Chapter 104: Earth-Type Sword Technique

It had to be said, the auction hall of the Yehua Liujin Auction House was truly vast—even larger than an average cinema—and every seat was a plush, supremely comfortable armchair. The hall was packed with people; by a conservative estimate, there were at least two thousand in attendance. The number gave Ye Chen a slight start, and at the same time, a sense of anticipation. After all, unless bronze-grade equipment or higher was being sold, anyone applying for an admission badge needed to possess at least two hundred gold coins in assets. In other words, these two thousand people were all wealthy—even the poorest among them was a well-off householder with no fewer than two hundred gold coins in their purse. From Lingtong's idle chatter, he gathered that the highest amount of gold displayed had reached thirty thousand, which made even Ye Chen click his tongue in amazement, silently wondering whether these people had swept the entire gold market clean.

As the curtain on the auction stage slowly drew open to both sides, the hall gradually quieted down. Nearly everyone had taken their seats. Ye Chen's gaze swept casually across the room and he spotted quite a few familiar faces. The core members of Dragon Soar sat to his right, and the high-ranking officers of Fierce Tiger seemed to have shown up in full force. As for the rest—the Legend Family, the Evil Wolf Guild, and the other major and minor powers of Lieshan City—their leaders had essentially all arrived. Beyond these guild figures, there were also plenty of independent masters; Ye Chen recognized several famous names from the level rankings. But those fellows were hardly the most dazzling presence in the hall. On the contrary, the true attention-grabbers were the people nobody had ever heard of. These individuals often had unremarkable levels, yet their gear gleamed with blue light, swaying left and right like giant light bulbs, as if terrified someone might not realize how rich they were. According to Lingtong, these were the true vanguard of the luxury consumer army.

The auction began soon enough. When Lingtong stepped gracefully onto the stage in a sleeveless blue gauze dress, a beam of pale golden light fell upon her, making her exposed, fair skin shimmer with an alluring glow. Her voluptuous, curvaceous figure was enough to stir sinful thoughts. The moment she gave a slight bow, the heaving swell at her chest sent countless male players gulping. Ye Chen glanced around and found nothing but scorching stares everywhere.

Lingtong seemed utterly accustomed to all this. With an indifferent, charming laugh, she delivered a few opening remarks, instantly igniting the atmosphere of the hall. Ye Chen could practically feel the testosterone surging among the male players around him, who all began shouting their support for Miss Lingtong. Ye Chen reckoned that if Lingtong were to bring out a few plain white-board pieces of equipment right now, they would still fight to buy them, just for a smile from the beauty.

Lingtong was highly pleased with the effect of her entrance. She smiled coquettishly and said in a sweet voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, Lingtong knows that everyone who has entered this hall is a person of considerable means, so I won't embarrass myself with those fine-grade trinkets here. Let us begin directly with rare-grade equipment—I guarantee you will not leave disappointed."

With that, she produced a suit of blue-glimmering armor and placed it on the display stand. As she projected the equipment's design onto the large screen, she softly explained its various attributes. Ye Chen took one look and lost all interest. The stats of this rare-grade piece were hardly outstanding—mediocre at best. The only thing it had going for it was a decent appearance. But contrary to Ye Chen's expectations, this merely passable rare-grade item actually saw its price climb steadily upward, finally selling at a high price of eighty gold coins.

Ye Chen glanced at the fat man who had bought it and saw him gazing at Lingtong with a dazed, lovestruck expression after she gave him a flirtatious smile. He understood at once, silently remarking that this enchantress Lingtong was truly worthy of being the head auctioneer of Yehua Liujin—heaven knew how much wealth she had generated for the establishment.

Rare-grade equipment sold off one piece after another, with the lowest price reaching seventy gold—far exceeding the market value of rare-grade gear. At this rate, in the future most decent equipment obtained by players would probably be brought to auction houses for sale. Even after a ten percent commission was deducted, the returns were far better than setting up a street stall, and it saved time to boot—so why not?

When every rare-grade item had been sold clean, the smile on Lingtong's face grew even more charming and seductive. Just as Ye Chen assumed she would begin auctioning bronze-grade equipment, he saw a pale red skill book placed upon the display stand. Lingtong gently stroked its cover and announced, "Earth Flame Burst—a level twenty area-attack skill for swordsmen, with a damage radius of ten by ten yards. At level one, the skill deals one hundred and ten percent of base attack damage. Cooldown time: thirty seconds. Mana cost: fifty points. An earth-type sword skill. I trust I need not explain its value to everyone present—so, please begin your bids."

Earth-type sword skill. The instant those words left her mouth, the entire auction hall fell into silence.

Just like the mages' dragon-type magic, divine-type magic, and abyss magic, the swordsmen's earth-type and heaven-type sword skills were equally rare and sought after. One hundred and ten percent skill damage didn't sound all that monstrous—certainly not as overpowered as Ye Chen's Black Dragon Break—but to players who had no area-attack skills whatsoever before level thirty, the value of this skill book was extremely high. Especially for those high-attack swordsmen, like Big Sister Sword Qingcheng. With this skill, she could mow down swaths of poorly equipped squishy classes. Many mage-type players had around three hundred health points; in group combat, this skill would be a nightmare for fragile casters. Even if not used for PvP, it was a massive killing tool for leveling. At this stage, even elemental mages didn't have true area-attack magic, so a swordsman with this skill would be a treasure for any party.

After that brief silence, the entire auction hall erupted. Countless swordsman players stared at the skill book on the stage with burning eyes, forgetting even the graceful and charming Lingtong. In their vision, there was only that earth-type sword skill.

And not just swordsmen—players of other classes were stirred as well, since almost everyone had a few close swordsman friends.

"An earth-type sword skill." Ye Chen let out a light breath, silently conceding that Yehua Liujin truly had some skill. He too was somewhat tempted. If Big Sister could get her hands on this skill book, her strength would surely reach another level—at the very least, her leveling speed would skyrocket. It could be said that whichever swordsman took home this skill today, even if he were an ordinary player, he would have a real chance to climb onto Lieshan's level rankings.

"A mere earth-type sword skill—what's all the fuss about?" Just as Ye Chen was agonizing over whether to try bidding, a sweet, coquettish voice suddenly sounded beside his ear. It was—it was exactly the same as Lingtong's voice.

Ye Chen froze, staring blankly at Lingtong on the stage, who was still laughing like a yellow oriole and stirring up the crowd. He was certain those words had not come from her. Could it be...?

At the thought of a certain possibility, Ye Chen felt a wave of peculiar unease.