Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Rare Goods Stall

Stepping out of his private room and into the public areas of the Paradise, he was immediately engulfed by cries of hawkers, bargaining voices, and a constant clamor of arguments.

“Buy if you want it. Don’t if you don’t. Five thousand coins, fixed price. If you’re broke, get lost, and make it snappy!”

“I didn’t catch that. Say it again. How much for this thing?”

“Extra, extra! Latest intelligence from the Red Moon world. Come quick if you need it!”

Murong Xun moved through the noisy crowd, giving the stalls along both sides of the street no second glance.

Anyone with any sense knew that most of the people setting up shop here were selling nothing worthwhile. The prices were inflated, meant only to fleece the unwary. The ones who fell for it were usually newcomers.

Real treasures were never sold here. They were usually taken to the trading plaza instead, where the crowds were larger and the big names often appeared.

With more people there, the prices were also much more reasonable, at least close to the actual value of the goods.

The biggest difference between combat players and life players lay in how they priced their items.

Combat players often could not accurately judge the value of the things they held. An item worth only a hundred or two might be listed for several thousand, and whether it sold or not did not matter much to them.

Life players were different. Although they rarely needed to enter dungeon worlds, setting up stalls in the Paradise came with a “rent” of its own. They had to earn money desperately, and could not afford the reckless freedom of combat players.

So the things they crafted were usually not priced too high. They relied instead on thin margins and high turnover.

Because life players existed, prices could remain within a relatively sensible range and would not collapse.

Besides, how many items did combat players actually acquire on their own? Far more often, they still depended on the work of life players.

The things those crafters made kept the market flowing, gave combat players more ways to obtain what they needed, and in turn increased their chances of survival. Better survival meant greater strength, which led to more gains, forming a healthy cycle.

That was also the reason the Tower Paradise allowed life players to exist.

Because of them, the circulation of currency and goods was faster, and prices were more stable.

After passing through one player shop after another, Murong Xun finally reached the trading plaza.

A plaza, though in truth it was more like a whole trading district.

As far as the eye could see, the trading grounds stretched endlessly, a sea of people packed shoulder to shoulder. Neat rows of stalls stood in orderly lines, and behind each stall either stood or sat a person. Some stalls were unmanned altogether, with transaction options already set up; if a buyer wanted something, they could inspect it themselves, confirm the deal if satisfied, or simply leave if not.

These were usually set up by people who had already returned to the real world, or who did not wish to remain by their stalls. Each had made their own choice.

However, because this method required an additional handling fee, ordinary life players usually found it too painful to use. Only combat players were this carefree.

In fact, if they had the time, or if what they were selling was especially valuable, they still preferred to guard the stall themselves rather than consign it.

Murong Xun had come to sell things, so he went straight to the point.

He only had three days here, and he still had many things to do. Speed was the better choice.

He went directly to an empty stall, paid the ten-coin stall fee, then laid out the items he intended to sell and entered the prices.

Besides the five sets of knight armor, the most valuable thing he had was the purple rare staff.

After thinking it over, he finally placed the Piercing Illusion Blood Pupils there as well. He did not intend to use it himself to alter his own bloodline.

He gave the stall a name: Rare Items.

Then Murong Xun sat to one side and closed his eyes to rest.

Aside from the Piercing Illusion Blood Pupils, which he priced at five thousand, he had set absurdly high prices for everything else. Their value was unquestionably high, but he could not put an exact figure on them, so it was better to let people come and negotiate.

It did not take long before several people were standing in front of his stall. After all, once the equipment effects were activated, the purple glow was extremely eye-catching.

Still, they only looked. None of them had any intention of buying.

The price was simply too steep. Even if they sold themselves, they would not have that much money.

“Sir, that pair of Piercing Illusion Blood Pupils is too expensive at five thousand. Would you take four thousand?”

A young man looked up at Murong Xun with admiration in his eyes.

“Pfft!”

At that, the people around them could not help but laugh.

“Buddy, are you joking? Five thousand is already cheap. He’s not making money off you.”

“Five thousand is too little. Go take a look at the ones priced at ten thousand!”

The mockery from those around him made the young man involuntarily step back a few paces, his face flushing with embarrassment.

Murong Xun did not laugh at him. He himself had once been a novice. Everyone had been weak at some point, but everyone also had the chance to become strong.

He was selling, and others had the right to bargain.

He might refuse if the offer was too low, but he would not mock them for it.

By then, more and more people had gathered around—not only buyers, but also stall owners from nearby, all drawn over despite themselves.

The purple glow was simply too dazzling. In all the time they had spent here, they could count on one hand the number of purple-grade items they had seen.

Not only that, people were already calling friends over to take a look.

Although they were all discussing it among themselves, none dared ask the price outright.

Everyone knew the sky-high price was only there to keep some people away, but they were also self-aware enough to understand that the cheapest thing on this stall was that pair of Piercing Illusion Blood Pupils. The rest were far beyond their means.

An outrageous price of one hundred thousand per item was simply terrifying.

Just then, a middle-aged man pushed through the crowd, panting heavily as he rushed over.

But the moment his eyes landed on those few items, he could no longer look away.

Because this was a public sale, the item details were visible to everyone. Anyone with a sharp eye could tell that the value of the five sets of Mithril Knight Armor was even higher than that of the purple staff.

“Friend, I’ll take all five sets of knight armor. Could you give me a better price? Even if they’re a blue set item, one hundred thousand is impossible.”

Murong Xun looked up. The desire in the other man’s eyes told him that he truly wanted them.

He had only set the prices so high to drive away irrelevant people and select genuine buyers.

“What do you think they’re worth?”

“This...”

The middle-aged man hesitated. The value of these five sets was indeed extremely high, but after all, they were only blue-grade equipment, and he could not quite judge what a fair price would be.

“Thirty thousand per set?”

“Too low.”

Murong Xun shook his head and directly rejected the offer.

One hundred thousand was indeed a sky-high price, but it was not so outrageous as to be absurd.