At the lavish auction, the appearance of the Book of the Undying left every person in the room with gleaming eyes.
Though they couldn't read item data here the way they could in the Divine Realm, the factions represented by the people present were at minimum comparable to first-rate guilds. Their discernment and knowledge far surpassed what ordinary independent players in the Divine Realm could ever hope to match.
"Impressive, as expected of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion — putting up something like this as the very first lot!"
The major factions buzzed with discussion over the Book of the Undying, and Yuan Tiexin watched their eagerness with satisfaction. This was precisely the kind of impact he had been aiming for.
"As you can all see, the Book of the Undying is quite special. For the benefit of potential buyers, I won't go into the detailed stats — I'll just cover the general properties. This ancient tome is a Dark-Gold item. Though it's only Dark-Gold, it possesses an extraordinarily rare ability: the resurrection of the dead. When used on players, it dramatically reduces death penalties. It can also be used on NPCs. I trust you understand the true value of this item." Yuan Tiexin's introduction was delivered in an unhurried tone.
The moment he finished, the crowd's gaze grew even more feverish — especially among the great superpowers, whose blood pressure spiked.
Resurrecting players was nothing to get too excited about. After all, there were already items and skills in the Divine Realm that could reduce a player's death penalty.
But the resurrection of NPCs? That was an entirely different matter.
Factions that commanded powerful NPC personal guards already had other means of reviving fallen guards, but those methods were far from easy to accomplish and came at an enormous cost. In practice, they would never dare let those NPC guards take risks.
The Book of the Undying, however, was a Dark-Gold item — not a single-use consumable but one that could be used an unlimited number of times. In other words, possessing this item meant those NPC personal guards could be resurrected over and over without having to worry about death. That effect was arguably more powerful than even an Epic-grade item.
"I won't waste any more words. Starting bid: one thousand gold! Minimum increment: fifty gold. Furthermore, this item cannot be bid on using Credit Points!" Yuan Tiexin called out.
The instant he finished, a series of staggering bids erupted across the hall.
"1,500 gold!"
"2,000 gold!"
"2,500 gold!"
…
The price rocketed to 5,000 gold almost before anyone could blink, far surpassing every faction's expectations. That many gold coins was enough to make more than a few first-rate guilds wince.
Guilds might earn substantial wealth each day, but running a large guild also demanded enormous amounts of gold and resources. Every faction had been stockpiling funds for this auction, and a first-rate guild currently holding thirty or forty thousand gold was considered well-off — hardly something they could throw everything they had at a single item.
Besides, every faction had come with its own objectives, hoping to secure whatever their guild needed most.
"8,000 gold!"
From a private box on the second floor, Jiulong Huang raised the bid by a full three thousand gold in one stroke. The major factions in the first-floor hall all fell silent.
It wasn't that they couldn't afford this sum, but if they committed that much gold now, they might find themselves short when bidding on what they actually needed later. That would be a serious problem.
"10,000 gold!"
Barely two seconds after the 8,000-gold bid, a voice from Box Number Eight — Shi Feng's — called out an even higher price.
"Who just bid that? Absolutely savage! That's enough to buy an Epic-grade piece of equipment!"
"That was Zero Wing!"
"Have they lost their mind? This is only the first lot!"
The factions on the first floor all turned toward the second-floor box where Shi Feng was seated, mildly stunned by his boldness.
What they didn't know, however, was that Shi Feng understood the Book of the Undying far better than even its current holder. He knew exactly what it was worth.
In truth, its real value hovered around ten thousand gold — comparable to an Epic-grade weapon, which was practically a sky-high price for a Dark-Gold item.
The reason it topped out at only that much was precisely because it was a Dark-Gold item.
Reviving NPCs, yes — but the definition of "revival" was deliberately vague, and this was the key detail the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion had concealed: what level of NPC could actually be brought back.
Being only a Dark-Gold item, its skill, though heaven-defying in concept, was limited in scope. The maximum level it could resurrect was Tier 2. It could not revive Tier 3 NPCs. The same applied to players as well. Otherwise, it wouldn't merely be a Dark-Gold item.
This was exactly why the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion was willing to part with it. No one in their right mind would auction it off otherwise.
The major factions present had likely figured this out as well, which was why the superpowers weren't bidding too aggressively. If the Book of the Undying had been an Epic-grade item, they would have been fighting tooth and nail over it, and the price could easily have climbed three to five times higher.
Still, even at this price, it was an unexpected boon for Shi Feng.