Chapter 2182 – Frightening Wealth
When news of the auction for Stone Forest City’s private houses had spread, G.o.d’s Domain’s ordinary players began to wonder if the various Guilds had lost their minds. Multiple Guilds had willingly spent more than 1,000,000 Credits to rent a private house for a single month.
With that kind of money, they could stay in a 7-star hotel for a month and still have plenty to spare.
Yet, these Guilds had spent so much to rent an ordinary private house.
“c.r.a.p! Those private houses are only convenient for travel. Do they really have to go this far?”
“The day I own such a city in G.o.d’s Domain will be the day I become a wealthy tyc.o.o.n.”
“An act! This has to be an act!”
For a time, everyone in G.o.d’s Domain talked about the matter. Many players had even pushed back their grinding schedules to watch the auctions.
When the game’s other powers, those that weren’t partic.i.p.ating in the auctions, found out about the situation, they realized how frightening G.o.d’s Domain tmly was. With the right opportunity, one could earn a truly terrifying amount of money through this game.
Before this, most high-value transactions were conducted with Coins. Although G.o.d’s Domain was quite realistic, and players could trade Coins for Credits, most people stuck with the idea that this was only a game.
However, these players realized their mistake as Stone Forest City’s private houses sold for Credits. G.o.d’s Domain was more like another country in the real world than a game.
As the private houses sold, one after another, an uproar shook Zero Wing to its core.
“Guild Leader, we have already rented out 1,667 units. The lowest closing price is 600,000 Credits, while the highest is 1,740,000 Credits! We’ve officially earned more than 2 billion Credits!!” Melancholic Smile energetically reported.
She had a.s.sumed that they’d be lucky to earn enough to offer Candlelight’s Lifestyle players a stable monthly salary, but they hadn’t even sold one-third of the houses they’d constructed, and they’d already earned far more than they had expected.
They could even afford to replace the Lifestyle players they had lost, not to mention retain the trading firm’s current Lifestyle players.
Moreover, Stone Forest City’s income restored the confidence their players had in Zero Wing and the Candlelight Trading Firm. In fact, Advanced Lifestyle players from other large Guilds had begun to approach Candlelight, interested in joining the firm.
Although Candlelight had been considered a sacred place for Lifestyle players, Star-Moon Kingdom’s various large Guilds had offered compet.i.tive wages to retain their players. This was the only reason that the kingdom’s Advanced Lifestyle players hadn’t flooded Candlelight.
However, now that Candlelight offered Advanced Lifestyle players a monthly salary in Credits, these players couldn’t afford to ignore the trading firm. Ordinary people couldn’t even dream of earning 20,000 Credits per month.
As long as an Advanced Lifestyle player joined the Candlelight Trading Firm, they wouldn’t have to toil in a job they hated in the real world. Furthermore, they could earn 100,000 Credits each month if they became a Master Lifestyle player.
During the few hours the auction was happening, Candlelight had received applications from over 600 Advanced Lifestyle players and 5 Master Lifestyle players. With so many capable crafters, Candlelight wouldn’t have to worry about its development stagnating.
“It seems I’ve underestimated these Guilds and adventurer teams’ desperation,” s.h.i.+ Feng said. Even he was a little surprised to hear Melancholic Smile’s report.
He had expected the private houses to rake in more than the 50,000-Credit record of his previous life. He had, after all, established Stone Forest City in the Bottomless Abyss far sooner than any town had done so in the past. Stone Forest City didn’t have any compet.i.tion, either, so demand for its private houses would be far greater than normal. Still, he hadn’t expected the demand to be this intensive.
However, after giving the matter some more thought, s.h.i.+ Feng found the situation reasonable.
Training, leveling, and treasure—the Bottomless Abyss ranked at the top in all three aspects. It was only natural that expert players would go mad over the Regional Dungeon, especially peak experts from the various large Guilds.
These experts wouldn’t even mind parting with 2,000,000 Credits for such an opportunity, much less a mere 1,000,000. If they got lucky and encountered a few fortuitous opportunities, they’d gain a ma.s.sive advantage over their compet.i.tion. They could even earn back far more income through such opportunities.
“At this rate, Guild Leader, it won’t take long to rent out all of the 3,000 private houses we’ve prepared for today. With the money we’ve earned, Starlink doesn’t have a s...o...b..ll’s chance in h.e.l.l of poaching our members,” Melancholic Smile confidently declared.
Starlink might be able to offer a higher salary to lure away Candlelight’s members, but Candlelight could simply recruit more talented players with their current rates. The trading firm would have no issues maintaining its operations. They might even be able to expand.
“No! I don’t want to rent all 3,000 units today. Let’s stop after 2,000 units. Then, we can rent out another 1,000 units each day,” s.h.i.+ Feng decided, shaking his head.
Demand would only increase if they maintained a limited supply. Since he had such a rare opportunity before him, he had to take full advantage of it. By this time next month, he’d have a very difficult time fetching such high prices for Stone Forest City’s private houses. Moreover, players hadn’t discovered all of the benefits these private houses had to offer. Once they did, prices would rise even higher.
Two billion Credits were enough to settle the crisis Candlelight and Zero Wing faced, so he didn’t mind waiting a few more days before renting off the rest of the houses. He also wanted to set up his own training center in Fenglin City, which would cost a huge sum of Credits.
Initially, s.h.i.+ Feng had planned to build even more private houses and Shops in Stone Forest City to earn the necessary funding for his training center, but looking at it now, the first batch should be more than enough.
“We’re only renting out 2,000 units today? I’ll inform our auctioneers right away!” It didn’t take long for Melancholic Smile to recognize what s.h.i.+ Feng was trying to do. She immediately contacted her staff members in Candlelight’s many Shops.
Shortly after Melancholic Smile relayed the command, the remaining private houses had been rented.
“Everyone, we’ve rented out all of the private houses we had prepared for today. Please, visit us tomorrow,” the excited auctioneers announced to their audiences’ disappointment.
The announcement caused a ruckus throughout the various auction venues.
“What’s going on? Why aren’t there more available?”
“c.r.a.p! You guys barely gave us anything! How could you run out so quickly?!”
“I was just about to make my move!”
The various Guild representatives expressed their frustration about the auctions’ sudden conclusion. Many of the representatives that had held back regretted their decisions. Originally, they had planned to wait out their compet.i.tion before making a move. That way, they could win a private house for much cheaper, but it seemed that their plans had backfired.
“Tian Tong, everyone has gone insane today. Let’s wait a few days before we return. The various powers’ experts should’ve sated their appet.i.te by then. You shouldn’t have any issues winning a bid,” the Level 56 Cleric beside Tian Tong advised.
“I agree.” Tian Tong nodded.
The auctions’ first few days would be particularly lively, but once the various powers had their fill, prices would fall.
The various representatives then returned to their respective cities. Some of the visiting powers had left behind players to keep an eye on the trading firm and report back if anything new surfaced regarding the private houses.
Naturally, the players that had won a private house promptly made their way to Stone Forest City to prepare for their conquest in the Bottomless Abyss. Now, every second counted.