HC:Pacifist | Ch. 38 - Auction

The first step in Roth's plan was to study market prices. He opened up an app that allowed him to take notes. He had already made a list of everything he had to sell this time around:

20x [Miniaturize Potion]

100x [Fox Ginseng]

20x [Badger Great Claw]

20x [Crow Feather Tiara]

20x [Crow Feather Earring]

20x [Crow Feather Necklace]

5x [Power Truffle]

Now he had to find out how the auction house worked. He opened up a window that showed him billions of items for sale. He blinked, looking at the astronomical number at the bottom right of the window. That was a fantastic pool of items to choose from! He then looked up the search options. There was a section to buy and sell. He selected Buy.

In Buy, there were timed auctions and instant purchases. Players could put an item up for sale and give it a starting price and minimum bid increase. They could also make the deadline last one week, one day, or only five minutes. It was up to the seller.

Before coming here, Roth had read many theories in the forums about which form of sales was the most profitable. Roth would decide what would fit each item.

He could also buy things at a fixed price. If the buyer agreed with the price, they could buy it and get it immediately. This was the preferred option for less valuable items and lazier players.

One could sort all sales by type, rarity, quantity, price, class, profession, stat bonuses, item effects, and many other options. Roth looked up each of the items he had for sale. He noted how many were sold per day on average, their record sale price, and how many were in stock at this auction house.

20x [Miniaturize Potion]: 0.6 sold per day;  price: 134 gold; for sale: 3

100x [Fox Ginseng]: 34 sold per day; record price: 86 silver; for sale: 442

20x [Badger Great Claw]: 4 sold per day; record price: 2 gold, 89 silver; for sale: 8

20x [Crow Feather Tiara]: 9 sold per day; record price: 46 silver; for sale: 5

20x [Crow Feather Earring]: 13 sold per day; record price: 36 silver; for sale: 9

20x [Crow Feather Necklace]: 4 sold per day; record price: 84 silver; for sale: 2

5x [Power Truffle]: No information on record

As he thought, the [Power Truffle] was too valuable. No one had ever sold it here. It was priceless. There was no telling what effect selling five of them would have here. His greatest trumps were the [Power Truffle] and the [Miniaturize Potion]. The secret to gaining a good result in this quest was to try to sell the other less rare items off the craze of his trump cards.

Roth began scheduling auctions, listing his products neatly, and organizing things in a way that would exponentiate his gains. Once satisfied, he went to the forums and made a couple of posts. He went to the auction house NPC to confirm something before he submitted the draft he had for the auction. The auction house had an army of merchant-looking NPCs who were always available to help players with questions or issues. Roth approached the closest one and greeted him.

"Good afternoon, sir."

"Hello, Martyr. How can I help you?"

"Do I need to reveal my identity when selling an item?"

"Not at all, sir. You can select the anonymity option in the sales window." Roth's window opened with the relevant information highlighted. He ticked it.

"OK, and do I need to be here to get the money off my sale?"

"Although you must go to auction houses to retrieve or deposit items in person, money is directly transferred to your inventory." Roth sighed in relief. That meant that he could leave things here and start heading back home. He paused. It was strange to think of those beginner woods as home. He was practically living there, though. He supposed that it wasn't a terrible description of it.

"Will that be all, sir?"

"Oh yes. Thank you." Roth took a few steps away from the NPC. He went to check all the drafts for his posts and his auctions. When he was sure everything was OK, he submitted them and, hoping for the best, left. He still had a long way to go before he was back in the woods, where he could get the reward for his trade quests.

*

Sideswipe was a level 23 esper. He had just finished a quest and was over the moon. He went to check his stats for the 1000th time in the day.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

Name: Sideswipe

Race: Human

Profession(s): [Merchant]; [Scholar]

Class: [Esper]

Level: 23 (430000/500000)

Affinity: [Empty]

Alignment: Bad (-60/-100)

Relationships: Esper Academy (40/100); (Merchant Guild 60/100)

Titles: [Well-read]; [Weight-lifter]; [Mindful]; [Intellectual]; [Monster Hunter III]; [Boss Hunter II]; [Assassin]; [Brainiac]

STATS

Hp:118

Energy:175

Damage Reduction: 5.7%

Running Speed: 120.8%

Weight: [Light] (2/38,4kg)

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 15

Intelligence: 65

Wisdom: 68

Calm: 14

EQUIPMENT

Right Hand: [Copper Ring]

Left hand: [Copper Ring]

Shoes: [Esperimental Shoes]

Bottom: [Silken Trousers]

Top: [Scale Jacket]

Gloves: [Snake Skin Gloves]

Head: [Cobra Cap]

Cape: [Silken Cloak]

Accessories: [Crow Feather Necklace]; [Crow Feather Earring]; [Tin Earring]

SKILLS:

Stat Bonuses: [Insight]; [Inner Calm]

Profession Related: [Discount]; [Summon Mule]; [Haggle]; [Contract]; [Copyist's Eye]; [Speed-Reading]

Passive: [Eye of the Raven]; [Badger's Heart]; [Brainstorm]; [Strong Mentality];

Active: [Shepherd’s Shout]; [Throw Rocks]; [Psychic Throw]; [Psyonic Push]; [Psychic Barrier]; [Crow's Flight]; [Badger Blast]

The average player at his level had five titles. Sideswipe was a prodigy: he had eight of them! He was particularly proud of the title he had just won in his last quest. It had given him a considerable power boost.

Brainiac (Uncommon)

Title description: The mutation in your brain awakens, and you find within your mind its hidden potential.

Title effect:

- Grants +5% damage to all telekinetic skills;

- Increases energy recovery rate by 5%.

Conditions to unlock [Brainiac]

- Complete a relevant quest {complete}.

- To hunt 10,000 mobs who possess telekinetic skills.

The Titans Guild, a 3rd-tier guild with a strong presence in this city, had head-hunted him. This was no small matter. It had been the first step toward his becoming a professional player. He had signed a contract and was now even being paid a salary. If he did well, there was excellent growth potential.

Now that he was on the guild's payroll and had some extra pocket money, Sideswipe decided to revisit the auction house. Perhaps today, he could find a good-priced skill card for his class. He was trying to focus on telekinetic skills, but the cards were rare and highly sought-after. That cursed mini-game that so many were addicted to just jacked up the prices of skills even higher!

He headed toward the auction house and crossed paths with a beginner in hobo clothes who was leaving. It was unusual to see someone so poorly dressed. And the man was tall! He must be pretty scary in real-life, thought SideSwipe. He entered the patio, greeted a few acquaintances, and sat down so he could window shop.

He opened the auction house's trade window and filtered results by recent listings. He froze. What? [Power Truffle]? Two?? He stammered. What idiot was selling this? Even an esper like himself, who didn't need strength, would never have sold this item and used it on himself. Unless... could some idiot have found more than one? If one could get a hold of two, why wouldn't they have discovered three? Had someone found an alternate method to get this item?

He looked at how much the seller was selling the product. Even if he had to spend all his money, he would not hesitate to get these two items—an open auction. Shoot. There would be fierce competition over this. There was no way he would be able to buy it. He thought for a few seconds. Since he would never be able to fight over this, he immediately sent a message to his guild leader.

*

A meeting between the high-ups of the Titans was underway somewhere else in the city. It happened in a luxurious command tent set up on a lot of land that guilds could rent from the city hall.

At the moment, no guild or player had gained enough reputation with the cities to buy land and had to settle for raising these campaign tents as headquarters.

BlueTitan, the commander of the Titans, heard the other senior members discussing around the table the earlier developments in the game and the plans for the future.

"Where do we stand in gaining reputation with the city? Is there anyone ahead of us?"

"We’re not far from getting one of the inner members of the guild to get friendly status with the city. Our spy in the Spider Guild knows they have already amassed that much reputation but still can’t buy land from the city hall."

BlueTitan clicked his tongue. He pondered whether their strategy was right, but it was too late to go back now. They sacrificed development in the capital to establish a solid foundation in this city. They knew they were no match for more prominent guilds. However, if they could purchase some land in this city, they could wait for the land to increase and then throw sales pitches to the bigger guilds. The money they could gain from that would allow all of them to retire in peace. But soon after they started, they realized that the Spider Guild was already ahead of them.

They were funneling all their resources into helping one of the inner members of the guild gain enough reputation to buy land, but there was still a long way to go. BlueTitan decided to interrupt the meeting.

"The only way we can get ahead of the Spider Guild is at the city tournament. The champion gets a huge boost in reputation. We have to get our best player in there and have a face-down with the Spider Guild."

The senior members were concerned. The best player in the Titan guild was BlueTitan’s little brother, TitanFist. He was a very talented player in one v. one. But there was an equally talented player on the side of the Spider Guild, the Guild Leader, SpiderHands. They were so equally matched that a fight was a coin flip. They couldn't bet their futures on a coin flip.

"It’s the only way."

"But there’s only a fifty-fifty chance he will win. We need to find a way to get him ahead."

"What can we do to increase TitanFists’ strength quickly?"

BlueTitan got a notification for a private message. It was from one of their newly recruited players, Sideswipe. Curious, he opened it and urgently stood up after reading the messages.

"I think the solution has just fallen into our laps, gentlemen. Someone is selling [Power Truffles] in the auction house." Ten strength didn’t sound like much, but having an advantage in stats between two equally-matched players was significant. Perhaps this is what they needed.

*

Somewhere else in the city, a blacksmith hammered away at an incandescent lump of metal. He tried to shape it with difficulty. Even after he had heated the chunk of metal so hot, the strength required to do the task was brutal. He needed to improve his stats if he wanted to break through. Another player came running in.

"OreMaster, someone is selling [Power Truffles] in the auction house."

"[Power Truffles]? Let's go check it out!"

Scenes like this started happening all over, and guilds sent representatives toward the Greensburg auction house.

*

"This is crazy!" commented BlueTitan. Sideswipe had notified him of the [Power Truffle] being listed not even thirty seconds after it was placed in the auction house. "How come there are so many people gathered here already?"

"Look at who it is!" Recognizing the shrill, sarcastic voice, BlueTitan turned. Spiderhands and two of his goons faced him. "Don’t tell me you are after the [Power Truffles], BlueTitan."

"What if I am?" he challenged.

"Then you should be ready to pawn every item in your bank because I don’t think you have enough money to keep me away from it."

"We shall see about that." BlueTitan knew perfectly well as a guild leader that SpiderHands probably had spies in his guild, just as he had in his. He probably had a rough idea of the finances of the guild.

SpiderHands didn’t know that he and the inner members of the guild had hidden away part of the guild's wealth. They kept three gold farming teams under wraps. Their revenue was set aside for an emergency like this. He had prepared 20,000 extra gold coins for this auction.

Ch. 37 - Greensburg

INDEX

Ch. 39 - Leak