A beautiful, curvy woman wearing striking Viking-style armor and high boots stood on the platform, her ponytail resting neatly on her shoulder. The room quieted around her, broken only by a few scattered whistles from overeager bidders. She was the auctioneer, and her reputation filled the hall long before she spoke.
"I am glad that you are here today for our monthly mega auction. Most of you already know me, but for the newcomers in the city, you can call me Aira," she said as she offered a graceful bow.
"Without wasting time, allow me to introduce the goods we have prepared. Since this is our mega auction, we have ten special items that I'm certain you will love."
A massive screen lit up at the center of the platform, displaying ten sealed golden boxes.
"I will not reveal them yet. Their contents will be shown as a surprise. Luck determines everything today. We might auction them first… or last. Who knows?"
One of the porters wheeled a golden box forward as Aira continued.
"Our first item is a set of special bullets , water-type bullets , one thousand in total. Water-type bullets are more than just rare. They can be fired underwater with no friction loss and strike targets with precise accuracy. And for Elite-ranked players who possess water-affinity skills, these bullets gain up to five times their normal power."
She raised her hand toward the bidders."The base price is five hundred CP. Bidders may increase by fifty CP. I'm looking for five hundred to start the bidding. Five hundred? Anyone for five hundred?"
"Five hundred and fifty," a voice called from one of the VIP rooms.
"Six hundred."
"Seven fifty."
"Nine hundred."
The voices came from every direction. Starting the auction with one of the ten special goods immediately pulled everyone's attention. A bullet that could move freely underwater was worth its place in a golden box.
"Should I bid for it? It's already at a thousand CP and still rising. I've got a million CP, so competing wouldn't be hard. My bullets have always been normal ones with no effects... only the gun is special. But I need to research weapon prices first. I don't want to get scammed. I still have five hours left before this human insignia disguise disappears, so I have time."Reever thought for a moment, then calmly joined the bidding.
"Eight thousand," he said.
The hall froze. Everyone tried to guess who had just raised the price by more than four thousand.
"Eight thousand five hundred," a voice answered from the VVIP area.
"Damn. I only have twenty thousand CP, and I saved it for something better coming later. I could borrow twenty thousand from my friend, but these bullets… I can't buy them for more than ten thousand. I'd suffer a loss," a man in luminous blue armor muttered to himself as he glanced at his system interface showing his balance.
"Ten thousand five hundred," Reever called out, drawing the room back into silence.
"Ten thousand five hundred going once… twice… thrice… sold!" Aira brought her hammer down with a loud thud.
"Congratulations to the guest in Room Seven. These bullets are yours," she said as the bullets vanished from the platform and materialized in Reever's room.
A system prompt flickered before him, asking for payment confirmation. He selected yes. His CP dropped instantly.
He checked his remaining balance and nodded in satisfaction. He still had over nine hundred thousand CP — more than enough to stay comfortable for the rest of the auction.
"For our next item," Aira said as a trolley was pushed forward carrying a huge sack filled with green bottles, "we have a one-time consumable. A batch of healing potions. I know many of you return from battles carrying injuries. These potions will heal you instantly. If you're severely wounded, take two and you'll be back to full health."
She tapped one of the bottles lightly."The best part? You don't even need to drink them. The system will fuse the potion directly into your body the moment you activate it. Instant recovery."
"The base price is five hundred CP per ten bottles. Bid increase is ten CP. Each sale includes ten bottles, so bid wisely."
"Six hundred CP!"
"A thousand CP," a voice said from the VVIP room — and nobody dared to outbid it. A thousand per ten bottles was outrageous for an item still being openly supplied.
Aira continued selling the healing potions until the sack was empty. Every batch sold for at least a thousand CP.
"Our next item is something special as well — a magazine. And not just any magazine. This one was made by Grandmaster Ironclad. He claimed it was a failed creation, but for players of our rank, calling it a failure is absurd."
She tapped the long, glossy metal structure on the tray beside her.
"This magazine can hold two thousand bullets in a single round. It links directly to your system inventory, so you never have to reload it manually. It draws bullets from your inventory automatically. And to make things even better, it's dual-slot. One thousand normal bullets on one side, and one thousand special bullets on the other. Any special bullet works."
Gasps rippled across the hall.A magazine with a two-thousand-round capacity wasn't something any of them had heard of. And if this was considered a waste by the higher-ranked players… what kind of monstrous gear did those elites actually use?
"The base price for this magazine is ten thousand CP. Bid increase is one thousand."
And just like that, the room fell silent again. Ten thousand CP was a mountain too steep for most of the attendees. Many earned only a hundred or two hundred per month. Gathering ten thousand could take them eighty months — nearly seven years. Only the wealthy had any chance here.
Reever leaned back in his chair, thinking.He didn't know the standard price of magazines, which was a flaw he had just discovered. Being uninformed was dangerous. Sure, he could afford plenty of these magazines if he wanted, but wasting CP on overpriced items made no sense.
He waited patiently for someone else to bid first, hoping to gauge the value by their reaction.
Finally, someone called out,"Twenty thousand CP."