the especially bulging parts of her body revealed her gender. The other one was a green haired girl (AN : The future has natural hair colors and a lot of them.) who acted all fidgety. One look at her and one would know that it was her first time either in a VR game or in a group.

As Sato was about to inspect her level and name, the door to the room was opened and a white bearded old man walked in. Despite being old, his eyes were filled with such sharpness akin to that of a beast and his muscles bulging through his garments. He radiated an intense aura analogous to the feeling one would get at looking at a tall mountain from its foot.

“Hmm? I see. Chosen ones eh?”

“…” every player there were quite surprised by the fact that the man had realised one of their identities but they weren’t so shocked apart from the green haired girl. This was due to the fact that some previous games had marketed themselves by making certain NPCs know their identities or even act like a player.

“Whether you are Chosen ones or not, I don’t give a shit. This is the Blacksmith guild and not a battle class’ guild compound so you abide by my rules. Starting today, you are all apprentice blacksmiths hoping to truly realise that title. You have a month ahead of you to prepare for the exams however way you see fit. You can borrow books from the libraries and meet other blacksmiths for tutorial lessons nonetheless, this might cost you a bit. Because of that, you will be receiving a free 1-hour lesson from our blacksmiths so you won’t end up a total dimwit.”

Pointing at the table, the old man continued, “I heard you Chosen ones are supposed to have a good memory and a fast learning speed. So you all have 15 minutes to read the books in front of you. After that, head over to the auditorium by your right and find your assigned blacksmith. I hope before next month, you all would end up as liable blacksmiths.”

After saying so, he turned around and walked off. Upon approaching the door, he stopped, turned back facing the players and said ��Oh yeah, since you all are Chosen ones why don’t we make this more fun? Become an official blacksmith in a weeks time and get rewarded, fail and get punished. Do you agree?”

Once he was done, Sato saw a System notification;

[[System Notification :

Master Owen’s trial

Mission Rating : B

Become an official blacksmith in 1 week time(In-game).

Rewards : Unknown

Penalty : Banned from ever becoming a blacksmith

+30% increase in price when purchasing from Blacksmith guild

Relationship points with Blacksmith guild becomes [Hatred]

System Description : Go big or go home.

System : Accept/Decline (Please reply to the NPC.) ]]

“I accept.” Almost at the same time, two players answered. One of them was the cloaked lady and the other was a burly young man.

“Same here. I accept.”

Eventually, almost everybody accepted including Sato with only one of them, the green haired girl, rejecting it. When she did, some of the players shook their head at her decision feeling it was stupid not to try but even so, the green haired girl still stuck to her decision.

“Good.” Saying so, the old man finally left the room.

As he was doing so, Sato finally recalled that he hadn’t checked the man’s stats so he did so.

‘Inspect’

[[ Name : Owen Triastis

Race : Human

Bloodline : Triastis, ???

Title : Master Blacksmith, Head of Riverdale Town’s blacksmith guild, Son of Royalty, Master Scribe.

Level : ???

HP : ???

Heritage/Legacy : ???

Class (Job) : Swordsman (Warrior)

Subclass : Blacksmith, Scribe

Kingdom : Fallen Heart Kingdom

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