UTC 14

Chapter 14

A full A-rank.

“W-what about the price?”

I entered the name into Lucid with a dazed feeling.

“1… 1 billion?!”

The Forgotten Relic was a material akin to salvation for players with priest traits.

It was a material that increased healing power when crafted into an accessory, but recently, another use had been revealed.

If offered to a neutral-zone church, it could grant a skill.

High-quality buff skills could raise a party’s level by a full rank.

This had already been proven through data.

The body value of beings with special buffs could rival that of nobles.

I finished the search and pinched my cheek.

Just a few days ago, I had been happy to earn 100 million.

Now, I had an item worth ten times that. It was hard to believe.

I immediately posted a sale listing on Lucid and also on TopJalal.

[For Sale: Forgotten Relic. Only for cool trades via Lucid.]

-Price is 1 billion. No bargaining.

ㄴ Is this for real?

ㄴ Don’t lie.

ㄴ I’ll buy it, just give me two days.

As soon as I posted it, comments poured in.

Some of them were actively expressing purchase intent.

Glancing over, the Lucid messages showed the maximum number of notifications.

+999

[Please sell it to me, accept my offer.]

[I’ll buy it for twice the posted price.]

[Hello? Answer me.]

“Why are there so many people wanting to buy it even though it’s 1 billion?!”

Surprised by the level of interest, I double-checked the previous transaction history to see if I had missed something.

I wanted to see if I had misunderstood anything.

The first thing I checked was the price.

I counted the digits from the last digit up.

“Looks like I didn’t miscount the numbers.”

Next, I checked the last transaction date of the Forgotten Relic.

“So that’s it….”

It had been a full two years ago.

Not all items necessarily go through Lucid.

But it was a plain fact that the most common, mainstream trading hub was Lucid.

If even Lucid had no transaction history, it meant the item was being traded only in extremely small amounts under the radar.

In other words, it was something you couldn’t easily get even if you had money.

Meanwhile, the messages kept piling up.

[Unread messages +999]

“What do I do?”

I couldn’t sell it at the immediately visible price now.

There was no way to know what price it might be trading at under the table.

I needed to reassess the price to avoid being taken advantage of.

Just looking at the people expressing purchase intent now, many were willing to pay more than twice the last transaction price….

“Maybe I should hold an auction?”

Of course, Lucid had its own auction system.

But that was only for high-value items starting at 10 billion or more.

For an item whose last transaction was around 1 billion, it was impossible.

So I decided to hold my own auction.

I revised the price.

“Starting bid is 2.5 billion.”

I changed it from 1 billion to 2.5 billion and reposted.

Then, I deleted all the messages in my inbox without reading them.

Since the price had changed, those messages were meaningless.

Just a few clicks and they were all gone.

[Unread messages +1]

[Unread messages +3]

[Unread messages +8]

…

But as soon as I turned back, messages started piling up again.

[Why aren’t you responding?]

[Did you already sell it?]

[I’ll pay you a lot.]

[Sell it to me, okay?]

[I see everything, you didn’t sell it by any chance, right? It couldn’t have sold this fast.]

[I was the first to send a message….]

“Ugh… who is this person…?”

Messages were still coming in real time.

Checking the history from that nickname, it hadn’t been like this from the start.

[I’ll buy the Forgotten Relic.]

[Hello? Why aren’t you responding?]

[Please, I’ll buy it. Even the 2.5 billion you just set… no, I’ll give you whatever you want.]

“Why are they so obsessed?”

Still, I was glad I hadn’t sold it recklessly.

As I checked the messages, many trade requests piled up.

Over twenty people were willing to buy it at 2.5 billion.

I took down the listing and raised it by 1.5 billion.

Ding ding-

After waiting about five minutes, ten trade requests came in again.

There were also many dissatisfied messages.

[Are you joking?]

[The item exists, right?]

[I said I’ll buy it!]

I took it down once more and reposted at 5 billion.

“Five people this time….”

Many had dropped out.

But this time, no one complained.

It seemed they realized the flow of this being an unofficial auction.

Next, 6 billion.

Then 7 billion.

By this point, only three people remained.

I sent messages to the three of them.

[Can you transfer 7 billion immediately?]

[I’m surprised. Did I win the bid?]

[No, there were just three people left. Can you transfer immediately?]

[Of course! Please sell it to me. I’m Korean too. It’s better if I sell it to a fellow Korean.]

Pride and patriotism aside, I wasn’t going to make a loss.

I also checked replies from others showing purchase intent.

[I can’t immediately, just a few hours’ grace…]

[I can transfer 8 billion immediately.]

One seemed short on funds, so I excluded them and sent messages to the other two who were calling higher bids.

[The other person bid 9 billion. What will you do?]

[I can go up to 9 billion. Anything beyond that needs approval.]

[No, let’s do 10 billion… I’ll buy it, but if it goes higher, I’ll need some time…]

In fact, neither of them seemed comfortable going above 10 billion.

Further competition seemed pointless, so I decided to sell to the initially obsessive Korean.

[Can you transfer 10 billion immediately?]

[Of course!]

Even though there might be other buyers, I considered raising it to 12 billion and watching for a few more days.

But in the long run, it was more rational to finish the deal quickly and use the money to grow stronger.

Stronger players would get even higher-grade items.

Going to the Lucid Seoul branch to hand over the item offline, I returned to see an enormous sum deposited.

[9,905,100,000 Gold]

Because it was a large transaction, it was received as Gold.

Gold is like the in-game currency provided by the tower system.

Calculating 100,000 KRW per 1 Gold, it matched perfectly.

Lucid’s 1% fee felt unusually large for such a huge sum.

Anyway, I received the Gold via system mail and blocked further mail.

Still, thanks to Baek Jin-sung recently, interest in Neia seemed dispersed.

“What should I buy with this?”

I immediately fell into happy contemplation.

Buying just Mana Stones to invest in the city felt like a waste….

I returned home lightly to consult with Neia and entered the subspace immediately.

“What is that?!”

I saw a shocking sight with my own eyes.

In the subspace, I witnessed the flames of war rising at the outskirts of the city.

Reddish-black smoke rose, and explosions could be heard.

Flash!

Boom!

Fortunately, the explosions ceased soon after, but I felt uneasy.

I hurried to the core center.

Although it was a familiar route, unease filled me.

“Neia!”

『Welcome, Seonwoo.』

Neia appeared as a hologram.

Her tone was calm as usual.

It almost made me question if what I saw earlier had been a hallucination.

“There were explosions at the outskirts of the city just now…?”

『Yes. Approximately 1 hour 17 minutes ago, a monster horde attacked the northwest part of the city. Confirming your absence, I engaged according to the manual.』

“You managed to respond, right?”

『The engagement is currently over. However, the damage is severe.』

Neia showed the scene via hologram.

Buildings had collapsed and burned; it was a mess.

Seeing piles of monster corpses like mountains, Neia reported:

『Two nearby production factories were completely destroyed.』

『Twelve residential buildings partially collapsed; 15% were completely burned.』

『Fire suppression is now complete; awaiting restoration orders.』

『Drone damage report: Two combat drones destroyed, one hunter drone slightly damaged and under repair.』

Only after this did Neia stop speaking.

I almost commented on her previous hinting about destroyed drones but held back.

It couldn’t be questioned when looking at the scene.

‘Did we stop that many enemies with just this level of loss?’

Our side defending the city had three hunter drones, three combat drones, and one Aegis.

To minimize city damage, we couldn’t just retreat; it was a constrained situation.

Complaining about drone damage was unreasonable.

“How’s the city’s energy?”

『During the engagement, significant power loss occurred. Only 20 days’ worth of energy remains. My apologies.』

If I had received this report a few hours ago, it would’ve been grim.

Luckily, I made a lot of money.

“Okay, the city’s safe….”

I asked about the root cause of the disaster.

“Are there monsters here?”

The subspace’s size was still unknown.

I hadn’t examined outside the city due to lack of resources.

I asked to see if monsters lived outside and had somehow entered the city.

『No, there are normally no wandering monsters.』

“Then who are these monsters?”

『Sometimes gates occur.』

“Gates….”

I paused.

I sensed it wasn’t usually a problem.

I knew how dangerous gates could be—disasters when failing the tower’s trial.

I had stopped it this time, but no guarantee it wouldn’t happen again.

Despite the inconvenience, relief came from being able to act now.

『Seonwoo, I have something to tell you.』

“What is it?”

『May I restore the city?』

I hesitated, having just seen the damage report.

“How much will it take?”

『Restoring the city requires the following resources.』

Neia listed the materials:

• Dark Sand
• Mana Metal
• Natural Stone
• Purification Crystal

『The current resources in the city are insufficient; supplies are required.』

『Energy supply is also necessary to operate restoration robots.』

…Can 10 billion cover this?

The damage wasn’t severe, but restoration wouldn’t be cheap….

“Wait a second.”

An idea struck me.

“Neia, can we process the byproducts of the monsters we killed?”

『Yes.』

This opened a path.

Monster byproducts are usually not obtained directly during tower climbs.

No time to butcher dead monsters, and corpses disappear after a set time.

Normally, only material boxes from tower rewards provide these byproducts.

“Collect everything, then.”

『Order confirmed. Thirty collection robots dispatched to the site per your instructions.』

I reviewed the materials Neia mentioned.

“Oh, and I want to produce more drones this time.”

『Please specify the drones you wish to produce.』

“I want to produce enough to make city defense easier, including Seize Runners.”

『With current resources, Seize Runners cannot be produced.』

“That was possible before, wasn’t it?”

Of course, it was some time ago.

Resources had been consumed since, including repairs and additional production.

“Tell me the resources required.”

『To produce one Seize Runner, four Aegis, ten combat drones, five hunter drones, and three projectile drones, the required resources are:』

• 100 kg of Clear Stone
• 20 Condensed Mana Cores
• 5 kg of Light Mithril
• 20 kg of Purification Crystals
• 50 kg of Reinforced Black Iron

“…That’s it?”

『Yes, these are all the resources required for your orders.』

“Got it. I’ll go handle it.”

I thought it might get easier, but… nothing comes easy.