Infinite Realm

S/N Name    Number  Score

1.  Cloudsmith   778   1444

2. Handel Gretkart 111   1425

3.  Green Thorns  324   1345

5. Floating Mirage  787   1201

The scores from the tournament remained displayed on the floating scroll even as the participants and spectators began to depart from the arena. Apart from Handel, who still stood with disbelief while staring at the results, all the other members of the top 5 had left.

Green Thorns was picked up by Yukino and the other members of Emperor's Might just before any other guild could question them. Floating Mirage had left with the others members of the League of Hammers right after making a few deals with some guilds, both top and average ones. 

Despite not taking first place, Floating Miragecould be said to be the biggest winner of the contest as just the deals he had made alone was more than enough to develop the League of Hammers further into becoming a highly valued organisation.

As for Zeke, the NPC who took 4th place, he ended up under the tutelage of a Master blacksmith who took a liking to him. 

With 4 of the top 5 members having gone their ways, Sato www the only who remained behind: though not exactly.

. . .

. . .

. . .

"You might be wondering why I called you over." Kolin spoke to Sato.

In response, Sato simply nodded as he began to study the old man's expression.

Right after the results were announced, Kolin had called Sato over to this office without any explanation. Apart from the two of them, there were two other men, old men to be precise. They were the two old fellows who had been watching the tournament from the private room in the arena, the bearded old man and his white-haired comrade.

While Sato put on a naive and anxious expression, he already guessed that the reason he was called over most likely had to do with the black flames he had used in the tournament. While he knew the origin of the flames, the others had presumed that it was an unknown mystery flame.

And just as Sato had guessed, he was right.

"There are two reasons why I've called you here. The first reason is to give you your rewards for taking first place. As for the second one, we would like to know where and how you got that flame." Kolin narrowed his eyes as he stared at Sato.

The room suddenly became quiet as the three Master blacksmiths all stared at Sato with a slightly intimidating gaze. 

[[ System notification :

Player has been locked with [Intimidating Gaze].

[Willpower] judgement commences.

[Mental Resilience] judgement commences.

]]

'An attribute judgement?' Sato was inwardly surprised.

Attribute judgements often occurred in situations where a player was under an influence or attack but could avoid it by simply possessing the required number of attributes.

In this case, [Intimidating Gaze] was a passive skill that came from the questioning gaze of a higher-levelled character on a lower levelled individual.

If Sato were a man with a weak will, he would break down at the combined gaze of the trio and be unable to tell a lie, perfectly explaining his experience in the Caventry all up to the point he got [Drakken]. However, Sato wasn't such a wimp.

[Intimidating Gaze]'s judgement was dependent on two stats; [Willpower] and [Mental Resilience]. [Willpower] needs no explanation as it's already a popular attribute recognised as a main attribute. However, [Mental Resilience] was different.

Infinite Realm aimed to incorporate reality with illusion by mimicking the contents of the real world into the fake. This included both the features of the real world as well as that of the players. However, there was a problem with this. As a game, it would make more sense for every player to have the same starting point but by following the logic of mimicking reality, this was illogical. 

The physique of every player in reality differed from the other. Some were naturally stronger than most, others had stronger willpower and this, were less scared of 'normal' scary stuff or had better control over their emotions. In summary, every human wss different. Infinite Realm couldn't succeed in imitating reality if they couldn't solve this issue, however as game, in order to promote equality, every player had to have the same starting point. 

Therefore, the developers of Infinite Realm came up with the idea of categorising attributes. The two commonly known attributes were Main attributes and secondary attributes but these ones were closely tied to the player's avatar. There existed a hidden attribute category that was tied with the player's real life physique and stats. It influenced the player's avatar but not as much as the main attributes did. Here, the player's real life stats were reflected onto the avatar, thereby influencing its strength to a degree that couldn't be called too much. 

[Mental Resilience] was one such attribute and it was the real life equivalent of [Willpower]. It was the quantisation of one's mental abilities, including their thought speed, resistance to shock and control over emotions, in the game. 

With all Sato had been through throughout his entire life, his [Mental Resilience] was very high so much so that it was higher than his [Willpower] stats. However, since the attribute was a hidden category, Sato wasn't able to see it.

Even though Sato's [Mental Resilience] was high, his [Willpower] was still low so he wasn't entirely free from the effects of the skill. But he could still decide what to talk about and what not to.

'Here goes nothing.'

"I discovered it in an ancient ruins in Black Grill's Cave during my stay at Riverdale town. After going through a few trials, I managed to gain it as my reward and brought it under my control." Sato narrated.

Mentioning Black Grill's Cave as the location where the flame was 'found' wasn't exactly wrong and it would also prevent the NPCs from having any further thoughts. The curse of Black Grill's Cave was a well-known legend amongst the NPCs living within the area. By simply stating this location as the place he found the flame, Sato would easily prevent the NPCs from having any thoughts about exploring it and they would simply take it as his luck. And as he had expected, things went exactly that way.

"Sighs. I see. It's your luck." The white-haired old man sighed as he shook his head. 

He was previously having thoughts about going to the location Sato had 'discovered' the black flame since it was quite common for there to be more of the same flame present in area in the case of 2-star mystery flames and below.

'Luckily, I used the right words.' Sato sighed internally.

"You said you did a few trials to get it as your reward? Please elaborate the situation more properly.." Kolin didn't give up like the others.