𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟒𝟑
━80 million won! 85 million won! It keeps going up. 100 million! 100 million won!
‘100 million?’
As expected, including Strike of Fear seemed to be the decisive factor. Thanks to Strike of Fear, even those without the Intimidation stat could wear the armor, so the price was skyrocketing as I was witnessing.
“Wow, how high will it go?”
Ignoring Sina’s words muttered to herself, I continued to watch, and I could see the price faltering around 200 million.
‘Ha, 200 million……’
An unbelievable amount even after hearing it directly.
The money earned from hunting Beksha had exceeded 200 million won. Frankly, it felt like I could earn enough to live off of for the rest of my life just by hunting Beksha.
‘Hunting Beksha once a week wouldn’t be bad.’
Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy. As the players’ levels gradually increase, the value of Beksha’s armor would also decrease. Unless it was the best item in Twilight, Beksha’s armor was still a bit lacking to be called the best.
At least, maybe if it was a Legend grade item.
‘But how do I get those Legend items?’
━No, even Unique items are ambiguous, let alone Legend. Since it didn’t drop even after hunting Beksha, it didn’t seem like an item obtainable just by participating in raids.
235 million won! Any more bids? If not, the countdown will begin!
‘Huh? Is it not going up anymore?’
Listening to the countdown that had begun, it seemed like the set armor wouldn’t go up any further than that price. Still, it was a huge amount, so I decided to be satisfied and watched until the final bid was made.
━Ah! 300 million! 300 million won!
‘300 million?’
━Starting the countdown again!
Before the surprise from the enormous amount of 300 million could fade, the countdown started again. As I watched, the countdown ended at 300 million, as if there were no more bidders.
━Sold! The Rare Leather Set and B-rank Skillbook! Sold for a whopping 300 million won!
‘300 million……’
It was still surprising to think about it. Even if it was a Rare set, how could that item, not even enhanced to +1, be worth 300 million? Also, 300 million was more than the money I had painstakingly saved for two years in online games.
‘To think the amount I earned in two years would be surpassed in less than two months.’
Joyful yet disconcerting. Empty yet good. Feeling such conflicting emotions, I could hear the auctioneer’s words ending the auction.
━Then, we will conclude today’s auction. Please visit us again next time.
[The Real-Time Auction House has closed.]
[The winning bid will be deposited on Monday at 12 PM.]
[Would you like to return to your previous location?]
“You must be happy.”
“Not bad.”
“Shouldn’t you buy us a meal?”
Huh? Didn’t Sina say she would buy it?
I thought so inwardly, but since I had earned what I had earned, I nodded and said to Yua,
“Shall we go out now?”
“Yes.”
Yua answered simply to my question and moved to the original location with Sina. I was about to follow them out of here, but before that, I heard a sound.
Knock- Knock━
“Who is it?”
The sound of someone knocking on the door as soon as the auction ended. I stopped my attempt to leave at the sound and spoke towards the door, and as I answered, the closed door slowly opened.
Click━
“Excuse me.”
The person who opened the door and entered was the Branch Manager. Come to think of it, no one other than the Branch Manager would be allowed in here. And he entered with a beaming smile, as if he was very pleased, and spoke to me.
“Thank you, Rudin-nim. Thanks to you, we were able to successfully conclude the first auction we held today.”
“Even if it wasn’t because of me……”
“No, it is. Anyone can tell just by looking at the last item. Ah, more than that, I came here because I have something to give you, Rudin-nim.”
‘Is he giving me an item?’
He said the winning bid would be given on Monday, so it wouldn’t be money, and the only thing left was an item, I thought. And as I expected, the Branch Manager handed me a large, golden coin.
‘Gold? No, it seems a bit big for gold.’
[Ding!~ You have acquired ‘Golden Trading Company’s Golden Coin’.]
“What is this?”
When I asked while looking at the coin in my hand, the Branch Manager began to explain about it.
“This is a coin given only to those who entered our auction’s VIP section. If you collect five of these coins, you can choose one special item from our Golden Trading Company’s inventory.”
“Five?”
To collect five of these, I would have to register four more items like the Rare armor set that was just sold.
‘Would anyone collect these?’
Even if they did, it would take more than a month to collect five. I didn’t know what kind of item they would give, but unless it was something special, there was no reason to bother collecting them. However, as if he had guessed something from my expression, the Branch Manager showed me an item.
“Normally, this wouldn’t be allowed, but I’ll show it to you specially, since you are the Hero Rudin-nim. It’s this kind of item.”
Judging from his tone, it seemed like he was showing me the item because I had the Hero title. Anyway, the item the Branch Manager showed me was a long, rectangular jewel-like object, and I decided to place my hand on it and check.
[Hellhound Summoning Stone] (Special)
Description: A summoning stone containing the soul of a Hellhound that inhabits the Demon Realm. Due to the special function of the summoning stone, it is possible to materialize the contained soul. Also, the Hellhound materialized or summoned in this way grows as it battles, and its growth is virtually limitless.
━Can summon Hellhound (LV1).
━Upon death, cannot be summoned for 60 minutes.
‘What? Is it a growth-type summoned beast?’
Reading the item description, it was definitely different from Karzel’s Card Summoning that I had acquired. While my Card Summoning increased the level of the summoned beast according to the skill level, this one grew with battle experience.
‘But it’s not like there aren’t skills like this……’
“There are also items like this.”
While I was lost in thought for a moment, I saw the Branch Manager take out another jewel and checked that one as well.
[Magic Sword Callis Summoning Stone] (Special)
Description: A summoning stone that can summon the sentient magic sword Callis. Originally a powerful magic sword, it lost all its power in the process of being turned into a summoning stone. However, it is possible to gradually regain its original power through repeated battles, and it also has the property of slowly recovering its durability while in a reversed summon state.
━Can summon Magic Sword Caliball (LV1).
━Upon breaking, cannot be summoned for 120 minutes.
‘Magic sword? A summoning stone that summons a weapon?’
Moreover, this weapon was also a growth-type item. If I leveled up with this weapon, would it become better than the Unique hammer I had? I couldn’t be sure yet, but if it was possible, the value of this summoning stone might be better than any other item.
“How is it?”
“……Not bad. If it’s like this.”
The problem was, of course, the acquisition condition. I needed to collect four more coins, and since the auction was held once a week, it would take at least a month to obtain this item.
Thinking up to that point, I suddenly remembered something I was curious about and asked the Branch Manager.
“How many ranks are allowed VIP entry?”
“The top 5 item registration ranks are allowed VIP entry.”
In other words, it was an item limited to five per week.
“Ah, of course, it can be traded, so you can give it to someone else.”
“Then that’s a different story.”
If it could be traded, I thought I could buy the coins and collect them relatively quickly. I didn’t know how it would actually turn out, though. This was because I wondered if the other players who received this coin would be willing to sell it if they heard the same explanation.
‘I guess I have no choice but to aim for the next auction.’
It was the most straightforward method, even if it took time.
“I’ll look forward to it next time.”
“Thank you for your hard work, Rudin-nim.”
At that moment, the Branch Manager, who had handed me the coin, left with the other NPCs, and I put the coin in my hand into the item window and decided to follow Yua and Sina, who had left earlier.
“Let’s move.”
[Returning to your previous location.]
Fwoosh!━
As I exited the auction house and returned to the original location, as expected, Yua and Sina were waiting. However, the two who had been waiting for me were looking at me with puzzled expressions.
“Why were you so late?”
“The Branch Manager suddenly called for me.”
“Why? Did he thank you for listing the top item?”
“You’re exactly right.”
As expected, her perceptiveness was the best among the people I had met. I affirmed Sina’s words and looked around, and I could see quite a lot of people bustling about, perhaps because the auction had ended.
‘Were all the people I didn’t see earlier in the auction house?’
“More than that, Rudin-nim. Please take this.”
“……?”
Sina handed me something, and when I received it, it was a potion. And realizing that the potion looked exactly like the Rare potion I had seen at the auction house, I tilted my head and checked.
[Fantastic Soul Healing Potion] (Rare)
“This potion is……”
“Three out of the ten failed. I sold five. So there are only two left, but I’ll give them to Yua and Rudin-nim.”
“Yes, I’ll put it to good use.”
I was inwardly surprised, not expecting to receive such a potion. If Sina had listed all seven of these potions, wouldn’t she have been able to earn 4 to 5 million won? However, seeing that she had saved two, it seemed like she had planned to give them to Yua and me from the beginning.
‘But I feel bad just receiving it.’
Well, does it matter? I promised to buy them a meal anyway.
[‘Aizen’ of the Emperor Guild has invited you to the guild chat.]
[Would you like to accept?]
‘Hmm?’
“More than that, what should we do now? Shall we go back to the Tower of Darkness?”
“No, wait a minute. I got a message from the guild.”
I said that and accepted the guild chat invitation, and soon I could hear Aizen’s voice.
━Rudin-nim. Excuse me, but what time is it for you now?
“Time? Well, why?”
━I’m thinking of forming an expedition to explore other regions.
“Expedition?”
I think about it for a moment. The Harpe Empire certainly had a vast territory. But were there places that players couldn’t reach? Since it was so vast, there might be, but such tasks were usually handled by players who specialized in exploration.
“Why an expedition all of a sudden?”
━According to the guild members in charge of exploration, there seems to be no way to pass through a certain forest at the western end. Also, the monsters that appear there are said to be quite high-level, so I decided to lead an expedition there.
“……”
Come to think of it, all the dungeons near here were Emperor Guild’s dungeons. Other villages nearby were probably all claimed by other guilds, so it seemed like the plan was to go to a completely different region.
However, looking at Yua and Sina next to me, I decided to decline.
“Exclude me. There are plenty of combat personnel besides me.”
━I understand. Ah, and the Bulgeun Taeyang Guild said they wanted to see you, Rudin-nim.
“Bulgeun Taeyang Guild?”
I had definitely heard it somewhere, but I couldn’t remember. Which guild was it? As I was thinking about the guild, Sina next to me answered for me.
“Are you talking about the guild in the Karzen Kingdom? I heard they lost the guild war.”
“Ah, that guild?”
━Yes, that guild.
“……”
Why are you answering?
I ignored Aizen’s words, who answered for me, and recalled which guild it was. Jaehoon probably mentioned it, right? He said they were fighting by dragging in other guilds? Thinking about it, that was already a week ago.
‘Anyway, I understand what they want.’
They probably wanted help, right? Thinking about it, it couldn’t help but bother me. Of course, I had only received a request from someone other than the Emperor Guild once, in the Iot Kingdom.
“Tell them I won’t go.”
━Then I’ll tell them that.
[Leaving the guild chat.]
“You’re not going to help them?”
“I’m not a troubleshooter, how can I help them whenever they ask?”
At my words, Sina nodded as if she understood. Anyway, according to Sina’s earlier words, since the Bulgeun Taeyang Guild had lost, there was a high chance they wouldn’t even be able to log into Twilight afterwards.
“That guild is in a pitiful state.”
Judging from her tone, Sina also seemed to know about the guild war that had taken place in the Karzen Kingdom. On the other hand, Yua, who knew nothing, asked in a puzzled tone.
“Why are they pitiful?”
“Huh? Ah, the Yonggammusang Guild hit on a woman, and she turned out to be the girlfriend of the Bulgeun Taeyang Guild Master. That started a fight, which led to a guild war, but they ended up losing.”
It was a simple explanation if you put it simply. And after hearing the explanation, Yua nodded as if she understood, even roughly, and showed a listening attitude.
“Anyway, a lot of people were cheering for them during the guild war. Regardless of the reason, he was a player who didn’t hesitate to go to a guild war to protect a woman.”
“And that guild asked Rudin-nim for help?”
“It’s probably because Rudin-nim is so amazing. From the subjugation quest to the guild war, Kraken raid, and even the guild quest. There are many people on the internet who are disappointed that Aizen and Rudin-nim are in the same guild. They say it would have been an interesting fight if they were in different guilds.”
“……”
It was absurd to hear such compliments while the person in question was right next to me. Or should I say it was embarrassing? Anyway, it seemed like the only way to avoid hearing those words was to change the subject.
“Let’s talk later and go to the Tower of Darkness.”
“To the Tower of Darkness?”
“If we clear all 150 floors, we might be able to rank within the top 1000.”
Although I said that, I wondered if we could actually rank within the top 1000. This was because the majority of players were already using the Tower of Darkness. Anyway, at my words, Sina nodded and then asked a question, as if she was curious about something.
“More than that, Rudin-nim. If Rudin-nim and Aizen fought, who would win?”
“I don’t know because we haven’t fought.”
“Come on~ There’s gotta be a feeling, right?”
Feeling my foot.
Letting out a small sigh at the childish question, I gave a simple answer.
“Someone would win.”
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