Kapitel 3: Chapter3-The Bids Become Increasingly Outlandish

No one knew who spread the news.

Players all along the street heard that the blacksmith shop had a freshly uncovered piece of top-tier equipment.

In no time, a swarm of players rushed over.

Some came to watch the excitement, while others arrived clutching piles of gold coins, hoping to buy the equipment.

Players who were initially queuing to have their equipment appraised also gathered around.

The small entrance to the blacksmith shop was besieged, leaving no room to even breathe.

Old Arthur seemed unfazed, looking at the axe with a satisfied expression.

It seemed that he too was curious to find out how much the axe could fetch.

Soon, people began to make offers.

A burly warrior stepped forward and said, "Bro, I, 'Dragon Divinity Slash,' will take this axe. I'm the vice guild leader of Thunder Dragon Guild. Selling it to me is like granting our guild a favor..."

A knight player immediately cut him off, saying, "Pah, how much can the favor of your tiny guild of a dozen people possibly be worth? Don't try to deceive him... I'll offer thirty gold coins, sell the axe to me."

Some players chimed in, egging them on, "Thirty gold coins? Have you gone mad from poverty? This is a one-handed axe, meaning you can also equip another one-handed weapon or a shield, greatly enhancing your attributes... Such a top-tier item should be at least forty gold coins!"

Immediately, a tycoon player chimed in, "In that case, I bid 40 gold coins!"

This was followed by a flurry of escalating bids:

"I bid 42 gold coins!"

"I bid 43 gold coins!"

…

"I bid 50 gold coins!"

The one who bid 50 gold coins was a knight dressed in fine equipment, evidently not lacking in resources.

At last, "I Don't Care About Money" couldn't restrain himself any longer. He raised a hand and shouted:

"I bid 60 gold coins!"

This booming proclamation drew the attention of everyone present.

Meanwhile, the owner of the axe, Sebastian, sat unruffled, calmly declaring, "Alright, the highest bid is now 60 gold coins."

"Any other offers?"

Just when everyone thought that "I Don't Care About Money" was about to secure the one-handed axe, the knight who previously bid 50 gold coins seemingly couldn't stand it anymore and yelled:

"I am determined to have this axe... I bid 70 gold coins!"

Now, everyone was dumbfounded.

Among the players present were many who were well-versed in the value of game equipment, and they had already appraised the weapon internally.

While this weapon was indeed a top-tier item, it was, after all, only a level 5 piece of equipment, and its estimated value was around 50 to 60 gold coins.

And yet, the bid had soared to 70 gold coins...

Did this knight have too much money to spend?

With a provocative look on his face, the knight stared at "I Don't Care About Money," as if to say, "You little rascal, you think you can compete with me?"

I Don't Care About Money became enraged.

His chosen ID bore witness to the fact that he was certainly not lacking in financial resources in reality.

He gestured grandly, raising the stake with an irrefutable tone, "I bid 80 gold coins!"

Good heavens, now the increments were in leaps of 10 gold coins.

Translated into real currency, that was tantamount to ten thousand dollars!

Seeing I Don't Care About Money raise the bid without the slightest hesitation, the knight began to waver.

Although he was wealthy, his fortune hadn't come from nothing.

He knew the axe was handy, but it absolutely wasn't worth spending over 80 gold coins on.

But he had just provoked I Don't Care About Money in front of so many people.

If he backed down now, how could he face others in the future?

Thus, gritting his teeth, the knight pronounced word by word:

"I bid..."

"85 gold coins!"

I Don't Care About Money gave a chilly smile, not letting him finish, and said, "I bid 90 gold coins."

Now, the knight was truly infuriated, almost to the point of death.

I Don't Care About Money, hands on hips and wearing a disdainful expression, asked, "Well, are you following or not?"

With a determined heart, the knight uttered his final bid, "95..."

"100 gold coins!"

I Don't Care About Money seemed to be enjoying the domination over the knight thoroughly.

He was aware that the axe wasn't worth a hundred gold coins.

But who cares when he didn't care about money?

There was no price tag on happiness!

Seeing the bidding reaching this point, Sebastian spoke, "Any more bids?"

After asking twice and receiving no responses, he announced, "Alright, the axe will be sold for 100 gold coins."

With that, Sebastian and I Don't Care About Money opened a private trading interface between them to complete the transaction.

Since there was no stall set up and no auction house commissioned, Sebastian would receive the full 100 gold coins from this transaction, free from any service charges.

After completing the transaction, Sebastian donned his hood, hid his ID, and hurriedly left the blacksmith shop.

...

An hour later.

Sebastian watched with barely concealed excitement as the 100 gold coins he placed in the trading center were all sold off.

In just half a day, he had earned nearly 100,000 dollars.

This was real hard cash!

Now Sebastian was even more convinced of how badass the system he had obtained was.

What was the biggest difference between people? Information gap!

When he had sufficient intelligence, he could stand invincible!

With this thought in mind, Sebastian decided there and then not to log off and rest, but to immediately go leveling up.

After all, with each level increase, he had a chance to obtain intelligence!

...

In the north of Darkstone lay a mountain, snow-covered all year round.

Many newbie players chose not to level up here due to the severe weather conditions.

Players below level 20 would be afflicted with many debuffs (negative effects) making leveling up even more difficult unless they drank a special strong liquor.

Although the liquor was available at the Darkstone tavern, it was pricey and came with a 2% chance of falling into a drunken state with each attack post-consumption.

Hence, most players wouldn't even consider entering the northern snowy mountains before reaching level 20.

At this moment, a player cloaked in a black robe was trekking deeper into the snowy mountains, wading through the deep snow unevenly.

It was Sebastian, going by the ID "ShepherdWind".

He glanced at his status bar. Good heavens, he hadn't gone far but already had three debuffs applied to him. They were:

[Cold (Debuff): The character is in a cold state, Agility -10%.]

[Snow (Debuff): The character is amidst a heavy snowstorm, attack hit rate -40%.]

[Rapid Drain (Debuff): The character is in a harsh environment, experiencing rapid energy drain. If they do not eat timely, they will randomly lose HP.]

Though these three debuffs appeared lethal, Sebastian didn't mind.

He chose major roads where monsters wouldn't appear.

He didn't plan to fight any monster during this trip to the mountains; he was here for the intelligence he acquired.

Upon reaching level 2, as expected, the system gave him another chance to pull from the intelligence banner.

This time he pull:

[Roar of the Snowy Night (Purple): Deep in the northern snowy mountains of Darkstone, there is a level 60 Snow Wolf King. Last night, it was severely wounded by a mysterious individual, leaving behind a level 1 cub that can be tamed. Attached: Map to the Snow Wolf King Cave.]

This time, what he got was purple intelligence!