Ch.3434. Item Auction

I didn’t want to miss the item auction, so I told my dad about it.

“I’ll arrange a seat for you when we have the auction. Come and see.”

Since I wouldn’t be participating but just watching, and there were special seats for observers, I visited my dad’s company for the first time in my life on auction day.

“Wow. Is this the place?”

“…What kind of son has never visited his father’s company before?”

“Isn’t it weird to have a reason to visit your company?”

“I guess so…”

Today, my driver Kim Soo-jung followed me again.

Seems like she plans to keep wearing that disgusting mask until she gets her hands on the glass stone accessory.

Glass stones don’t work just by carrying them around; they need to be made into accessories like rings, earrings, necklaces, or bracelets to have any effect as items. And they can’t just be made by anyone—they need to be crafted by a hunter with blacksmith abilities to properly calibrate their effects.

So dad took the glass stone to find a way to craft it, and she’s getting impatient since it might take quite some time.

“I hope it comes soon.”

People usually make glass stones into rings, I’ve heard.

After all, they’re in a visible spot and convenient to wear.

Since it was no longer in my possession, I wasn’t particularly excited about it.

Rather, I was more looking forward to today’s auction.

“I wonder how much it’ll sell for.”

I muttered just loud enough for Kim Soo-jung to hear.

She initially ignored me, but when I muttered again, she quickly pulled out her phone and started searching.

“Hmm. B- grade items usually go for thousands, but your gloves have good options, so they might fetch over a hundred million? The +1 Agility is almost a heroic grade effect…”

Most terms used in the Farming World are also used in reality.

Whether the Farming World borrowed terms from reality or reality adopted similar systems from the Farming World for convenience is now unclear, even to hunters and users after more than ten years. It doesn’t really matter which came first anymore.

Anyway, hearing it could sell for hundreds of millions was a bit exciting.

I’d make the most money from selling the glass stone, but that felt like something I just picked up on the street, so I wasn’t particularly attached to it. These gloves, however, were my reward from clearing my first dungeon, so I had some attachment to them.

“The Fang Dagger… if there’s demand, maybe 20-30 million? That would be fortunate… it doesn’t have special options, but the attack power is top-notch, so it might go for more.”

Even though she’s a mage, Kim Soo-jung seemed to search for item prices quite often.

“See? I know my stuff. Don’t I make a good secretary?”

“Not really.”

“But seriously, where did you get these? Two B- items means at least a B or B+ dungeon boss, right? Are you really level 1? Can’t I just see your status window once?”

“No.”

My level had risen to 7, partly from harvesting recovery herbs and partly from hunting in the dungeon.

At this low level, it seemed to increase quickly.

I had accumulated 9 Farming points again, so I was thinking about learning another skill soon.

Though I didn’t feel the need for combat skills just yet.

“Let’s go. It’s auction time.”

Dad’s company was located slightly on the outskirts of Seoul, but it had good access to routes into the city and good transportation around it, so quite a few people were gathering.

There were several large warehouse-like buildings, and the main building housed offices along with a spacious auction hall.

Inside the auction hall were numerous private booths, and on the stage were a screen to display item information and the auctioneer.

It seemed they showed the items on screen rather than bringing them directly on stage to prevent security issues like theft, with secure collection methods in place.

About 50 small booths were there, not all occupied, but more than half were filled, which was impressive.

“Is Dad’s company pretty big?”

“In this industry, it’s probably in the top 10?”

“Wow… really?”

I was genuinely learning what my dad did for the first time.

I guess it’s natural since I never cared about anything other than the Farming World in my life.

Come to think of it, my parents must have earned a lot to support a 26-year-old son who just ate, slept, and did nothing productive.

My sister awakened with an average grade, neither good nor bad, and works as a hunter. Supporting both of us in modern society is considered almost like raising artists, as they say.

The auction started with the earlier items.

They range from at least D-grade to C-grade and even B-grade.

Even D-grade items don’t make it to auction unless they’re rare or appear valuable.

While having more auction items is better, if they include ordinary items that can be purchased in the market, users who come for the auction won’t return.

My items came up consecutively somewhere in the middle.

I noticed there was even an A-grade item later, so Dad seemed to have prepared quite a bit for today.

“50 million offered. 50 million.”

“55 million offered.”

“60 million!”

“65 million!”

Not just because it was my item, but [Mother’s Touch] was quite popular.

It couldn’t help but be popular.

Increasing stats is difficult at that grade, and it gets even harder as grades increase.

It’s practically impossible through effort alone, and requires a tremendous investment of points.

But if you could gain one stat point just by wearing an item?

That’s the prime example of buying effort with money.

Options that freely increase stats are extremely rare and treated as at least heroic-grade options.

In the case of Mother’s Touch, since it has a B+ limit, it’s considered a heroic-grade option. If there were no limit, it would be legendary. If it increased stats by 2 or more, it would be called a mythic-grade option.

Not that it matters much, since these aren’t official item classifications.

Anyway, with the heroic-grade option, Mother’s Touch’s price rose quickly, and once it exceeded 100 million, the auctioneer raised the increment to 10 million for faster progress.

“110 million.”

“120 million! Any 130 million?”

“130. 130.”

The pace didn’t slow down.

The price instantly surpassed 200 million, then 250 million, and only after reaching 300 million did the bidding competition slow down a bit.

“Is it always this expensive?”

“Must be at least two people who really need it.”

“Is Dad hiring people to drive up the price?”

“Are you crazy? That would get his business suspended immediately.”

“I guess so.”

This much?

Honestly, I knew it would be expensive from the moment I picked it up, but seeing the price of my item displayed in large numbers on the screen:

300,000,000 won

It felt different.

This was different from the 60 million I earned selling recovery herbs.

Selling herbs felt like labor, just selling what I always sold and getting money instead of farming points. This was a reward for my luck in the dungeon.

Just like in dungeons, rewards should always be intuitive.

Just as I felt a rush of dopamine seeing the dungeon quest reward of 0.5 [Leap Slash], seeing that a B- heroic-grade option glove from a dungeon was worth 300 million imprinted the value of such items in my mind, injecting dopamine.

“Any 340 million?”

In the end, Mother’s Touch was sold for 340 million.

After deducting fees and taxes, about 70% would come to me, which is still over 230 million.

Overnight, I went from having 0 won to nearly 300 million.

“Making money is easy.”

Is this the life of a hunter?

A life where you can earn over 300 million in a day if you’re lucky.

Of course, not all SSS+ hunters can earn like this easily.

This wasn’t because I was an SSS+ close combat hunter, but because I had my own farm—the Rift Dimension, my own infinite resource map that only I could access.

“Oppa.”

“No.”

“Seriously, have you ever thought about investing in me?”

“..”

“Don’t answer right away.”

“Why would I want to pour water into a bottomless pot?”

“No, I’m serious, I have talent! I’m only C- grade, but if I work hard on leveling up…”

It’s been proven over time that a hunter’s grade isn’t everything.

Leveling up allows skill growth, and with mastery, ability or skill grades can increase by 1-2 grades in some cases.

But those are extremely rare examples, and generally, the grade itself doesn’t increase.

You can enhance with points, so growth isn’t completely stagnant.

Now that I have SSS+ abilities and skills, I know how ridiculous that claim is.

“Grade is just like a silver spoon. Give it up.”

Harsh but true.

Looking only at an unreachable glass ceiling just makes you miserable.

“Ugh…”

At least Kim Soo-jung knows the reality.

“Then can’t I be your manager? I’ll handle everything. You know, management. I’ll take care of everything you need.”

She knows it too well, that’s the problem.

“As if you’d be happy being my errand girl.”

At least her chatter kept me from getting bored until the Fang Dagger auction.

“40 million, any 40 million?”

The Fang Dagger also sold at a higher-than-expected price of 40 million.

“Oppa, please hire me as your manager. Please?”

“Then as a manager, you’d tell me to sell the glass stone since you don’t need it anymore?”

“…That’s not fair…”

“Just pick one. Only one.”