The auction hall had five floors. Senior Brother Qi was quick-witted and agile. He grabbed three tickets and led the two of them to find seats.
Xie Mingzhe curiously observed his surroundings. The holographic scene looked exceptionally realistic and the faces of the people sitting around him were clearly visible. However, it was unknown of they were real faces or randomly created in the game.
Due to the increasing number of players entering, the auction hall automatically upgraded and added two more floors to the original five. Clearly, the auction house was extremely popular today. Tickets were sold out and the system automatically expanded its capacity.
There were seven floors in total, and they were soon all filled again.
The auction hall was packed with people. It was even more bustling than a movie theater on the first day of the Lunar New Year in Earth times.
The clock pointed to 3:30. As soon as the time arrived, all the entrances to the auction hall closed.
The lights in the hall suddenly went out, leaving only the stage in the center illuminated with warm lights. Simultaneously, a 40 centimeter wide LCD screen appeared on the back of each audience member’s chair. It magnified the central stage for easy viewing, even for those sitting in the corner.
A stunningly beautiful woman with curly hair walked to the center of the stage in high heels. She smiled and said, “Good afternoon, everyone! Today’s auction is about to begin! The list of items for auction have been sent to your screens. Please check in advance if you are interested in any of the items!”
As soon as she finished speaking, the list of auction items appeared on the screen.
Today’s auction included four cards and ten stores.
The specific stats of the cards weren’t displayed on the list. There were only the patterns, the colors and the star ratings on the back of the cards. There were two four-star cards, one five-star card and one seemingly very valuable seven-star black card.
Xie Mingzhe eagerly awaited the upcoming show.
“First up are the stores. Please see the overhead view of the store locations on the screen.” The auctioneer introduced it with a smile. “The ten stores are all located in the newly opened southern section of the commercial street, adjacent to the black market. Each store is 50 square meters, with convenient transportation and a very stable flow of customers. The starting price is 10,000 gold coins per month!”
“Now, let’s begin the auction of the first store!”
This game didn’t have a system of different servers. Xie Mingzhe speculated that it might be due to the cloud storage technology that enabled massive data processing. Today, tens of thousands of players were crammed into the same venue, yet there was absolutely no lag. Everyone’s faces were also clearly visible. This server was truly amazing. If one could be brought to Earth in the 21st century, it would instantly solve the problem of lag caused by too many players during guild wars in online games.
Since all players were in the same server, the number of stores was limited. New players often faced the embarrassment of not being able to rent a store. Therefore, the game operators opened a new commercial street every month, renting out the stores to those who wanted to do business.
Players who lost money in their businesses and no longer wanted to continue to bring back their previously rented stores for auction. The official system regulated store rents based on market conditions, ensuring the stability of the game’s commercial system and preventing mass store closures and economic collapse.
Xie Mingzhe leaned over and asked Senior Brother Qi, “The location of the stores near the black market must be pretty good, right? How much is the rent usually?”
Senior Brother Qi replied, “A 50 square meter store can fetch a maximum monthly rent of 20,000 or it will lose money. There aren’t that many people in the game who know how to do business. Players who don’t know how to run stores will lose money. They usually set up stores in the black market.”
Xie Mingzhe nodded knowingly. It was like the difference between opening a 24 hour convenience store and setting up a stall at a nigh market. Each had its advantages.
Generally, people who knew how to do business would open their own stores. Xie Mingzhe actually really wanted to open a store in the game. He was very good at budgeting and had made some money opening stores in online games before. However, he was only a newbie with two low-level cards in the world of Star Card Storm. Opening a store was still too far away.
Perhaps he could try doing some business after some time, once he fully understood the game and had done his market research?
Xie Mingzhe secretly made some calculations in his head.
Senior Brother Qi, who had five years of gaming experience, was very familiar with the auction market. As expected, all ten stores released by the official auction house were sold for less than 20,000 per month. No one dared to bid more than 20,000.
The beautiful auctioneer continued, “All the stores have been auctioned off. Next up is the rare card auction. First up is a battle card, a four-star Flower Fairy. This card has excellent attributes. This four-star card has a base attack power of 3,600 points. The starting bid is 1,000 gold coins!”
Xie Mingzhe had seen the Flower Fairy card earlier that day when playing the dungeon with Brother Chen. This card’s attributes were much better than the one Brother Chen had obtained. Xie Mingzhe clearly remembered that Brother Chen’s four-star Flower Fairy only had a base attack power of 3,000 points, while this one had 3,600. Once a card evolved, its base attributes doubled continuously. Cards with a high base attribute were more valuable to develop later. It was no wonder it was auctioned off.
This card ultimately sold for 3,000 gold coins.
The auctioneer announced, “Next up is another card, a five-star pet card, the Nine-Tailed Fox card!”
The moment he finished speaking, the card to be auctioned was presented to everyone, along with its corresponding star card illusion. It was a life-like white, nine-tailed fox. The fox’s eyes were a clear turquoise green, and its nine white tails were curled up. It was a fluffy ball that looked incredibly cute.
He had never seen such a beautiful fox before. Xie Mingzhe really wanted to buy one to raise, but he didn’t know how much it would cost.
The auctioneer announced, “This pet card can be taken out of the game and will generate a Star Card illusion in the real world. The starting bid is 5,000 gold coins!”
“……” The newbie with only 100 gold coins in his bag could only watch the excitement. Xie Mingzhe was quite curious about prices in the game, so he couldn’t help leaning over to ask Senior Brother Qi, “What is the ratio of gold in the game to real-world currency?”
“The recent gold price is around 10:1,” Senior Brother Qi replied.
“Oh.” Xie Mingzhe calculated that 5,000 game coins was equivalent to 500 real-world crystal coins. This was just the starting bid. People around him quickly raised the price, and the price on the screen jumped rapidly until it stopped at 8,000 gold coins.
“8,000 gold coins once! 8,000 gold coins twice! Anyone else bidding? 8,000 gold coins three times! Sold!”
The hammer fell and the Nine-Tailed Fox card was sold to a buyer.
Since bidding was done by pressing buttons on the seat, only the official team knew who actually bought it. This was to protect the buyer’s privacy.
It seemed that prices in the game were very high! A pet card selling for 800 crystal coins? This was equivalent to a month’s rent for him.
Xie Mingzhe was very curious. The Flower Fairy card sold for 300 crystal coins, so why was this one 800? Was the difference really that big? Thinking of this, he leaned close to Senior Brother Qi’s ear and whispered, “Why is the Nine-Tailed Fox card so expensive? Its basic stats don’t look very good and it doesn’t have any attack skills.”
“It is because it is an original card,” Senior Brother Qi answered softly. “Original cards are made by players themselves and don’t drop in the game. The copyright of this card belongs to its creator, who has the right to dispose of it as they see fit. The Nine-Tailed Fox card is expensive because its creator is a well-known pet card designer, Sister Man. Sister Man makes a limited number of copies of the Nine-Tailed Fox card every month and releases them for sale. Girls love raising these fluffy pets. Naturally, some people are willing to pay a high price to snatch them up.”
Xie Mingzhe suddenly realized. The Flower Fairy card wasn’t very valuable because it dropped from bosses in the game. Anyone who wanted it could farm it. The Nine-Tailed Fox card was different. It wasn’t something that could be farmed in the game, but an original card created by a player. The copyright belonged to the creator, Sister Man, who could sell it whenever she wanted. She could copy dozens of cards every month and sell them for 800 crystal coins. The creator of the Nine-Tailed Fox card must be making a fortune!
Xie Mingzhe couldn’t help feeling envious.
After the previous cards were auctioned off, the beautiful auctioneer suddenly smiled mysteriously. “Next up is today’s main event, the extremely precious seven-star card!”
As soon as she finished speaking, a host brought an exquisite box to the center of the stage and slowly opened it under the spotlight.
A black card lay inside the velvet box.
The pure black back of the card gleamed with a metallic sheen, and the card had light green pattern.
Xie Mingzhe remembered his own two-star card. Its blue back was completely blank and was very monotonous. Meanwhile, the back of this seven-star black card was ornate and exquisite. Fine, thread-like green patterns meandered and stretched across the black back. The irregular lines created a sense of depth and dimension, like a masterpiece sculpted by a master artist.
This card was beautiful just from itgs back alone. Xie Mingzhe was a complete novice but even he knew that this card was incredibly valuable.
Furthermore, he noticed a small character written in the lower right corner of the back:
Tang.
The moment the camera focused on the character ‘Tang’, Xie Mingzhe heard the girl behind him scream. “Oh my god, could it be God Tang’s work?”
”Ahhh, it must be his work! Only he would use this logo. No one would dare to imitate it!”
A middle-aged man’s voice came from the side. “It looks like the rumors were right! There really is a Tang Muzhou card today.”
”How could God Tang’s card be at an auction house?”
The surrounding sounds were initially whispers, but it gradually became noisy and chaotic. It was like a stone thrown into a still lake, suddenly creating a monstrous wave. The waves of sound rolled on, instantly engulfing the entire venue.
Xie Mingzhe was sitting in the crowd and was almost deafened by the noise.
Who was Tang Muzhou? Was he that influential?
The auctioneer picked up the microphone to maintain order. “Everyone, quiet, quiet. Please keep quiet!”
The word quiet was repeated three times before the excited audience finally quieted down. The beautiful auctioneer continued, “This seven-star card was personally created by Tang Muzhou, God Tang!” She carefully turned the black card over. “Please take a look at the information on this card!”
On the electronic screen, Xie Mingzhe could clearly see the front of the card.
The front of the card showed a cluster of blooming white flowers. The patterns on each flower were extremely clear, and some petals even had crystal-clear dew. The clustered white flowers, layer upon layer, were as white as jade and life-like. They seemed to convey a faint fragrance through the card.
[Night Blooming Jasmine (Wood Attribute)]
[Card Level: 70.
Evolution Star Level: ★★★★★★★
Available Uses: 7/7.
Basic Attributes: HP 100,000, Defense 50,000, Attack 0, Agility 100, Critical Rate 0%.
Additional Skill: Bewitching Fragrance (Energy targets within 30 meters will absorb a special fragrance, causing random hallucinations for 5 seconds).
Additional Skill: Dark Night Descends (Enemy targets within 30 meters are collectively blinded for 3 seconds).]
The entire audience screamed again the moment the card information was released.
Heated discussions erupted behind him. “100,000 HP and 50,000 defense, that is 150,000 HP in total. It is almost like a tank!”
”A card with 100 agility can provide the fastest crowd control in the arena. It is also a powerful control with illusions and blindness. This card is amazing!”
”I remember that God Tang used this card in the league before?”
”Why would he sell such a good card?”
”If he is selling it, does that mean he has developed an even better card?”
The auctioneer saw that the atmosphere was just right and said with a smile, “The seven-star max-level Night Blooming Jasmine. It is a god-tier crowd control card and it is officially up for auction! The starting price is 100,000 gold coins!”
Xie Mingzhe exclaimed, “What???”
Were the people in this world crazy with too much money?
100,000 gold coins was equivalent to 10,000 crystal coins in real currency. It was enough for his living expenses for a year!
A card selling for such a high price? Would anyone be foolish enough to buy it?
Xie Mingzhe was quickly proven wrong. Not only were there people buying this card, but many people were scrambling to buy it!
The moment the auctioneer announced the start of the auction, the price on the screen skyrocketed.
110,000… 115,000… 120,000… 125,000…
Xie Mingzhe’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as he watched the numbers scrolling by!
So much money! These rich people really knew how to have fun!
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