Kage stepped through the grand archway, the relative quiet of the street falling away behind him. The sensory overload was immediate. The stench of digital sweat, the cacophony of deal-making, the blinding flashes of weapons being shown off by their sellers. To most players, it was an overwhelming spectacle.
Kage's eyes flickered, his Operator’s mind automatically filtering the noise. The shouting players were background chatter. The ostentatious displays of gear were pop-up ads to be ignored. He walked with a calm pace, his gaze fixed on one of the many glowing user interface consoles that dotted the floor.
He found an unoccupied console, its holographic interface glowing softly. He registered himself for a small fee to be able to view the Auction House in the future remotely.
Then, his fingers moved with an economy born of thousands of hours spent navigating similar systems.
Filter by Stat: Artistry
He paused for a fraction of a second, then set the sorting parameter.
Sort by: Price (Lowest to Highest)
He pressed ‘Enter’. The system churned for a moment. He expected a short list. He was unprepared for just how short it was.
The results that populated the screen were, in a word, pathetic.
In a world obsessed with Strength, Agility, and Intellect, Artistry was the stat equivalent of a pocketful of lint. It was a roleplayer's vanity, a number with no immediate, quantifiable impact on DPS or survivability for ninety-nine percent of the player base. The gear that boosted it was treated as vendor trash, items you equipped by mistake before finding something with a real stat on it.
For Kage, this digital bargain bin was an arsenal.
His eyes scanned the first item.
[Acolyte's Circlet]
Quality: Uncommon
Type: Head (Cloth)
Armor: +2
Artistry (ART): +3
Requires Level: 3
Description: A simple band of bleached linen, woven by a temple artisan as a meditation aid. It is said to help the wearer focus on the beauty in small things.
Beauty in small things. Kage’s mind dryly translated the flavor text: useless. The +2 Armor was negligible. But the +3 Artistry was vital. The buyout price was a mere 5 Silver. Most players would have sold it to an NPC for 50 Copper. The seller was either a savvy merchant hoping to catch a niche buyer or just an optimist.
Either way, Kage both needed it now and could use it later, as his headpiece slot was empty. He clicked ‘Buyout’ without hesitation.
[Purchase Complete! 5 Silver has been deducted from your inventory.]
One down. The next item was a pair of gloves.
[Scribe's Leather Gloves]
Quality: Uncommon
Type: Hands (Leather)
Armor: +4
Artistry (ART): +4
Stamina (STA): +1
Requires Level: 5
Description: Soft leather gloves, well-worn and permanently stained with ink around the fingertips. They smell of old parchment and focused dedication.
The +4 Artistry was the prize. The +1 Stamina was a trivial bonus; he would be equipping it only for the forging anyway. His current gloves were better.
The item had a bid of 8 Silver with a buyout of 12 Silver. He bypassed the bidding war and clicked ‘Buyout’.
[Purchase Complete! 12 Silver has been deducted from your inventory.]
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His funds were dwindling. He started with around 1 Gold and 22 Silver. He was already down 17 Silver.
The final item was the most promising, and the most expensive.
[Minstrel's Faded Ring]
Quality: Uncommon
Type: Ring
Artistry (ART): +5
Description: A thin ring of tarnished tin, its gemstone a piece of dull, cloudy glass. It might have been part of a costume, or perhaps it once belonged to a poet who valued sentiment over substance.
It was hideous. It looked like something you’d find at the bottom of a cereal box. But its single stat was a golden number: +5. It was the largest single boost available. And he could use it outside of crafting, as he also had one ring slot open.
This one had active bidders. The current price was 11 Silver. The buyout was a steep 25 Silver. He placed a bid of 11 Silver and 50 Copper. A few seconds later, another player, BardlyFansOnly, upped it to 12 Silver.
Kage’s expression remained placid. His mind, however, was calculating probabilities. The name suggested a roleplayer, someone who might value the item for its theme. An emotional bidder. Dangerous. The auction had five minutes left. A bidding war would only drive up the price and waste his precious time.
He placed another bid: 14 Silver. A significant jump, designed to signal serious intent.
BardlyFansOnly immediately countered with 14 Silver, 20 Copper.
Stubborn.
Kage’s finger hovered over the bid button. He could play this game, chipping away, applying pressure. But the colossal clock on the wall reminded him that every second spent here was a second he wasn't forging.
He moved his cursor to the buyout option and clicked. Let the roleplayer have their small victory in thinking they almost won.
[You have won the auction for [Minstrel's Faded Ring]! 25 Silver has been deducted from your inventory.]
The total damage was 42 Silver. A massive chunk of his personal stash, gone in under ten minutes.
He navigated to his inventory and began to equip the mismatched junk.
First, the circlet. It appeared on his head, a stark white band against his black hair. It looked absurd.
Next, the gloves. He unequipped his +2 Damage gloves, feeling a phantom pang of loss for the DPS, and slipped on the ink-stained Scribe’s pair.
Finally, the ring. He slid the tacky tin band onto his finger, next to the heavy, story-infused iron of Grom's signet. The contrast was laughable. One was a unique forged in betrayal and honor; the other was a prop.
He looked like a fool. A low-level player who had dressed himself in the dark from a pile of discarded quest rewards. Argent would have had a field day.
He opened his character sheet. The only thing that mattered was the number.
Artistry (ART): 52
As the number locked in, the silver filigree bordering his vision flared with a sudden, intense brightness. The lines shifted, resembling organic roots growing over his display.
Then, the sensation hit him.
The crisp, rectangular edges of his Health Bar softened, blurring into a fraying red tapestry.
He looked at the auction screen. The numbers felt heavy, weighing down his gaze, while the cheap items felt brittle and light.
Synesthesia, the Operator realized with a spike of annoyance. The high Artistry stat forces the interface to translate data into sensation. I feel the numbers now.
It was inefficient. Distracting. Exactly the kind of "artistic interpretation" he hated.
A cool wave of satisfaction washed over him regarding the stat boost, but he rubbed his temples, trying to mute the "sound" of the interface. The equation was solved, yet the calculator screamed at him in colors.
With his primary objective complete, his brain began to passively process the background chatter, no longer as noise, but as information.
A furious bidding war was taking place on the main screen for a stack of glowing blue coral.
Now Bidding: [Bioluminescent Coral] x20
Item Class: Rare Crafting Material
Origin: The Sunken City of Kollar (Azure Maw)
The Azure Maw. Kage’s mind cross-referenced the name. It was another one of the continent’s starting zones, on the far eastern coast. The game world was vast, and its economy was already interconnected. Players were delving into entirely different dungeons, fighting different monsters, and harvesting materials he couldn't possibly encounter. It was a quiet reminder of the sheer scale of Crown of Destiny.
Then, he overheard a hushed conversation from a pair of players nearby.
"Level twenty. Actually twenty. I checked the ladder twice."
"Sweat-lord," the mage scoffed, his voice carrying the distinct, greasy weight of envy. "The big guilds are throwing platinum contracts at him. He doesn't even decline them. Just has auto-reject enabled on whispers."
"Playing is better if you don't have to carry trash," the first player grunted. "Sophie’s trying to bridge the gap, but she’s still three levels back."
"Sophie has a whole entourage funneling her. Honestly, Uma is the only other one playing correctly, that Berserker unlock was legit. And Iko... well, Iko's just an aimbot with a pulse."
Kage absorbed the information dispassionately. Asura, Sophie, Uma, Iko. They were the server celebrities, the frontrunners. Powerful variables, certainly, but variables nonetheless. Asura’s solo status was the most tactically relevant piece of information. A lone wolf was predictable. A lone wolf with a guild at his back was a different beast entirely.
Suddenly, a golden flare erupted across the main screen, silencing the hall for a brief moment. It was a server-wide announcement.
[Server-Wide Announcement (Veridia Continent): The guild [Crimson Legion] has successfully conquered the Sunstone Fortress, claiming the first guild-controlled territory! All hail the new lords of the Burning Steppes!]
The auction house exploded.
[Zone] LFgf: OMG a fortress already???
[Zone] TralaleloTralala: CRIMSON LEGION! I knew they’d do it!
[Zone] TheAsker: Veridia? Where is that? Is that here?
[Zone] TheAnswerer: @TheAsker No, it's the eastern continent. Try reading the announcement next time? Burning Steppes is just another starting zone, so they prob just zerged it. Nothing impressive honestly.
The world was vast. Guilds were conquering territory, carving up the map while he was shopping for tin rings in a starting town. His personal quest, which felt so monumental just moments ago, was a tiny, secret footnote in a global epic.
The thought didn't discourage him. It focused him. The grand movements of guilds and the race for levels were just noise. True value, the kind that could solve real-world problems, was found in the unseen corners of the world. In secrets. In concepts.
His items were confirmed. The final piece of the puzzle was in his possession.
He turned his back on the roaring chaos of the Auction House. He walked out of the dome, the brilliant sunlight of Oakhaven washing over him. The frantic energy of the marketplace faded, giving way to the quiet hum of purpose in his own mind.
He headed back toward the rhythmic, comforting clang of the forge.
The world could have its wars and its leaderboards.
He had a paycheck to create.
Quick news: I managed to dictate and edit four chapters last week. While that isn't enough to increase my backlog, it’s enough to maintain it while my wrist recovers, which still leaves me a bit of leeway.