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…
/At the same time in one of the tutorial servers…/
[DING]
[You have completed the Tutorial Tower!]
[You have received...]
[You h...]
A group of people could be seen at the very top of the Tutorial tower, and in front of them laid the collapsed body of the Ignition Bovine, the same one Dale defeated a few hours ago.
They were all visibly tired, and while they rested, one of them players raised their head and said to a girl:
"Guild head, would you like to receive the reports?" Asked a player with short dark hair towards a lady clad in cloth armor, it was similar to the Lost Wanderer set Dale used previously.
The girl was very pretty, she had long dark hair and green eyes, and even a few Asian features that made her seem very cute.
"How long have we been fighting it?" She asked
"3 Hours, the tutorial started precisely 4h and 15 minutes ago, that was how long it took us to complete the tower."
"In comparison, Winged Alliance is still trying to finish the tower, with a prediction of at least 20 or so more minutes, while Impetus finished around 10 minutes ago."
"..."
She did not reply and instead just nodded to him.
To this, the man continued:
"Okay, first, Team 2 has successfully forced the player from the Winged Alliance Gaming Club out of the server, we confirmed him to be James Cameron, one of their executives. Without a tutorial, he will have a hard time at the start."
"..."
The girl didn't reply once again, she seemed to be the quiet type, or this information wasn't that important to her...
She could also be thinking deeply.
"There isn't much apart from this sort of information, so you can take a look whenever you have time, I will update the papers every hour or so."
"However, this… Requires your attention. It's regarding the Trade Center… It's better shown than explained." He said as he swiped the air with his finger and sent her a file
"... !"
She quickly got up and said:
"I'll go check it out right now. Guliver, you stay behind and clean this up." She ordered
"Yes sir!" He said as he saluted
Like a queen, she left the tower and descended for the first time into the tutorial.
…
When she arrived in the Village, she was guided by another girl, this one was just as serious as her, but she had that secretary look, especially because of her glasses.
"Could you explain to me what is happening to me Hina?" She asked
The secretary fixed her glasses and said:
"Do you remember that player that made that ridiculous record? Well, it seems he left something even more ridiculous for us."
"?"
The Guild leader was confused.
"You'll see… Just get inside and take a look at the market… Right now, there is only one player willing to sell anything anyway…"
"Alright."
Instead of talking and wasting more time, the girl just got inside the Trade Center and opened the Market…
"My God…"
'I see why they didn't tell me about it.'
All sorts of weapons, items, armor, and more, there was even information being sold and auctioned…
There was no need to question the veracity of them; this was being sold by the player that made a negative record and was the face of the first big promotional video of the game…
No wonder why the values were getting so high already.
'There is so much… That we need to get… Especially this set…'
"Hina…"
Before she could even complete her sentence Hina said:
"I've already checked, we have a bit over 93 Zulls of Iron, it's barely enough to buy what we want, specially some of those sets at auction, their prices are quickly increasing as we speak…"
"I predicted they will reach their peak value in around 3-4 hours, at that time only big clubs and clans will be able to buy them... And that should also be the time when they start to find out where they are from."
"However, I have separated a few options that may be easier to get… Here, check this out."
Hina sent her several trade requests, making the Guild-head open her eyes wide.
"I see it now, he is using his fame to gather large amounts of funds and also gather items he thinks are valuable right?"
Hina nodded.
"That is what many think, but there isn't much we can do, if we don't buy these, someone will, and they will get a massive advantage, probably being able to pass the Tutorial faster and monopolize low level areas at the start of the game."
"And currently, we can't allow this to happen… Besides, we don't really know the worth of most of these items apart from our own suspicions and speculations. Like this Broken Inscribed blade, it seems like a trash item, but since it's here, it must have a deeper meaning and value…"
"A few were already sold, and to be honest, I have no idea for how long this offer will last..."
"However, what you should pay attention to is this closed trade request…"
She showed the Guild head a trade page with an armor set…
[ [HIDDEN] (Unique)
Rating: 3.5-Stars
+15 all Stats while in a ruin, otherwise, +5 to all Stats.
Set Bonus -> Commander, if there are 5 or more people with the Vault Guardian Set near you, all Stats + 2, and for each 5 additional people, to a maximum of [HIDDEN].
If the number of people goes to 25, unlocks the temporary Skill, [HIDDEN]
If the number of people goes to 60, unlocks the temporary Skill, [HIDDEN]
If the number of people goes to 100, unlocks the temporary Skill, Wrath of the Machine 4-Star
Requirements: [HIDDEN]
Description: [HIDDEN]
]
It was just that, there was no price and no image, just that.
"It isn't being sold... Is he trying to increase the value for the other sets being sold?" She asked Hina and the latter shook her head
"It may or may not be that, I think he may be hyping for the fact he will sell that one soon enough..."
But it was clear what it meant, and this was reflected by the constant increase in price for each Vault Guardian Set currently in auction…
"Sign… There is no way for us to ignore this now…" She said as she face palmed
'There are around 50 Vault Guardian sets being sold, I don't know how he got so many in such a short time, but it's clear that the more we buy, the better our early game will be… It's staggering how much easier it will become.'
'We need to at least guarantee enough Sets so that we have enough for the first Skill...'
Hina opened her mouth to say:
"His intentions are clear, from everything he sold, these sets are the most valuable, although there are a few items that are also worth it, I would say that as a whole, these items are the most valuable to Gaming Clubs like ours."
"And he made sure to put those items in separate Trade request pages in order to make them more available and increase the competition, even if he will end up losing some money…"
"He is trying to scatter the power while also attracting attention to some of his other items… At the same time, he can gather the materials he needs and even fame... It's a perfect plan."
The Guild Head said:
"It is only perfect since there is no one else to compete with him right now, and I am sure it will take a while for one to appear as well… I am sure everything he is selling will be sold and he is certainly going to get everything he desires…"
'It will take a while until other Guilds and Clans are comfortable with selling their own gear... When that time comes it will mean they have something better... No one wants to buy used goods.'
She lifted her finger and approved to buy an item.
"What did you buy sister Julia?"
"I exchanged the broken Glyph blade I just got in the Tutorial tower for money. We can now buy at least two more sets."
Hina frowned.
"Are you sure this was a good option? We don't even know what it does?..."
"And lose the opportunity to buy these?"
Hina did not say anything anymore.
The two stayed there for a few more minutes discussing their future plans.
The hype for Dale's items were getting higher and higher the more time passed the faster his items disappeared from the market...
His consumable items were sold in just a few hours despite their staggering value, and the ones in the auctions were being constantly bid at, their values already monstrous.
People constantly sold their "Trash" items for Dale in exchange for money or information, this was done automatically by the system…
This was only the first stage of his money-making plan, once people started to get their hands deep in the Tutorial, that was when his plan would come to fruition...
It would be at that time people would start doing raids and hence, start to get their hands on valuable gear and items... And what if they can't complete a Set? What will they do?
They can either sell the parts to him or buy what they need from him... But he isn't doing the latter.
The total time Dale set for his auctions was 14 in-game hours, and barely even a third of that had passed so far.
Why 14? Because that was the total time he thought it would take before the players started to raid special dungeons and explore hidden areas.
The only problem was… How was he going to collect these items if there is no Trade Center in the village?
Without a trade center, he wouldn't be able to access the market and manage his resources... And as such, everything would come crashing down...
He needed to find a way to access it and it had to be done before the auctions came to and.
What a problematic situation…
…
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Notes
Just a bit of a look into other players, they exist and they will affect the story in some way, perhaps not now, but hey, by buying the things they are helping Dale so...