Essence of Agility

An Essence of Agility had gone up on the auction floor. Nineteen essences had surfaced before one of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this kind finally appeared. Anything that permanently raised a stat was always in demand.

"Thirty million points!"

"Sixty million points!"

An essence, though, could not be used without limit. Some players reached their ceiling after a single dose. Others managed five, or six. The number was fixed by the player's potential, and anyone who had already drunk their fill stayed out of the bidding.

"Three hundred million points!"

Yujun's voice cut across the hall.

Silence answered him. Then the muttering started.

"Who spends three hundred million on an essence?"

"Play it right and that's enough to buy a Legendary item."

"Money to burn, I guess. Ha..."

Plenty of people in the room couldn't even hold a hundred million points. In the end, the Essence of Agility went to Yujun.

I need to gather as many essences as I can. He had obtained the power of the Primordial Player, and his potential ought to have risen sharply with it. The limit on how far an essence could push him would be incomparably higher than anyone else's. The moment it was his, he consumed it.

Even a single essence made coming here worth it.

Nothing else that interested him appeared after that. For the other players, though, the goods were more than good enough, and the auction house stayed packed with heat.

"Fine stock today!"

"Worth it just to watch."

"The way they're pissing money away is unreal. Our guild master's got to be in here somewhere, right...?"

"Anyone with any pull in the Four Great Guilds is probably here today."

They weren't wrong. The high seats of the Black Market were full, and even councilors of the Other-Race Alliance had come. The place's influence was, in a word, immense.

The auction was drawing to its close. Almost no one had left their seat.

"And now, the final item we've all been waiting for. I've been telling you since earlier to expect something special. I'm sure you've been wondering why."

The auctioneer smiled a meaningful ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠smile.

"Would the seller please come forward!"

Yujun and Yoric walked up once more. Confusion rippled through the floor.

"Isn't that the one who just sold something?"

"That's the Wandering Knight."

"Aren't you supposed to sell it all in one go?"

The auctioneer was happy to answer them.

"Wondering why the same seller has taken the stage twice? Because the item about to appear is very special indeed!"

Special enough that the Black Market had bent its own rule. Expectation in the hall climbed to a pitch.

"I will now share the item's information," Yoric said, his voice trembling.

Silence hung over the auction house.

"I'm not seeing things, am I?"

"Legendary I can live with, but what is that option?"

"Look at the attack power. Since when does a dagger hit like that?"

"The option's even more insane. Twenty-four percent Agility, and the damage just keeps climbing with no cap?"

"God, I want that. I've got the Berserk skill."

The reaction was explosive, as it had to be. There was nothing for Yoric to explain. A Legendary weapon with a level requirement of 400, overwhelming attack power, and an option to match — that was explanation enough.

The bidding began at once.

"Three hundred million!"

"Four hundred million!"

"Seven hundred million!"

The shouts chased one another up the hall.

"One billion!"

"One and a half billion!"

"One point seven billion!"

"Two billion!"

In a blink it had blown past the price of the Helm of Radiance. Yoric's mouth fell open.

"Where, if I may ask, was everyone hiding money like that?"

"How should I know."

The higher the price climbed, the more bidders fell away, until four remained.

"Three billion!" someone shouted.

"Now, now! A moment, everyone. We have three billion. That is the largest sum in the history of the Black Market. Might we confirm the points of those still intending to bid?"

"Just get on with it!"

"Yes, hurry!"

Two figures in black approached the four players and ran the check.

"Confirmed."

"Why bother? Who's going to play games with an item like that?"

"Even so, we prepare for the one chance in ten thousand. It can't be helped."

"Three point one billion!"

The price of the Dagger That Hungers for Blood began to climb again. A long while passed before the contest finally ended.

Most of the hall couldn't hide how absurd they found it. The winning bid was 12.2 billion. No figure like it had ever appeared. Nothing had even sold for more than two billion before. Eyes and hands grew busy at once, rushing the news out into the world: a Legendary weapon, sold for 12.2 billion points.

The woman who had claimed the Dagger That Hungers for Blood wore a deep, satisfied smile. She came over to Yujun.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it. You took it because you had the fortune for it. An item like that was always meant to be yours."

"My only real weakness was a mediocre weapon. With this, I don't think I'd lose to anyone."

Remarkable confidence. Then again, if she could produce 12.2 billion points on the spot, he couldn't even begin to guess how high she stood.

"Items like these... do you have any more?"

"That is a secret."

"...So you do."

"I'll be going."

Yujun left the auction house with Yoric. Dozens of players were already closing in, eager to bury him in questions, and he had no intention of entertaining them one by one.

"Yoric."

"Yes?"

"For your trouble."

He handed over thirty million points. Set against what Yoric had just earned, it was hardly a large sum — and yet thirty million points was a genuine fortune to a Mortal Player.

"Thank you!"

Yoric's face lit up. Clients like this were rare. The house already skimmed a ten percent commission, and most sellers begrudged parting with a single point beyond that. Yoric bowed from the waist, and meant it.

"You'll come again, won't you?"

"The money's piled up. I'll have to spend it again someday."

"Wandering Knight, if I may say so, the more points one gathers, the better."

"Why do you figure that?"

"Because the System opens events, some on a schedule and some not. A time may come when those points need to be spent well."

"I'd heard something along those lines. You said one opens regularly. How long is left?"

"One week. Most likely an event for high-level players, much like the Species Tournament not long ago."

"So the level restriction comes off?"

"That will not be the only difference. The Species Tournament had the System's courtesy of letting the dead return. An event for high-level players does not. Die in it, and the odds are you die in truth."

"You know your stuff."

"I am a player of some experience myself. The Black Market will be closed then, too. Everyone will be trying to enter the event."

"The rewards must be large."

"Heh heh... nothing the Species Tournament could compare to. And since the Wandering Knight has tipped me so generously this time, I mean to kit myself out properly before I go."

"I'll be rooting for you."

"And I for you, Wandering Knight."

A faint smile crossed Yujun's face. He was not high-level. He might not even be allowed to enter.

I'll need to push at least to level 300.

He parted from Yoric and was on his way out of the Black Market when someone came hurrying toward him — a tall woman in a rabbit mask. Do Jiyun.

"Wandering Knight! There was something I didn't get to ask earlier..."

"Yes."

"Where have you been all this time? I looked everywhere and never saw you."

"I don't much care for drawing attention."

"You have a strange way of showing it. You were impossible to miss today."

"I'm not the Wandering Knight."

"Fair enough... Then I'll see you in the recording."

"All right."

Yujun made straight for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the residential zone. His mind was in a considerable hurry.

I have to raise my level before the event opens...

Where to go? If all he needed were levels, there was no cause to think long. But he had something else in mind as well.

Skills.

He needed skills. For all his strength, he had far too few of them, and set beside the people who called themselves top rankers the gap would be obvious.

Should I head there?

There was a dungeon only he knew of — one that guaranteed a skill. Reaching it, though, required something first. He had to clear the climbing trials. The thirtieth floor. He had his goal.

Reaching the thirtieth floor was, of course, quick work. The only blemish was that he miscounted and blew straight through to the thirty-first. Ten hours, all told. A party would have cut that sharply; more than a few of the trials demanded cooperation, and going alone had cost him time.

Picked up three levels along the way, at least. Nine remained before the mark he had set.

But is that dungeon even still there?

Five years had passed. The other races would have spent longer still inside the Tower of Infinity. He was, if he was honest, a little uneasy. It hadn't been a hidden dungeon, only an ordinary one, and someone might already have cleared it.

Yujun dropped back to the thirtieth floor. He remembered the place. He broke into a run toward it, southwest, down off a hill and into a humid jungle, until a sucking, muck-thick swamp opened ahead of him. He bounded from one sodden tree to the next.

Not a popular spot, is it?

There was hardly a trace of anyone. Another ten minutes of pushing on, and he found the dungeon he wanted.

Still here. Good.

Perhaps the miserable swamp had kept people away. Either way, it suited him. He didn't linger. He stepped inside.

Ah. Right.

Yujun was back out of the dungeon in a heartbeat. Here, the theme and the difficulty both shifted with the sum of one's stats — the rewards, too. That was why he had fled it so quickly.

I still had unallocated points. Magic is plenty. I'll put them into the physical stats.

He opened his status window and distributed every one of the more than two hundred unspent points.

These were his stats before any percentage effects were applied.

This much ought to rate high.

Yujun stepped into the dungeon again.