"Well…" A flicker of interest crossed Magnus's eyes. He was clearly intrigued by the proposal, but he didn't agree right away. Instead, he turned his gaze to Kalis, wanting to gauge his stance first.
Kalis paused for a moment, his mind racing as he quickly ran the numbers. The value of in-game gold was bound to keep dropping, holding onto it would only mean watching it depreciate further by the day. The same went for those immediately usable items; cashing them out sooner rather than later was the safest bet. Only those high-tier Mythic gear pieces might see a price surge as players leveled up, but that would take at least a month or two, way too long for his liking.
Having made up his mind, he nodded decisively. "I think this proposal works. If you're willing to buy everything outright, Mr. Magnus, this would definitely be the most hassle-free way to settle the deal."
"Perfect! Since you're on board with it too, Kalis, I'll make the call, we'll buy out every single item and gold coin you have!" As the founder of the Golden Treasury Merchant Guild, Magnus held full decision-making authority. A hundred-million-real-world currency deal like this didn't require consulting any other executives, he could finalize it on the spot.
The two sides hit it off immediately and kicked off the transaction process right away. Magnus's reputation in the gaming community was second to none, so Kalis didn't hesitate for a second. He traded over all the items up for sale that he'd shared in the party chat, along with the 2.5 million gold coins in his inventory, to Magnus in one go.
It wasn't long before Kalis's real-world phone pinged with a bank notification text, the full 100 million in real-world currency had been successfully credited to his account, pushing his balance up to 1.32 billion in real-world currency in an instant.
"I'll have to swing by the tax bureau later… With an income this big, who knows how much tax I'll have to pay." Kalis muttered to himself under his breath, then switched back to the game interface to confirm that the transaction had gone through smoothly.
Magnus pulled a black card inlaid with golden patterns out of his storage space, held it out to Kalis, and said with a smile, "Kalis, this is our Golden Treasury Merchant Guild's Diamond VIP Card. From now on, if you ever have any items you want to sell, you can head to any of our guild's branches in the major cities at any time. We'll only charge you a 1% commission fee, and you'll also get priority bidding rights."
"Haha, well then, thank you very much, Mr. Magnus." Kalis accepted the VIP card with a grin and tucked it into his inventory.
Magnus added, "The true value of the Guild Residence Token lies in its timeliness. We plan to hold a special auction at our guild's branch in Drakenspire City in 20 minutes, and we'll be inviting core members from all the major guilds to attend. This auction will basically be your exclusive showcase; all the items we've purchased from you will be listed for sale at the same time. If you have the time, Kalis, why not come along and watch the fun?"
"20 minutes? No problem. I'll stick around to watch the auction before logging off to grab some dinner." Kalis thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement. With the Golden Treasury Merchant Guild's influence, 20 minutes was more than enough time to round up the top executives from every major guild on the server. He was curious to see which big shots would show up and who would end up snapping up his loot in the end.
Besides, ever since he'd foiled Shadow Claw's schemes last time, the guild hadn't caused any more major trouble. The average level of their members was about 3 levels behind other top players—they probably didn't even have the resources to bid for the Guild Residence Token.
Zevran, the guild master of Shadow Claw, would most likely show up to the auction though. It wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on them. If they did manage to win the bid, it would basically be like them handing him free money, why would he say no to that?
After that, Magnus activated a teleport scroll with his two assistants and headed off to Drakenspire City to make preparations for the auction.
20 minutes wasn't a lot of time, and Kalis had no intention of leaving the city, so he stayed in the Market District and chatted casually with Lenore, Eira, Mireya, and Seraphina, swapping tips on leveling up and strategies for dungeon runs.
The average level of mainstream players on the server had already reached around Level 35. The top players on the leaderboard (excluding Kalis and Lia) had also broken through Level 43—barring any accidents, the first batch of players would complete their second class advancement before the end of the day.
That said, once players hit Level 50, their leveling speed would slow down drastically. An average player could finish their second class advancement in two days, but reaching the third class advancement (Level 100) would take at least ten days, and that was for top-tier players. Of course, monsters like Kalis were in a league of their own and didn't count.
Lenore, Eira, and the other two were all currently at Level 35. Eira, who had equipped the Gilded Lion King Battle Boots that Kalis had given her earlier and upgraded to a full set of Level 30 Epic gear, now had a HP pool approaching 30,000—her stats were absolutely insane.
On top of that, with the Demon's Core she'd just gotten, her Strength stat had skyrocketed by 50 points, pushing her attack power past the 1,300 mark. Her overall stats were two to three times higher than those of an average player at the same level.
Even so, compared to Lia, who was wielding the Transcendent Mythic Lunar Orb of Divinity, she was still a mere drop in the bucket.
"By the way, Lenore—I've got something good for you." As they chatted, Kalis suddenly remembered that he still had one key item left to give away. He immediately pulled an ancient scroll shimmering with soft moonlight out of his inventory and sent Lenore a trade request.
"What's the good stuff?" Lenore asked, curious as she opened the trade interface. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw the item icon and description, and she clapped a hand over her mouth in shock. "H-holy cow! It's a red-rarity item… a Hidden Class transfer tome?!"
She'd been acting casual at first, but the moment she realized it was the Tome of the Lunar Priest, she froze completely. A Mythic-grade Hidden Class transfer tome was the stuff of every player's wildest dreams!
"Calm down, calm down—it's just a Hidden Class. Who doesn't have a fancy special class these days?" Eira leaned against a nearby pillar, feigning nonchalance. After spending so much time with Kalis, she was already used to him pulling out game-breaking items like it was no big deal.
But for Lenore, this was the biggest surprise of her life. She clicked the confirm button on the trade with trembling hands, stowing the transfer tome in her inventory. Her eyes glistened with tears of gratitude as she said, "Kalis, you're like my real-life big brother! Eira's been teasing me nonstop ever since she got her Hidden Class, but now I can finally get back at her!"
"I thought you'd be so grateful you'd offer to buy me a milk tea next time we meet offline, but this is all I get?" Kalis teased, grinning. He knew full well that Lenore, Eira, and himself were core friends. Eira had a Hidden Class, and now he did too, Lenore had definitely been feeling a little down about still being a regular Cleric.
"Milk tea? You bet I will! Next time we meet offline, I'll treat you to the most expensive one money can buy!" Lenore immediately puffed out her chest and promised, then urged them eagerly. "Come on! We've still got some time before the auction starts—let's head to the Lunar Temple in Lunaris City right now so I can do my class transfer!"
Seeing this, Mireya and Seraphina politely excused themselves. "Kalis, Lenore, Eira—we won't tag along this time. We're already so grateful for the Epic gear you gave us." Their friendship with Kalis wasn't very deep—they'd only been temporary party members. Now that they'd gotten their hands on such valuable gear for free, they didn't want to impose any further.
Kalis nodded. "No problem—you two go enjoy yourselves. If you ever need a hand with anything later, just shoot me a message."
After that, Kalis, Lenore, and Eira activated their teleport scrolls and headed straight for Lunaris City. Once they arrived, the three of them made a beeline for the Lunar Temple.
Kalis was wearing three pieces of Mythic gear, and Eira was wielding four. One of them was over Level 80—a true server-wide legend. The other had a HP pool pushing 30,000 with stats that defied logic.
As the two of them walked down the street, they instantly turned heads and drew stares from every player around them. Caught in the middle, Lenore suddenly felt completely invisible.
She muttered under her breath, sounding put-out. "Good thing I'm about to get my Hidden Class too. Otherwise, walking around with you two would make me feel like a total nobody—not a single person would spare me a second glance."
"Once you transfer to Lunar Priest, players from all over the server will be tripping over themselves to beg you for heals." Kalis teased, laughing.
Eira chimed in, her tone playful. "I suggest you practice your skills as soon as possible. Then you can open a dedicated healing channel and charge by the session—you'll be rolling in money in no time!"
"Can you two be serious for once? I'm going to be a great high priestess who saves the world—not some lowly merchant who sells heals for cash!" Lenore shot them both an annoyed glare, then picked up her pace and sprinted toward the temple gates.
"Halt! This is sacred temple ground—filthy heathens are not allowed inside!" The temple knight guarding the gate immediately stepped forward, planting his holy shield firmly in front of Kalis. His expression was arrogant and solemn.
Once again, Kalis found himself barred from entering. Clearly, the good word Lia had promised to put in for him hadn't done a single bit of good.
"A measly Level 180 Legendary guard and he dares to act this arrogant..." Annoyance instantly surged in Kalis's chest, and the old urge to storm and raze the temple flared up again.
But he quickly suppressed the impulse. If he was really going to tear a temple down he should target one in a main city of another world. There was no point in causing trouble in his own main city.
"You two go on in and do your class transfer first. I'll wait out here for you." Kalis stepped aside reluctantly and gestured for Lenore and Eira to go ahead.
Lenore and Eira nodded, then walked through the gates without a hitch and into the grand, sacred Lunar Temple. Kalis found a spot to sit under the statue of the Moon Goddess nearby and waited patiently.
It wasn't long before a fit of excited, triumphant laughter echoed out from inside the temple. "Hahaha! I finally got my Hidden Class too! Lunar Priest is so overpowered—this is amazing!"
"It's insane! Seriously insane! My stats are more than double those of a regular Cleric now!"
"Excuse me, miss—you look like you're running low on HP! Come here, let me top you up!"
Freshly transformed into a Lunar Priest, Lenore was so excited she looked like she'd just won the lottery. She ran toward the temple gates, tossing out healing spells at random low-HP players passing by, desperate to make everyone in the temple aware of her brand-new class.
"That girl…" Kalis shook his head helplessly, rubbing his temples.
"Kalis! Kalis! Come here and let me test out my new healing spells on you!" Lenore ran over to him together with Eira, calling out excitedly from over ten meters away. She lifted a hand and cast two healing spells on Kalis from a distance.