Infinite Realm

It didn't take long for Sato to purchase all the needed supplies since they weren't much to begin with; just a bunch of HP potions only. Since it was such a simple deal that he went for, he didn't bother purchasing it at Grynx Merchandise, but went for somewhere cheaper. As for equipment and weapons for the newcomers, Sato couldn't afford them with the meager amount he had, though calling his funds meager might be an understatement. After all, apart from guilds, Sato could pretty much be said to be the richest player currently.

After their spending at Grynx Merchandise back then, Sato and Fudo had left the store with a totaled amount of 80 silver coins. From the time he completed the first mission of [The Goblins' Invasion] quest up till now, Sato had made more than 75 silver coins. If the materials he had gained was added to the equation, Sato's funds would be up to 1 gold coin or so. 1 gold coin! No solo player had been able to make that much thus far. Even a majority of clubs and adventurer guilds haven't been able to make that much from missions and fighting monsters alone. This could only be done by someone like Sato and Fudo, who both had a pretty good luck in getting high level but somewhat easy quests thus far. Unlike the last time Sato had 1 gold coin in liquidity, this 1 gold coin worth of wealth only belonged to Sato. However though, since Fudo had taken the exact same missions as he did, his own funds wouldn't be lacking by much. In other words, adding up Fudo's wealth to the table would equal to a total sum of 2 gold coins!

Sure the money was enough to purchase new gears for everybody since Upper tier Mortal rank equipment could be afforded with a few silver coins, Sato didn't intend on getting getting industrial grade equipment for Yato and Katsuo. However, custom grade ones were a lot more expensive and the main issue was supplying the materials and finding a Blacksmith to forge them. But Sato's intention was never to find one. Then where would he get the equipment you ask? Simple. From the reward from the emergency mission he got while battling Sygrart [1]. Back then, Dream Tiger had cashed in his reward and got a system generated weapon. Sadly, he lost it to Sato in their duel. Neither Sato nor Fudo had cashed in for theirs though. For Fudo, he already had the [Black Alder Staff] which was already an Upper tier Mortal rank weapon. As for Sato, he wasn't yet interested in getting a new sword as the [Bandit's Sword] he had already catered to his needs. If it wasn't for Yato though, he would have already taken the reward.

'The reward says a one Upper tier Mortal rank weapon of choice. I wonder, those it work for high levelled weapons…'

Even though he thought that way, Sato knew that there was no way the System would give them such a heavenly boon so early in the game and even if it did, it would be pointless to get a weapon one can't use, since most weapons have user restrictions.

'However, it's only one piece. We would still need to come back and buy a few new gears but that would be after they have levelled up a bit and gotten used to the game.' Sato thought. Even if he didn't plan on getting them new equipment now, they would still need it to face off against a world class boss.

After settling down his thoughts, Sato then went on to find his crew at the agreed location. During his 'shopping spree', Fudo had sent him a message that everyone had arrived. In response, Sato had replied that they should wait for him at the West Gate and from there they would depart to Black Grill's Cave. Now he was done with his procurement, Sato headed over there.

It wasn't a huge distance from the merchandise area to the West gate so Sato easily reached there in time. He was about to begin scanning round for his crew when he heard a voice calling him.

"Sato. Sato over here."

Turning his head to the source of the call, Sato saw Fudo's plump figure together with a tall Katsuo, same height Yato and Seiichi, who surprisingly still wore glasses even in the game. It wasn't difficult to do so since such accessories could easily be purchased in game but Sato never expected him to do so.

"Yo." Sato simply greeted them.

"What's with that kinda greeting man? It's been awhile since so why would you be like that?" Yato said with a relaxed attitude.

"A while? Wasn't it just a few hours ago when we went to see you at the hospital that we all met?" Seiichi said as he nudged his glasses.

'Ah~ Now I see why he got those.' Sato's inner voice exclaimed.

"Well, what I meant was, that's it's been a while since we met IN GAME." Yato stressed after getting rid of the awkwardness Seiichi had brought with his statement.

"So what class did you get?" Sato asked as he began studying Yato's look from head to toe.

"A [Swordsman]." Yato replied with a haughty smile.

"...damn." Sato replied with only one word but he wasn't sad about that. Their team did indeed need one more close combat DPS player though.

"And you, Katsuo?"

"Well, after Seiichi told me that you guys have issues finding a healer class, I went with a [Paladin]." Katsuo replied. With his tall height and the system provided gear, he indeed fit the role of a [Paladin].

"Alright then." Sato smiled pleasingly. With Katsuo's class as a [paladin], he could provide timely heals for himself and others and even though it was nothing in comparison to that of a [Druid] much less a [Cleric], it was still better than nothing.

"I couldn't get you guys anything since I didn't know your classes, but once you're used to the game, we will come back and buy some gears, alright?"

"No problem. I was already planning on getting used to the controls and configurations here before doing anything else." Katsuo said. Though all modern VR games, in essence, were supposed to be controlled mentally, some had a few bugs, connection delays and movement lags unlike Infinite Realm and this problems were kept in their head sand affected their actions. As a result, Yato and Katsuo would need time to adjust to the game a bit.

"The best way to solve this is the only option you have; fighting." Seiichi stated.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go " Fudo urged the group.

And so, the party of Sato, Fudo, Yato, Seiichi and Katsuo hired a carriage to drop them off at the Stone Creek Forest. Of course, this trip was uneventful as there were few monsters close to Riverdale town. After all, why would a Primary town let a bunch of monsters wander around their location?

Once the carriage was at the entrance of Stone Creek Forest, it halted for the passengers to get off. After paying the driver their fare, Sato and his crew began to walk off towards the direction of Black Grill's Cave. There was still sometime before the agreed meeting time of 7 PM real time. Sato intended on letting Katsuo and Yato level up a bit after all, they couldn't just go to a level 5 map while still being level 0 right? Just one hit, no half a hit, and they would be goners.

"You guys would have to start out with level 1 monster s and so on. You don't need to be in much of a hurry. In game, we still have 1 hour or so. Just get used to your skills and abilities." Sato said to the two.

"Roger."

While they went off in search of a target, Sato called Seiichi to the side.

"What level are you?" Sato asked him.

"Level 6." Seiichi said calmly. If it were anyone else he was talking to, Seiichi would have acted proudly after all apart from the absurd experts and so on, level 6 was the top level but Seiichi knew more and that was why he was calm. In front of the level 8 Sato, his pride as a level 6 player was totally sh*t.

"Level 6? That's not bad and you're a [Ranger] huh? You're in luck. I have something for you." Sato smiled.

"You do?" Seiichi asked. Sato was a level 8 [Swordsman]. Logically, there should be nothing he has that was of interest to a level 6 [Ranger].

"Yes. You could say I got this from…a benefactor. You could even call him a friend, yes a friend." Sato smiled weirdly.

"A friend? You?" Seiichi chuckled.

"Just shut up and check it out.." Sato said as he pulled out a long object from his storage bag.