章節 50: 049 Blue Moon Auction House
After the two groups separated from the meeting, James messaged Ryan and Cat to meet him at the new Guild Hall.
** Group Chat: Blaise, Cat, Ryan **
[- Blaise: I have successfully got 8 shop locations, the Guild Hall and the City Center Building. How are you two doing? -]
[- Cat: We just finished up the merger. -]
[- Ryan: It went smoother than expected -]
[- Blaise: Any conflict between guild members? -]
[- Cat: Surprisingly enough, no. -]
[- Ryan: They all seem to be very excited about it. -]
[- Blaise: That is good to hear. -]
[- Blaise: Meet me at the Guild Hall near the center of the city. -]
Both Ryan and Cat agreed to meet James. Everyone met up in just 15 minutes. James and Mercury were tucked in a corner to keep out of sight.
James had given Ryan and Cat heads up to where he was hiding at the moment.
"You're being quite cautious aren't you?" Asked Cat.
"Reaper and I are in the public eye. It is better safe than sorry." James had taken out his expired Mask of Illusion and put it on. While it would no longer hide his name, it would hide his face.
The four slowly walked around the Guild Hall looking over everything. It was like Charlotte said, the city had opened the hall for public use. It allowed any player to use most of its utilities. Most people used it for the free workshops; it was first come first served.
"So, any clue on how long until this place becomes ours?" asked Ryan. He was eager to get his crafters into the workshops.
"I am just waiting for confirmation from our property manager to give us the word." answered James.
The four of them were standing on the second floor overlooking the people below. "Hmm, it will probably cause quite the stir that this place will no longer be used by the public. What if we face outcry from the players?" Cat was worried.
Mercury giggled, "Blaise is used to dealing with situations like this. Isn't that right?" Mercury talked up James. She was slightly hoping he was not prepared for the upcoming situation. It would be exactly like Cat said. She hoped it would cause James to show a frantic side.
James turned to Mercury and gave her a cheeky smile, he knew what she was up to. "Yes, many if not all of the players of the city will most likely be angry about losing such a valuable resource. Typical workshops outside Guild Halls cost up to a gold coin to use depending on the quality of the workshop."
James looked around to all the filled workshop rooms, there were more than 800 rooms occupied by players all working on their professions. "There are benefits for closing this avenue, the life skill professions will become more scarce due to the higher upkeep on their training and crafting process now. It will also drive the prices up more. We can make a good profit thanks to it; I bet we could even rent out a few rooms every now and then."
James really followed close to his father without knowing it; he had a nag for business. "I got word from my property manager that the work on the old Center Building is nearing completion. The City Council allowed us to work on it before the loans were processed and the titles were transferred. We will capitalize on the finished product shortly after the doors on this building are officially closed."
He turned to Cat, "Here, take these runes and prepare yourself to head an auction with them. I trust you will figure out what to do once the time comes. The low quality runes should be sold in bulk after the better runes are auctioned off. NPC nobles can now attend Auctions due to ours being held in a privately owned building. Don't turn down their business."
"Nobles?" Cat was confused.
"Yes, apparently they couldn't purchase anything off the old Auction House due to it being limited to Adventurers; but now that there is a player owned Auction House they can now participate. I got a tip that they will spend good money on runes." explained James.
"Does that mean they will also use our shops?" Cat wanted more information.
"I believe so, I doubt it will happen very often. Seems like they want specific goods and items." said James.
** Ding, Player has successfully purchased 10 buildings in the City of Glish. **
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** Call from Charlotte: **
"I just got word! The loan papers and property agreements were accepted. You are now the proud owner of 10 of the best properties in the city. Don't forget my repayment!" cheered Charlotte.
"I thank you for your help, I will pay the loan as soon as possible. After it is paid off I will be sure to either return the favor with another favor or gold coins. Depends on what you want." assured James.
"Do you want to come over and check out the Blue Moon Auction House?" asked Charlotte.
"Not yet, I will be over shortly. The Guild Hall will be closing to the public soon and I want to watch over it." explained James.
"Okay! I will wait here for you!" exclaimed Charlotte.
** Charlotte hug up **
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** Ding, please finalize the property purchase below: **
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Property Information
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Owner Name: Blaise
Keep hidden from public?: [Yes] [No]
Add Co-Owners? [Yes][No]
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1. Center City Building - Old Name
Please enter a new name: [ ]
Please enter a building function: [ ]
2. Central Hall (Guild Hall) - Old Name
Please enter a new name: [ ]
3. Shop No. XXXX
Please enter a new name: [ ]
…
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James started to answer the prompt's questions. He first chose to keep his name hidden from the property's deed. Second, he added both Ryan and Cat as Co-Owners. He chose to make their names public since they will be the public faces of the business.
He then renamed the Center City Building to Blue Moon Auction House and the Central Hall to Blue Moon Trading Hall. For the Blue Moon Auction House he needed to select a building function. He looked over the list of functions and found the option he was looking for. He selected 'Auction House' and got another prompt.
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Property Information
Create a unique Logo Stamp?: [Yes] [No]
(Purpose: Stamps all items sold by the auction house with a brand logo.
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He selected 'Yes' and another prompt appeared. This one was a Photoshop-like utility, it wanted him to design a logo. He took a few minutes to design the logo; he was not good at art but the system helped out a lot. He had a building surrounded by a blue crescent moon as the logo.
One last prompt appeared; it asked him if he wanted to distribute a copy of the stamp to the co-owners. He selected 'Yes' and Ryan and Cat found that they received an item from the system.
He told the system to wait on the eight small shops; it was not yet time to get them up and running. Blue Moon's name would first have to establish their name before the small shops would work out.
"I take it that everything worked itself out?" asked Cat. She had made the assumption based on the stamp she received.
"Yes, things are moving fairly smoothly. You two should get ready; I will now start to kick everyone out of the guild hall. Make a nice scene." James said while laughing and walked off to the third floor. He wanted to be further away from the scene that was about to unfold.
Mercury skipped after him with a smile on her face. She followed him all the way upstairs and they looked over the banister once again at the unsuspecting players below. "This should be fun. Are you sure those two can handle it?" she asked James.
James turned his eyes away from the crowd below to look at Mercury. He laughed, "I am not sure about Ryan but I sure hope Cat can. If not they will struggle for a while. I don't plan on helping out much as I have to keep my identity safe."
Mercury leaned over and reseted herself on James. She was in a comfortable position to watch the show.
James felt her warm body on his and smiled. [Will she ever stop teasing me?] he thought to himself.
James opened the building's options and selected the option to kick unaffiliated and those not on the whitelist out of the building. He had to be sure to place Mercury on the whitelist; he didn't want her kicked out with the others.
All the players currently in the building got the same notification.
**** ( Announcement ) ****
The building has been purchased and is now under Blue Moon Trading's control. The building's settings have been turned to private. Everyone unaffiliated with the guild, Blue Moon Trading, is asked to leave within the next 15 minutes. Anyone who fails to comply will be forcefully ejected from the building.
***********************
Players in the guild hall all saw changes happening in front of their eyes. The once blank flags and insignias all changed to have the Blue Moon Trading's logo. The decor all changed, it was returned to the pristine look that first accompanied the building's opening, it had since been scuffed and dirtied from facing the previous natural weathering of public use.
The players were in uproar! No one believed that the building was able to be purchased; the building was so large it could easily hold several thousands of players at once. It was the bread and potatoes of the public!
Players used it daily! It allowed them to progress and train their professions for no cost other than the price of the materials they used. They did not want to pay fees to rent out other workspaces around the city!
Players also used it for more than life skilling! There were several conference rooms that guilds used. Guilds that ranged all sizes used these rooms. Hell, even a few of the top guilds used them!
In fact the leaders from the top guilds were all having a meeting right now! They were in the main conference room on the first floor! They were all confused; how come a public building was kicking them out. They were not finished discussing James's group.
Thousands of players hit up the forums once again. The poor moderators were working overtime again. A single mega-thread was enforced. No one was able to talk about the Central Hall being purchased outside of the mega-thread.
Author was annoyed, "I thought we looked into properties." He looked at Violet.
"We did, the information we found was almost non-existent. No one had the requirements to even get an answer for our questions. No one had enough fame." she replied.
"There are only two people who would have the fame to do this." Tempest said in disgust.
Alexander looked at Tempest, who in return calmed down, "It was either Blaise or Reaper."
"I doubt Reaper would waste her time searching for answers. Besides, Blaise has more money." said Quincy.
"I agree, that bitch doesn't have enough interest in that kind of business," said Scarlet.
Rend has some suspicion, "The leaderboards show that both Blaise, Reaper, and Talon are still guildless. The announcement stated that this building is now under the control of a guild called Blue Moon Trading. How would that be possible if Blaise bought it?"
"I don't know, we should look into this some. Let's go for now; the last thing we need is to be forcefully kicked out." said Author.
Everyone looked at Tempest when Author made his comment. His face turned a little red but he did his best to ignore the comment. Alexander already punished him enough.
Everyone made their way out of the main conference room and looked around. There were hundreds of people arguing, yelling, showing obvious signs of anger and hesitation. The bulk of the players were slowly making their way to the exit. The workshop rooms were slowly clearing out.
The leaders from the top guilds looked around and saw the changes. They were impressed, it had been a while since the building looked this good. At first a small group of people took their time to keep the hall clean but they eventually stopped due to the large number of people who just didn't care to treat the hall with respect. Maybe it was a good thing someone bought this place?
While looking around Jack noticed an ownership certificate hanging on the wall next to them. "Everyone, look here," he called out.
Everyone looked at what he was pointing at.
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Property Information
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Owner Name: Redacted
Co-Owners: Cat, Ryan
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Affiliated Guild: Blue Moon Trading
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"Blue Moon Trading appears to only be affiliated with the hall. The true owner has given Cat and Ryan co-ownership over the hall and thus the guild gets ownership. A smart move, it does make Blaise a prime target to be the main owner." said Author.
"Just how much did he have to spend on a building this big?" questioned Rend.
"I don't know, I doubt he truly had enough. We only know that he got his gold from the announcements. I cannot imagine that the amount he had was enough. Maybe he is renting the building?" Alexander asked some of his own questions.
"Isn't that Reaper?" someone asked.
They all looked up. Sure enough, it was Reaper. She was standing next to a man in a mask. They were both watching the evacuation. They all tried to quickly look at the man's name but failed. They all got distracted; they watched the man hand Mercury an exquisite looking rune.
Mercury saw them looking at her and waved to them. She could tell that they missed the chance to see James's name. She took the chance to throw them off his trail; "Thanks Magicks, pleasure doing business as always!" she said with just enough volume for a few members of Author's group to hear.
"Magicks?" said Rend.
"That was Magicks?" asked Alexander.
"I am not sure, he handed her a rune like it was nothing. Based on the quality of the runes that have appeared so far, that rune should be far better." said Author. He looked around, the building was almost empty. There were only a few stragglers, like themselves, some trouble makers refusing to leave, and Mercury. "Let's head out."
Their group headed out the exit like everyone else. Also just like everyone else, they were greeted by a wall of 2000 players.
A few seconds later the remaining people were forcefully ejected from the building.
Cat wanted to start the show. "Thank you all for leaving our new Guild Hall."
"Yes, we appreciate that most of you left without causing too much trouble," said Ryan.
"What do we say?" Cat turned to their guild members and yelled out.
"Blue Moon Trading and Blue Moon Auction House thanks you!" echoes rolled through the city. Nearly 2000 players made their chant audible to every player in the city. They wanted to get their name out in an explosive way.
"Good!" said Cat. "Everyone but the Auction House staff please enter the building and make yourselves home!"
The crowd in front were speechless. The members of Blue Moon Trading formed a line 4 rows thick and walked into the building. As they approached the crowd the players unconsciously moved out of the way.
Several minutes later only the crowd and 52 members of Blue Moon Trading were left outside. Author and the other leaders of the top guilds made their way to Cat and Ryan.
Just as they reached the members of Blue Moon Cat greeted them, "Hello, sorry for such a show. We finally got permission to enter our building and couldn't help but to rush over. I hope we didn't interrupt anything important between the top guilds." she appeared to apologize.
Author waved it off, "No, we were just finishing when we got the announcement. I will have to say congratulations. I believe you are the first guild to buy a guild hall."
"It does seem like it! It was a difficult process." said Ryan.
Alexander wanted to see if they would give up the secret of owning property, "We are wondering if you could explain the process you sent through; all of us here would greatly appreciate it."
"The requirements are simple but depending on your financial situation it could prove to be difficult. As for how we came across the ability to purchase the property we had two benefactors. I am sure you know the one already." Ryan vaguely explained.
Tempest kept his cool while talking about James this time, "So it is true, Blaise owns the building then?"
Earlier in the day James gave them a generic script to answer some of the questions that the leaders of the top guilds would probably ask. He knew they would not disclose his hand in the first guild hall to the public. He also wanted to give them fake information about his alias, Magicks.
"Yes but no. We had to make a deal with him since he had the required fame to purchase properties. We had to go elsewhere for the money. That person is the true owner of the building. We made a deal with both of them so that we could start up Ryan and I's business together." explained Cat.
"Business? A secret investor?" Everyone was more confused now.
Ryan addressed everyone in the city square. "Yes. We, Blue Moon Trading, would like to invite everyone here to our first ever auction across the street! We also own the old City Center Building. It's new name is Blue Moon Auction House."
"Our first auction will include runes from the great Rune Master, Magicks! Don't miss out! The auction will start in one hour!" yelled Cat.
Cat, Ryan, and the 50 member team of the auction house turned to walk away. They proudly strolled over to their auction house.
"The only way for them to have enough runes to auction them off is if they are working with Magicks. Looks like there is an undercurrent sweeping across the game that even the Underworld didn't even know about." Author said while taking a deep breath.
After pausing for a second Author turned to the other leaders, "You better gather up your funds, if there is a rune to buy my guild will have it. It is going to be a free-for-all this time around."
Author and his co-leader went off. On his way, Author commanded every member of his guild to liquidate their assets with the promise of future benefits. He saw the rune Magicks handed Mercury; if there are any runes of that quality in the auction his guild must have them!
All the guilds scrambled to collect as much money as they could. They even went as far as to do some real world trading.
Even the forums were in a new uproar, the first ever Player-Owned Auction House has appeared. If you have money, bring it with you!
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