Chapter 124
At that moment, as the auctioneer awkwardly wiped his forehead, a bidding paddle was raised in the last row of the venue.
The number on the paddle was 261. The auctioneer quickly recognized it as belonging to the last guest who had entered the hall.
“Number 261! The guest with a discerning eye bids 1 gold coin and 5 silver coins. Is there anyone else willing to raise the bid?”
Suda, who had raised the paddle, felt his heart race as he surveyed the cold atmosphere of the auction hall. His companion, He Lin, a gunsmith, also showed signs of tension.
There was a chance to snag a bargain!
Just yesterday, Suda had completed a task for an NPC noble named Sir Luo Fu, delivering a bill. By coincidence, he had entered the Figeer Curiosities Gallery, and while passing by a damaged golem being moved, he triggered a temporary quest called "A Different Feeling."
After learning from the NPC that the golem would be auctioned the next day, Suda followed the quest clues to the golem archives in Laan City. He completed a task for the administrator to gain enough favor to be allowed to browse the catalog of damaged golems.
He then set aside his leveling efforts and spent an entire game day meticulously sifting through a mountain of documents to uncover the reason behind the golem's damage.
In the end, he rallied his friends to gather old reports from the exposed mage, visited the alchemy lab he had rented for investigation, and consulted a historian to decipher the clues, ultimately obtaining a lead called "Extraordinary Disintegration."
Extraordinary Disintegration—just the name alone hinted at something exceptional!
Suda had not followed the mainstream path of becoming a mage or warlock; instead, he chose to become an alchemist, a profession that relied on external resources, considering the game's development.
Alchemists are a "pay-to-win" class, but this "pay" refers to in-game currency, not real money.
Alchemists are both wealthy and poor; their combat style revolves around controlling alchemical creations, and crafting new items requires spending money. Various combat losses also demand funds, and even though they can earn money by selling alchemical creations to players and NPCs, those earnings quickly vanish.
In reality, Suda was one of the heirs of a top conglomerate in a galactic civilization, not the typical interstellar agent found in the Blue Star server. Busy enhancing his mental prowess in reality, he had fortuitously registered on the Blue Star server and decided to develop in Laan City.
In terms of economic conditions, Suda was far wealthier than other agents on the Blue Star server. His civilization was controlled by several major conglomerates, and his family was one of them.
With these advantages, Suda chose to become an alchemist, and just like in reality, he exploited millions to support himself, amassing a large amount of in-game gold to quickly level up his character and enhance his mental abilities.
In Suda's view, this hidden quest was likely about repairing the golem. If he could possess an alchemical golem that a level 40 alchemist would typically have while still in his twenties, he would undoubtedly be the top player in Laan City.
Even in the entire Blue Star server, he would rank among the strongest, second only to Bai Ye.
“Number 233! 1 gold coin and 10 silver coins!”
At that moment, the auctioneer's voice rang out again.
A new bid interrupted Suda's thoughts. Each time a paddle was raised without an additional bid, it defaulted to an increase of 5 silver coins.
Seeing this, Suda raised his paddle again without hesitation, directly increasing the bid: “1 gold coin and 50 silver coins!”
“Number 233 bids 1 gold coin and 55 silver coins!” The auctioneer's tone became more enthusiastic upon seeing the competition.
Suda glanced toward the paddle holder, but all he saw was darkness; he could only tell that the guest with number 233 was seated in the middle of the auction hall. He had hoped that his increased bid would make the other party back down, but to his surprise, they raised their paddle again immediately.
Suda raised his paddle once more: “1 gold coin and 80 silver coins.”
The auctioneer responded, “1 gold coin and 85 silver coins.”
“2 gold coins!” Suda shouted, raising his paddle directly, his frustration boiling over.
Gold coins were precious in this world; if it were a real auction, Suda would have jumped in with a higher bid long ago.
He could be considered the wealthiest player in Laan City, with over 3 gold coins in active game currency. If he urgently sold off some assets in reality to acquire more game currency, he could scrape together over 1 additional gold coin!
Before coming to the auction, Suda had done his homework. Given the severe damage to the golem, it was unlikely to sell for more than 5 gold coins.
After a brief silence, Suda thought the other party might have reached their limit, but then a lazy voice rang out from that direction:
“Five gold coins.”
Suda's mind buzzed: Didn’t they say it wouldn’t exceed 5 gold coins…?
Chapter 90
Suda hadn’t expected the slap in the face to come so quickly. Just as he thought the damaged golem wouldn’t go for more than 5 gold coins, the other party bid that amount.
Going from 2 gold coins to 5 gold coins—this wasn’t how it was supposed to work!
He could manage 4 gold coins, but 5 gold coins was beyond his immediate reach. To gather more gold coins, he would have to seek out individual players, but with the auction time running out, by the time he collected enough, it would be too late.
Suda was merely one of the heirs of a conglomerate, not the civilization itself.
Previously, Ye Bai had sold strategies to entire civilizations, leveraging the collective power of a political entity to amass such a large amount of game funds in a short time.
At this stage, Suda could indeed muster 4 gold coins, making him the richest in Laan City, but that status would change once Ye Bai arrived.
“Five gold coins once! Five gold coins twice! Five gold coins three times!”
Seeing such a high bid with no one else willing to compete, the auctioneer smiled broadly as he brought down the gavel. The price exceeded his expectations, enough to buy a well-preserved golem.
Suda, sitting in the back row, was restless, like an ant on a hot pan. Every time he thought about raising his paddle, he received a system prompt:
【Your current gold coin balance is insufficient. Making a false bid may lead to unknown consequences. Do you wish to continue bidding?】
Though the system didn’t specify what the unknown consequences would be, nearly all interstellar players were aware of the goodwill system in the multiverse. Such prompts indicated a need for caution.
It was easy to imagine that if he were exposed for making a false bid, he would be hunted down by the auction guards, and without payment, he wouldn’t receive the golem.
“Sold!”
Finally, with the auctioneer’s final hammer strike, the ownership of the golem was determined.
“Congratulations to the esteemed guest number 233 for winning this precious 【Klin-97】 alchemical golem!”
Suda’s face fell, and the frustration in his heart was indescribable. He had always excelled at leveraging his financial power to gain an advantage, but now he felt the sting of defeat. Even though he possessed assets across several planets in reality, he couldn’t afford an item that a noble NPC could easily buy.
The auction continued, and Suda didn’t leave early. He stubbornly gazed in the direction of guest number 233.
The lighting in the auction hall was dim, and Suda’s race lacked the 【Night Vision】 ability, so he couldn’t see what the NPC looked like. He had to wait until the auction ended to confirm who had bought the golem—he hadn’t considered that someone who could afford 5 gold coins might be a player.
Even though there were now various channels provided by factions to exchange star coins for multiverse gold coins, those were all offline transactions. Would a player dare to double the bid at an auction?
Little did he know, Suda had misjudged Ye Bai. The items up for auction were not cheap, and Ye Bai knew Suda was a player who had access to quests and was likely determined to acquire the golem. Moreover, being able to enter the auction meant she had some confidence, so she made a bid to express her intent to purchase.
Originally, she had expected the auction to see a few more rounds of bidding, but it had gone straight to the conclusion.
—Ye Bai had underestimated the current players' wealth. After all, she could earn 10 gold coins from defeating a boss, while players who had just transitioned to the next tier needed to form a party to tackle bosses above level 20.
Of course, she might have spent an extra one or two gold coins, but that was the nature of auctions. Without knowing the opponent's bottom line, losing a little was unavoidable.
For Ye Bai, spending five gold coins to obtain a key item for her second-tier class quest was a bargain.
After the auction ended, Ye Bai, like the other buyers, followed the auction staff to make payment and collect her item.
As her gaze swept over two players who were lingering and peeking around, she couldn’t help but smirk.
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