The Tyrant of the Auction House

Leveling up increased every stat by one. Except under truly exceptional circumstances, stats always rose upon leveling up. And raising your level was something you could do at any time.

'Elixirs are different.'

Past a certain stat threshold, they stopped working.

Someone who started at level 1 with every stat boosted by elixirs, and someone who didn't. The gap between them would become enormous. That was why Kim Minwoo was heading to the auction house.

'The first stat cap is fifty. I absolutely have to get there with elixirs.'

Raise his stats as far as elixirs allowed, then use level-ups and other methods to increase them further. That was the optimal route.

Of course, it wasn't something just anyone could do. How easy could it be for someone who had only just awakened to gulp down elixirs like water when each one cost at least tens of millions of won?

That limited the awakeners who could use this method to two types: those who could practically print money like Kim Minwoo, or promising talents who could receive support from the government or a major guild.

[Awakener Auction House, Korean Branch]

An enormous building came into view amid the city.

There was one Awakener Auction House in each country. In the terminology of Gate Hunter's world, it could be described as a mysterious byproduct created by the “system.”

Being operated by the system gave it some overwhelming advantages. Most items other than equipment couldn't be resold. There was no risk of fraud, and purchases went straight into your inventory, eliminating delivery time.

Those were reasons enough to make its steep fees at least somewhat understandable.

He entered the auction house, and a hologram appeared before him.

[Select an item to purchase/sell. The transaction fee is 10%.]

[1. Skill Books.]

[2. Equipment.]

[3. Elixirs.]

[4. Monster Byproducts.]

[5. Miscellaneous.]

'Elixirs.'

[You have accessed the elixir marketplace.]

[Caution. Once an item has been listed for sale, it cannot be withdrawn unless it fails to sell.]

Thousands of listings appeared before him: elixirs in a variety of price ranges. Once he refined his search criteria, he could see exactly the elixirs he wanted at a glance.

[Lowest-Grade Magic Power Pill] x200

[Price: 100 million won each]

[Seller: Alchemist Choi Yuna]

[Listed: 3 hours ago.]

[Lowest-Grade Strength Pill] x200

[Price: 80 million won each]

[Lowest-Grade Agility Pill] x200

[Price: 70 million won each]

[Lowest-Grade Stamina Pill] x200

[Price: 70 million won each]

“Oh. There are more than I expected.”

Kim Minwoo whistled.

Elixirs weren't easy to obtain even if you had money. Producing them took time, labor, and materials.

Conversely, selling them wasn't easy either. Each one cost tens of millions to hundreds of millions of won. For that money, an F-rank awakener could buy a complete set of decent equipment. Naturally, ninety-nine out of a hundred chose the equipment.

'Something must have gone wrong somewhere.'

When someone manufactured a bulk order only for the buyer to go bankrupt, large quantities of elixirs would flood the market like this.

Choi Yuna was probably sweating bullets right now.

“It's your lucky day, Choi Yuna.”

CLICK.

[Warning!]

[Once purchased, elixirs cannot be traded or transferred to another person.]

[Would you like to purchase all 800 low-grade elixirs for 64 billion won?]

CLICK.

[Final warning!]

[The transaction fee is 6.4 billion won! Are you sure you wish to proceed?]

He had to kill an Outer God within seven years. Even money couldn't buy time.

Take another click.

[Purchase complete.]

[6.4 billion won will be withdrawn as a transaction fee.]

[The items will be stored in your inventory.]

[Would you like to share your buyer information with the seller?]

CLICK.

[Your buyer information will be sent to Alchemist Choi Yuna!]

She would now receive his name and identity.

'Choi Yuna is a pretty useful character.'

She was the Alchemists' Guild's head researcher, and her standing was fairly high, too. Her dad was the guild master.

She was competent as well. Give her money, and she made good elixirs fast.

When he needed higher-grade elixirs in bulk later on, knowing her would make things much easier. She, in turn, would learn who her financial backer was, so it was a useful exchange of information.

* * *

“Those bastards at Geumseong Group!”

Lately, Choi Yuna had felt as though her head might split open. Geumseong Group was to blame.

One of Korea's top hundred companies. As an alchemist who had to drum up business, she would normally have bent over backward to accommodate them.

But not now.

“What the hell am I supposed to do if you go bankrupt after ordering elixirs?!”

They'd spouted all that bullshit about a new business venture training awakeners to clear gates, then gone completely bust. Overnight, eight hundred lowest-grade elixirs had nowhere to go. Tens of billions of won were tied up in limbo.

And that wasn't all. Those lunatics had also ordered a mountain of low-grade elixirs, one tier above these. Including those, she could scarcely imagine how much money was tied up.

“That's why I said we should get paid up front. I told you they looked shaky. Their revenue was inflated, but their operating profit was just...”

“Goddammit! Will you shut up? Who knew a top-hundred company would go under?!”

She glared daggers at her junior colleague.

If she'd demanded payment up front, their order would have shrunk dramatically. People were already saying all sorts of crap about how her daddy's connections had landed her the job. What mattered to her was results.

So she'd gone all in—and screwed it up spectacularly.

“Haah... Have any of the auction house listings sold?”

“... No.”

Her eyes grew sorrowful.

“Oh, my hair...”

She couldn't afford to start going bald...

She stared helplessly at the strands falling out.

She'd tried finding buyers through her connections, but nothing had worked out. In the end, she'd listed the items on the auction house, practically weeping blood.

Not a single one had sold yet.

'I'll lose money even if they sell...'

The margin on lowest-grade elixirs was usually about ten percent. And the transaction fee? Ten percent.

Factor in labor costs, and she was in the red.

“What will you do if they don't sell?”

“... Ask Dad for help, I guess.”

What other choice would she have then? She'd have to use her cheat code, even if she got chewed out for it.

“Please. I wish some rising star would show up out of nowhere and buy up the elixirs.”

“Oh, come on. Even then, it'd only be one or two hundred. Nobody could use eight hundred. Unless another outfit like Geumseong shows up...”

Just then:

[All Lowest-Grade Magic Power Pills listed on the auction house have been sold.]

[All Lowest-Grade Stamina Pills listed on the auction house have been sold.]

[All Lowest-Grade Agility Pills listed on the auction house have been sold.]

[All Lowest-Grade Strength Pills listed on the auction house have been sold.]

[90% of the 64 billion won sale price will be deposited after deducting the transaction fee.]

“... Huh?”

[The buyer has shared their information.]

[Buyer Information]

[Name: Kim Minwoo]

[Identity: Eldest son of Ilseong Group]

“Huh...? Whoa!”

“What? What's wrong?”

“Th-they sold.”

“How many?”

“All of them. But was this Kim Minwoo guy an awakener?”

“Kim Minwoo? That Ilseong Group delinquent?”

“Yeah.”

“I haven't heard anything about that.”

* * *

[Lowest-Grade Magic Power Pill is being absorbed.]

[You feel no change.]

[Lowest-Grade Agility Pill is being absorbed.]

[Agility increases very slightly. Absorbing a little more may produce a change.]

[Lowest-Grade Strength Pill is being absorbed.]

[Strength increases by 1.]

He absorbed the elixirs one after another, as though playing a slot machine.

'Wow. What an insane hit rate.'

He wasn't even near the cap of fifty. His stats were only in the thirties, so why was he getting so many duds?

Kim Minwoo's god-given talent was simply beyond belief. Thank goodness he'd personally played him for six years. If he'd started out fresh in this shitty body, he might have died of sheer frustration.

'Next on the shopping list...'

He moved to the next purchase window while steadily absorbing elixirs.

[You have accessed the skill book marketplace.]

[Search level: 1–5, Class: Necromancer. Searching with these criteria.]

[Summon Skeleton (F)]

[Requirements: Necromancer, level 1 or higher]

[Price: 2 million won]

Summon Skeleton was the basic skill that formed the foundation of all summoning skills.

'Quite a few here.'

Skill books dropped randomly as gate-clear rewards or while hunting monsters. Perhaps because necromancer wasn't a particularly popular class, there were a fair number listed.

He bought every one he saw.

[Purchasing all 42 skill books...]

[Multiple identical skill books are present in your inventory.]

[Two identical skill books can be combined for enhancement.]

[Success rate: 95%.]

[Would you like to enhance?]

This system really could drive a person crazy. But how could he resist?

“Keep going until you can't anymore.”

[Automatic enhancement will now begin!]

A flash of light!

[Summon Skeleton (F) +1 has been created...]

[Oh dear. Two skill books have disappeared. How unfortu...]

Once two +1 skill books had accumulated:

[Combining two Summon Skeleton (F) +1 books.]

[Oh dear. Two enhanced skill books have disappeared. How unfor...]

[Summon Skeleton (F) +2 has been created...]

Two of those were combined again to make a +2.

'You can take this all the way to +9.'

Even if every attempt succeeded, reaching +9 required 512 copies of the same skill book. And the higher the enhancement level, the lower the success rate became.

It was a money pit.

Still, the results were good. At around +9, the skill's effects were nearly doubled.

So of course he had to do it.

[Enhancement results!]

[Summon Skeleton (F) +4]

[Insufficient skill books to continue enhancement.]

This was nowhere near enough. There were no more low-level necromancer skill books available.

But that didn't matter. The real money-blowing started now.

He had somewhere in the upper twenty billions left.

“Buy every F-grade skill book listed for five million won or less, level five or below.”

[Purchasing 6,124 matching listings.]

[Purchase complete!]

[21,234,000,000 won will be withdrawn...]

[An additional 10% will be withdrawn as a transaction fee...]

[You possess a large quantity of skill books.]

[Two different types of skill books can be combined to create a random skill book of the same grade.]

[Would you like to synthesize?]

“Set aside any Summon Skeleton books that turn up, and keep combining everything else.”

[Conditions set.]

[Automatic synthesis will now begin!]

A flash of light!

'Let's see.'

Six thousand books should net him roughly three hundred. The more he synthesized, the higher the odds of getting the skill book he wanted became.

'The game has a bit of probability adjustment, after all.'

Looking at that, the system wasn't entirely malicious.

Or was it? Was he just a sucker?

'No way.'

This was about the dream. Besides, it was a perfectly rational expenditure.

'One boost from a +9 enhanced skill.'

And he still had another shot left: Death Lord.

It was a passive that applied to every skill. What if he received a second boost from that?

Kim Minwoo was certain his skeletons would be invincible.

He turned on his phone and made a call.

* * *

“Yes, Father. It's me, Minwoo. I'm calling because I've almost used up the first round of funding.”

“Already?”

“You know I'm not very good physically. My stamina was poor, too. Maybe that's why the elixirs cost me a bit.”

“Still, a hundred billion should have gotten your stats to fifty easily enough...?”

“I'm nearly there, but the skill books are the problem.”

“Don't tell me you're going for +9?”

“I have to. Death Lord is an excellent skill. Shouldn't I let it shine? Besides, it's only a basic level-one skill. It won't cost that much.”

Provided his luck really came through, that is.

A brief silence followed. Then Chairman Kim's answer came.

“... All right! What else is family for? I'll give you another two hundred billion, so you'll have plenty. Buy yourself some equipment with it, too. But I need you to do your father a favor in return.”

“What favor?”

“Minwoo, I want you to model in Ilseong's advertisements. Sound good?”

“Model in advertisements?”

“Yes. EX-grade would attract too much attention, so we'll just say you awakened with an S-grade achievement and get you some publicity. What do you think?”

“Doesn't sound bad.”

“Right?! What was it you called it? That skeleton army you mentioned! We'll use it for some big promotions and cram in plenty of product placement. Deal?”

“Product placement with a skeleton army? Do we even have anything that fits?”

“Once you're famous, people will applaud even when you take a shit.”

“Well, fine by me. Then, about the money...”

“I'll transfer it right away. Oh, and you need a lot of skill books, don't you?”

“Yes. I'm buying out the auction house, but the supply's a little short.”

“I'll tell our people to buy up stock outside the auction house, too. We'll finish faster if we gather them together.”

“Thank you.”

“Ahem. Let's hang up. Your father's busy.”

“Yes, Father.”

The power of family ties really was tremendous. Or was it actually the power of the almighty Death Lord?

He pondered it while consuming elixirs.

'An advertising model, huh...'

It was something he'd never done in the game, but it sounded pretty fun.

'I'm going to become known anyway.'

Quite a few people at the Sword Sea Pavilion had witnessed his awakening. With such an extraordinary glow, they would have realized he'd earned a high-grade achievement. Given time, word would spread.

Someone who awakened with an S-grade achievement was practically a super rookie, so attention was inevitable.

Well, that was fine. S-grade achievement awakenings were still relatively common. It wasn't a world first like EX-grade, so assassins wouldn't come looking for him.

'If I'm going to attract attention anyway...'

Getting a head start as a rising-star necromancer wouldn't be bad.

Just then, a light flashed!

[All stats have reached 50, the growth limit for level 1.]

[You have acquired the title, 'Promising Talent.']

[You have acquired the title, 'Elixir Massacrer.']

'Finally...'

Before he could savor the emotion, more messages appeared in succession.

[You have fulfilled part of the conditions for the first Trial of the Death Lord! (1/2)]

[The Death Lord's call is blocked because you have not fulfilled the remaining condition!]

[You currently have no undead summoning skills!]

[Learn a skill!]