Infinite Realm

Ronny was an average player who ran errands for the top-ranking members of his guild; an average 2nd tier guild that wasn't excessively popular. While the elites of the guilds were directly involved with the organization and operations of the guild, players like him worked for them and followed their directives.

One of the orders Ronny was given was to keep an eye on the trade-house exhibits just in case something amazing pops up. While the chances of such happening were exquisitely low, partly because most players would sell their valuable goods to other places for more profit, there were still a few occurrences of such. A good example was with the trade-house in Black Mountain town where Blue Flame had sold his Snake swords and double-edged iron swords to them even though he could sell them to NPC stores at a much higher price. 

Nonetheless, the possibility of this happening was still very much rare so the role of 'checking up' on the trade-houses was usually deemed a pointless job. However, most guilds would rather give out such a futile job than to lose out just in case one's luck turns up when they least expect it. The problem though was assigning a player to take the task. Most players would rather spend that time levelling up than waiting for that lucky break and if the guilds were to force their members to do so, dissatisfaction might build up within the ranks leading to internal strife. So to draw players to take the task of their own volition, they commissioned this task with rewards attached to it. 

If a player were lucky enough to come across something impressive, they would be rewarded by the guild for the discovery and even receive more if they happen to purchase the item for the guild. Also, the player would undoubtedly acquire a set for themselves so it was a win-win. Even if the said player didn't find anything, they would still receive a certain amount of reimbursement for their time spent. Though this remuneration wasn't much in comparison to the reward for coming across something useful to the guild, it was still better than nothing.

Ronny was one of the few guild players that took such a task. This was mainly because Ronny was aware of his capabilities as a player. Compared to the elites, it would be much difficult for him to achieve much in IR but he never planned on doing so. On the contrary, Ronny was only interested in making a few bucks without much effort and this task seemed perfectly tailored for him.

'I bet it's going to be the same boring items on the catalogue.'

Ronny enthusiastically walked into the trade-house and approached a counter. 

The trade-house was a 3 storey building. The first floor catered to receiving items from players and addressing concerns from the players and other NPCs. It was also the administrative part of the building, holding the office of the supervising manager as well as other important figures. The second floor held the weapons and equipment that were put up for sale while the top floor was where materials and other items were kept. 

Usually, players would head to the designated floor in search of whatever brought them here but if they wanted, they could approach the clerks on the first floor and ask for a list of the items put up for sale; for a small price of course.

Paying the clerk a fee of 12 coppers while lamenting in his heart about how many loaves of bread he could get with that, Ronny took a glance at the scroll that was given to him. The list he had asked for contained the newly arrived goods in the trade-house within the past 12 hours and it appeared on his system interface for easy use. 

Every 12 hours, Ronnie would grace the trade-house with his presence to not lose out on any opportunity. Since he updated his knowledge every 12 hours, there was no reason for him to spend a sizeable amount of money for a complex index of the goods in the trade-house. A simple list of the items released in the previous 12 hours was more than enough for him.

'*sighs* It's just a bunch of worthless goods. All impractical for the guild.' Ronny sighed.

The trade-house bought goods from players at a much cheaper price than other stores did, but they also sold at a cheaper price. While the selling business was somewhat lucrative -since players would like to get their much-needed goods at a cheap price- the procuring part wasn't doing so well. No player would like to sell their loot or items at a cheap price; they would always try to haggle for any little bit of profit. 

The only thing that prevented the trade-house from becoming meaningless to the players was the fact that a few NPCs would regularly put up some goods for sale in the trade-house. If one were lucky, they might stumble upon a legendary equipment but that had never happened before. Nonetheless, something useful but not overly rare would periodically appear in the trade-house. This led to some players comparing the trade-house to another similar feature in multiple games, a lucky draw.

"Hmm? What's this?" Ronny suddenly had his attention drawn to a certain item. 

The list was pretty detailed as most of the items would usually be appraised by an official appraiser before being put on sale. Hence, players could pretty much check the abilities as well as attribute bonus(es) the weapon or equipment would provide upon being equipped. 

"The heck?!" Ronny unintentionally yelled before realising that a lot of people had their eyes on him.

Laughing awkwardly, he set his sights back on the list, or to be specific, the item on the list. 

[[ System interface :

[Generic : Rigged Steel long-sword]

]]

What stunned Ronny was the above-named item or to be specific, its abilities. It was unlike any Mid-tier Mortal rank weapon he had ever seen.

[[ System interface :

Generic (Rigged Steel long-sword) : Mid Tier Mortal Rank : Level 5 : Durability 25/25

Requirement : Level 5 || 5 [Strength]

[Physical Attack Power] +11

[Attack Speed] +8

[Strength] +2

]]

'This, this, this is incredible. The quality is impressive and even slightly above market standard.' Ronny couldn't help but praise.

'Looking at the amount put up for sale, I doubt it was farmed in a dungeon or a field. It's probably put up for sale by an NPC or a player.' Ronny narrowed his eyes in thought.

'If it's an NPC then there's no problem. But if it's a player, then I need to get to him quickly.'

Even though Ronny had a lazy attitude, he was a smart fellow. He had already thought of various possibilities and how to react to each of them.

'I will just report this to the guild. As for now, I need to acquire a lot of these swords.'

Just like in the other guilds, there was a whole bunch of other personnel similar to Ronny.. As they set their sights on the [Generic] Rigged Steel long-swords made by Sato, they hurriedly reported to their guilds and the ones who had enough funds with them went on to buy as many swords as they could.