Indeed, a great many players appeared in Aika City on the same night. However, most of them were just there to watch the show as this auction"s entrance fee was one thousand gold coins. That was almost like robbery!
But that was something that couldn"t be helped. The auction venue only had twenty cabins which couldn"t fit more than two thousand people. If the auction hadn"t set the entrance fee like that, wouldn"t they be incurring immense losses by accommodating those players who were only here to watch the show instead of actually bidding in the auction?
One thousand gold coins were approximately equal to the price of a normal Gold-tier item. Most players who were still using normal Silver-tier or Bronze-tier items and gear couldn"t afford that at all.
The cabin"s original price was five hundred gold coins, but they had also increased their prices to ten thousand gold coins!
All slots had been reserved and arranged during the same night, and the auction"s spots were completely sold out! The auctions" organizers earned two million and two hundred gold coins just from entrance fees alone!
Such cunning businessmen! That was such a scam!
In the next day…
“Quick, quick. The auction starts at 9 a.m. Let"s accept a quest first, so we can test our new gear directly after finis.h.i.+ng the auction!” Dazed Kitty bounced up and down as she urged everyone else.
“Slow down. It"s just a little over 8. We"re still early.” Ice Rose smiled faintly as she spoke.
“Yes, yes. Don"t be hasty.” The person speaking this time was another member, a Magic Swordsman. His name was Magic Sword Envoy.
He was a player who had been very immersed with Western fantasy"s Magic Swordsmen, so he quickly took this in-game name when the game started, and naturally chose this cla.s.s, Magic Swordsman.
The cla.s.s categorization wasn"t that clear before this. After his third cla.s.s advancement, the three different Swordsman types could be distinguished very well.
“But it"s good to be early. There are many people trying to take quests in the morning after all. We might even have to queue.” Ocean Waves voiced his opinion at a suitable time.
“Ha! Ocean Waves is the best. Yes, we have to be quick!” Dazed Kitty immediately dashed forward happily.
“Tsk, Ocean Waves. Don"t spoil Kitty so much. We have to catch up with her again.” Grey Leaf, "Little Tangerine" pulled a long face as he spoke.
Ocean Waves smiled helplessly. What he said was the truth after all, and everyone didn"t say anything in objection as they all followed behind.
Several minutes later…
“Wa, there"s a lot of people here. Are the people who have gone to Rank 2 Main Cities all returned?” Dazed Kitty sounded a little surprised as she spoke.
She was the first to the Mercenaries Union as throngs of people fell into her eyes. It was true that some people had returned due to the auction.
“Yes… why are there so many Thieves in stealth mode? All they know is to sneak around and do shady things. How irritating.” Dazed Kitty frowned.
The Mercenaries Union"s main hall frequently had Thieves in stealth mode and observing everything around them. Some were scouts for large guilds, while others were there to specifically tail scalping opportunities. There were others who were like Stone Four, who were there to steal things…
Archers were natural counters to Thieves as their innate ability to detect Thieves were much stronger than other normal cla.s.ses.
“Eh?”
She seemed to have detected something as she placed a tender finger on her chin.
“Why… does it feel like one has just disappeared…”
Dazed Kitty was about to try to focus her senses more closely when her teammates caught up.
“Hey, Kitty. Can you run a little slower next time? Our cla.s.ses can"t outrun you because you"re an Archer.” The person who was talking was a male Priest, and his name was Witty Doctor.
This man was also a doctor in real life.
The entire group behind her caught up at the same time. Dazed Kitty could tell that everyone else was a little unhappy with her and she chuckled awkwardly.
“Hehe, I"ll take note next time. Let"s go into take a quest.”
She forgot to investigate the Thief who had just disappeared.
Everyone left the Mercenaries Union ten minutes later but came out to some light rain.
The drizzle fogged up the air as the buildings and houses in the distance became blurry.
Ice Rose glanced at the other players walking around in the rain as she reached out and felt the rain outside.
“It"s very light. Let"s quickly head to the auction and go in.” Ice Rose smiled at everyone before she created an ice cube in her palm.
The ice cube gradually became a simple umbrella made from ice.
“Wow! You"re so powerful, sister Rose. I want one, I want one!” Dazed Kitty immediately started acting cute as she snuggled up next to Ice Rose and grabbed her arm tightly while she stared at her with a hopeful look on her face.
“Alright, this one"s for you.” Ice Rose handed the umbrella in her hands to Dazed Kitty while she created another one.
Ice Rose rested her umbrella elegantly against her shoulder as she smiled beautifully at the men behind her.
Every man"s eyes sparkled!
“Dudes don"t get any.”
“Oh, no! I also want sister Rose"s ice umbrella.”
“I want one too!”
Dazed Kitty suddenly grabbed her umbrella and bolted into the distance.
“Sheesh.”
She jumped onto the moist ground as she spun her small umbrella.
She bent over slightly with her umbrella open, and she pointed a finger at her mouth mischievously as she spoke with a wink.
“These are just for us ladies, hehe.”
Her cute little teeth could be seen through the corner of her mouth as it curved into a smile, and she looked so cute that everyone was momentarily stunned!
Dazed Kitty had already run off happily into the distance when everyone came to…
Half an hour later, the organizers started their auction as the rain started becoming heavier.
Blue Maple strolled along through the rain as he casually scrolled through the information on the game. He wanted to know how long a player"s proceeds from auctioned items would appear in the player"s account.
Rain splattered over Blue Maple"s s.h.i.+rt and his hair, making them wet, but he didn"t mind at all. However, he wasn"t very used to rain going over his gla.s.ses and causing his vision to be a bit blurry.
“You"re a little confused about something.”
Feather"s voice suddenly appeared, but Blue Maple wasn"t surprised at all.
“Is that so?”
Blue Maple"s answer made Feather go temporarily silent.
“Even though I don"t know the actual reason, you feel a little different from your usual self.”
Blue Maple closed the glowing display panel before him and stopped looking through information regarding the game.
“Perhaps. Travelling through the path for this quest is a little boring, no?”
Blue Maple pushed up his gla.s.ses. He didn"t try to clean off the rainwater over his lens as he knew that would be futile, and he continued walking forward through the rain. Blue Maple"s quest was to kill a Boss.
This quest was just a S-rank quest, and one that was wasting his time a little.
Four hours later, most of the auction"s items were sold, while almost all of the best quality items in this round had been auctioned away.
Eiffel Tower was the only person from the Red Wine Guild who was present. Red Wine didn"t show up personally as he was still busy with his third cla.s.s advancement quest, while most of the group"s other members were probably in a similar situation.
Dusk was the only person present from the Fire G.o.d Guild, while only a commander from the Berserk Overlord Guild was present. As for the Lion Guild…
Not a single senior member showed up. However, there were many normal players who were very liberal with their money, and there was no guarantee that they weren"t from the Lion Guild. After all, every guild urgently needed this set of gear.
Something else that was worth mentioning was there were individuals from two guilds in the j.a.panese region. One of them was the Common Guild"s Vice Spear Magistrate, who had had a run-in with Blue Maple before, and his name was Smooth Light.
Another one was the Deities Guild"s Wizard commander, Fire Spirit.
Every single one of them was in a reserved room, just that n.o.body knew how the j.a.panese guilds" members managed to reserve a spot in an auction inside a European city.
However, the Deities Guild"s room had two uninvited guests chatting away inside.
These two people were Unruly Mr. White and s.h.i.+ning Cross.
s.h.i.+ning Cross didn"t want to come, but Unruly Mr. White dragged him here, so s.h.i.+ning Cross couldn"t really turn him down.
“I"ve heard that the Deities Guild"s Wizard commander is a beauty. Seeing you in person is an honor.” Unruly Mr. White was full of sincere praise for her.
s.h.i.+ning Cross was just drinking tea by his side, and he occasionally made some small talk with Fire Spirit"s subordinates. Clearly, he didn"t really care about what they were talking about at all, and he was here to do nothing.
“Mr. White, you"re not auctioning any gear in our room. You must be here to chat,” said Fire Spirit plainly.
Fire Spirit wasn"t very happy with these two thick-skinned fellows who had just arrived outside her room and walked in. Fire Spirit would have tried to chase them away if she hadn"t seen that both Unruly Mr. White and s.h.i.+ning Cross had better gear than she did, and they were very strong players.
Unruly Mr. White was Level 59, while s.h.i.+ning Cross was Level 58.
Furthermore, they weren"t here for her. Fire Spirit was an enchanting beauty, but Unruly Mr. White didn"t seem like he had any feelings for her after chatting with her for so long. Instead, he was asking about a lot of things.
Almost like he was searching for someone.
“Ahem. I do have a purpose for coming here, but I don"t know how to say this.” Unruly Mr. White suddenly felt a little awkward.
“Oh? What"s that? Tell me.” Fire Spirit raised an eyebrow as she asked.
“Heh, this tea is not bad.” s.h.i.+ning Cross was talking to one of Fire Spirit"s subordinates as he continued sipping his tea.
“Yes, that"s my teacup.” That particularly subordinate spoke with an emotionless look on his face.
s.h.i.+ning Cross took another large gulp awkwardly…
“What I want to say is that I think your country looks fantastic, and I wish to join your guild to have a look.” Unruly Mr. White"s words immediately stunned everyone around!
“Ps.h.!.+”
“Ahem, ahem, ahem! …”
s.h.i.+ning Cross spit out all the tea in his mouth and almost choked as he started coughing vigorously.
“What did you say? You wish to join us, a j.a.panese guild?!” Fire Spirit immediately covered her mouth as she spoke, and she had an incredulous look on her face!
Joining a foreign guild required a lot of courage.
“Uh… if you think I am not enough by myself, then! This fellow can also join together with me. He has a S-rank hidden cla.s.s, and is very powerful!”
Unruly Mr. White pulled s.h.i.+ning Cross over, who was still coughing, as he spoke while wrapping his arm around s.h.i.+ning Cross" neck.
“Cough, cough! You… wait… umph…”
s.h.i.+ning Cross wanted to say something, but Unruly Mr. White covered his mouth roughly.
“Don"t worry. We don"t belong to any guild, and we just want to go over to mess around. We harbor no ill intentions!”
“If you"re afraid of us, you can just treat us like normal guild members.”
“Umph, umph!”
s.h.i.+ng Cross was still struggling.
“No, we can let you join us. However, your friend doesn"t seem like he"s very wlling…” Fire Spirit tried her best to smile.
“Him? Don"t worry. I will definitely force him to… ps.h.!.+ I mean, I will definitely take him into your guild. Hahaha…”
Unruly Mr. White chuckled as he spoke before he whispered to s.h.i.+ning Cross, who was still underneath his armpit.
“Hey, help me out. I want to go into look for someone. I"ll deal with your expenditures for food and water over the next month!”
Unruly Mr. White"s voice was very soft, and he was speaking English very quickly such that Fire Spirit couldn"t hear, and she couldn"t use the system to help her translate, either.
s.h.i.+ng Cross finally settled down after hearing that.
“Uh… alright.”
Fire Spirit forced herself to flash a welcoming laugh, but her subordinates still had confused looks on their faces, like they didn"t understand her decision…