While the auction was going on, Klaus Park was heavily sleeping, completely unaware of everything that was happening.

“Washing dishes… Ham… 2… Millions… Grandpa…”

He was busy in his dreams, thinking about many random things.

***

The Chiron price was skyrocketing with all the users’ attention focused on the night’s most famous auction.

No one knew the most powerful Beast Mount in Rise Online, but everyone knew that this Druid Beast Mount was the best that had ever appeared on the international market. As such, the auction price soon exceeded a thousand gold coins.

At this point, many people lamented about their lack of money and dropped out of the auction because this amount exceeded most of the individual possessions and equipment value.

“The guy who is selling this Mount must be a weirdo.”

“HAHAHAHA! Why is everyone going out of their way to falling for this scam?”

“Why on earth just one day for something so priceless? I would make a loan for that mount!”

“Was he so sure he would receive a high value?”

No, Klaus had no idea what an Epic Beast Mount was worth. He just sold it on impulse because his mind was plagued by debt and because he wanted to show his parents as soon as possible and himself that the choice to leave Arc Insurance was not bad.

Quickly, the number of comments on the auction post exceeded ten thousand.

The sense of urgency created in people by the short deadline made them, like Klaus, act impulsively. The auction had many pauses for bid validation, and when it exceeded five thousand gold coins, it was clear to the general public that there were ‘big players’ actively involved.

The truth was that the owners of some organizations, businesses, and companies saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

Even if the deal were set up for a considerable sum of money, countless people would hear about it through the news or buzz marketing, thus turning this into formidable advertising effects. Usually, placing just one advertisement in any major media requires piles of money, and likewise, after spending this amount to create an advertisement, people could easily ignore it. However, the engagement of the gaming bubble is surreal these days. Considering that Rise Online already exceeded 100 million active players, the attention of 1% of them would have been worth it for just a small fortune.

Every personal relation and publicity department of the major e-sports organizations simmered while Klaus slept.

Digital media intensified, and many influencers began live streaming the competition for the most powerful Beast Mount.

The value or market price was no problem for anyone that wealthy.

The fierce competition drove the price to skyrocket again and again, and the influx of people made the managers in charge of the Rise Online World Market platform smile with satisfaction. Then the auction finally ended before the deadline when no more auctions took place.

In the end, five major companies fought each other for Chiron, but with a sweeping bid, one player who preferred not to identify himself managed to bid for the Epic Beast Mount. All the companies participating were shocked by this and wished they wouldn’t give up, but the final offer was a lot of money for a single item, not worth risking even more.

Through the intervention of the secretary of the manager of the World Market auction department, the winning bid was proven and submitted as soon as the auction ended.

“Hello?”

Klaus Park was helping his father put the boxes on the truck and suddenly received a call from an unknown number.

“Hello?” Unexpectedly, the voice coming from the other end of the call was that of a woman.

“Who do you want to talk to?” Klaus inquired.

He never rejected any calls, especially from unknown numbers, because they could be from the bank, the hospital, or both.

“You are the user Kaizen, right? I need to confirm that it was you who tried to sell a Beast Mount with the Epic Nature called Chiron.”

“Yes, it was me… Wait, how do you guys have my phone?” Strangely enough, Klaus couldn’t wait to ask.

“The phone number is the same one used to confirm when you purchased the digital copy of Rise Online. Anyway, I’m contacting you to let you know that the auction ended early because of the amounts, and the successful bid amount has already been deposited. Can you confirm this in your game account? Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any problems.”

“Wait… There really was a bid?”𝒐𝑣𝑙xt.𝔠𝑶𝑚

“Yes, of course, there was. You haven’t checked it out yet?”

“No, I was a little busy…”

Florence Askins had been secretary to the Auction Department Manager for almost a year and was the only one who stayed in the position longer than 3 months. So, in addition to being a polyglot, cordial, and a good time manager, she was also just totally awesome. She was by no means an ordinary woman, and everyone around her drooled at her feet. However, the fact that Kaizen had not checked the result of the most famous auction of the month was enough to make her feel frustrated.

“If you don’t mind answering me, how much was the winning bid?”

Klaus Park was anxious to know, as it would take at least five minutes for him to go upstairs to his room and wait for his old computer to turn on, coughing up dust.

With fingers crossed, he wished it was at least a thousand dollars, so he could give it to his parents and help with the rent they would have.

As soon as the soft voice of Florence Askins’ words reached his ears on the other end of the phone, he was in shock.

“33,000 gold coins, or $330,000.”

The auction that started with the mere value of 15 gold coins quickly drew attention because it was an epic item for such a low value. Usually, the cheapest epic items cost at least 200 gold coins. But the market was constantly growing, especially for items as rare as the one Kaizen put up for auction.

Furthermore, a combination of several factors influenced the final result, including the auction time limit and the rarity of the mount. All this led the auction to exceed $300,000.

However, all of this was very hard to believe for Klaus Park, who responded rudely:

“Are you kidding me?”

“What?”

“I can’t believe you called me just to say something as stupid as that. I’m hanging up now.”

*Tap*

On the other end of the phone, Florence Askins was speechless. No one had ever hung up on her like that before.

…

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

More character images in:

https:///bpqq9u4gS8

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