Chapter 21 – A Rich Player at the Auction House

The attributes of the cards sold at the auction were generally good. The Auction House charged a management fee of 500 gold coins per day, and a card usually had to queue up for at least three days. If the card could not be sold for a good price the player may fail to make money, or even lose money. So a player who brought a garbage card to be auctioned was definitely a newcomer who didn’t know about the card market.

Therefore, when seeing “月半”, a newcomer’s LOGO they had never heard about, most of the audience didn’t think highly of him. They were not interested in this card; they just wanted the host to hurry through the process and then start presenting the other more precious seven-star cards.

The host continued with a smile, “Next, please take a look at the data of this card!”

On everyone’s screen, the card was flipped——

On the front of the card was a beauty in a long dress who was a slim girl with fine features. She looked extremely weak, making everyone feel worried about her. Tears in her watery eyes, she strewed pink petals over the ground.

What a beauty of exceptional quality! Many casual players had their eyes light up. This character card’s image had its own style. If the price was acceptable, they could buy this card for collection. But most of the players who love the Arena still kept their focus on the card’s attributes and skills after admiring the girl’s beauty.

Lin Daiyu (Wood)

Card Level: 1

Evolution Level: ★

Available Times of Use: 1/1

Base Attributes: Health 100, Attack 0, Defense 15, Agility 15, Critical Strike Chance 0%

Additional Skill: Daiyu Burying Blossoms (To inflict huge damage on flower cards,  30% chance of triggering instant death effect)

Daiyu Burying the Flowers? The audience was a little bit stunned, staring at the card – its skill was to inflict an effect on “flower cards”, so it could only be used in the Arena, useless for farming instances. Instant death effect? They had never seen such a skill description.

However, card experts at the Auction House from all different clubs were very excited after seeing this card. They quickly told their own Presidents, “Boss, a legendary card has appeared in the Auction House. Instant death effect against flower cards!”

“President, someone is selling an IDE card targeting flower cards in the Auction House!”

“The card maker must be Tang Muzhou’s enemy!”

“Boss, what should we do? An IDE card focusing flower cards is on auction!”

Tang Muzhou, “……………”

Uncle Chubby, you’re so unfriendly. Not only did you not reply to our mail, but you also put [Lin Daiyu] up for auction?

The news was quickly passed to professional players via all the club presidents.

National Star Card League professional player chat group ——

Zheng Feng: “Hahaha, please allow me to laugh for a while. Legend Tang proposed to add the instant death effect to the database, but he didn’t expect someone to make an IDE card to go against him!”

Qiao Xi: “Poor Legend Tang. Should we go to the Auction House to compete for this card?”

Ling Jingtang: “Now I just want to use a laughing face to express my feelings.”

Ye Zhu: “Hahahahahahaha, I can’t stop laughing!”

Shen An: “Don’t laugh at my Shifu! Be careful that you are also targeted as retribution!”

***

The host said at the auction, “The starting price of this card is 3000 gold!”

Hearing that, part of the audience complained silently, “Is this card’s creator crazy? The starting price of a one-star card is usually about 500 gold, right?”

“It’s so expensive, how much will I have to spend on this card if I want to level it up to seven stars?”

“Is this creator complacent about his card?”

However, those who knew its value remained silent, getting ready to snap it up by putting their fingers on the bidding button.

As soon as the host announced the start of the auction, the card’s price on the large screen skyrocketed continuously.

3500……3800……4000……

In less than a minute, its price had risen to 5000 gold.

However, the card’s price hit its bottleneck. Players who paid close attention to card prices in the auction house knew that most of the low-grade cards that could sell at such a high price were valuable. Because of its high price and the huge materials it would consume in leveling it up to seven stars, the rich preferred to buy seven-star cards directly. As for the middle class players in the game, they would consider whether they needed such cards or not before buying them.

It seemed that they didn’t need such a card. Players who were about to bid for this card stopped.

The host said, “5000 gold once, 5000 gold twice…”

Xie Mingzhe waited patiently in the crowd, he knew his [Lin Daiyu] could be sold at a higher price. Didn’t the players who competed with others in the Arena want an IDE card? Or is it that many players hadn’t understood its skills because it was its first appearance?

The host said, “5000 gold the third…”

Before he finished speaking, a number appeared on everyone’s screen.

10,000.

10,000 gold! Its price had doubled!

The audience were stunned. A rich player pressed the wrong button?

The smart host responded well to the situation, saying immediately according to his set procedures, “The price now is 10,000 gold, would anyone else like to place a bid?”

20,000.

Someone bid quadruple the price for this card!

It was not until now that the casual players, who knew little about battle cards, realized that this card was indeed precious. However, those who knew battle cards realized that the card experts sent here by major clubs had started bidding against each other.

As expected, the card’s price rose again!

30,000!

40,000!

50,000!

60,000!

100,000!

The price stopped at 100,000 gold.

Although Star Card Storm had been in operation for years, only Tang Muzhou’s one-star vine card sold at 100,000 gold five years ago. Before Tang Muzhou’s appearance, there were no such vine cards amongst the plant-type cards. In other words, he created a fighting build using vines. It was his future mentor who bought his vine card at the auction, which was a story acknowledged and passed on by players.

Of course, prices now were much higher than they had been five years ago. For example, 100,000 gold at that time was equivalent to more than 300,000 gold now.

Before Tang Muzhou sold his vine card at auction, he had become well-known in the black market and had lots of fans. However, could ‘Chubby’, who hadn’t showed up in public and had come to the auction for the first time, also sell his IDE card, which had the skill of [Daiyu Burying the Flowers] and a slim beauty on it, at 100,000 gold? Was this the appearance of a second genius?

The whole audience widened their eyes, staring at the screen.

All the buyers from the different clubs were on the verge of a breakdown. They sent PMs to their presidents, “There are countless players competing for this card! The price for this level 1 card has risen to 100,000!”

“Are members of the Fenghua Club present? Maybe they are bidding crazily for this card because they are afraid that someone will use this card against Legend Tang.”

“Should we keep bidding until the end?”

“President, please tell me whether I need to continue to bid?”

In fact, not only was Tang Muzhou present, but the Adjudication Club followed President Huan Yue’s instruction – get the card no matter what.

During the short period when the buyers were talking to their presidents, the bid was raised to 120,000.

Every president quickly sent instructions, “We don’t lack for funds, just bid for it!”

“If possible, try your best to buy it for a price within 500,000!”

But some calm presidents said, “This is the author’s first card to be auctioned. He will definitely sell [Lin Daiyu] in bulk in the future, so there is no need to be a spendthrift. Let’s just wait and see.”

The bid was like a sports car revving at full throttle, racing ahead.

——150,000!

——180,000!

——200,000!

——250,000!

The audience’s jaws dropped in amazement. How many people were bidding for this card?!

——300,000!

Seeing the price, the Adjudication Club’s buyer became terrified. He sent a voice message to the president, his voice trembling, “Boss, I guess Fenghua Club is determined to take this card. Are we really going to bid against them? This price is too high!”

Huan Yue frowned and contemplated. Certainly big clubs like the Adjudication Club could afford this price easily. But this way, Uncle Chubby would realize that the cards he made could be sold for a high price. Then what if he didn’t want to join the Adjudication Club to be a card designer?

He was really stupid! Why did he help Uncle Chubby raise the bid???

Thinking of this, Huan Yue immediately replied, “Stop!”

The Adjudication Club stopped, but there were some clubs that hadn’t caught on. They just wanted to get this IDE card against Tang Muzhou.

——350,000!

——400,000!

The auction had ignited all the players’ passion, many of them videoing the auction to do a live broadcast. Many netizens who didn’t enter the Auction House were watching live broadcasts to witness the historic moment of a one-star card’s price beating the record!

Buyers from each club got the willies, and the presidents were also not sure about the situation.

Was someone maliciously raising the bid? Normally the price wouldn’t be so high!

Five years ago, Tang Muzhou’s one-star card was auctioned for 100,000. At that time, the exchange rate between game currency and live currency was 3:1, so 100,000 at that time was equivalent to more than 300,000 gold coins now.

According to the market, 300,000 gold had been the highest price for a one-star card, no matter how powerful it was, because the buyer needed to spend a lot on leveling it up to seven stars later. Was it necessary to bid such a high price for this IDE card, even if it had appeared for the first time? What if its creator sold other [Lin Daiyu]s by auction tomorrow? If the creator sold [Lin Daiyu]s in bulk after selling this card at such a high price, would the buyer waste lots of money on it?

All the presidents were hesitating.

However, Tang Muzhou was an exception. He squinted slightly and continued to press the bid button.

A number suddenly appeared on the screen.

660,000.

The number showed the bidder’s confidence, as if he was saying, “I will get this card, no matter how much you raise it.”

Even Xie Mingzhe was stunned by such an ‘ambitious’ number.

Which rich player offered such a high price?

The auction house became quiet suddenly, only the host’s voice could be heard, “660,000 once, 660,000 twice, 660,000 the third time. Sold!”

As the hammer fell, Xie Mingzhe, waiting in the auction house, grinned from ear to ear.

He had made a great fortune!

To his surprise, this card was sold at 660,000 gold. He had expected major clubs to bid against each other for this card, since it was the first IDE card, but he had thought that 200,000 gold should have been its highest price, because it was only a one-star card after all and what he sold was this card, not its copyright. He could make many [Lin Daiyu]s in the future.

It was horrible that this one-star card was sold at 660,000 gold.

The major clubs had gone too far in bidding for this card?

The auction continued, but Xie Mingzhe hadn’t been in the mood to pay attention to the other cards.

He waited excitedly for the auction to end. Luckily, there weren’t any cards made by particularly famous designers in today’s auction, so Xie Mingzhe’s card sold for the highest price out of all the cards. The auction ended at 8:20pm.

Xie Mingzhe excitedly went to the NPC in the office of the auction house, trying to withdraw his gold.

However, the NPC told him, “The buyer of [Lin Daiyu] left a message for you, please read it.”

“Hello, Uncle Chubby. I’ve paid the 10% percentage for you. I want to buy your [Lin Daiyu]s in bulk. If you want to see me, please come to Qianlin Restaurant, north of the Central Plaza in Peacock galaxy. I’ll be waiting for you there.”

“…” Xie Mingzhe read the message with surprise.

In order to avoid disputes, the auction house wouldn’t divulge the buyer’s or the seller’s personal information. After closing the deal, the buyer and the seller could leave messages for each other via NPC.

Why did this man know his name ‘Uncle Chubby’? It was impossible for him to deduce ‘Uncle Chubby’ from his LOGO. Had this man known him for a long time? Xie Mingzhe was puzzled.

He had never expected Tang Muzhou to be the buyer!

In order to see Xie Mingzhe’s appearance at the auction, Tang Muzhou had come to all the auctions personally these last three days.