Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

Now that Gu Fei’s goal had been achieved, he decisively sent a message out, and that person who had already tacitly took the hint. Having been waiting for the right moment, she leaped right onto the raised platform that Gu Fei was on, raised a bag of money high, and yelled, “I bid 20,000 gold coins!”

The ensuing silence was deafening.

The Auction House had never had a moment of silence ever since the Utopian Magic Staff was placed on auction, and just as the auction for this magnificent sword was coming to a close, what should have been an intense period suddenly became extremely quiet, so much so that everyone could hear the sound of their breathing.

“20,000!” Someone slapped his thigh loudly, wondering if this was all just a dream.

Everyone’s attention swiftly went from the Moonlit Nightfalls to the formidable existence that had just called out that absurd amount of gold coins. Dressed in red, a female Thief, and 20,000 gold coins! All the characteristics matched what they knew, and the name of that legendary player quickly came to everyone’s mind: Svelte Dancer.

Those players that were looking to question this woman’s intention swiftly shut their mouths.

Those who hoped to cause trouble – players calling out prices wildly despite not having the gold to back it up – recalled the rumors of how violent this lady was and swiftly shut their mouths as well.

Everyone stared silently at that woman standing tall atop the platform, overlooking the crowd as she dangled that bag of money in her hand.

“20,000 gold coins – is there anyone higher?!” Gu Fei was the one speaking now, and he continued to play the part of the auctioneer.

“F*ck! Not even content with 20,000!” Some of the people in the crowd began to turn against Gu Fei, with some even throwing trash his way. Thankfully, they were still within the limits of the designated safe zone, so while the crowd could move to throw things, what they tossed would never leave their hands no matter what they did.

“Is there no one else higher than 20,000 gold coins? 20,000 going once!” Gu Fei shouted.

“Twice!”

“Thrice! Sold to this beautiful lady right here!” Gu Fei applauded, but no one joined in. Everyone was almost dying from envy, so why would any of them be happy over someone else successfully purchasing such a magnificent piece of top-grade equipment? The crowd watched with open eyes as the two exchanged money and weapon. This was the only interaction that players could do in this super safe zone, and their hearts were all dripping blood bearing witness to this.

Not everyone present was keeping their attention on this shocking transaction. Aside from Young Master Han and the men they had brought that knew this was all a show, there were a handful of players in the know as well.

Ye Xiaowu and Broken Water Arrow were made aware that the Utopian Magic Staff was being auctioned last night and had instantly made their way over to the Auction House the moment they found out that the staff belonged to Vast Lushness.

Ye Xiaowu was the only person that had not left the auction console for the entire day and night that passed.

“Is there a need to go to such lengths?” Broken Water Arrow did not understand this display of insanity. Furthermore, he saw that Ye Xiaowu would intermittently throw out a bid every now and then, and at other times, he would be intently watching the price changes, noting down something in his booklet from time to time.

“If I don’t do my homework, I can’t be 100% sure of winning this magic staff,” Ye Xiaowu replied.

“What do you mean?” Broken Water Arrow was confused.

“Look here.” Ye Xiaowu continued to stare at the auction console unblinkingly as he explained to Broken Water Arrow. “Even though the staff is auctioned for a 24-hour period, details like when it begins, when it ends, and how much time’s left are not displayed. According to the intel we’ve gathered, we know that that staff was listed at about 8 PM, and this means that aside from having the necessary funds to make the final bid, you’ll need sufficient luck as well. Bidding the moment right before the auction ends will let you win the auction.”

“Oh, so you’re trying to calculate the exact time this staff was placed on auction, right?” Broken Water Arrow asked.

“How’s that possible? What I’m doing now is getting a grasp of the rules behind the refresh rates when it comes to the movement of the bid price. This ensures that I’ll be able to bid at the most crucial moment, higher than that of any competitors,” Ye Xiaowu explained.

“There’s a rule for this as well?” Broken Water Arrow was perplexed.

“Normally, no, but there should be one now,” Ye Xiaowu replied.

“I don’t get it,” Broken Water Arrow said.

“Let me simplify it for you! The bids look to be refreshing real-time on this auction console, but really it is done at a set interval. Let’s say it’s done every second, which means that in a single minute, the bid will at most jump 60 times, nothing more. However, if there are over sixty bids in that one second, the system can’t possibly show all the sixty bids one by one. It will instead settle it behind the scenes, choosing only the highest bid and showing it on the auction interface for that second. However, when the competition is this intense, there’s a type of situation that might occur.”

“What sort of situation?”

“When two or more players make the exact same bid.”

“Oh yeah… Then, what will happen in that case?”

“The system will then go according to time and screen it. The first player who make the bid will get priority, while the other player will get the system prompt that their bid has failed,” Ye Xiaowu said.

“Okay… I sorta understand now, but what’s the rule you’re trying to grasp?”

“What I’m trying to grasp is the delay that will result for the system when the same bid is made. Let me give you an example; right now, the auction console shows the bid of 3000 gold coins, when in fact, it is already sorting out the next batch of bids at 3100 gold coins. Get a grasp of this delay, and I can make a bid at the precise time. This will ensure that every time I make a bid, I’ll always be ahead of the other bidders in comparison,” Ye Xiaowu replied.

“Is… Is that even possible? Even though you’ve used the term delay, but it’s really just something that happens in the span of a second!” Broken Water Arrow said.

“Which is why I am working hard right now!” Ye Xiaowu reasoned.

“Do you need my help with anything?” Broken Water Arrow asked.

“It’d be helpful if you have a stopwatch,” Ye Xiaowu remarked.

“Can you find such a thing in the game?”

“Nope.”

“Work harder, then!” Broken Water Arrow encouraged, no longer saying another word after. The entire conversation had been done through private messages, and the two players had looked like they were conscientiously looking at the auction console the whole time, almost as if they were one with the army of bidders surrounding them.

In order to better grasp this one-second delay, Ye Xiaowu spent the entire day online without any rest, especially when he thought that the furious bidding would only really begin after 7 PM. The burst of bids and the refreshing of the latest bids would be much more than what it was like now, and the speed of the bids coming in would be far more urgent. As a result, he did not end up in the awkward position of having no auction console available to participate in the auction like Gu Fei and the others.

When Broken Water Arrow came online later in the night, he was in the same plight as Gu Fei and the rest. Without any spot available for him, he could only loiter about outside the auction console that Ye Xiaowu was using. There were plenty of players in the Auction House, so neither Gu Fei and the others nor Broken Water Arrow noticed one another’s presence. It was only until Gu Fei suddenly leaped up a raised platform and started yelling out his auction that Broken Water Arrow abruptly noticed what was going on, quickly sending a message to Ye Xiaowu. “Thousand Miles Drunk’s auctioning his Moonlit Nightfalls!”

It was just as Ye Xiaowu, who had a whole day researching, had expected; when 7 PM arrived, a large mass of players began madly bidding for the magic staff, the situation turning far more severe than what he saw in the day. Ye Xiaowu was already mentally prepared for this, so he even knew just how many players could access all the auction consoles at any given time. Everything was happening just as he had calculated, yet he did not dare to be lax at all. Focusing intently on his bidding against his competitors, he did not seem to realize just what Gu Fei was doing behind his back this whole time.

It was not until Ye Xiaowu felt that he was adept at using the console that he gave a sigh of relief and pulled up the messages he had received during this period.

“Thousand Miles Drunk’s auctioning his Moonlit Nightfalls!”

Broken Water Arrow had sent this message five times.

“Where is it?” Ye Xiaowu was surprised. He did not see it appear on the auction console at all!

“Right behind you.” Broken Water Arrow had finally gotten Ye Xiaowu to reply.

Ye Xiaowu hurriedly looked backward, just in time to see Svelte Dancer leap onto the raised platform and yell out her intention to purchase Moonlit Nightfalls for 20,000 gold coins. Ye Xiaowu was stunned. He could tell that the woman was Svelte Dancer, but she was already an acquaintance of Gu Fei, so what was all this about?

Svelte Dancer’s appearance here was something Ye Xiaowu had not foreseen. If he did not witness this scene himself, he would surely bid for Moonlit Nightfalls at all cost himself. To him, being able to take that extremely over-level weapon off Gu Fei’s hands would mean that he was halfway done with rectifying Gu Fei. However, Svelte Dancer’s appearance here made him realize that this was a sort of act, so he did not make any move on his part.

“Are you not continuing to bid?” Now that the auction outside had ended, Broken Water Arrow saw that Ye Xiaowu was still standing there distracted, so he quickly sent a message to remind him.

Ye Xiaowu came around and returned his concentration back onto the auction console.

Meanwhile, Glue and Flame Singed Clothes, who had seen the whole transaction happen from within the crowd, also reported this momentous news over to Southern Lone Blade and the others urgently, especially the frightening stats that Moonlit Nightfalls possessed. These adversaries of Gu Fei were all trembling in fear when they saw it, knowing full well that Gu Fei’s insta-kill damage had the support of that weapon. This was essentially great news for them when they heard that he was actually selling that sword off.

Alas, all good things had to come to an end; by the time Svelte Dancer leaped onto the platform and bought Moonlit Nightfalls, Glue and Flame Singed Clothes were extremely disappointed, sighing in unison. “F*ck*ng hell. What a pair of shrew and scoundrel.”

“What happened?” Southern Lone Blade and the others were unable to make sense of what either man meant after hearing that.

“Svelte Dancer bought his weapon in the end,” the two reported bitterly.

“What’s going on? What are they planning to do?” Southern Lone Blade furrowed his brows.

“We have no idea…” Flame Singed Clothes and Glue were of course unable to guess that Gu Fei had done all that just to draw people’s attention to him in order to help the person they had in charge to bid for the magic staff to get to the auction console.

“Let’s not care about that first. The two of you, keep your eyes peeled.”

“Should we expose them?” Flame Singed Clothes suddenly had this sly idea come to him.

“What are we gonna do even if we expose them? What sort of deep grudge can we foster between them and everyone? Let’s not bother with pointless drivel like that; just make sure to keep watch!” Southern Lone Blade said.

Flame Singed Clothes heaved a deep sigh at being unable to deal a blow on to Gu Fei.

“Actually, all of you can come out here today. With so many players out here in the Auction House, there’s no way anyone will notice you mixed in this thronging crowd here.” The two continued to watch the NPC in charge of the delivery of goods at one side as they chatted leisurely.

“Ah!”

F*ck!”

“D*mn!”

The Auction House was suddenly in turmoil as a series of curses rang all around the premises. The auction for the Utopian Magic Staff had officially ended, and the players that had not been able to put in their bids in time all vented their sadness in a timely manner. It was like they had lost a bet they had placed, only they were more hoping to be able to spend the money, instead.

“How was it?” Broken Water Arrow and Vast Lushness were in two different parties, yet they sent that same message over to their respective bidding expert.

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