<< You have failed to identify the item! >>

  The System Message did not appear once. It flickered across Uncle Hans’s vision twenty times in a row. Despite his status as a Level 80 Platinum-ranked Blacksmith and a Master Appraiser, the small gemstone sitting in Jin’s inventory remained an enigma.

  “Even a Master Appraiser can’t crack this little thing?” Vivian exclaimed, her disbelief cutting through the smoke of her pipe. “This is a first for me. Uncle Hans, have you ever seen anything like it?”

  The man in question didn’t answer. He was staring at the crystal in Jin’s inventory with hungry, avid eyes.

  There were two paths to uncovering the truth of an unidentified item. A Player could use an Identification Scroll – a prohibitively expensive consumable that guaranteed a discreet result. Or, they could go to professional appraisers like those found in Athena’s Auction House. Usually, the latter was preferred for its lower cost, though it required the Player to open their inventory and share their screen with a stranger.

  To maintain security, the auction house usually conducted these sessions like a confession; the Player and the Appraiser would sit in a divided booth, separated by a black curtain, sharing only the status screen.

  Without appraisal, an item was a ghost. Its name, function, flavour text, and level requirements were all hidden behind a wall of placeholders. Worse, unappraised items were dead weight – their skills locked, and their attributes remained dormant.

  But as the group watched, the gold-chest reward refused to yield. Uncle Hans hadn't just tried once or twice; he had attempted to force an appraisal twenty times. Every single attempt had bounced back with a ‘Failed’ notification.

  “Now what?” Old Man Sid asked, his voice breaking the heavy silence. “If the Master Appraiser of Olympus’ Step can’t crack it, who else is there?”

  Uncle Hans finally sat back, his forehead beaded with sweat. “I know someone. But it has been years since he laid hands on an item.”

  “Uncle Hans, surely you don't mean him?” Vivian asked, her posture stiffening.

  “I do. If he can’t do it, no one else in the world can,” Hans replied with solemn expression. “But we must try.”

  “No way! You know how he is! He’s fickle, he’s arrogant, and he tends to–”

  “Destroy the very items he appraises,” Uncle Hans finished for her.

  The room went cold.

  “The hell?” Ironshield rumbled. “Can he actually destroy items inside a Player’s own inventory?”

  “Unfortunately, he can,” Uncle Hans replied. “Fortunately, he is also the only one in the world with the power to do so. For that reason, we never let him near items he deems below his expectations. He considers those as a personal insult to his eyes.”

  Old Man Sid and Ironshield turned to Jin at the same time.

  “Are you sure about this, Frank?” Ironshield asked. “You don't have to risk it. You could keep it as a trophy. A paperweight from a Level 50 evolved boss.”

  “And let it take up my inventory space?” Jin replied with a dry smile. “If it’s going to be useless either way, let it be useless after we’ve tried everything. How do we find this man?”

  Vivian glanced at the clock. “Since the main auction is already underway, we’ll have to wait. He won’t leave the main hall until it’s over. Besides, I’m sure he’s dying to see how our star auction item fares tonight.”

  Uncle Hans’s face brightened, already forgetting his earlier failures. “Oh yes. How could I forget? That item alone had him giddy like a schoolboy.”

  “Something interesting up for bid?” Ironshield asked.

  Both Vivian and Hans replied with a synchronized, cryptic smile.

  “Do you want to come with us?” Uncle Hans said.

  “Well, that’s one of the reasons why we’re here,” Ironshield replied, giving a knowing look to Jin and Old Man Sid. “So, shall we get going?”

  Not wanting to waste any time, Vivian and Uncle Hans led the group towards the heart of the building, where a reserved VIP suite awaited for them at the fifth level of the Auditorium. From the looming vantage point of the fifth-floor suite, they looked down upon the ground floor, where the true power of Neo-Tokyo and the whole Alliance was currently gathered.

  ***

  “Going once. Going twice. And sold!” The auctioneer slammed his gavel onto the sounding block. “Item AAH2356 goes to bidder Mouse123 for five million dollars!”

  “Five million dollars!” Take shouted, his jaw dropping. “How many zeros is that, Saki?”

  “How should I know? We don't even earn a hundred bucks a day. Any more than that and my head will explode,” Saki muttered. She turned her hopeful eyes towards Jin. “Can you please teach us, Big Bro? Pretty please?”

  Jin shook his head in disbelief as the two pestered him. To end the headache, he put it in terms they could actually grasp. “A million dollars could buy everyone in the gang a new base bike, with enough left over for custom modifications and a lifetime of repairs.”

  Saki, Take, and Kenji went silent. Jin could guess why. Perhaps in their minds, they no longer occupied the auction hall. Instead, they rode wild in the middle of a highway. The roar of twenty-plus custom engines became music to their ears, and the gleam of sun-blinded chrome drowned the auction hall’s light. Their hands twitched for imaginary throttles.

  Jin smiled. Those three had drifted into a world of their own, alright.

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  The night wore on. As they refreshed themselves with the gourmet snacks and drinks served in the VIP suite, a new announcement cut through the chatter. Jin, Old Man Sid, and Ironshield leaned forward onto the balcony with anticipation.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests from near and far!” the auctioneer bellowed. Despite being on stage for two hours, his vigour remained unshakable. “Tonight is a historic night for Athena’s Auction House. We are blessed with a treasure of the rarest sort. One that has survived the chaos of our history to reward us today.”

  A group of armoured guards, all of them high-level Players, marched onto the stage in a crisp formation. In their centre was a young woman in a cheongsam, much like Vivian’s, carrying a silver tray draped in gold-coloured silk. She placed the tray onto the display stand as the guards circled it, their hands on their weapons. The hall fell into a sudden, expectant silence.

  “Our final item of the evening,” the auctioneer said, grinning from ear to ear. “As the saying goes, we have saved the best for last. You will notice this item was not on your original auction list. We did not omit it out of slovenliness, but out of caution. We feared that if this item were listed too soon, our walls might have come crumbling down under the weight of the demand.”

  The stage lights cut out, plunging the hall into darkness. A single, high-intensity spotlight stabbed down from the rafters, illuminating the gold cloth. It was theatrical – almost like a circus show – and Jin couldn't help but enjoy it. The entire event was as much entertainment as it was business.

  “May I present item AAH2388!”

  The woman stepped forward and pulled away the silk. Jin, Ironshield, and Old Man Sid braced for a wave of gasps, but instead, a murmur of confusion rippled through the crowd.

  The auctioneer didn't flinch. “Surprised? I don’t blame you. At a glance, it looks like a simple Stat Seed. No big deal, right?” He paused and turned, sweeping an arm towards the back of the stage. “But let us hear what Master Hephaestus has to say.”

  From the wings emerged a mountain of a man with a thick, white, gorgeous beard. He stood taller and more rotund than Uncle Hans, wearing a heavy leather smithing apron that looked well-used. Two hammers swung at his belt as he clamped a tobacco pipe between his teeth, exhaling a couple of smokes at his own pace. He sauntered across the platform with the weight of a man who answered to no one.

  The crowd held its breath as Master Hephaestus placed a calloused hand over the seed. “Rainbow Stat Seed,” his voice echoed. “Once consumed, it raises every one of a Player’s attributes by 100 points.”

  The crowd’s audible gasps filled the main hall.

  He paused, his eyes scanning the crowd as he gripped one of the heavy smithing hammers from his belt. He held it high, the heavy head of the tool catching the spotlight.

  “That is seven hundred status points. Seventy levels' worth of power in a single swallow! If you’re Level 1, you’ll walk out of here with the strength of a veteran. If you’re Level 150 like me…” He cracked a smirk. “You aren't bidding on a seed; you’re bidding on the power to rewrite your own destiny! We start at 100 million dollars!”

  BAM!

  He slammed his hammer onto the sounding block. The ring of steel on hardwood was the signal for war. The eventual hysteria and chaos almost sent Athena’s Auction House crumbling down.

  “150 million!”

  “200 million!”

  “220 million!”

  “270 million!”

  The bids climbed with terrifying speed. Within minutes, the price reached 550 million dollars. By then, only three bidders remained, their increments slowing to single millions as they fought for every inch of lead.

  “Wonder what’s going on?” Take said, munching on a piece of wagyu beef inside the VIP lounge. “Why’s everyone going crazy?”

  “Beats me,” Saki answered. “All I hear is a hundred here, two hundred there. To be honest, I thought this place was supposed to be expensive. Maybe I should join in and buy it for Big Bro. A little souvenir for our new leader.”

  “How much have you got, Saki?” Take asked.

  “My total savings? A little above six hundred, I think.”

  “Well, judging by the numbers they're shouting, you can win this!” Take encouraged her. “If you’re short on cash, the rest of us can chip in. Big Bro did give us these new uniforms, after all.”

  To prove she was not all talk, Saki marched to the edge of the balcony. Below, the auctioneer was screaming, “Five-fifty! Do I hear five-sixty? Five-fifty is the bid–looking for sixty anywhere? Five-six-zero?”

  Saki cupped her hands around her mouth and hollered with everything she had, “Six hundred thirty-five!”

  The auditorium went silent. Every head on the ground floor snapped upward towards the fifth-level VIP suite.

  The auctioneer’s jaw dropped. He looked at his screen, then back at the balcony. “A... a new bid from the VIP level! Six hundred thirty-five million!”

  Saki beamed, looking back at the group for approval. “I even threw in the extra thirty-five I had in my boot,” she said, thumping her chest in delight.

  Old Man Sid’s jaw dropped so low Vivian had to hold it up for him. Ironshield had forgotten to breathe, his eyes bulging as if they were about to pop from their sockets. Uncle Hans, however, laughed his heart out, doubling over at the sheer absurdity. While at a corner, Take and Kenji shot out gleeful smiles with double thumbs-up.

  “Saki,” Jin said, his voice trembling with dread as he watched the auctioneer raise his gavel. “W-What d-did you just do?”

  “Hehe. A gift for you, Big Bro! Did we win?”

  ***

  “Sold!”

  The gavel slammed down, the crack echoing like a gunshot through the auditorium.

  “For a world-record fee of 636 million dollars to Mouse123!”

  Cheers and jeers erupted. Whoever the buyer was, they were paying through the nose, but for an item this unprecedented, the price of godhood was never cheap.

  Jin fell to his knees, kissing the carpeted balcony and thanking whoever this Mouse123 was. Old Man Sid was being dragged away by Vivian while Ironshield had to slap his own face a couple of times to see whether he was still dreaming.

  Once he realized the auction was over, he and Jin traded a look of pure, adrenaline-fueled glee. “We’ll be fucking rich, Frank. Let’s sell ours and retire,” Ironshield whispered, his voice thick with excitement.

  “Not so sure about retirement, but it’ll definitely solve a lot of problems,” Jin replied, his mind already spinning. “We might even finish the school project much sooner.”

  “Still going on about that? Forget it and let’s retire to the Caribbean! Buy an island or two! Get married. Have kids!”

  Ironshield imagined what he could do with the money as Jin looked on with a wry smile. Meanwhile, Uncle Hans excused himself to attend to official business. Still stuck in his daydream, Jin left Ironshield alone. He shot a glance at Saki, who was cursing herself for losing the bid while Take and Kenji tried to console her.

  Luckily, we didn’t win, Jin thought. I’d be stitching bodies for the rest of my life before I could even get to meet Eleana.

  For the trio’s involvement in the near-disaster, Jin gave each of them a sharp slap to the back of the head and said nothing else.

  Before long, Vivian and Old Man Sid returned. But they weren’t alone as another cheongsam-clad lady followed them inside.

  “Done with dating, you two?” Jin greeted them.

  “What dating?” Old Man Sid snapped, crossing his arms in annoyance. “I’d rather date a lioness than-ouch, ouch! Oi, shiela! My ear!”

  “Master Hephaestus has agreed to see you in his private room, Frank. And this is Ah Mei, my colleague and Master Haephastus’ aide. She will lead you to him,” Vivian said, ignoring Old Man Sid’s yelps as she dragged him by the ear. “As for you, my dear ex-husband, we need to talk. Alone.”

  Jin followed Ah Mei out of the suite, joined by Ironshield, Saki, and the rest of the gang. According to Vivian earlier, Athena’s Auction House had three shareholders, and the man they were about to meet was the largest. In other words, this whole damn place belonged to him.

  “Master used to handle the Forge personally,” Ah Mei said as she led them through a quiet, ornate hallway. “But as he’s gotten on in years, his apprentices are now taking charge.”

  “So, what does he do now?” Jin asked. “Wine and dine while taking in the occasional visitor?”

  “No wonder he’s so fat, Big Bro,” Saki whispered. “All that eating and no exercise. I bet he couldn't even fit on our bikes even if we gave him all the space.”

  Ah Mei, who overheard their conversations, let out a small giggle before covering her mouth.

  “The old man probably deserves the rest,” Ironshield added. “He’s like our Chief. The first generation of Players. Ah Mei, am I right to say he is more of a consultant now?”

  The lady nodded. “In a sense. But it is still rare for him to step in, as there is usually nothing Uncle Hans cannot appraise under the sky.”

  “I guess let’s see what's so rare it stumped the great Master Appraiser,” Jin said as they continued with their journey.