His First Pot of Gold

Wu Shaozhen was mowing down wild boars at a rate of one every two minutes. Each boar dropped at least two copper coins and a tusk-not bad at all.

"Number thirteen." After poisoning another wild boar to death, Wu Shaozhen strolled over to its corpse to collect the loot.

"Oh, another equipment drop!" Wu Shaozhen happily picked up the piece of equipment beside the corpse and inspected it.

[Boar-Slaying Knife]

Quality: common

Physical attack +12

Equipment requirements: none

Uh, that's it? Doesn't seem much use to me. A few more points of attack or a few less, what difference does it make? I can't get through their defense anyway.

Wu Shaozhen looked at the Boar-Slaying Knife in his hand. So ugly. It doesn't even look as good as the Newbie Wooden Sword. He couldn't even be bothered to equip it. Maybe I should put it on the auction house and see if anyone wants it?

Oracle's auction system was very convenient. Players could bring up the auction interface to see the items listed there, search by category for whatever they wanted, and buy anything that caught their eye without returning to town. They could also list unwanted items directly, choosing either cash or in-game currency for payment. After a successful cash transaction, the money would automatically be transferred to their linked bank account. Players couldn't top up directly; they could only spend real money to buy gold and equipment from other players. This greatly limited how quickly big spenders could rise to power.

Wu Shaozhen opened the auction interface and stared at the empty listings, momentarily bewildered. Nobody's selling anything yet? Then how much should I list this Boar-Slaying Knife for? There isn't even a price to go by.

"Maybe I'll try listing it for 500 yuan? It's the only piece of equipment in the auction house, after all. It should sell for 500, right? Especially with this game's drop rate being so low," Wu Shaozhen muttered. He urgently needed money, so in-game currency was out of the question. He listed the Boar-Slaying Knife, selected cash as the payment method, and moved on to the sale format.

"Oh, there are two options: fixed price or bidding. Since I don't know the market price, why not just choose bidding? That's pretty good." For once, Wu Shaozhen offered some praise.

"Damn, a 10% fee for fixed-price sales and 15% for bidding? What a rip-off!" Having just praised it, Wu Shaozhen went right back to complaining.

"Ah, fine, rip me off. They're the developers, after all."

He listed it anonymously, selected bidding, set the duration to ten minutes, confirmed it, and went back to killing boars.

At the entrance to Novice Village, on the rabbit grasslands...

"Young Master Huang! Young Master Huang! Someone listed a weapon in the auction house. It adds 12 physical attack!" A boy ran over to Young Master Huang in excitement.

"Then what are you waiting for? Buy it right now! Don't tell me they want in-game currency?" Young Master Huang said urgently.

"No, it's a cash sale, but the seller chose bidding. It lasts ten minutes," the boy said.

"As long as it's cash, it doesn't matter. Make sure you win it for me," Young Master Huang said calmly. Anything money could solve was no problem at all.

"Yes, sir."

Elsewhere, five young men were killing rabbits in an orderly fashion when one of them suddenly frowned.

"Jun Lin, someone listed equipment in the auction house."

"Oh? From what we've observed and analyzed so far, the rabbits in Novice Village shouldn't drop equipment. Has someone killed a level 2 Goat?" the handsome man named Jun Lin asked, puzzled.

"That shouldn't be possible. Even with our strength, we still can't handle those Goats. We'll have to wait until all of us reach level 1 before we can try. Someone probably just got incredibly lucky and actually got a drop from a rabbit," another young man said.

"Can you contact the seller? We can pay extra for some information," Jun Lin said.

"No, they listed it anonymously," the young man replied.

"All right, nothing we can do, then. Bid on this equipment if necessary. It may only be common equipment, but 12 attack makes a big difference in the early game," Jun Lin said seriously.

"Okay."

Elsewhere, a middle-aged man approached a tall woman wearing a white veil, whose bearing was exceptionally elegant. "Miss, there's equipment in the auction house."

"Someone's finally selling equipment?" The woman's eyes lit up. She opened the auction house and looked at its sole listing, then nodded. "A common piece adds 12 attack. It seems equipment gives substantial boosts in this game. See if we can win it."

"Of course."

At the same time, players in every corner of Beginner Village 8365 were discussing the first equipment listing in the auction house. A single piece of common equipment had caused a stir throughout the entire village. Auction listings were only shown to players within the same area: the same Novice Village for now, and the same main city later.

"Holy shit, someone listed equipment in the auction house!"

"Finally, some equipment! What the hell is this game's drop rate? I've been playing for over an hour and haven't seen a single piece. I thought equipment didn't drop in this game."

"Even the lowest-quality common equipment adds 12 attack? Equipping that would straight-up double my attack!"

"Wake up, buddy. Look at the current price. It's already over ten thousand. For one common item! Rich people really don't care about money."

"Holy shit, you're right! I'd better get back to grinding. Maybe the next rabbit will drop some equipment for me. Ten thousand yuan would cover my expenses for months."

"Miss, the price has reached twelve thousand. Should we keep bidding?" The middle-aged man approached the woman with the exquisite bearing and spoke quietly.

"Bid fifteen thousand. If it goes any higher, forget it. A common piece isn't worth that much. Everyone should be able to get their own soon," the woman said.

"Understood."

"Jun Lin, a lot of people have their eyes on this equipment. The price has already shot up to fifteen thousand, way beyond what it's actually worth," a young man said.

"Yeah, that's to be expected. It's the first piece of equipment, and a weapon at that. Still, it's important in the early game, mainly because the drop rate is so low. Otherwise, a common item would never have been bid up to over ten thousand," Jun Lin said.

"Add another two thousand. If it goes above that, let it go. Before long, we'll be able to farm a whole pile of equipment like this ourselves. Once Xiao Bei and Lin Zi both reach level 1, we'll go kill Goats."

Elsewhere...

"Young Master Huang, should we raise our bid?" the boy beside him asked.

"Of course. If there's one thing I have plenty of, it's money. These guys think they can compete with me?" Young Master Huang said disdainfully. Whether it was worth the price didn't matter to him. Anything money could solve was no problem at all. What he wanted was the thrill of being stronger than everyone else.

Meanwhile, Wu Shaozhen, who had caused all this, remained completely unaware and continued farming wild boars with his cheesy tactics.

"Man, if only my poison damage were a little higher. Then I'd only need two hits. Right now, it takes three to kill one. What a pain. It's all that damn spider's fault. What the hell kind of skill was that? Now I can't even grind my talent," Wu Shaozhen complained.

"Number eighteen. Kill this one and I'll level up." Wu Shaozhen watched the wild boar's health slowly drop as he kited it around. With his movement speed at 18, killing wild boars was now effortless. Soon, this boar also collapsed, unwilling to accept its fate.

Ding! Congratulations on leveling up! Health +20, mana +10. You have received 5 free attribute points. Please allocate them wisely.

He had reached level 3. Once again, he put all five attribute points into agility, bringing it to 20 and his movement speed to 23. Health: 150. Mana: 80. Everything else remained unchanged. Experience: 14/1000.

"A thousand experience to reach level 4? At level 3, each wild boar gives me 26 experience. I'll have to kill thirty-eight to level up," Wu Shaozhen complained. Just then...

Ding! The item you listed in the auction house has been won by a player. Final sale price: 20,000 yuan. After deducting a fee of 3,000 yuan, the remaining 17,000 yuan has been transferred to your linked bank account.

"What? Twenty thousand?!!" Wu Shaozhen was stunned. He hurriedly opened his transaction history and confirmed that it really was twenty thousand, then checked his bank balance. Seeing 17,700 yuan in his account, he swallowed hard and pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. A goofy grin spread across his face. This one lousy thing had brought in almost half a year's wages. Who would believe it?

"Holy shit, there are so many rich people in this game." Wu Shaozhen was in an excellent mood. Even the wild boars ahead looked endearing now. That one piece of equipment had paid for his gaming helmet and earned him another seven thousand yuan on top. He finally didn't have to worry about sleeping under a bridge.

Back to farming wild boars. They were all money!