--- Too much for an Epic?

"3,752,000 Platinum, going once!"

"3,752,000 Platinum, going twice!"

"Sold for 3,752,000 Platinum Coins!"

"""Ohhh!"""

"Damn! These NPCs are too fierce. This is the 42nd skillbook bundle, and we couldn't even get one..."

"Tsk! Tsk!"

"Haaaaaiz!"

"How about pooling our coins? We'll just share it later since it was bundled anyways."

"Let's do that."

"Count me in!"

"Me too! Me too!"

The bidding battle was in full swing, but the players aren't happy as most of the items were snagged by the NPCs, who were on the VIP seats. It was already nearing halfway, and the 140th entry has just ended. No one knows that among the VIP rooms, there was actually one filled with players.

His skillbooks are selling so well that each of the 42 entries can reach up to 5,000,000 platinum coins, much to his delight. The players had no idea that it was also the last of Chris' epic skillbook bundle.

Inside the VIP room #7...

"Wooohooo! Bro, those epic skillbooks are selling like crazy! Are those NPCs okay? Those are platinum and not gold, you know?" asked Darryl.

Everyone in the room was surprised. They didn't know that these NPCs are so hungry for skillbooks that they are willing to part with those valuable platinums.

"Well, even I didn't expect that. But it should be understandable. After all, those are valuable skills."

"T-that's... I guess you have a point."

"And even though this is an auction house and you can bid gold on items of epic rank and above, I specifically told them that I want platinum only."

"Oh, so you can also do that, huh?"

"Congrats, bro!"

"Hm!"

'This is also a good thing. Those NPCs might be short on coins now. With that, I can easily snag the items I want, as well as those materials for pets.'

Chris can already imagine all that aptitude-enhancing material landing in his hands. He already planned on taking them all for himself, as his friends might need them in the future.

He doesn't want to have a hard time obtaining them, especially from those NPCs that might turn them into quest rewards for an impossible quest. As for other players obtaining them in this auction? Fat chance! They don't even know what it truly does, much less bid for it.

"Bro, your legendary skillbooks should be next right?"

"No. There should be one item first before the books~"

"Yeah, look at the pamphlet."

"Huh? Ah, you're right! Hehe..."

Everyone in the room was really excited about how much those legendary skillbooks would fetch. Seeing those platinums being used for bidding excites them. The previous NPC auctions, which they heard about in the news, used only gold and no platinum. Chris just changed their point of view on the game currency.

'These incoming books will chip away more platinum than those NPCs have... Hehe...'

A woman in a maid's uniform was now climbing the stage. She was carrying a box covered in cloth. The hostess removed the cloth, and a stone inside a glass box can be seen; she then introduced the said item.

"And now for the 141st item! Let me introduce it to you. The Memory Token!

"What!? No more of those skillbook bundles?

"Oi, oi! Don't tell me, the previous one was the last?"

"And here we pooled our coins together for nothing..."

***Sigh...!***

The players down below had a hint of disappointment on their faces. Top guilds had just created their own faction and pooled their platinum coins just to bid for the next one. Each faction consists of about 30 to 50 top guilds, but it was all for naught.

"The memory token allows you to teleport to any of the three coordinates you saved, even when in battle. Furthermore, you can reuse it again to teleport back to the place where you just teleported from."

"""Ohhh!"""

"This..."

"Not bad at all!"

"For an epic, it's really lit."

"Yeah."

After the hostess introduced the stone inside the box, everyone lost their disappointment, and their eyes lit up upon hearing what it can do. This thing has a lot of possibilities, especially for survival. Too bad for them; they are bound to be disappointed again. Not just the NPCs, but a certain person also took an interest in it.

"The starting bid is 1,000 platinum coins, with an increment of 1,000 platinum coins and above per bid!"

"Let the betting begin!"

Just as everyone was about to bid, a voice from a certain VIP room resounded.

"5 million Platinum Coins!"

"Wha-!?"

"Unbelievable!"

"Tch! Damn NPCs!"

"The NPC in that room is kind of weird. He didn't bid slowly, but got straight to the point."

"Yeah, this is the fifth time..."

***Sigh...***

"T-the gentleman from the VIP room #7 has bid 5 Million platinums! Any more bid?"

Everyone, whether NPCs or players, was dismayed upon hearing the bid. Even the hostess stuttered a bit at the insane bid. It was just a meager epic item. Although the effect is good, the price is still too high.

Inside VIP room #7 was actually Chris and his group. He was currently sipping the wine while looking at the effect of the stone through his observations. His eyes had a glint in them.

Even though all players have long-range observation, it only works on NPCs and players. In order for their observation to work on items, they have to touch them. Furthermore, the information displayed was limited.

As for Chris? Every piece of information, including the hidden information of anything, whether he was touching it or not, was laid bare in his eyes.

[Memory Token(B)^: Auxiliary Item. Allows the user to instantly teleport to one of the coordinates they recorded. Can be used again to teleport back to the last place the user teleported from. Lasts for 60 seconds. Can record up to three coordinates. CD: 12 Hours.] (Hidden: Memory Token(B) + 100x SB-Blink(B) + 100x Space Stone + 100 Spirit Stone = Memory Token(A).)

Shiela broke the silence by questioning Chris.

"Isn't your bid a bit too much? Although it has an amazing effect, it's just an epic and probably a one-time use item."

Everyone nodded at what she said. Although he is rich now, they still think that he can't just throw money around recklessly. Their point of view about money might have changed, but they still know how to be thrifty.

"Well, you guys don't understand how useful this thing will be for me. Trust me, I can make billions of coins from this item. And it's a permanent item with a cooldown, not consumable."

"""Seriously!?"""

"Yep."

Everyone was dumbfounded. Billions? You can make billions just from teleporting? How does that even work? Please teach us! Is what they were thinking right now, but they just kept it to themselves. They actually forgot how abnormal this friend of theirs was.

"And besides..."

"5 Million Platinums, goi-!"

Chris murmured something that confused them, but just after the hostess started her countdown, a melodious voice from another VIP room resounded.

"6 Million Platinum Coins~!"

"""!!!"""

Everyone, including the people in Chris' room, was shocked. They thought that 5 million was already too much for a meager epic item, but it turns out that they were wrong.

"7 Million Platinum Coins!" Chris' voice resounded again.

"8 Million Platinum Coins~!" The owner of the melodious voice counter bids.

"9 Million...!"

"10 Million...~!"

They didn't know what to say anymore as the two were bidding crazily. This probably isn't the item anymore; there should be something here. Just go get a room already! is what's on the minds of everyone.

His friends, though, thought that his opponent probably had the same abnormal idea as him, like making billions from teleporting. Crazy!

In the end, Chris won the item for a whopping 20 million platinum coins. This was the fifth item he won in this auction.

The other four are the Flight Skillbook that he got for 2 million platinums, and the rest were sets of permanent +25 to all stat potions, which he got for 9 billion golds altogether. Each set has 50 potions. And a player can drink up to two times.

He plans on giving his friends the potions later, once he gets them, and the rest will be saved for future gifting. He never planned on drinking one as the permanent stat would be added to his raw stats, which he could just increase through his system.

*******

Darius, Capital City of Country Z-12

Inside a luxurious room, six people can be seen. One is a gray-haired middle-aged man, sitting on a chair near the luxurious bed. Behind him was a black-haired, middle-aged man in a suit. Both of them had angry looks on their faces.

"How's the investigation?" asked the gray haired man.

"Unfortunately, your highness, there was no lead at all. We can only wait for young master Anton to wake up. As for George and the bodyguards, they're still unconscious. They've lost a lot of blood as well, after all." answered the man in the suit.

Near the bed was a light-blue-haired, middle-aged woman. She was currently holding the hand of the gray-haired man who was lying on the bed, sleeping, which was Anton Wolf. The woman was his mother, Tonillia Wolf.

Her eyes were currently swollen red due to excessive crying. She suddenly looked at the gray-haired, middle-aged man beside her.

"Andy, you must do everything you can to find the one who did this to our son—everything! Wuuu! My baby boy almost died... No, this is even worse than death! We must avenge our baby boy. We must... Wuuu!"

"I know, so stop crying already; you're disturbing our son's sleep." said the gray haired middle aged man.

He was Andy Wolf, the current ruler of Z-12 Country and father of Anton Wolf. He then continued, "I swear to the heavens, once I find the bastards who did this to our son, they will regret being born in this world..." anger can be seen in his eyes while saying it.

"Hm! I want to torture him and let the dogs chew on his limbs bit by bit. I want him to feel hell, like what he did to my baby boy..."

The two other people inside the room were two young men with ash blue hair. One is about 18 years old, and the other was 17. They are Anton's siblings.

A hidden mockery can be seen in their eyes while looking at Anton. After all, he will lose his heir status, all thanks to this event. But they still agree with what their parents said. After all, offending a wolf in their own territory is a massive loss of face for them. It can only be washed away by giving hell to the offender.

They had no idea that it was just a prelude to their downfall. What they did in the past was never forgotten by Chris.