Lindong, Underground Black Market.
Every five days, the auction would often feature many high-end products that hunters scrambling to raise their bids.
Today, however.
The atmosphere of the auction, which was held as scheduled, was far less lively than before.
On the stage, the young auctioneer, with an enchanting figure, was introducing a lot of items.
"This is a longsword made using cloud pattern gold, sharp enough to easily cut through the skin of a Double Awakened demonic beast. If the user was powerful, even it can inflict great damage against Triple or Fourth Awakened demonic beasts. Now, let the auction begin with the starting price of 30 spirit stones!"
Weapons were the most popular equipment. However, right now, the crowd of hunters took a look at the item buck lacked interest.
The beautiful woman pulled the collar of her chest. Her snow-white skin attracted the crowd's gaze. She wanted to use this to mobilize the atmosphere.
But she sighed and said, "The starting price is thirty source crystals. Does anyone want it? The gold content of this long sword exceeds 50%."
While looking proud, the enchanting woman was feeling depressed.
She remembered the auction nearly a month ago. The demon slayer longsword caused many top squad leaders to fight for it.
Even then, the hunters ignored her because the longsword could easily cut through the skin of bones of demonic beasts.
That was the peak moment of the black market auction. After that, the hunter who sold the Demon Slayer Longsword never appears again.
The fever of auctions decreased slowly after that particular auction. Until a while ago, there were a lot of London's top squad captains or even spokesmen of the Big 3 mercenary regiments at the scene.
But now, those high-end hunters had lost interest in the black market auction.
She knew the reason why.
The Lindong Shelter has been circulating the purchase channel of the Demon Slayer Sword.
And not only the Demon Slayer Sword but also more powerful weapons and equipment can be bought anywhere.
It sounds like a dream, but the woman knew that it was true!
Many top masters in Lindong are crazy about them, and even many top teams, elite teams, are permanently stationed there.
In the two recent black-market auctions, she has rarely seen those familiar faces.
Only the weaker hunters who had no news channels were kept in the dark and doubted the authenticity of the rumors.
The auction hall was quiet for a while. Until a man wearing a mask and sunglasses said, "30 spirit stones, I will buy it."
Next to him, the companion of the sunglasses man couldn't figure it out and whispered, "Are you sure? It's a bit of waste. Have you forgotten? The Tree Shade Commercial District will open in a few days, and there will be discounts on equipment sales! Even some high-level equipment that can only be redeemed in the Adventurer's Guild can be bought with spirit stones alone. You're only wasting your money if you buy it now!" The companion was a little excited.
The man in sunglasses waved his hand and said with confidence, "This weapon is useless, but the raw material of the sword, the cloud pattern gold, is an extraordinary metal. Such extraordinary metals are not common, and the price is high. I saw people sell a fist-size cloud pattern gold for more than ten spirit stones."
"This long sword was made of cloud pattern gold. The black market says it contains more than 50% gold. If we sell it at the Tree Shade, we can make a small fortune. Even if they don't buy it, we can sell the materials. Anyway, we won't be at a loss." The man in sunglasses clapped his hands.
"In other words, this is called investing spirit stone. You should know that as the hunters' strength increased, the spirit stones we harvested everyday are also increasing. A month ago, a unit of spirit stones could be exchanged for 100 portions of ordinary food. But now, a single spirit stone can only buy 45 portions."
His companion nodded with sudden realization and then looked at the sunglasses man with incomparable admiration. He thought about it, "I remember the Tree Shade commercial district is renting out stories. Should we invest in it? After all, investing money in real estate can not only preserve the value but also increasing it."
"Ahem."
The sunglasses man stumbled, looking at his companion with a hateful look. "Of course it is! But the stores are for rent, not sale. Don't you see those tops squads were hesitant? The Tree Shade is big and strong. There's a lot of rune equipment for sale there. But that doesn't mean that the shelter is as safe as Lindong."
"Didn't they say the shelter survived a demonic wave invasion?" His companion said weakly.
"Even if that's the case." The sunglasses man shook his head.
"How many waves can they hold? Two? Three? When the time comes, can they still maintain such a large commercial district? They might be able to stockpile a lot of materials and goods and were ready to do business. But what if a demonic wave attacked again?"
...…
The auction proceeded in an orderly manner; however, there was no mad rush to increase the price until the final items.
Some materials, exotic items, rare materials were successfully sold. But somewhat, equipment wasn't sold that much.
Soon, the auction ended. Hunters with disappointed faces gradually dispersed.
Some people muttered, "There's not a lot of good things in the black market auction these days. We better go to the Tree Shade to see. But I don't know if they had an auction or not."
......…
Back of the auction hall.
The beautiful woman was lazily lying on the couch. Her curve exposed. She looked incomparably tired.
"We earn less spirit stones than before."
"Yes, Miss Liuyao."
An ordinary-looking woman in her early twenties stood by her with a frowned face, "This time, our auction didn't meet the requirement. Our manager felt dissatisfied with us."
"It's obviously because the items put up on the auctions are bad. But these people blamed it on you, Miss Liuyao. It pisses me off!"
She stomped her foot anxiously, but once she thought of the black market manager's words, her small face was immediately covered with sadness.
Liuyao knew better than her assistant.
Once she can't keep her position as a black market auctioneer and no longer receives the attention of the upper class, those who have long looked at her will pounce on her like sharks that smell fish blood.
And right now, some of them already made their stupid move.
"Miss Liuyao, what should we do?"
He Liuyao pondered for a while and said, "Why don't we jump ship."
"Jump ship? Where should we go?"
"Tree Shade!" He Liuyao said.