Chapter 126 - Scam

Outside the auction house…

Several major guilds had scouts loitering around the auction house, constantly checking in on the items that went on sale and were being bought out.

There were many different ways to make gold inside the game and manipulating markets was one of the good and hassle free methods.

With little to no investment, well except for time, one was able to bring in at least a dozen gold coins even on bad days.

And this was without the involvement of massive guild wealth.

If the right amount of gold or materials were injected sometimes an imbalanced in-game economy could give tremendous profits.

This happens when one individual or guild monopolizes something highly necessary and then sells the item for high prices.

But nothing of that sort had yet happened in this game as no one had managed to get that sort of monopoly over a desired item.

Doing something like that was very difficult and not just anyone could accomplish that.

Besides, everyone was still busy scrambling to explore the world and find out clues about what this is even and which company or hacker group set everything in motion.

But in the midst of this weird ecosystem, an anomaly suddenly appeared. A new potion that no one had seen before popped up in the list of items for sale.

[Fire Resistance Potion: Reduces all fire element damage by 20% for the duration of 15 minutes]

The description of the item was very straightforward and simple and yet the reaction to it… was nothing short of chaotic!

"Hey, did you see this? Someone has put up a fire resistance potion for auction!" One of the guild scouts reached out and shook his friend vigorously in excitement.

"Fuck! Are you serious?! Something like that exists?"

"Of course! Are you an idiot? When there is an ice resistance potion, why won't there be a fire resistance potion?"

"Eh? You are the idiot. Your whole family is full of idiots!"

"Can you now stop wasting time and quickly buy that? This should be very helpful for the molten domain dungeon." 

"The guild leader will be very pleased with us. Maybe we will even get a bonus. He he."

"Hmmm… I am trying to… but this item doesn't have a buy out option?"

"What? That's even possible?"

Many players began discussing the same thing.

"There are 5 fire resistance potions for sale!"

"Wouldn't this be perfect for that stupid dungeon?"

"Call the guild master!" 

"There is no buy out price! What should we do now? How much can we bid for?"

"Add a silver to the amount and continue bidding. We need to get this at all costs!"

"Fuck! Some loser is trolling everyone. He is increasing the price by bidding one copper more every second!"

"Damn it. Who is the fuck is doing this? Come here. I won't beat you up!"

Almost all the silently loitering around guild scouts had already noticed the new item by now and the entire place was in an uproar.

After multiple party wipes, Burning Domain had become a very sore topic among the guild higher ups and everyone knew that this item would change things drastically.

Of course, they were also not oblivious to what was happening. It only took one second for experienced players to truly see what this was.

And it was a god damn money-grabbing scam!

The person had set the item for auction for 2 hours and he hadn't mentioned a buy out price. 

This already gave away his intent and the fact that he knew what he was doing and the value of the potion.

He clearly wanted the various guilds to fight with each other so he could get the maximum benefit.

And there were totally only five potions available!

This was definitely going to be a blood bath. There was no doubt about it.

But was it worth it?

YES!

Even though this was ridiculous, they still had to dance to the tune of the piper as if any other guild managed to get their hands on the potion, then they would be left lagging behind.

They would probably be even kicked out of the guild for missing something so crucial. 

So everyone who had gathered around the auction house immediately called their guild higher ups and informed them about this anomaly.

Time ticked by and the two hours were slowly running out. More importantly, with each passing second, the price of the five potions was rapidly soaring.

At the same time, several big shots started making appearances near the auction house. 

There was the Assasin guild leader Abraki, Genovese guild leader Roberto and a couple of other smaller guild higher ups.

And as soon as these whales started appearing, the other fish quickly quieted down. Especially when Roberto arrived, the entire place became quiet.

Genovese was a top 20 guild that was rumored to have connections with the Italian mafia. 

If one messed with any members of this guild, forget about suffering in game, they might even get killed in real life.

And the same applied to buying this potion as well.

The auction house only offered protection to the seller. There were many ways to find out who bought the specific item.

And if a guild ran the molten dungeon now and obtained the record for it, that would also give away.

Because of these things, the bidding process that was shooting up like a rocket suddenly started slowing down. Nobody wanted to oppose the big guns.

But the same did not apply to the big guns.

"Eh? This is surprising. I am surprised. How come you are roaming around Yleka city, big guy?" Abraki chuckled and walked over to Roberto.

"Heh. Shouldn't I be the one saying that? Aren't you all usually hiding in the shadows like rats. What are you doing out in broad daylight?"

Abraki's face slightly changed but he brushed it off. "I am here for the same reason you are here.. Our Assasin Guild wants to buy this item."