Yichui Maimai slumped into his chair the moment everyone had left, his eyes vacant and his expression blank.
Someone was actually selling a Bronze Equipment blueprint at the Auction House? How was that even possible?
Yichui Maimai simply couldn't wrap his head around it. Doing something like that was as foolish as handing someone the key to a vault filled to the brim with gold.
Only a complete idiot would pull a stunt like this.
"No, no — they're definitely trying to scam me." Yichui Maimai shot upright and opened the official forums. He was going to make them regret this. He'd drag them through the mud and bury them — how dare they look down on him?
But the moment he saw the pinned discussion threads, his jaw dropped. Some fool really was selling a blueprint.
"Shocking! A Bronze Equipment blueprint appears at the Auction House — with proof!"
He clicked it open, and Yichui Maimai froze completely.
The blueprint was for the Gleaming Breastplate — the very piece of equipment the Black Flame Blacksmith had forged before. Everyone knew its stats; it was absolutely top-tier.
If any first-rate guild got their hands on this blueprint, it meant those guilds would have no use for him anymore.
Fame meant next to nothing to first-rate guilds. The only reason he'd been able to act so arrogantly was that he'd learned the Barbarian Chest Armor blueprint. Now that someone was selling an even better equipment blueprint, who would give him a second look?
The comments were flooded with first-rate guilds declaring they would stop at nothing to claim the blueprint — whoever tried to compete would have to fight them to the death.
And just like that, everyone's attention shifted to the question of who would end up owning the blueprint. Nobody cared about Yichui Maimai anymore. On the contrary, they were gloating, laughing at the fact that he was finished.
This made everyone admire the mysterious player who was selling the blueprint. The man drew blood without ever raising a blade — with nothing more than a single sheet of paper, he'd dragged Yichui Maimai, once the envy of thousands and riding high on fame, off his pedestal and into a bottomless abyss from which there would never be a comeback. The sheer brilliance of the move had people applauding.
Yichui Maimai now hated the blueprint seller with every fiber of his being. A life of luxury and beautiful women had been right at his fingertips, and just like that it had all been ruined — ruined by a braindead idiot.
"Don't fear a god-like enemy; fear a pig-like ally." And now there was one more thing to add to that: even more to fear was a brain-dead random passerby.
Yichui Maimai's eyes were bloodshot, his face an iron-green hue, and his expression looked ready to devour someone whole.
"No — I have to buy it. No matter what it costs, I have to buy it. As long as I get it, all my advantages come back. I'll have both the Barbarian Chest Armor and the Gleaming Breastplate, and those first-rate guilds will be crawling on their knees begging me." Yichui Maimai was like a gambler who'd lost everything, his last shred of hope pinned entirely on buying the Gleaming Breastplate blueprint.
With that thought, he slammed his palms on the table, leaped to his feet, and bolted toward the Auction House.
But Yichui Maimai wasn't the only one racing there. Executives from guilds across every town in the White River City region were doing the same, all determined to buy the blueprint. After all, everyone knew how powerful the Gleaming Breastplate was — owning the blueprint was like owning a mountain of gold.
This caused a frenzy in the Auction Houses across every town in the White River City region. People were packed shoulder to shoulder, all the way out to the front doors. Many players who wanted to rush inside couldn't even get close.
The bidding war for the Gleaming blueprint raged like wildfire. Every guild poured in all its strength, throwing out higher and higher bids. In just ten minutes, the price had already hit one gold coin.
That's right — one gold coin. That was practically the entire liquid capital of a major guild.