First Pot of Gold

Ethan Carter was harvesting Wild Boars at a rate of one every two minutes. Each Wild Boar could drop at least two copper coins and a tusk, which was pretty good.

"That's the thirteenth one." After poisoning another Wild Boar, Ethan leisurely walked over to the corpse to collect his loot.

"Huh, another piece of equipment," Ethan happily picked up the equipment next to the corpse to examine it.

[Pig-Slaying Knife]

Quality: White

Physical Attack +12

Equipment Requirement: None

"Is that all? It doesn't seem useful to me. A few more or a few fewer attack points are the same to me, since it doesn't break defense anyway."

Looking at the Pig-Slaying Knife in his hand, it was ugly, even uglier than the beginner's wooden sword. Ethan was too lazy to equip it. Maybe I should list it on the auction house and see if anyone wants it?

The Oracle auction system was very convenient. Players could open the auction interface to see the items in the auction house and search for what they wanted by category. If they found something they liked, they could buy it directly without returning to town. Items they didn't need could also be listed on the auction house. They could choose between cash transactions or in-game currency transactions. If a cash transaction was successful, the amount would automatically be transferred to their bound bank card. Players couldn't recharge directly; they could only buy gold coins and equipment from other players using money, which greatly limited the rise of many wealthy players.

Ethan opened the auction interface and stared at the empty screen, feeling a bit confused. Why is no one selling anything? How much should I list this Pig-Slaying Knife for? There's no reference price.

"Maybe list it for 500 bucks and try? After all, it's the only piece of equipment in the auction house, so 500 should be enough to sell it. The drop rate in this game is so low anyway," Ethan mumbled. He needed money urgently, so in-game currency wasn't an option. He listed the Pig-Slaying Knife, choosing cash transactions directly, and selected the auction method:

"Huh, you can choose between fixed-price or bidding modes. Since I don't know the market price, I'll just choose bidding mode. This is good," Ethan praised for the first time.

"Damn, fixed-price mode has a 10% fee and bidding mode has a 15% fee. That's so unfair," Ethan complained again after praising it.

"Ah, fair or not, it's because they're the developers."

He listed the item anonymously, chose the bidding mode, set the bidding time to 10 minutes, confirmed, and went back to killing boars.

At the entrance of the novice village, Rabbit Grassland…

"Bobby, Bobby, someone listed a weapon on the auction house, adding 12 points to Physical Attack," a young boy ran over excitedly to Bobby.

"Why wait? Just snatch it up. Is it for in-game currency transactions?" Bobby said urgently.

"No, it's a cash transaction, but the other party set it to bidding mode. Bidding time is 10 minutes," the boy replied.

"Since it's a cash transaction, it doesn't matter. Make sure to buy it," Bobby said calmly. As long as money could solve the problem, it was no issue.

"Yes."

On the other side, five young men were methodically killing rabbits when one of them frowned.

"Jeremy, someone listed equipment on the auction house."

"Oh? According to our observations and analysis over the past period, the rabbits in the novice village shouldn't drop equipment. Did someone kill a level 2 goat?" Jeremy, the handsome man, asked in confusion.

"Shouldn't be possible. With our current strength, we still can't handle those goats. Unless all of us reach level 1, we can't try. It must be that someone's luck finally paid off and killed a rabbit to drop equipment," another young man replied.

"Can we contact the seller? Let's spend a bit more money to get some information," Jeremy said.

"No, the other party listed it anonymously," the young man replied.

"Alright, then there's nothing we can do. This equipment, I'll list it when necessary. Although it's white quality, the 12 attack points are still very useful in the early game," Jeremy said seriously.

"Yeah."

On the other side, a middle-aged man walked up to a tall, beautiful woman wearing a white veil and said, "Miss, there's equipment on the auction house."

The woman casually opened the auction interface, glanced at the only piece of equipment, and said, "Act within your means."

Meanwhile, in every corner of the 8365 novice village, discussions about the first piece of equipment in the auction house were taking place. Just one white quality equipment caused a sensation throughout the novice village. The auction house items are only displayed to players in the same area; currently, it's the same novice village, and later, the same main city.

"Damn, someone listed equipment on the auction house."

"Finally saw some equipment. This game has such a weird drop rate. It's been over an hour, and I haven't seen a single piece of equipment. I thought this game doesn't drop equipment."

"The lowest level white quality equipment can add 12 points to attack. If I equip it, my attack would double."

"Wake up upstairs, look at the current price. It's over ten thousand. Just one white piece of equipment, rich people really don't treat money like money."

"Damn, it's true. I'll kill quickly, maybe the next rabbit will drop me equipment. Over 10,000 is enough for me to spend for several months."

"Miss, the price has reached 12,000. Do you still want to bid?" The middle-aged man approached the elegant woman and whispered.

"Bid up to 15,000. Any higher and forget it. One white quality equipment isn't worth it. Soon it will become common," the woman replied calmly.

"Okay."

"Jeremy, many people are watching this piece of equipment. The price has soared to 15,000, completely exceeding its value," a young man said.

"Yeah, that's normal. After all, it's the first piece of equipment and a weapon. But it's still very important in the early game. Mainly because the drop rate in this game is too low. Otherwise, a single white quality equipment wouldn't be sold for over ten thousand," Jeremy said.

"Let's add 2,000 more. If it exceeds this price, forget it. We can kill a bunch of them ourselves soon. Once Xiaobei and Linzi reach level 1, we'll go kill goats," another young man said.

On the other side…

"Bobby, are we still adding?" a boy beside Bobby asked.

"Add. I don't have much, but I have lots of money. These guys also want to compete with me," Bobby replied disdainfully. To him, it didn't matter if it was worth it or not. As long as money could solve the problem, it was no issue. He craved the feeling of being stronger than others.

Meanwhile, Ethan Carter, who caused all this, was oblivious and continued killing Wild Boars with his unscrupulous methods.

"Ah, if my poison damage could be increased a bit more, that would be great. Then I would only need two hits instead of three to kill one. So annoying. It's all that damn spider's fault, what kind of skills are those? Made it impossible for me to grind talents," Ethan complained.

"That's the 18th one. Killing this will let me level up," Ethan said, while walking Wild Boars, watching their health slowly decrease. With his 18 Movement Speed points, killing Wild Boars was now effortless. Soon, this Wild Boar reluctantly fell down.

"Ding, congratulations on leveling up. Health +20, Mana +10, gained 5 free attribute points. Please allocate them appropriately."

After reaching level 3, he allocated five attribute points to Agility, raising Agility to 20, Movement Speed to 23 points, Health: 150, Mana: 80, others unchanged. Experience: 14/1000.

"Level 4 requires 1000 experience points. At level 3, killing Wild Boars gives 26 experience per one. I need to kill 38 more to level up," Ethan complained. At that moment…

"Ding, the item you listed on the auction house has been bought by a player. Transaction amount: $20,000, after deducting a $3,000 fee, the remaining $17,000 has been transferred to your bound bank card account."

"Watt? $20,000?!", Ethan was stunned. He quickly opened the transaction records to confirm it was $20,000, then opened the bank card information to check the balance. Seeing that his account showed $17,700, he gulped hard, pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Ethan grinned foolishly. Just one crappy item was almost equivalent to half a year's salary. Who would believe it if he told them?

"Damn, there are so many rich people in this game," Ethan felt great, looking at the Wild Boars ahead and feeling a sense of affection. Just with this one piece of equipment, he made enough money from selling his game helmet, earning an extra seven thousand dollars. He no longer had to worry about sleeping at the bridge cave.

He continued killing Wild Boars, all for money.