Infinite Realm

(AN ; Really, suicide isn\'t good.)

"So, we head to town first and get some supplies right? Or do we log off? Cause I\'m really craving some pies right now and not some data pies." Fudo sighed as they were walking away from the entrance. Despite Infinite Realm being proclaimed as a second world, it was more or less so, still a virtual world. As a result of this undeniable truth, some things you could get in reality, you still couldn\'t get it here. That\'s why despite their life in virtual worlds being way more better and fun than in reality, players still had to go offline.

"Yeah. We would head to town first and go offline. Replenishing supplies would come later." Sato replied.

During their exploration in Black Grill\'s Cave, there were times they got injured or received damage. Because they lacked a healer, they had to make up for this with health potions and so they needed to replenish these potions. They could have obviously done so at the entrance of Black Grill\'s Cave but the players who sold supplies did so at a much higher price than in Town. On,y those who were in a hurry and couldn\'t afford to head back to any town close by,would purchase from them.

"Lu Zhen and that pretty snow[1] where heading to town right? Why didn\'t we follow them?" Fudo asked.

"Lu Zhen says they are related but from the look of things, it had been a while since they had a proper conversation. They needed the space."

"Huh? What\'s this? When did our dear cold-hearted Sato understand feelings?" Fudo snickered.

"Hmm?" Sato suddenly froze in steps.

"I, I was kidding. Come on, don\'t do anything to me. You\'re a warm-hearted guy, the best and most friendliest human being ever. I\'m still a virgin!" Fudo cried while slowly stepping backwards.

"..." Sato was stunned speechless even more so as he felt some player\'s attention on him after Fudo\'s misbehaviour.

Ignoring Fudo\'s fallacy, Sato recalled his purpose for standing still. Sato glanced around at the various players here, scanning their expressions and dressing. Even though they had separated from Lu Zhen and Xue Yan, Sato and Fudo were still within the environment of Black Grill\'s Cave so there were still a lot of players here. Some players were hawking their goods while others were looking for players to accompany them into the Cave. All in all, it was quite a vibrant and lively area.

"What\'s wrong?" Fudo noticed Sato\'s abnormality and halted his pace.

"You didn\'t notice? Don\'t tell me you have been getting rusty already?" Sato smirked at Fudo.

Upon hearing Sato\'s words, Fudo didn\'t retort but scanned the entire place.

"...I see." Fudo mysteriously smiled.

"Well then, lets be going." Sato said with a straight face before walking away.

"Hey, wait up!" Fudo chased after him.

On another side, two players who were trying to blend in with the crowd had a frown on their faces.

"Do you think he noticed us?" The player on the right asked his companion.

"...I don\'t think he did right? I mean we are quite far from him and we blended in well…" The other player answered, uncertain of his own words.

"It doesn\'t matter much." Another player uttered from behind them. This player wore a brown colored armor and had a wild beard on his chin. Surprisingly though, he wasn\'t burly ass one would think if they saw his beard; he was just an average guy who happened to have a high testosterone level.

The man continued "Once he leaves here, he will be as good as dead. After all, he\'s here."

Ad interim, one player was hiding in the crowd with black cloaks on. One would think that he/she will actually stand out but that wasn\'t so. It was quite common for some players to wear black cloaks and a few of them were actually present all over here. Because of this, the player didn\'t attract any unnecessary attention. This very cloaked individual was staring at Sato\'s back.

Despite being aware that they were being trailed, Sato and Fudo were moving at a steady pace; nether slow nor fast, without any signs of urgency. They went on like this for 15 minutes and by now, they were already far from Black Grill\'s Cave and isolated from other players, or so one would think.

*Phew* *Schuuk*

"That\'s as far as you go."

An arrow had been shot into the ground, two steps away from Sato. Following the arrows appearance was man\'s voice that reverberated. Sato glanced at a tree in front of him that happened to be the origin of the arrow and also the voice.

Standing on the branch of 25 metre tall tree was a Ranger clad in forest green leather armour that perfectly blended with his surrounding. If he hadn\'t directly revealed himself, it was quite possible that Sato wouldn\'t have been able to spot him.

\'A custom outfit?\' Sato indistinctly frowned. As a an apprentice blacksmith who had already been behind the hammers, Sato could easily identify custom grade and industrial grade equipment. Even though it was a leather armour the man wore, the rules somewhat applied to it too.

Usually, from the manual he had read, industrial grade armour and equipment might come in different colours but the shades were limited depending on the ranks of the product. Using this case as an example, level 5 armors could come in green, red and so on but this was limited to only one shade. So while green is one of the colours used, forest green isn\'t. This is unless the armour was not a level 5 one or it was custom-made.

Logically speaking, it should be impossible for any player to be able to get custom-made weapons after all, the fee for hiring a blacksmith is expensive; really expensive that it even hurts the wallet of those big guilds. Because of the high price tag attached, custom-made weapons, accessories and armours shouldn\'t be able to reach the hands of regular players.

\'Are they from a big guild then? No. I might just be thinking too much.\'

Even though it was said that custom-made equipment were gotten from orders made to blacksmiths, there was another way, treasure hunting. One could get a custom type weapon or equipment from a treasure chest or if they are even luckier, mission rewards.

"Who the hell are you people?" Fudo yelled at the Ranger.

The man, who obviously looked to be much older than Sato and Fudo, glared at Fudo before saying "Since you aren\'t our target, I will give you a chance here and now. Leave or you will regret it."

Fudo didn\'t explode as one would think. Instead, he calmed himself and stared at the man. "Oh? I\'m not you target? Then who is?"

"Are you stupid or what? It\'s obviously not you and there\'s only one more person left. Or is your brain the same as a pig just as your body is?" The man smirked.

"Yo, old man. Do you want to die?" Fudo stared at the man with a smile filled with extreme murderous intent.

The man felt a shiver run down his spine once he looked at Fudo but he quickly regained his composure. "Hmph. I was planning to let you off but now it seems like you will die with him too."

"Enough." Sato finally spoke. "Looking at you, I\'m pretty sure you aren\'t the boss. So where the hell is he? Or is it a she?"

"...what do you mean?" The man stared vigilantly at Sato.

"Stop trying to play it cool and call out your boss. I don\'t have time to spend on cannon-fodders like you?" Sato yawned.

"Cannon-fodder?" The man twitched his lips. "Do you want to die?!"

"Enough, Todo. It looks like the ant is a bit smart." A player clad in full red armor walked out from another area. He had an orange tracker[2] on his head signifying that he was a player who had a lot of blood on his hands and not monster blood.

"Who are you?" Sato asked with a curious expression.

"Tch. Don\'t play dumb with me, bastard!" The newly arrived player yelled. "Take a close look at me and tell me you don\'t know who I am?"

"I don\'t know you."

"Tch. It matters not. You will still die at my, Blood Sword, hands."

Yes. The newly arrived player was Blood Sword[3], the berserker from a while back who had lost to Sato together his team, with Sato reaping the rewards of the Mortal rank chest from them back then.

"Ah~ It\'s you, the loser from back then."

"It doesn\'t matter whether you remember me or not. Even if you beg for forgiveness, I still won\'t let you off easily."

"Who said I wanted to beg you for anything?" Sato replied.

"Heh. You will regret those words. Men. Come on out." Blood Sword called out with a clap following which many players in different clothing and armour, began making their appearance one by one.

"You thought that I was accompanying you in talking hut in actual fact, I was delaying for time. Not only have my men now arrived but they\'ve set up a formation barrier around us. It cost a lot but it will be able to prevent people from hearing or seeing what will happen next." Blood Sword grinned.

"Now do you regret not running away?"

This question wasn\'t targeted at Sato but rather Fudo, who had been given the opportunity to leave.

Fudo ignored him and glanced at Sato. This time they were outnumbered and not by monsters, but players. Even though they were level 8 with their opponents being level 6, they were outnumbered 1:11. In other words, there were at least 22 players on the opponents side. Being outnumbered by monsters was better as they couldn\'t cooperate with each other and use their numbers advantage properly but humans could and they could do even more.

"Hai[4]…Not only did you not learn your lesson before but you also brought even more men. I mean, wanting to die is not bad for you but bringing others to follow you too? " Sato then spoke out loud to his opponents. "Didn\'t they teach you all? Having a pig leader is bad already but committing suicide isn\'t good at all."

AN:

[1] Play on words. One meaning of the name or character \'Xue\' is \'Snow\'…I think I have a probably of naming girls \'Snow\'…a \'snow\' problem, lol.. That\'s a terrible joke.