Chapter 10: A Lifelong Promise

Lonely as a Song stood frozen in place. Honestly, the moment he laid eyes on the weapon, he thought it was completely useless — no Attack to speak of, no Durability to speak of, and the special effect was absolutely absurd. But then he thought about it more carefully: reducing Attack by 100% would turn anyone who equipped it into a sitting duck. If he could somehow get an opponent to put it on at a critical moment... but then again, the stat panel spelled it out plain as day. Anyone who could read would never willingly equip this thing.

And that price — 99 gold, 99 silver, 99 copper — with the description "no damage, only love..."

"Is this thing... a gift for me?" Lonely as a Song stared at [A Lifelong Promise]. Even at that outrageous price, selling it to another merchant would still net a tidy profit.

Liu Kongkong blinked. A gift? What kind of wishful thinking is that? I jacked the price up just to give it to you?

"Of course it's a gift — but not the weapon itself. I'm gifting you this discount voucher. With it, you can purchase the item for 99 silver and 99 copper. Everyone else pays full price."

"No thanks." Lonely as a Song refused without a second thought. From the price and the item description, it was pretty obvious this thing was meant for couples — but who was he, a single dog, supposed to give it to? On top of that, he was still in college; buying the Game Pod had already cost him a fortune, and he simply didn't have that much in-game currency to spare.

"Can the voucher be resold?"

Lonely as a Song had been about to leave when he heard someone speak behind him. He turned around to look.

Night's Gentle Chill? Wasn't that the person who got the first kill on the Stone Wolf King yesterday? He then noticed the pretty girl standing beside him, and just from their names alone it was obvious the two were a couple.

Can it be resold? Lonely as a Song turned and looked at Liu Kongkong with a questioning gaze.

"Of course it can." As long as this thing sells, who cares who buys it!

"In that case, friend, I'll offer ten silver coins — sell me the voucher." Night's Gentle Chill smiled at Lonely as a Song. He was genuinely interested in such a novelty weapon. Even if it was useless, it would make a nice gift for his girlfriend — though the design was a bit ugly...

Ten silver coins?! Lonely as a Song's eyes went wide. Because many players had stayed home yesterday waiting for the Hunt Heaven installation team to set up their Game Pods and hadn't logged in yet, and because most players were finding in-game currency extremely hard to come by, today's exchange rate had actually gone up instead of down — all the way to 1:1.6!

Sixteen hundred yuan for free? Lonely as a Song almost thought he was dreaming. He glanced back at Liu Kongkong with a grateful look and was just about to agree when—

"I'll offer fifteen silver coins. Sell it to me, brother."

Huh? Someone's bidding higher?! Lonely as a Song turned toward the voice and saw a man nearly two meters tall shouldering his way past Night's Gentle Chill, grinning at him.

Big Dumb Duck — that was the username of this giant of a man? Lonely as a Song had been in and out of the Starter Village all day yesterday and never seen this guy. Must be new.

Then again, with so many people in the Starter Village, someone willing to spend money popping up wasn't that surprising. It was just that he'd almost closed the deal, and now someone was jumping in — which left him feeling a little annoyed.

"You're interested in this weapon too, friend?" Night's Gentle Chill was fairly tall himself at 1.85 meters, but he still had to tilt his head up to look at Big Dumb Duck.

Big Dumb Duck let out a hearty laugh. "Of course I'm interested in such a fascinating weapon."

"These two must be out of their minds — spending over two thousand yuan on a discount voucher? And for a weapon like that..."

"Probably trying to impress some girl. No matter how rich they are, they're still just simps!"

"Shh, keep it down — that Night's Gentle Chill is apparently the one who killed the Stone Wolf King yesterday. Watch what you say or you'll make an enemy and he'll come after you."

Night's Gentle Chill heard the crowd whispering behind him but didn't let it bother him.

"Then I'll go to twenty silver coins." Night's Gentle Chill showed no sign of backing down.

Gaming was all about having fun, wasn't it? A voucher plus a weapon for under twenty thousand yuan — and for that price he could show off in front of hundreds of people. Totally worth it.

"Then I'll go thirty."

"Forty."

Standing off to the side, Lonely as a Song's face split into a grin so wide it nearly cracked! These two were going back and forth with no sign of stopping, and within just a few seconds the money he'd spent on his Game Pod had already come back to him. At this rate, he might even walk away with a serious profit!

Of course, he had Master Liu to thank for all of this! Lonely as a Song stole a glance at Liu Kongkong and found him sitting with his eyes closed, seemingly completely indifferent to the bidding war unfolding before him.

Well, naturally — he was an NPC, after all. Whether the price went high or low had nothing to do with him. Lonely as a Song had briefly worried that if the two bids climbed past one gold coin and he ended up earning more than Master Liu, the NPC might get upset. Now it seemed he'd been overthinking it.

What he didn't know was that Liu Kongkong, who appeared to be doing absolutely nothing, was quietly adjusting the price of the [Skull-Cracker Hammer] in the shop's inventory behind the scenes.

The moment Big Dumb Duck had appeared, Liu Kongkong noticed the sword in his hand — probably another Warrior. Too bad I can't run an auction, or I'd be raking it in today! As for Lonely as a Song — that kid is making a killing right now. I need to figure out a way to con some of it back later!

"Eighty." The two were still calling out bids.

"Adding five or ten silver at a time — what are you two playing at? It's just a voucher! If you've got the guts, buy it at full price!"

Someone in the crowd shouted that out, and the onlookers immediately erupted in jeers.

Whoever said that — you're speaking straight to my soul! Liu Kongkong felt a jolt run through him. Those words hit exactly where he lived!

Night's Gentle Chill and Big Dumb Duck both froze for a moment but didn't take the bait. Two or three thousand yuan was one thing — but full price was a hundred gold coins, which worked out to over a million yuan in real money! They had money, sure, but they weren't crazy!

"Forget it, forget it — let's just drop it." Seeing the two of them at a standstill, Ye Weinuan stepped in to smooth things over. "Besides, the thing doesn't even look good, and who knows if it'll ever be useful. Let's go."

A woman butting into a conversation between men! Lonely as a Song raged internally but didn't dare say it out loud. He could only look over at Big Dumb Duck.

"Fine, we'll do as you say." Night's Gentle Chill let out a cold snort and led his party away — but after just a few steps, he heard Big Dumb Duck's sarcastic voice from behind.

"Tsk, tsk. And here I thought you were something special. Don't tell me you're just a gigolo pretty boy."

"You—!" Night's Gentle Chill spun around furiously, only to see that Big Dumb Duck had already completed the trade with Lonely as a Song for eighty silver coins — clearly afraid that Night's Gentle Chill would come back and outbid him.

"Master Liu, the voucher..." The newly paid Lonely as a Song didn't bother with the staring contest between Night's Gentle Chill and Big Dumb Duck, and simply held out his hand toward Liu Kongkong for the voucher.

What voucher? I never had one.

He casually changed the price of [A Lifelong Promise] back to 99 silver and 99 copper, then waved Big Dumb Duck over to complete the transaction.

Just like that?! Both Big Dumb Duck and Night's Gentle Chill were dumbstruck. He just... changed the price right there on the spot and called it done?!

A crisp chime rang out as the in-game currency landed in his inventory. Liu Kongkong paid no mind to the two stunned players and put the newly repriced [Skull-Cracker Hammer] up for display.

The crowd of onlookers who had been about to leave turned back around, curious about the new item at the blacksmith shop.

"Holy shit, this weapon is something else!"

Several players who got a clear look at the stats let out low gasps of surprise. Hearing that, both Night's Gentle Chill and Big Dumb Duck stepped forward.

They both checked the stats at the same time, then looked at each other.

"I'll take them all!"

Both men shouted in unison.