Chapter 3414 - Chapter 488 – One Man Conglomerate?

Chapter 488 – One Man Conglomerate?

"Crap! This Crystal City of Secrets is amazing! It even comes with a natural underground secret land!"

"As expected of the Dark Star Auction House. Even though our conglomerate's members are operating near that city, none have managed to discover the city thus far. But this city truly is impressive. With a secret land that has a level range of 120 to 200, players won't even have to step out of the city to grind for levels."

"It also means that the value of the city's lands and shops will only increase with time!"

The audience grew breathless from excitement as they read the Crystal City of Secrets' general information provided by the auction house. Members of the various conglomerates and upper-ranking hegemonic powers were especially excited.

The future value of the Crystal City of Secrets was apparent even to fools. Particularly, once the Eternal Realm's location in the Greater God's Domain was discovered and large numbers of players swarmed into the Eternal Realm, the city's value would skyrocket. After all, the value of a city's properties increased along with the number of players gathered in the city.

"By the way, I have something to tell everyone." The beautiful auctioneer on the stage smiled as she looked at the excited crowd. "I'm sure everyone present has already heard about the Secret Treasures obtained from the recently conquered World Mode Team Dungeon, right? Well, as it so happens, the monsters in the Crystal City of Secrets' Underground Crystal Palace also have a very small chance of dropping Secret Treasures!"

As soon as the auctioneer announced the news about the Secret Treasures, the atmosphere in the auction hall changed instantly. If before the hall's atmosphere was enthusiastic, now it was like the calm before the storm, and the whole venue had become extremely quiet. However, this kind of quiet only lasted for two seconds.

"I'm buying it! Whatever you're selling, no matter how much it costs, I'll buy it!"

"Secret Treasure! I must have one of those Secret Treasures! Quickly! Contact the higher-ups and have them prepare more funds! Buy every Eternal Coin that's available on the market right now!"

"The Eternal Chamber of Commerce must be crazy! Why didn't they announce such important news ahead of time?! How am I supposed to get enough Eternal Coins now?!"

The entire audience went crazy as they looked at the Crystal City of Secrets' holographic projection on the stage. Even Yan Hua and Xia Qingying could no longer sit still, both using every connection they had to source more Eternal Coins.

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Meanwhile, Shi Feng was rendered speechless when he saw how the auctioneer had riled up everyone's emotions.

Unlike everyone else present, Shi Feng knew that the auctioneer was withholding information.

It was true that the Crystal City of Secrets' Underground Crystal Palace dropped Secret Treasures. However, players looking to enter the Underground Crystal Palace had to pay a hefty price to do so. More specifically, they had to pay a significant amount of Eternal Coins and Seven Luminaries Crystals. Moreover, the entrance fee would change depending on the player's level. The higher a player's level, the greater the fee they would have to pay.

As an example, if a Level 200 player tried to enter the Underground Crystal Palace, they would have to pay a fee of 10 Eternal Gold and 1,000 units of Seven Luminaries Crystal. Furthermore, once inside, players could only stay for a maximum of three days. And should they die inside, they would lose their chance to raid the secret land and could only enter again after a four-day cooldown period. The cost and risks involved in raiding the Underground Crystal Palace were utterly unbearable for most players in the current Eternal Realm.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please hold on for a moment. I haven't finished yet," the beautiful auctioneer said to calm the crowd. "As I mentioned before, this is a special auction in that you don't have to pay on the spot. Instead, we will need your help in completing a quest that requires a large number of Eternal Coins. The starting bid for this auction is 100 Eternal Gold, with a deposit of 10 Eternal Gold. Once you win the bid, should you fail to pay the promised amount in time, your deposit will be confiscated."

The auctioneer paused for a moment to let the audience process her words. Then, she continued, "However, should you pay the promised amount, you will receive five Underground Palace Emblems after we complete the quest. These emblems are Epic-ranked items that passively let wearers gain noble status in the Crystal City of Secrets. Besides that, they also have two active abilities.

"The first ability allows the wearer to open a portal to the Underground Crystal Palace from anywhere in the Eternal Realm. You can also return to the location where you entered from. The cooldown time for this ability is one day.

"The second ability has to be used inside the Underground Crystal Palace, and it allows the wearer to open a portal to any of the palace's zones that are under Level 150. With this ability, you won't have to waste your three-day time limit in the secret land traveling across the Level 120 zone.

"If none of the distinguished guests present have any objections, let the auction begin!"

As soon as the auctioneer finished introducing the auction item and auction rules, the faces of the audience members turned even more frenzied.

"I bid 120 Gold! None of you here should even think of competing with me!"

"I bid 150! I'll fight anyone who tries to outbid me!"

"Move out of the way! I'm the Vice Guild Leader of Flaming Bee, and I bid 200 Gold! Anyone who outbids me will be making an enemy out of a pseudo-apex power!"

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While the Crystal City of Secrets' lands and shops were valuable, there was a prerequisite to purchasing them: one needed to be a noble of the city. Meanwhile, to do so meant acquiring enough Reputation Points. This was an arduous process that even the conglomerates and upper-ranking hegemonic powers had a headache dealing with.

Now, though, they could directly purchase noble status in the city. This was far more valuable of an opportunity for the various powers than purchasing any land or shop directly.

After only a short moment, the auction price had increased from the starting bid of 100 Eternal Gold to 240 Eternal Gold. Even the Galaxy Conglomerate's wealthy Fourth Princess would be astonished by the vast fortune being thrown here.

With 240 Eternal Gold, one could buy at least a dozen properties in the Eternal Realm's NPC Cities. Yet, now, such a fortune was being used to purchase only five Epic-ranked emblems.

"Dammit! These people are crazy! Does Flaming Bee have to bid 260 Gold just for a couple of emblems?!" Yan Hua cursed, frustration filling his eyes as he looked at the only eighty-odd pieces of Eternal Gold Coins in his hand.

"Flaming Bee has many experts in the Eternal Realm, Uncle Yan Hua. They've also offered sky-high prices to attract coin farmers to help them. We stand no chance against them," Xia Qingying said in an attempt to soothe Yan Hua's frustration. "Rather than focus on the emblems, let's think about how we will compete for the Secret Treasures coming up next."

"You're right." Yan Hua calmed down a little bit, quickly understanding that a pseudo-apex power like Flaming Bee was completely outside of the Blaze Conglomerate's league.

However, just when the two were about to give up, a low voice suddenly sounded in their ears.

"It's still too early to give up. If you two are willing to cooperate with me, I can win this auction and give each of you an emblem afterward. What do you think?"

Xia Qingying and Yan Hua both turned to Shi Feng in surprise. It was especially so for Yan Hua. In his eyes, Shi Feng was just another one of Xia Qingying's followers, and without her, Shi Feng wouldn't even be qualified to enter here."

"I'm not trying to doubt you, young man, but do you understand the value of 260 Eternal Gold Coins?" Patiently, Yan Hua explained, "Even if we recklessly bid and win the auction now, we'll only end up losing ten Eternal Gold later if we can't pay up. Or are you saying you can guarantee we can afford to pay the bill afterward?"

"Guarantee?" Shi Feng couldn't help but smile at Yan Hua's words. Subsequently, he took out the deeds to the properties he had recently bought in the Lightless Fortress and asked, "Will these deeds be enough?"

Yan Hua initially remained skeptical when he heard Shi Feng's response, so he simply took a quick look at the deeds with a carefree heart. However, upon seeing the content of the deeds, he was greatly shocked.

A Level 160 Fortress's property?

And four of them as well?