"Well…" Kalis pretended to hesitate, tapping his fingers lightly on the chat box without giving an immediate answer.
Seeing his reluctance, Magnus panicked, fearing he'd lose the deal. He quickly added, "You know as well as I do, Kalis—the system auction house charges a whopping 5% commission fee, and it only accepts gold coin transactions. If potential buyers are short on cash, this Guild Residence Token might not sell for its true value. Even if it does sell smoothly, given how rare it is, the commission fee alone would amount to hundreds of thousands in real-world money. It's painful just thinking about it. But if you hand it over to our Golden Treasury Merchant Guild, it's a different story entirely. Not only will you never have to worry about underselling it, but we can also transfer the proceeds directly to your bank account as cash. No commission fees, no risks of gold devaluation."
Magnus's words hit exactly where it mattered for Kalis. The system auction house had always charged exorbitant fees. When he'd sold those Epic and Legendary items earlier, he'd been docked several thousand gold coins in commission—equivalent to tens of thousands of real-world yuan. Even now that he was rolling in wealth, watching that money get taken away still made his heart ache.
"Since you're being so generous, Mr. Magnus, I'd be foolish to refuse." Kalis cast aside his hesitation and agreed readily.
Before Magnus could reply, he added, "By the way, Mr. Magnus—the Guild Residence Token isn't the only thing I have. I've also got a few pieces of high-tier Mythic and Legendary gear. Besides that, I've been saving up some gold coins, and I'd like to cash out a portion of them too."
"Hahaha, no problem at all! The more business, the better!" Magnus's face lit up with delight at the news. He fired back a reply in an instant. "Everything you sell is top-notch quality. It's an honor for our guild to do business with you! For this deal today, I'll waive all commission fees on my own authority. We'll also buy your gold coins at the best exchange rate currently available!"
For the Golden Treasury Merchant Guild, which was still in its early stages of development, liquid capital was in short supply. Kalis's willingness to sell a large amount of gold coins was even more exciting to him than taking on the auction of the Guild Residence Token.
"Let's set a meeting spot and discuss the details later," Magnus suggested.
Kalis arranged to meet him at the Market District in Valorian City.
It wasn't long before Lenore and Eira arrived at the Market District, bringing Mireya and Seraphina along with them. They ran straight into Magnus, who'd come to keep the appointment. The atmosphere instantly became lively.
"Kalis, it's good to see you again." Magnus approached with two assistants dressed in the guild's uniforms, wearing a polite, well-practiced smile.
Lenore, Eira, and the others had just finished exchanging a few casual words with Kalis. When they saw this renowned tycoon of the gaming world had come in person, they couldn't help but marvel silently at Kalis's current influence.
"Kalis has really made it big now. He hasn't even graduated yet, and he's already doing direct business with a big shot like this!" Eira leaned over to whisper in Lenore's ear.
"You can say that again! But we're not doing too shabbily either. Having such a powerful friend means we'll never go short on gear and skill books. It's awesome!" Lenore winked, her voice brimming with excitement.
The two of them felt nothing but admiration, not a trace of jealousy. After all, just a minute ago, Kalis had given each of them two pieces of Legendary gear, several Epic items they could use later, and two high-quality skill books.
At this stage of the game, these items alone were worth nearly a hundred thousand gold coins—equivalent to over a million in real-world currency. Their value was beyond doubt. Faced with such a generous friend, jealousy was the last thing on their minds.
"Your friends are all quite formidable too, Kalis." Magnus's gaze swept over Lenore and the other three, then he spoke with a smile. "A Dragon Warrior with 30000 HP, a Cleric decked out in Epic gear, and the other two girls with impressively high levels—each and every one of them is outstanding."
Among the four of them, Eira's stats were the most eye-catching, even surpassing Kalis's in some aspects. As a businessman, Magnus was always eager to make connections with top-tier players, so he naturally didn't overlook them.
"Mr. Magnus, let's get down to business first," Kalis suggested.
He created a temporary party on the spot, pulling in Magnus and his entourage as well as his own friends. Then he shared a long list of item details in the party chat.
First up was the [Guild Residence Token], its bright crimson item icon standing out prominently, instantly grabbing everyone's attention.
After all, when the first Guild Residence Token had dropped server-wide, the guild that had obtained it had unlocked a "Triple Experience" bonus for its members. The second one had been looted by the Crimson Lotus Guild just two hours earlier; they'd successfully built their guild residence too, though their "Double Experience" bonus lasted two full days less than the first guild's.
Right on its heels came a whole array of Mythic items:
[Crimson Domain Scroll]: Mythic Scroll (Dropped by Zerakel)
[Divine Assassination Scroll]: Mythic Scroll (Dropped by Abyssal Warmaster)
[Demon's Core]: Permanently increases Strength by 50 points (Dropped by Zerakel)
[Wraith War Spear]: Level 100 Knight Exclusive Mythic Weapon (Dropped by Wraith Knight)
[Fallen Moon Divine Bow]: Level 150 Archer Exclusive Mythic Weapon (Dropped by Dafiona)
[Boots of Light Chasing]: Level 150 Archer/Assassin Universal Mythic Boots (Dropped by Dafiona)
[Robe of the Night Poet]: Level 150 Mage Exclusive Mythic Robe (Dropped by Dafiona)
On top of that, there were several Legendary items:
[Wraith Summoning Scroll]: Legendary Scroll (Dropped by Wraith Knight)
[Knight's Round Shield]: No Level Restriction Knight Exclusive Legendary Weapon (Dropped by Wraith Knight)
[Night Fiend Dagger]: No Level Restriction Assassin Exclusive Legendary Weapon (Dropped by Dafiona)
[Ten Slashes of Sky Splitting]: Assassin Exclusive Epic Skill Book (Dropped by Zerakel)
A flood of item information filled the party chat, leaving everyone staring in stunned silence.
"Th-this is just insane!" Lenore's mouth hung open, too shocked to form a complete sentence.
Even Magnus and his two assistants, who were used to seeing rare and valuable items, were thoroughly blown away.
If someone had pulled out this many high-value items later in the game, they might have been able to keep their composure. But this was less than two days after the server launch! Amassing this many god-tier items in such a short time was simply mind-bogglingly absurd!
"Oh, sorry. Accidentally shared one extra item." Kalis glanced at the list of shared items in the party chat and noticed he'd mistakenly included the [Demon's Core]. He quickly spoke up to explain. "This Demon's Core is meant for Eira. It's not part of the trade inventory."
With that said, he directly traded the Demon's Core to Eira.
Eira froze for a moment, then quickly said, "Kalis, this thing… it must be worth a fortune, right?"
Magnus looked equally surprised when he saw this, and he chipped in to add, "Fifty points of Strength is equivalent to the full Strength growth from Level 1 to Level 17. The market value of this Demon's Core is conservatively estimated to start at 100000 gold coins."
"Whoa…" At the sound of that price, everyone turned to Eira with envious eyes.
The sudden attention made Eira take an instinctive step back. She looked at Kalis, her voice filled with disbelief and gratitude. "Kalis, you're way too nice to me! I guess tonight I'll just have to… wash up and—"
"Cut the crap! If you don't want it, give it back!" Before Eira could finish her sentence, Kalis kicked her flying with a swift motion.
"Hahaha!" The entire group burst into uproarious laughter. The slightly tense atmosphere instantly relaxed a great deal.
After the laughter died down, Magnus finished carefully reviewing all the items up for trade, then addressed everyone. "Among these items, the three Level 150 Mythic gear pieces might take a bit longer to cash out. The rest are all highly sought-after commodities. If we auction them off individually, the total revenue should be at least 4.5 million gold coins. Add in this Guild Residence Token, and the final sale price will probably be somewhere between 8 million and 9 million gold coins."
Not a single one of these items was ordinary. Even the seemingly most basic [Divine Assassination Scroll], which only worked on a single target and had a relatively simple effect, would be more than enough to instantly kill key enemy figures in future faction wars—turning the tide of battle in an instant. Its value was no less than 100000 gold coins.
Each of those four Mythic gear pieces was a treasure worth over a million gold coins. Level 100 was well within reach for top-tier players, and Level 150 was only a matter of a month or two. There was no need to worry about them sitting in storage for too long.
"Hmm, that's roughly in line with my own estimate." Kalis nodded, then asked, "Mr. Magnus, if we include these items plus the 2.5 million gold coins I have on hand, how much real-world money do you estimate I'll get?"
Magnus fell into a brief moment of thought, then replied, "The exchange rate for in-game gold has already started to drop. Earlier, one gold coin could be exchanged for 10 in real-world currency, but now it's fallen to around 8 real-world currencies. The total value of your items plus your gold coins is estimated to be around 100 million real-world currencies, with a margin of error no more than 10%."
When Lenore heard this, she immediately put forward a suggestion. "In that case, why don't you just buy all these items outright, Mr. Magnus? Then the Golden Treasury Merchant Guild can sell them on its own later. That way, Kalis can save himself a lot of trouble, and if your guild markets them well, you can make a nice little profit too. It's a win-win situation for both sides."