Virtual Realm: My Venom Can Slay Gods

In the end, the [Silver Wolf Bracelet] was sold for 20,000 dollars, leaving Ethan Carter baffled. "Twenty grand for that thing? Seriously? People have way too much money to burn." With a sigh of disbelief, he returned to grinding silver wolves for over an hour before finally giving in to exhaustion. As much as he wanted to keep pushing—since he didn't have a job and planned to make a living from the game—his body couldn't take more than ten hours of non-stop grinding.

Feeling drained, Ethan decided it was time to call it a day. Before logging off, he listed the freshly looted [Silver Wolf Armor] on the auction house. Since he already had the [Wild Boar King Armor], which provided +80 health and +2 defense, there was no need to keep the new armor. Still, the [Silver Wolf Armor] was decent with its health-focused attributes—it might even trigger higher health regeneration for someone.

He set the auction to anonymous, chose the bidding mode, and confirmed the listing before logging off.

Removing his VR helmet, Ethan rubbed his temples, feeling dizzy. "Man, I really need to save up for a gaming pod. With one of those, I could stay online for a whole week without a problem." He had heard that playing in a gaming pod put the body in a state of optimal rest, and the built-in nutrient fluids could sustain physical needs. The only downside? A gaming pod cost a whopping one million dollars—definitely a luxury for the rich.

Curious, Ethan checked his bank account balance on his phone. $188,700 His face lit up with excitement. "Wow, I made over ten grand on the first day of the server opening. This is insane!" Any lingering fatigue vanished instantly, replaced by exhilaration. "Damn, how am I supposed to sleep now?"

With nothing better to do, he opened the game's forum to browse for interesting threads. Sure enough, the pinned thread at the top was once again about him.

"The Terrifying Wild Boar King: How Was It Defeated?"

The post contained various analyses of the Wild Boar King's stats, concluding that it was currently impossible for anyone to have defeated it. However, the post didn't accuse Ethan of cheating, as most players had noticed the game's advanced system, which made hacks virtually impossible.

The thread ended with a fervent request for Ethan to share his strategy. The comments section was flooded with replies, each trying to persuade Ethan to spill the details with all sorts of seemingly noble reasons.

Ethan chuckled as he scrolled through the comments. "Nice try, folks. Not interested." He kept browsing the forum for another ten minutes before finally feeling drowsy. Setting his alarm for six hours, he collapsed onto his bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Six hours later, Ethan woke up to the sound of his alarm. Rubbing his eyes, he noticed it was still dark outside. Although he wanted to go back to sleep, he knew he couldn't afford to. The average level in Novice Village was probably around level 4 by now, with the more hardcore players reaching level 5. Even though leveling up required more experience as players progressed, their strength would steadily improve, making it easier to catch up. He couldn't let his hard-earned lead slip away.

Donning his VR helmet, Ethan quickly logged back into the game. As soon as he entered, a system notification popped up.

"Ding! The item you listed on the auction house has been purchased. Final sale price: $30,000. After deducting a 15% transaction fee, $25,500 has been transferred to your linked account."

"Hell yeah! Nothing like logging in and getting paid," Ethan grinned. "Since players should be around level 6 or 7 now, it's time to auction off that weapon."

Without wasting any time, he made his way back to Novice Village. "Ugh, running back and forth is such a pain. Why don't they sell return scrolls in this village?" he muttered as he passed through Boar Forest, which was now teeming with players.

It seemed the wild boar gear had become quite popular. After all, wild boars were difficult to deal with—their [Savage Charge] skill, which dealt 150% damage and stunned for one second, was a nightmare for players without enough agility to dodge. Comparatively, hunting spiders was much safer; spiders only used [Web Slinging] to immobilize players temporarily, which wasn't as dangerous if you had a group.

But none of this concerned Ethan. By now, many players had gathered partial sets of wild boar gear. His [Wild Boar King Armor] looked similar enough to regular wild boar gear that he didn't bother unequipping it to avoid drawing attention.

Back in Novice Village, Ethan retrieved the weapon from his storage vault and immediately listed it on the auction house. He set it for bidding mode with a ten-minute timer and confirmed the listing before heading back to Silver Wolf Valley.

The listing of the first Black Iron weapon caused an instant uproar in the region chat.

"Holy crap, a Black Iron weapon!"

"+30 attack and +10 strength? That's basically +50 attack total! This single weapon has more attack power than all my gear combined. Black Iron weapons are insane!"

"That weapon must have dropped from the Wild Boar King. Looks like the pro who killed it is definitely in our Novice Village."

"Why would a pro sell such an OP weapon? Does that mean they already have something better?"

"No way. How could there be anything stronger than a Black Iron weapon at this stage?"

"Who knows? Either way, I'm going all in. If I can get my hands on that weapon, I'll be unstoppable!"

"Everybody, stay sharp. I'm getting that weapon no matter what," Bobby Smith declared. Recently, he had been frustrated by other players sniping gear he wanted, and the appearance of this weapon was like a beacon of hope for him. With this weapon, he could leave everyone else in the dust.

"Why did he wait so long to sell this weapon? Could it be that he really found something better?" Liam wondered aloud.

"No way. Regular monsters in the village don't drop Black Iron gear. Unless he killed another Black Iron boss," Harold replied.

"There aren't that many bosses in Novice Village," Jeremy said thoughtfully. "He's probably selling it now because players didn't have the levels to use it before. Back then, it wouldn't have fetched much. But now, with everyone around level 6 and eager for better weapons to speed up their grinding, it's the perfect time to sell. As for whether he has a better weapon—who knows? Maybe the Wild Boar King dropped more than one weapon."

No one could have guessed that the so-called pro was still using a beginner wooden sword and hadn't dealt a single critical hit since the start of the game.

"Are we going to bid on it?" Jake asked.

"Of course we are. But the price is going to skyrocket. We're professional players, and while we've made decent money over the years, we can't compete with real rich folks. We'll do our best," Jeremy said, his tone serious. Clearly, he didn't have high hopes of winning the bid. The only reason they had managed to snipe a few items before was due to luck and timing, but this time, the competition would be fierce.

Meanwhile, Uncle Lee approached Sophia Mueller with a conflicted expression. "Miss, about that weapon…" He wanted to suggest that they should definitely bid on it but was worried that Sophia would dismiss the idea as impulsive.

"We're bidding," Sophia said decisively. She opened her friend list and once again tried to add Sealed, only to be met with the same rejection message: "This player has blocked friend requests from strangers." Frustrated, she clenched her teeth. "That jerk!"

Uncle Lee's eyes lit up at her response. "Understood, Miss. Leave it to me."

The price of the [Tusk Greatblade] soared rapidly. As the first Black Iron weapon with such impressive attributes, it was irresistible to players. Whoever obtained it would see a massive boost in their combat power, making grinding far more efficient.

Soon, the bid surpassed the previous highest auction sale of 60,000 dollars and continued climbing, hitting 80,000 dollars. At this point, the number of active bidders dropped significantly; not everyone was willing to throw around that kind of money.