"Ben. I just finished trading the talismans with the others. We managed to get 21400. Much more than the other alliances. With that, the Hurricane Alliance definitely has an edge in this auction."
"Excellent. Divide them equally among our members. It will be unfair to only give them to 214 players when everyone contributed."
"I approve! The Hurricane Alliance is just average with 743 players having joined their rank but as long as we treat our members well, there is no reason for us to lose to the bigger ones like Storm."
"Still. We spent more than ten million just on the talismans. I hope that it will be worth it. We met before the auction to pool our DP into a few players before it would be locked. But now that we lost a few of those players, our purchasing power will worsen considerably. How will we fare if expensive items worth millions appear?"
"I am sure it will be fine. We've spent 10 million DP but we are saving at least 30 million by doing so. You have to look at the bigger picture."
Two players were quietly discussing as the auction started. At that moment, all the players received a series of system prompts:
[System prompt: The items available at this auction are of lower rarity and grade. The price of [Examine] was been adjusted from 2000 to 400 per use.]
"Cough Cough."
As soon as the system prompt was received, the players of the Hurricane Alliance almost choked on themselves. "What the F*ck! Are they messing around with us? We've just spent so many DP on the talismans and now, they decrease the price of [Examine]?"
Ben stood up from the crowd as he loudly shouted. "Where are those bloody imps? I demand a refund!" He was fuming. It was clear that he had just been scammed of quite a few DP. Furthermore, the Hurricane Alliance was not the only victim. All the alliances also fell into the trap laid by the imps to get rid of their stock.
The auction was organized by the devils and the imps. They were naturally aware of the cost of [Examine] as they provided the Prisoner's Bracelets. They aimed for profit! They never put the talismans for sale before as it would be more profitable to obtain DP out of the Prisoner's Bracelets from the older dungeon masters. But now that a new generation of Dungeon masters turned up, it was a golden opportunity to sell the talismans.
"Sir. I will ask you to please sit back. The auction has already started. No commotion is allowed. The auction is not responsible for transactions with third party individuals. A winged devil flew above Ben and angrily stared at the players.
Ben grumbled. All the players who wasted their DP on the talismans ground their teeth in silence. There was nothing they could do. The talismans were indeed too good to be true.
Several winged devils floated above the grumbling players, threateningly pointing their spears at the enraged players. On the platform, Amour seemed to not have noticed the commotion. Adding his grain of salt, Amour exclaimed, "Ladies and gentlemen! The starting offer for this beautiful crown is 100000 DP. Do not hesitate to use the talismans to reveal its information."
...
Five internally laughed as he watched the agitated dungeon masters. Fortunately, he was too late to purchase any talismans or else, he might very well have joined their ranks. It would have been a loss of ten thousand DP for nothing.
The price of identifying all the items put on sale was proportional to the amount of DP the players had in hand. It would cost Five a total of forty thousand DP to correctly identify all the items; five times less than he previously thought. Now, the auction looked much more affordable.
As much as the players wanted to complain, they all knew there was nothing they could do. Five quickly ignored the players and focused on the platform. He paid 400 DP and glanced at the information.
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[Elected Crown]
Effect: Use on a regular monster to transform it into its corresponding Boss Monster.
Note 1: The new Boss Monster will have all stats permanently reduced by 1.
Note 2: The crown can only be used if the Boss Monster is still locked in the Dungeon Shop.
Five's eyes shone. It was a powerful item that would typically be used on monsters found in the wild. The decrease in stats could be considered to be negligible. The crown would allow the players to save a lot of DP as they would not need to unlock the monster in the Dungeon Shop. Furthermore, if the item was saved for later on, extremely powerful monsters could be obtained at a low cost.
"100000 DP is expensive but it depends on which monster the players can use it on. Just unlocking the Defacers cost me 120000 DP but unlocking its Boss Monster: The level 35 Faceless would cost me 300000 DP" murmured Five as he made some rapid calculations.
The bid immediately started going up.
"150000 DP"
"200000 DP"
"260000 DP"
"280000 DP"
In the end, the crown was sold to a player for 290000 DP. It was not that expensive and could be considered as a big investment for the future. When Five looked at his 460000 DP, he sighed as he understood that he might return empty-handed. Just the first item was sold for almost two-thirds of his DP.
The auction continued but none of the items really interested Five. It was clear that most people were still saving their DP for the real treasures as only a few Dungeon Masters would actually bet for each item.
The final bid kept increasing and even the twelfth item was already out of Five's range at 510000 DP.
'Well, I should have expected something like that. I have already spent all my DP on the raids. At least, I already got rid of a potential threat. Considering that the average dungeon master should have about 900000 DP on them, I should not keep my hopes too high. There are only a hundred items and there are about four thousand Dungeon masters. The competition is going to be fierce.'
The twentieth item was soon brought on stage. Just like for the previous auction, each tenth item was a monster. This time, a dark-skin elf proudly walked up the stage. She held a longbow in her hand and a whip was hanging at her waist. Her piercing gaze scanned the audience while Amour was hyping up the crowd.
Name: Karyn
Race: Dark Elf
Type: Elven
Attribute: Wind and Dark
Level: 30 (0/3000000)
Title: Exiled Ruler
HP: 680/680
MP: 500/500
Strength: 45(+9)
Dexterity: 68 (+30)
Vitality: 68
Intelligence: 50 (+8)
Wisdom: 44 (+9)
Special Skills: None
[Information]
[Exiled Ruler]
Effect 1: You cannot own monsters of the same race as the title holder.
Effect 2: Provides 30 additional stat points in the chosen attribute.
Effect 3: After 6 months, naturally evolves into a Boss Monster.
Effect 4: After 6 months, [Exiled Ruler] turns into [Ruler without subjects]
"500000 DP!"
"750000 DP!"
"1 million DP"
The bid rose quickly. Five looked at the Dark Elf and sighed. It was clear that Karyn was a powerful monster. Five would have liked to buy her but due to his choice, he could only watch as the dungeon masters fought each other.
"1.3 million DP"
"1.5 million DP"
The number displayed by the hologram kept refreshing but as 1.5 million DP was displayed, the number froze for a moment. No one else made a bid. The reason was simple; very few people would be able to collect that much DP. Those who did were debating on saving their DP for later items or using the right now!
There were quite a few players who received the DP from the other members of their alliances, but those DP were meant to be used on items that would benefit the entire alliance, not just one person.
"1.6 million DP" As the whole crowd was expecting Karyn to go to the bidder, someone else actually overbid.
"Who is it?" exclaimed Ben from his seat. He was the one who bid 1.5 million DP. It was his entire fortune. After having been scammed by the imps, he just wanted to purchase an item early and call it a day but unexpectedly, someone blocked his path. He was already in a foul mood but now, he really wanted to murder someone.
"1.6 million DP! Is there anyone else?" excitedly asked Amour.
To his disappointment, no one else put in a bid. Karyn stepped down from the platform and made her way toward her buyer.
The eyes of all the dungeon masters were focused on the Dark Elf. They were all curious about the identity of the buyer. Five was no exception. He watched as Karyn was greeted by a succubus and was pulled to a seat next to a cloaked figure.
Five briefly glanced at the rich dungeon master before turning his attention back to the platform. The auction continued. Compared to yesterday, the auction was not as boring as Five could afford to look at the effects of each item.
They had a wide range of effects but only a few caught Five's attention.
The 27th item was a small formless statue.
[Sacrificial Statue]
Effect 1: Sacrifice a Boss Monster and permanently locks its revival function.
Effect 2: Permanently increase the level of all subordinate monsters by 3.
A very simple item that could be very effective for dungeon masters planning to use large crowds of small monsters to flood their opponent. In Five's case, he could sacrifice a level 20 Giant Skeleton to permanently buff his skeletons. It would significantly improve the strength of his army, by much more than what a Giant Skeleton could.
The 36th item was another statue:
[Statue of fertility]
Effect 1: Improves the reproduction rate of all monsters below level 10 by 100%
Effect 2: Improves the reproduction rate of all monsters below level 20 by 50%
It was a highly sought treasure that ended up selling for 2 million DP. Five was jealous of the new owner of the statue. He knew the real value of this item. Low-level monsters were not very useful in protecting the dungeon, but they were the foundation of all dungeons having a sustainable ecosystem. If he had the statue, he would summon a ton of low-level beasts for the higher-level beasts to feed on.
The 49th item was also a hot item:
[Banner of Command]
Must be held by the dungeon master to activate its effect
Effect 1: Increase the movement speed of all monsters within 500m by 20%
Effect 2: When inside the dungeon, reduce damage taken of all monsters by 10%
All the items could have a significant impact on the development of the dungeons. However, the 65th item was slightly different from others. When Five saw it, he was surprised that very few bids were actually put up for it. People did not seem very attracted by its effects despite its obvious use.
[Void Contract]
Effect: Nullifies one oath/pledge/contract that involves the user. The user can then ignore the clauses of the contract without fearing any backlash. The other party will still be bound by the contract.