Chapter 65: The Auction Begins
The old man was astonished as he asked,“You, you got all these yourself? Makes sense too. Since you’re able to get so many Gold-tier items, it explains how you got so many Silver-tier items.” The old man was briefly shocked by the pile of Silver-tier equipment, but soon regained his composure.
“Yeah, this handsome guest is really impressive. Seems like he really did get everything on his own.” Leah slightly covered her mouth in astonishment. Blue Maple didn’t refute their words from the start until end. They took his silence as an admission.
Leah took the initiative to speak when she realized that Blue Maple didn’t speak after such a long time and didn’t reveal any emotions, either. “I’ll register for you now. However, the auction might take some time, since you have so many items. We’ll need to do some advertising.”
“Alright.” Blue Maple’s replied concisely.
“I’ll need you to wait some time. There are a lot of items. The registration will take some time.” There was a huge pile of items. It would be surprising if the registration didn’t take a long time.
“Hmm.”
After that, Leah and the appraiser left,leaving Blue Maple alone in the room. Blue Maple took the opportunity to rest. He leaned back on the seat and slowly shut his eyes.
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After some time, he heard footsteps. The registration was done.
“Forgive me for making you wait.” Leah’s voice sounded in his ears. He slowly opened his eyes.
Blue Maple only opened his eyes. He didn’t say anything. Leah then explained the next steps to him.
“This is your membership card. With so many items, the sum of money involved will be exorbitant, so we’re giving you a membership card. At the same time, records of any transaction will be put into the membership card. You can check them anytime you want. Also, you can get details on the starting bids of every item and the final bid price.” Leah quickly passed a gold-laden card to Blue Maple. Blue Maple didn’t take a detailed look at it. He just stashed it in his pocket.
“Is there anything else?”
“Uh, there’s nothing else much. I’ll just need to tell you about some details of the auction. It’ll take just a brief moment.” Leah could tell that Blue Maple was eager to leave.
“Hmm.”
“We’ll take five percent commission on every transaction as fees. At the same time, your membership card is also a gold coin card that can be used to withdraw coins from any auction house in any city under the Maria Chamber of Commerce. All money will be credited to your card. Don’t worry about losing it. We have information about your appearance, so we can get you a replacement if needed. You’ll also be the only person authorized to use the card.
“One last thing: the auction will be tonight at 8pm. If you want to watch the auction, we can reserve a room for you. There are also other good items in this auction suitable for many different Classes.” Leah could only say different Classes because she couldn’t tell Blue Maple’s Class at all. Blue Maple was only decked in his trench coat. He didn’t even have a weapon with him. It would be surprising if she could tell his Class.
“Watch? Forget it.” Although Blue Maple was a little interested, he suddenly recalled that auctions were very noisy, and dismissed the idea. As for whether he could get any equipment for himself, he wasn’t interested at all. He was the kind of person who might not even pick up a piece of equipment on the ground.
“We’ll welcome you no matter what, but there might not be any rooms left if your request is too last-minute.” Leah sounded very cordial. However, it was a pity that she was talking to Blue Maple. After she was done, he immediately stood up and left.
Leah was speechless as she watched Blue Maple leave.
“He’s really an awkward person.” Leah left, muttering to herself.
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After Blue Maple left, the auction house quickly announced news of the auction to the entire city.
“Ding!” Announcement: “There will be a large-scale auction held by an auction house under the Maria Chamber of Commerce in Aika City tonight, at 8pm. There will be many Silver-tier set items up for auction. There will also be Gold-tier set equipment components.”
“Seems like we don’t have to inform our chairman anymore. The entire city knows now.” It was the player who saw Blue Maple enter the auction house earlier.
“Oh my God. I don’t even have a piece of Silver-tier equipment, but he has Silver-tier set equipment already, and it’s not just one piece. He even has Gold-tier set equipment components!”
“God, how lucky is that man?! Oh, he must be from a team. Only a team can be that impressive.”
“Quick, let’s go to the auction house and see what Classes those set equipment belong to. There must be one for Swordsmen.”
“They must be for Thieves.”
“Do you guys have money to buy those set items?”
Only those from Aika City could see this announcement. Of course, this included the villages and towns near Aika City.
“Fortunately, they didn’t announce my name. Otherwise, I’d need to change cities again. The teleportation fee is expensive.” Blue Maple heaved a sigh of relief. After that, he disappeared into the streets.
He continued to accept quests, which continued to bore him.
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Aika City, 7:50 pm...
Outside the auction house, an elegantly-dressed Warrior asked a smaller Warrior, “Are you sure it was one person? And he seemed to be a solo player?”
“Yes, that guy gave off a very cold vibe. A team wouldn’t have asked him to make this trade. The moment he left the auction house, the announcement was sent out,” the smaller Warrior answered very respectfully.
“Do you have any information or a screenshot of that guy? Let’s see if we can recruit him.” Indeed, leaders were very intent on capturing talents.
“I do have a screenshot, but not any information. It’s all hidden. I can’t access anything. As for recruitment… I’m afraid it’s going to be difficult. That guy is probably an Asian.”
“Asian… forget it, then. The possibility isn’t high. Leave yourself. We are going in.” After he finished speaking, he ignored the other Warrior and led his own bunch of players, who were all very well-equipped, into the auction house. The auction was about to begin.
Recruitment wasn’t easy in the game because it didn’t involve any real-life profits, so money wasn’t the most effective of tools. Furthermore, solo players who were very capable didn’t lack money in the game. Along with the fact that Blue Maple was of a different ethnicity, the chance of success was almost nil.
This Warrior and his bunch of players took up a room in the auction house.
“We must get those Gold-tier set equipment components. Set items produced in this area are usually dropped from Bosses. It’s possible that there’s only one of them. If we don’t get those components, we can only dream about forming a Gold-tier set!”
“Sir, don’t worry. We’ve brought enough funds this time. Things will be fine if no one causes any trouble,” a player beside the Warrior said respectfully.
“Trouble? There won’t be any lack of it!” the Warrior suddenly raged. Evidently, he had someone in mind, or perhaps a few of them in mind.
His subordinates were silent. Indeed, even though they were the only guild in the entire Aika City, there were other players from other guilds who came from other cities. These players would certainly be instructed by their own guilds to bid for the items and bring them back to their respective cities.
This chairman’s level was also rather high.
[Paris Red Wine] (Level 37 Warrior)
He was only one level beneath Blue Maple. Oh no, he was two levels beneath Blue Maple now. After submitting his quest, Blue Maple was now Level 39.
The guild was called the Red Wine guild. It seemed the chairman was very fond of red wine, and he was also French.
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At the same time, in another room...
“Even though the Chairman cannot come, he has already instructed us to obtain some Silver-tier set equipment in this auction. As for the Gold-tier set equipment components, we’ll not be bidding for them. Red Wine should be very keen for those. There’s no need to rile him. However, we can still play around by increasing the bid price.”
“Wise.”
“Oh yes, that crazy woman should be coming here. She’s in a city next to Aika City. Hehe, it’ll be fun to watch her and Red Wine going against each other.”
“That’ll be fantastic.”
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In another room...
“Have we brought enough gold coins? Let’s see if we can get those two components. Although our Chairman can’t use it, we can give it to our Team Leader.”
“Don’t worry, we’ve brought enough.”
“That’s great. But it won’t be easy against Red Wine and that crazy woman.”
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The last room...
“Is the money ready? Better prepare more. Get more guys to raise more funds. I’ll teach all of you a lesson if we can’t get those components,” a fierce-looking, muscular European woman warned her companions. Her physique was enough to make grown men embarrassed.
“Yes yes, I’ll get people to raise more funds. We’ll not let Red Wine get them,” her subordinate replied meekly.
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It seemed like this auction was going to be very intense. There were at least four guilds taking part.
All the lights were on in the auction hall. The seats in front of the auction stage were completely filled. Perhaps they were here to bid for items, or some of them were just here to watch the show.
The auction hall was largerthan two basketball courts. Right now, the auction hall was silent. Everyone knew that the auction was about to begin.
It was at this moment that a beautiful NPC walked to the center of the stage under a spotlight. Her revealing clothing attracted the attention of all the males present. The crowd started to grow excited, and many guys were whistling.
If Blue Maple was around, he would surely recognize that lady as Leah.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I’m grateful that all of you can grace this auction today. Today’s auction is about to begin. I’m the emcee of this auction. Ladies and gentlemen, are your wallets ready?!” A European-style auction was indeed different. It was much more high-spirited.
“Of course, beautiful lady. But can I bid for you and bring you home?” a man brazenly asked.
“Yes you can, but you’ve got to make me interested first.”
“Oooo!”
Everyone cheered. Europeans were very open-minded indeed.
“In that case, I shall announce the beginning of the auction!” Leah shouted.