Kael stood in the middle of Drift's toll street, the coin trap disk pulsing faintly beneath his feet.
Across from him, Tess Vale approached — tall, armored, confident. Her balance floated high over her head: 312 Coins, glowing gold.
She didn't draw a weapon. She didn't need to.
> "So you're the bounty boy," Tess said, amused. "Didn't expect you to show yourself."
Kael said nothing.
He just stepped back — one pace.
Onto the trap.
---
> [COIN TRAP ACTIVATED]
Auction Mode: LIVE
All skills locked. Balance bidding initiated.
Prize: Control of battlefield. Winner sets fight rules.
Tess blinked. "You set a trap?"
Kael smirked.
> "Let's bid."
---
The auction feed appeared mid-air between them.
> [Initial Bid: Tess — 20 Coins]
[Kael — 1 Coin]
She laughed. "You're broke, remember?"
Kael didn't blink.
> [Tess — 50 Coins]
[Kael — 2 Coins]
Tess's eyes narrowed. "You serious?"
She raised her bid.
> [Tess — 100 Coins]
[Kael — 3 Coins]
Tess growled.
> "You're just wasting time."
---
She raised again.
> [Tess — 150 Coins]
[Kael — 4 Coins]
---
The trap flashed.
> [Auction Timer Ending... 3... 2... 1]
Highest Bid: Tess — 150 Coins
Control: Granted
Balance Drain: Activated — User: Tess Vale
Coin Loss: 150 Coins deducted.
---
Kael smiled.
> [Black Coin Skill Available: Balance Theft]
Cost: 1 Black Coin
Effect: Steal 50% of enemy's balance.
---
Kael moved.
> [Balance Theft: Activated]
Tess gasped.
Her balance drained again — 162 → 81 → 0.
She staggered.
> [Buy Death: Triggered]
She fell.
---
> [You have earned 312 Coins]
New Balance: 369 Coins
Bounty Status: Elevated
Kael pocketed the trap disk, now burnt out.
Behind him, Drift watched.
He walked away without a word.
---
Kael walked away from the body.
No one in Drift stopped him. No one even looked directly at him. They just checked his balance — now 369 Coins, glowing gold — and looked away.
No one messed with that kind of number in this part of the zone.
Not unless they wanted to end up like Tess — dead, bankrupt, and forgotten.
---
Kael ducked into an alley, heart pounding. Not from fear.
From clarity.
For the first time since the Coinverse began, he understood how to survive. Not just survive — thrive.
He didn't need to kill randomly. He didn't need to fight fair.
He just needed to set the trap.
---
> [System Alert: Bounty Update]
Player: Kael Rivenhart (Alias: Null-13)
Cause: Black Coin Use / Unauthorized Trap Activation / Auction Manipulation
New Bounty: 10,000 Coins
Status: Black Tier — Priority Target
Kael sighed.
"Figures."
---
Jace found him two blocks away, panting.
"You insane? You killed Tess Vale? She was a guild officer!"
Kael leaned against a wall, watching his balance screen pulse.
"She was rich," he said. "Now she's not."
Jace stared at him, half in awe, half in terror.
"You know what's coming now, right?"
Kael nodded.
"Let them come."
---
> [Undermarket Message Received]
Sender: Unknown
Message: "Nice move. Want more traps?"
Attachment: Coin Trap Blueprint (Illegal)
Kael smiled.
The rich had coins.
He had Black Coins — and now he had control.
---
Kael didn't sleep.
He couldn't. Not with 10,000 Coins posted on his head and every player in Drift suddenly trying to guess where he'd go next.
But Kael wasn't hiding.
He was planning his next kill.
---
From the rooftop, he watched the auction feeds flicker across the skyline. Every screen advertised something — a skill, a weapon, a trap. The city wasn't just alive with violence. It was alive with transactions.
Down below, players traded coin for safety, for guards, for balance masking. Kael had seen two players fight just to pay a toll that let them cross a bridge.
---
> [Undermarket Invite Received]
Event: Shadow Auction – Vault D
Entry: 100 Coins
Rules: No IDs, No Bounties, No Rules
---
Kael transferred the fee.
> Balance: 369C → 269C
His screen flickered.
Coordinates dropped into his vision.
Vault D wasn't on any map — but Drift had levels, and some were buried deep.
---
Jace appeared, breathless. "You really going?"
Kael didn't look away from the skyline. "Yeah."
"Auctions like that… they don't sell safe stuff. You buy blood skills, or stuff banned by the system."
Kael turned. "Good."
---
Fifteen minutes later, they reached Vault D — an old coin bank from before Coinverse, now gutted and repurposed. The vault door was rusted open, revealing a crowd of masked players, each showing no balance above their heads.
Stealth mode.
Kael's mask held. His balance was hidden.
---
Inside: a ring of coin projectors, a central auction block, and a skill list scrolling midair.
Kael's eyes locked on the third item.
> [Skill: Coinburn Strike]
Type: Offensive
Effect: Convert 10% of balance into pure damage.
Starting Bid: 50 Coins
---
Perfect.
Kael smiled.
He stepped into the ring.
Let's see who could afford pain.
---
The auction ring pulsed with tension.
Kael stood among a dozen masked players, each one hiding their balance, each one eyeing the same skill:
> [Coinburn Strike]
Convert 10% of balance into pure damage. Scales with wealth.
Risk: No refunds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.
A system overlay flickered in the air above them.
> [Auction Start: 60 Seconds]
Minimum Bid: 50 Coins
Highest Bid Wins — Skill Attaches On Purchase
---
Kael flexed his fingers.
He needed this skill. Not just for survival, but for leverage. A skill like this turned coin into power, letting him scale damage with every kill, every theft.
And with 369 Coins, he could afford to bid high.
But that wasn't his plan.
---
Jace leaned in from behind. "That's a top-tier early skill. Everyone's gonna fight dirty for it."
Kael nodded. "Good."
His mask filtered the feed — only he could see the live balance bids updating around him. Most were small. Probes.
> Player 7: 55 Coins
Player 3: 60 Coins
Player 2: 65 Coins
Kael waited.
---
The timer hit 30 seconds.
Someone jumped the bid.
> Player 4: 100 Coins
A few heads turned. Tension rose.
Kael could feel it — the air changed when real coin left hands. Everyone here risked their balance, and with no refunds, one mistake meant coin death.
---
> Player 2: 120 Coins
Player 4: 140 Coins
Kael moved.
> [Bid: 10 Coins]
The room paused.
Someone scoffed. "Idiot bid."
Kael said nothing.
---
> [Black Coin Skill Available: Shadow Bid]
Effect: Mask true bid. Cost: 1 Black Coin.
Risk: Skill drain possible on failure.
Kael touched the coin in his sleeve.
> [Shadow Bid Activated]
---
The screen blinked.
> Player 13 (Kael): 10 Coins (Visible)
Actual Bid: 269 Coins (Hidden)
The timer hit 5 seconds.
No one raised.
---
> Auction Closed.
Winner: Player 13 — Coinburn Strike Acquired
Skill Attach: Confirmed
Balance Deducted: 10 Coins (Visible)
System Error: Balance Flux Detected.
---
Kael's balance was untouched — to the public.
Real balance: 100 Coins left. Hidden.
> [Black Coin Use Logged]
Skill Corruption: Coinburn Strike — Modified.
---
Kael felt it settle in his hand — a burning weight, like a spark waiting to explode.
He didn't just win the auction.
He stole it.
---
A masked player approached.
"Your bid was fake," the voice hissed.
Kael turned, calm.
"Your coin was real. Mine still is."
The player lunged.
Kael raised a hand.
---
> [Coinburn Strike Activated]
Balance Burned: 10 Coins
Damage: Fatal
A flash of gold-black light.
The player dropped, balance scattering like rain.
---
The crowd backed away.
Kael stepped out of the ring.
Not a target anymore.
Now, he was the trap.