99 The Invitation
"Look, he bid again! The price is now 32 Gold and 40 Silvers!"
Players watching the show outside the Panjal City's Auction House oohed and aahed as the bids continuously increased, going completely beyond their imaginations. They could not even earn 10 Silver coins a day yet Flumox and the mysterious bidder were raising the bid by a Gold coin everytime like it meant nothing!
Flumox used the last of his Gold coins to raise the bid to 33 Gold 40 Silvers. As if taunting him, the mysterious bidder raised the bid once more, causing the numbers to change on the screen once again.
The pot-bellied R4 of the Emerald Mystery swore but he did not fear for anything. As the bid increased by a mere 20 silver this time, Flumox assumed that the mysterious bidder was also reaching his limits.
"Green Horn, give me five- no just three gold coins. The bidder is losing steam and he may soon give up."
The R3 of the Scarlet Heart Guild was already sweating bullets. He was already regretting the decision to offer this fatty a compensation. Ever since he promised, the fat elven Spirit Speaker had spent Gold Coins like water.
Although the prices for the Dreamverse Coins had nearly halved in the market, a Gold Coin still cost 50 Musks.
33 Gold coins were worth more than a thousand and six hundred Musks!
Green Horn could not justify such a high price for a mere Elite Grade monster. Moreover, the coins would go to an R4 of another Guild from the Scarlet Heart Guild's funds!
No matter how much the Vice Leader trusted him, such a transaction would look suspicious and he knew he would not be able to explain it.
Green Horn decided to not support Flumox any longer and let him continue this madness.
"Flumox, this has gone far enough. Do you really think a price of 33 Gold is justified for a mere Elite Grade monster?"
"Don't give me that crap. Are you going to lend me money or not?" Flumox asked, his smile disappearing from his face.
"No. I will not be able to explain to the Vice Guild Leader why I paid such a high price for someone else' pet."
The Spirit Speaker's face darkened and it became ugly. He sneered at Green Horn and said, "You have finally shown your colors. You cannot pay such a high price for someone else's pet, then how about paying it for your Vice Guild Master's pet?"
The look on Green Horn's face changed as he saw Flumox approach the hologram of 81 GR Shadow Seamstress and suddenly the bid above her head changed from 1 Gold 40 Silver to 33 Gold!
"Flumox, you lunatic!"
Green Horn roared but he was helpless to do anything.
The fatty Flumox may look like a smiling buddha but he was not a pushover. He was an R4 of Emerald Mystery, and he was ranked 87th on the Deimos' Dreadful Thousand List 3 years ago.
Green Horn could only imagine how much he had grown since then. Even a Warblade like himself, had no confidence of winning against a Spirit Speaker like Flumox.
The Warblade from Scarlet Heart reluctantly increased the bid by 60 Silvers, bringing it to 33 Gold and 60 Silvers.
"He is out of Gold; He surely would not raise the bid beyond this right?" Green Horn thought in his heart as he looked at the fuming fatty. Soon he realized that he had underestimated the Spirit Speaker's desire to acquire the Shadow Seamstress.
"Is any Guild willing to lend me 5 Gold or more? I will remember your favor and pay you back within a week with 50% interest per day."
The offer was truly tempting but the Guilds were stuck between a rock and a hard place. With members of Scarlet Heart Guild staring them down, nobody dared to openly offer their money.
As the clock ticked, Flumox grew anxious. There were only three minutes left for the one hour auction to end.
"If you are afraid of Scarlet Heart, don't be. My Emerald Mystery will support you and I, myself will ensure your safety."
This sentence provoked a huge reaction from the audience. Although Scarlet Heart Guild was ranked in the Top 100, the Emerald Mystery was not too far behind. What's more, Flumox was a powerful Summoner who had proven to be a gamechanger for Emerald Mystery Guild in many tricky situations in the past.
If he guaranteed their safety, even the Scarlet Heart would act rashly, especially not at this point in the game when all the executives who could fight Flumox needed to focus on their own growth.
Combined with Flumox's lucrative offer, not just the unranked guilds, even the Ranked Guilds were tempted to take his deal and many did just that.
"R4 Flumox, please take these 10 Gold from Epitaph Guild. We hope you win this auction."
"Mr. Flumox, take this contribution from Terimaki Guild…."
"R4 Flumox…."
.
.
.
The unranked guilds without any affiliations offered all the Gold they had on hand to Flumox, hoping to form a connection with a giant like Emerald Mystery.
Flumox signed a contract with all of them, not at all having any intention of reneging on his promise. Soon, the bankrupt smiling buddha had become a rich smiling buddha again.
Flush with gold, he started to bid again and raised the bid by 5 Gold at a time!
Green Horn gnashed his teeth, cursing Flumox and the Guilds who enabled him but he had no choice but to fight for the Shadow Seamstress. After all, the Shadow Seamstress was not for himself but his Vice-Guild Master!
Seeing the two giants bidding against each other, the Executives of the Ranked Guilds breathed a sigh of relief.
They had to behave when the two Guilds ranked much higher than themselves joined hands to suppress them; but if they had to face just one of them, they could handle the pressure.
These executives avoided the 81 GR Shadow Seamstress and went to the one with 77 GR. Even though its bid had reached an insane price of 33 Gold 60 Silver, these executives did not hesitate to start another bidding frenzy, just like Samar wanted.
A few minutes later, the bids on the board had reached so high that not only the independent bystanders but even the members of the Ranked Guilds participating in the bidding war grew uncomfortable.
"My god! Has our Guild Leader gone insane? Who bids 43 Gold coins for just a pet! Why don't they increase our benefits instead?"
One of the R1 members of Howling Moon voiced his displeasure but he was quickly shushed by the other higher ranking members of the Guild. It was clear from their reactions that his remaining time in the guild would be short and filled with hardships.
The clock showed 7:00 pm and the time for the auction finally came to an end.
Flumox won the 81 GR Shadow Seamstress with a bid of 61 Gold and 60 Silvers while Howling Moon's Guild Leader paid 43 Gold 90 Silvers for 77 GR Shadow Seamstress.
As the Players looked at the amounts of winning bids, they were filled with shock and envy. Even the executives of the Ranked Guilds wanted to find the seller and rob him of his earnings!
The target of their envy and ill intent however, remained anonymous, happily smiling as his face was concealed by the shadows of the Forest Prowler's Hood.
Scarce few players visited the Torana Town's Auction House and none of them paid attention to Samar. The one player who did notice him could not see his information, thanks to the Hood, and thought he was an NPC!
Samar ignored him and waited for his gold coins to arrive.
Five minutes after the Auction ended, the settlement of the transactions was completed. Notifications flashed before Samar, detailing his earnings from the Auction.
[Congratulations! Your consigned pet beast, Shadow Seamstress has been sold successfully.]
[You have received 41 Gold, 70 Silvers and 50 Coppers.]
[Congratulations! Your consigned pet beast, Shadow Seamstress has been sold successfully.]
[You have received 58 Gold and 52 Silvers.]
The moment Samar acknowledged the notifications, the coins were added to his bag. His net worth began to grow before his eyes and in a blink of an eye he became a rich man worth nearly 135 Gold!
Most of the guilds did not possess such wealth in spite of their thousands of permanent members and hundreds of thousands of trainee members. Even the leaders and vice leaders of the top 100 Guilds could not match Samar's balance on their own.
Possessing such wealth was an achievement in the Dreamverse and it was acknowledged by the System.
[You are the first Deathless Being to make transactions worth 100 Gold coins in the Svapn Continent.]
[You have completed the achievement, 'Counting Coins'.]
[The Isles of Alucinor have noticed your achievement and invite you to visit the Drackh Bank in the Alucinor City.]
An item arrived in his mailbox as soon as he finished reading the notification. Before he could check the item, a System Announcement resounded throughout the Dreamverse.
[Dreamverse VR will undergo a Currency Update. The update will last for six hours. All players will be logged out within 20 minutes.]
