Chapter Fifty-One: The Internal Auction

Everyone cast their dice with anticipation.

“Haha, I rolled a 95! Who can beat me? The cloak is mine,” someone boasted arrogantly.

But then a roll of 97 appeared, instantly wiping the smugness from his face.

“Watch me, the God of Gamblers reborn, with the saints’ blessings!” Another fool on the edge of madness threw a 3 and burst into tears.

Zhang Shan shook his head—this cloak was enough to drive anyone mad. Good cloaks dropped so rarely.

And each color grade made a huge difference in effects.

But Zhang Shan didn’t care much; his sacrificial cloak was good enough to last him a long time. He tossed his dice casually—100.

“Damn, Artifact Bro, that’s too much! You’re leaving us no way to live!”

“Exactly, it’s over the line. You already have a purple cloak, and you’re still fighting us for this? Boo-hoo, I’ll cry right here.”

Zhang Shan spread his hands helplessly. He couldn’t just refuse to roll, could he?

“Artifact Bro, will you sell the cloak? I’ll pay 100,000 gold coins.”

“Get lost, trying to buy a blue cloak for 100,000? Dream on.”

“Right, do you have any idea how hard it is to get a cloak?”

“Exactly, it’s been days and there hasn’t been a blue cloak in the auction house.”

Zhang Shan was quietly pleased. Even if he didn’t need it, he could sell it—a level 25 blue cloak. Although it would be a while before others could use it, the big spenders always prepared early. It should fetch a good price.

A level 25 blue cloak added 12,000 HP, about 4,000 less than his sacrificial cloak, but it was still a rare item—hard to buy even with money.

Still, he needed to be tactful and not further shatter these big shots’ fragile egos.

“This cloak is level 25 gear. It’ll be a while before you can use it, so don’t get too excited.”

Zhang Shan only meant to smooth things over, but it backfired. Envy and jealousy erupted all around.

“Damn, Artifact Bro, you’ve gone too far!”

“Yeah, are we supposed to be wearing green cloaks at level 25?”

“At this rate, even the green cloaks at level 25 will probably become hot commodities.”

“Yeah, plenty of newbies don’t even have a plain cloak and are stuck with just a few hundred HP. It’s pitiful.”

“I don’t care, Artifact Bro, you have to sell me this cloak. You can’t put it on the auction house.”

“Why should he sell it to you? Sell it to me, I’ll pay more.”

And there it was—chaos again. Zhang Shan looked at Storm Dominates All to see what the guild leader would say.

“Although it’s a level 25 cloak and it’ll be ten days or half a month before we can use it, good cloaks are so rare. Let’s have Six-Pipes run an internal auction—highest bidder gets it. Of course, if the bids are too low and Six-Pipes isn’t satisfied, he can put it on the auction house if he wants. It’s his choice.”

That settled it. The leader had spoken: hold an internal auction.

“Ahem, ladies and gentlemen, please place your bids.”

“I bid 100,000 gold coins.”

“200,000.”

“Come on, you’re messing up the market. Blue equipment and you’re bidding 200,000? That’s too much.”

“I’ll bid whatever I want. If you don’t want it, don’t bid.”

200,000 was already a high price, even though the gold-to-blue-coin exchange rate had dropped a fair bit, now stable at about two to one. Still, 200,000 gold was 400,000 blue coins.

Spending 400,000 on an item you couldn’t even use yet—such was the way of the wealthy. They only cared that it was good, price be damned.

“210,000.”

“Damn, someone’s still bidding? 220,000! I’m determined to get this cloak.”

“230,000.”

“Damn, so many people joining in. 250,000!”

250,000 gold was a very high bid. No one followed.

“Haha, Artifact Bro, the cloak is mine. After the event, I’ll pay you in gold.”

But he celebrated too soon.

“300,000,” Storm Dominates All bid calmly.

Everyone fell silent. Damn, they’d forgotten the leader needed a cloak too.

Who could outbid him? No one could compete with his wealth.

Looks like the cloak was his.

“No more bids? Then I’ll sell it to the boss, alright?” Zhang Shan confirmed.

Everyone fell silent.

Zhang Shan traded the cloak to Storm Dominates All.

“I’ll pay you after the event. Let’s hurry—there are just over twenty minutes left. Let’s try to kill another orange boss.”

“Let’s go! Maybe we’ll get another cloak drop.”

“That’s right. You have to dream big.”

“Let’s do it. I want to break into the top ten.”

“There are two more orange bosses nearby. Someone in the guild already marked their locations. There’s one not far to the right.”

“Yeah, let’s go for the one on the right. Same as the one we just killed—an elite captain. Should be easy.”

“Let’s hope the Secretary doesn’t mess up again. It’d be embarrassing if time runs out before we kill it.”

The Secretary was caught in the crossfire.

This elite captain on the right had already been discovered by someone in the guild, and they’d tried to fight it but couldn’t withstand the combined attacks of the boss and its minions. They all died and had to revive.

Not wanting to waste time, they didn’t try again. With limited event time, most people aimed to kill purple bosses to rack up city defense points faster.

Since no one else was fighting it, it was just right for Zhang Shan’s team.

They found the boss.

Same old routine—Zhang Shan went first to pull the mobs, separating the boss from its minions. The Secretary charged in to pin the boss, while the others intercepted the minions. Then they slowly cleared the smaller enemies first.

“The contribution points from killing the orange boss earlier were double those from a purple boss, did you notice?”

“Of course. Otherwise, how did the Secretary get into the top ten? It’s not because he died twice, haha.”

“Can you just talk without dragging me into it?” The Secretary was clearly annoyed.

“Heh.”

“Have you guys heard how the other cities are doing?” Zhang Shan wondered what the other top contributors had done to get their scores so high.

After all, they’d taken down one orange and one purple boss—not many teams could match that efficiency.

“Most are racking up points by killing purple bosses. But all the big guilds are organizing orange boss kills. The top ten on the board have all succeeded in killing one.”

“They’re that strong? They can finish off a boss with ten million HP so quickly?”

“No way. We have Artifact Bro’s insane damage output; that’s the only reason we kill bosses so fast. Without him, it’d take at least seven or eight minutes longer.”

“Exactly, so how are they killing bosses so quickly?”

“You guys are slow. They just get other people to clear the minions for them, so they can focus on the boss right away.”

“That’s allowed? Shameless.”

“Boss, should we ask some guild members for help too?”

“No. Everyone fights on their own merit. We’ll never sacrifice our own members’ interests for our own gain.”

“And orange bosses aren’t worth that much trouble. If you want to rank high, rely on strength—cheap tricks won’t work.”

Storm Dominates All insisted, standing firm on principle.

Well, he was a leader who cared about his reputation and had his standards.