"But if you can make it into the top ten, you can get a million Dragon Coins in prize money," Ethan smiled and said, "And I was first in the second round, which means that as long as I'm willing, I can become first in the third round right now. If you cross the sea on my raft, wouldn't that make you one of the top ten?"
"That makes a lot of sense," Mage Wardimore scratched his head and said, "But I don't have much money right now. How about I give you one hundred thousand Dragon Coins after I make it into the top ten?"
"Paying with promises, huh? Heh, save it!"
Ethan rolled his eyes and couldn't be bothered with him anymore.
Who knew what this guy was thinking? He actually wanted to fool him, a professional profiteer.
Ethan was usually the professional who sold people grand promises, yet someone actually wanted to sell grand promises to him. How hilarious.
Wardimore said tearfully, "I'm not making empty promises. I really don't have that much money."
"That's your business, not mine."
After saying that, Ethan closed his eyes again and waited for more and more people to gather on the shore.
Quite a few clever contestants used items they had on them to test the power of this red seawater, while some idiots used their own fingers or toes to test it. The consequences naturally went without saying.
The screams of contestants whose hands and feet had been eaten by the devouring worms in the red sea could be heard from the beach from time to time.
Soon… almost everyone understood just how terrifying this red sea was.
The Treants quickly used their innate advantage to build large wooden rafts. Strangely enough, these devouring worms could swallow anything, yet they alone did not devour wood or plants.
Except for Treants. Ethan personally saw a Treant attempt to rely on its own buoyancy and swim across the sea naked.
The result was that it got eaten by the devouring worms…
Its soul or perhaps its life source?
Ethan didn't know either. He only knew that not long after that Treant fell into the red sea, it began struggling desperately. A few seconds later, it became like a dead branch with no soul, floating in the red sea before gradually drifting away.
Seeing that roughly enough people had gathered, and that quite a few people had also built wooden rafts.
Ethan knew they couldn't wait any longer.
"Everyone!"
Ethan directly stood on top of the little house on the top-tier raft, then shouted toward the people on the shore, "There are still nine empty spots on my raft. Cross the red sea with me first, and you'll be in the top ten of the third round."
"There aren't many spots. Highest bidder gets them."
"Everyone, if you want to buy, hurry up!"
When everyone heard the owner of the top-tier raft, they immediately looked at one another.
They probably hadn't expected someone to openly take a shortcut like this.
Was this even allowed?
"We can make rafts ourselves too. Why should we spend money to buy a spot from you? Do you think we're idiots?"
"Exactly. And highest bidder gets it!"
"Do you deserve that?"
"I'll pay one hundred Dragon Coins. Count me in!"
Some people objected, while naturally others agreed.
After all, there were still plenty of people who weren't short on money. All they wanted was speed, all they wanted was to win!
But the person who made the bid was immediately mocked by a mage wearing a wizard's hat, "One hundred Dragon Coins? Do you know I just offered one thousand Dragon Coins to ride his raft, and he still didn't think it was enough? For this trip, I estimate you won't get on unless you have at least ten thousand Dragon Coins."
"Ten thousand Dragon Coins? He might as well go rob people!"
"One thousand Dragon Coins isn't enough for him? What a damn profiteer!"
"With that crappy raft, he still wants to squeeze ten people onto it. Even if it were ten Dragon Coins per person, I wouldn't want to get on!"
"Does he really think we're suckers? He thinks one thousand Dragon Coins is too little!"
Everyone went crazy complaining about Ethan.
However, someone laughed at this moment and tossed a money bag toward Ethan, saying, "There are one hundred thousand Dragon Coins inside. Do I qualify to get on your raft?"
"Yes, absolutely! Welcome, welcome!"
Ethan immediately brought the Super Raft to the shore and extended a hand, gesturing for that person to hold his hand so they could get onto the raft.
As for anyone else who wanted to force their way in, they just had to not be afraid of getting shocked.
Because the case of the Rakshasa Bird King had already been spread all along the shore by the gossipmongers. So Ethan didn't even need to warn them. Nobody dared risk their lives just to serve as an experiment for someone else, and most people merely watched.
They all waited eagerly to see whether some brainless contestant would directly charge into the raft's protective barrier.
Unfortunately… they were disappointed.
Even after the tycoon who had paid one hundred thousand Dragon Coins got onto the raft, nobody dared come over and cause trouble.
"Anyone else getting on?"
However, after the tycoon boarded the raft, the people on the shore fell silent again.
After all, someone throwing out one hundred thousand right at the start really had shocked them.
That made those who had originally wanted to bid eighteen thousand or ten thousand eight hundred… back down after considering their own means.
"Do you think we're idiots?", the people on the shore shouted angrily, "One hundred thousand just to buy a spot on your bamboo raft?"
"It's not like we have so much money that we have nowhere to spend it!"
"Exactly, one hundred thousand is way too expensive. If it were eight thousand or ten thousand, I could grit my teeth and still scrape that together!"
"It's just a spot. Is there really a need to throw out one hundred thousand right away? You're seriously messing things up for everyone!"
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