Reincarnation of the Gun Swap Goddess [Volume 1]

Crushing Covan's Auction (2)

Luden Grace wanted nothing more in this world other than money. To him, obtaining as much money as possible was equivalent to getting a high score on some arcade game. Ever since he was young, he had some sort of sixth sense that told him when to invest into certain ventures and when to back out. This sense catapulted him out of poverty and into new money.

When he was 4, he begged for change on the streets and found money wherever he could. When he was 5, he had saved up enough for anF electronic reader and publicly rented it for cash creating a source of passive income. When he was 16, he had bought and sold various stocks and tokens and had a net worth higher than most adults. When he was 22, he had already bought out several companies and prime real estate properties in their infancy and watched their values grow to an unprecedented degree.

However, at age 30, his net worth had taken a significant hit after the recent downturn in the market and some unlucky investments. Not only was he not top 100 in the world, he wasn't even top 100 in the Northeast anymore! Never having taken such a hit before, he decided to research riskier ventures to try to earn his spot back.

Being an investor, he had at least surface level knowledge on almost all private sectors, and virtual reality wasn't out of the question. When he heard the news about Synergy, a brand-new hyper-realistic VR game and experience, he suspected it was most likely a scam. However, the allure of the project was too great, and in some combination of desperation and wonder, he attempted to find more information on the company behind this product.

However, he was shocked to find no information about the developers. Even if the project was a scam, there would at least be some bits of false information. However, there was nothing! On top of that, the developers didn't plan on going public with their company, nor would they accept any private shareholders... is what he presumed, since the dev team seemed to output radio silence at all times. On top of that, there was no way to contact them.

As an investor, this was a clear red flag. But that didn't stop him from checking the official website once in a while since their claims were indeed alluring. Of course, usually this *would* end up being a scam, but once the beta released, Luden was surprised to find the product on sale and compatible for every full-dive VR hardware on the market.

And when he entered the world for the first time...

*Yeah. This is legit.*

... his sixth sense told him there were profits to be made here.

So, he decided to start a gaming organization solely for the purpose of earning money within the world of Synergy. Though there was no clear revenue stream from the game yet, Luden had a strong feeling that real money could be made in the not-too-far future.

Thus, Shock Collar was born. His public reasoning for the name was that they'd become powerful enough to control everyone around them, so much so that their enemies would seize up in fear of the name. But his true reasoning was that he wanted strict control over his own organization's members and financials.

He discovered a building called an auction house in the small town, or "hamlet", he spawned in and soon realized that the economy of this game - no, this world - was massive.

A couple of weeks later, he noticed trends in the market among certain items and was confident in his ability to make lots of money once the game released for real.

But now...

"Sold to the Beyonder Lujen!"

*What?*

What was a Beyonder? Nobody knew. After all, in the beta phases of the game, this term didn't exist. In a lapse of judgement, Luden assumed a Beyonder was a special type of NPC. However, the truth was far worse.

*Beyonders are players?*

To Luden, having somebody else take his money was akin to a criminal offense. This included the government. In his opinion, taxation was theft. As an expert of holding on to money, he obviously found loopholes in the tax code and exploited them to the maximum.

So to have another person blatantly take money from him in this moment... was frustrating!

But why did he bid on this dagger?

Well... Luden trusted the NPCs. He had visited other auction houses in the beta phase, and in his experience, the value of NPCs' bids were always fair. This meant that, sometimes, bidding even double the amount of what the NPCs were going for could result in a positive trade if the item being sold increased in value afterwards.

And judging by the behavior of the NPCs when they heard of the term "Beyonder", he speculated that he could sell the item for much more in a higher-leveled district.

But after knowing his money unintentionally went straight to a player, he had trouble thinking. It took a moment for him to calm down after that, but when he did, he realized something.

*Wait. If Beyonders are players, this is even better news for me. If NPCs are so fervent about players now, then how obsessed will they be once there are thousands, no, millions more players in the game? Won't the value of this item exponentially increase?*

After calming down, Luden assessed the future value of the "first Beyonder's" item. He believed this thousand Copper to be an investment for the future that would surely pay off.

The wooden dagger appeared in his inventory as the 1,000 Copper disappeared from his Coin Pouch. When he inspected the item...

*>Name: Small Wooden Dagger*

*>Type: Weapon (Melee)*

*>Class Restriction: Batonista or Fracasier-branch*

*>Description: An introduction to a slightly different fighting style to a traditional Batonista or Fracasier. The first item to have been sold by a Beyonder in an Auction House.*

*>Rating: Level 5, Common*

*>Abilities:*

*>Passive: +33 ATK while equipped.*

There was a bona-fide flavor text which effectively appraised the item as a genuine one!

Once he knew his investment would be worth it, Luden was able to focus on the rest of the auction that was to come.

A/N: Check ScribbleHub or join my Discord to read ahead. Links in synopsis.