Chapter 189: The Worlds Market

Many of the Buildings unlocked by Domain upgrades held little interest for Cassian. A few were indispensable.

Gates at Rank III. The Embassy at Rank VI. Now the Worlds Market at Rank XI, and soon the Skyreach Tower at Rank XII.

The ordinary Exchange handled trade within the accessible map. The Worlds Market could reach across the realms—even to the Eternal beings of the First Realm, if a buyer could afford the fees.

Before Rank XVIII, however, its range was limited to the newcomer Lords of Sector 666.

Transaction fees started at fifty percent, with no upper limit and a minimum charge of ten thousand Aether. Sell a Common sword for ten Aether, and someone still had to pay that ten thousand.

The exact fee depended on the participants’ races, distance, the span of time between them, their Markets, and other conditions. Two Lords could see very different costs for the same item.

Interrealm Trade had been a required school subject, just like Domain Development. Cassian had never used the Market before, but he knew how it worked.

"Mental Link."

It was one of the available control modes. Searches, purchases, and listings could all be handled with a thought. Gestures made some operations easier still.

The link formed. An endless void appeared over his view of the real world.

"Not bad. Five-dimensional."

A large interface floated in front of him, divided into sections. Seven-day volume, daily and weekly price charts, market conditions—everything was there.

New listings streamed past too quickly to read. Every so often, a Legendary item appeared and rose to the top of the display.

The activity did not surprise him.

Elara had reached Rank XI yesterday, helped by her unusual constitution. Once Darian learned he was falling behind, he had thrown money at the problem. More than a hundred high-Quality workers had been stationed at Riftward’s rich resource points. He had reached Rank XI too.

Across the vast Realm, countless other Lords had already done the same.

Cassian set the interface to fifty-percent opacity. He could work without losing sight of the world around him and standing there like a fool.

"Search all items. Highest Quality first."

He was only curious.

The results made him stare.

[1. Eternal Tree Fragment — Mythic]

[Price: 3,000,000,000,000 Aether]

[Transaction fee, payable by buyer: 100,000,000,000,000 Aether]

[Equivalent premium-grade Aether Crystals or Immortal Stones accepted.]

[2. Solar Heart Core — Mythic]

[Price: 2,000,000,000,000 Aether]

[Transaction fee, payable by buyer: 20,000,000,000,000 Aether]

[Equivalent premium-grade Aether Crystals or Immortal Stones accepted.]

[3. Void Engine — Mythic]

"There are some remarkable people out there."

Sector 666 had seven hundred and eighty-three Mythic items listed for sale.

On reflection, that was hardly strange. Humans ranked below the middle among the races, and the Homeworld was only a tiny part of their territory.

Even an entirely ordinary Homeworld Lord like Cassian had obtained a Mythic Enlightenment Tea Tree. What might the powerful races in the top thousand possess?

He had no exclusive claim on the Mythic Wheel.

Cassian opened the first listing. An image of an ancient, palm-sized piece of wood appeared before him, slowly turning.

He read the description.

"So it really is a piece of the Eternal Tree."

It looked like an ordinary scrap of wood. The Worlds Market did not sell counterfeits, though.

After admiring it for a while, he closed the image.

The Mythic items offered for sale had one thing in common: newcomer Lords could not make use of them yet. Anything useful now, such as Mythic equipment, would stay with its owner, no matter how much someone offered.

His Tea Tree could not be the only Mythic prize kept out of the Market.

There might even be Mythic Hero Sigils in other Lords’ hands.

"And that fee is dozens of times the asking price. How far from the Homeworld is the seller?"

Fees created some peculiar situations. One Lord might list an item for ten thousand Aether and fail to sell it in ten years. Another could ask a hundred thousand for the same item and find a buyer immediately.

The price on the listing was only part of what the buyer paid.

After looking through more of the Mythic treasures, Cassian turned to his own business.

"List one Legendary Moonfruit. Five hundred thousand Aether."

[Legendary Moonfruit listed on the Worlds Market.]

For him, this was an ordinary product. He chose a fixed price rather than an auction. First, he wanted to test demand.

One second later, the notice arrived.

[Your Legendary Moonfruit has sold. Aether received: 500,000.]

[Contribution to interrealm trade: Market Points +1.]

Cassian blinked.

"That quickly?"

He knew the usual prices at different stages of a Realm’s development. Five hundred thousand was toward the high end, something the other Moonfruit listings had already confirmed. The buyer had paid at least another fifty percent in fees.

He rubbed his hands.

"So many rich people with money to burn."

The better the market, the happier he was.

He listed a second fruit for seven hundred thousand.

Another second passed.

[Your Legendary Moonfruit has sold. Aether received: 700,000.]

[Contribution to interrealm trade: Market Points +1.]

Cassian grinned.

The Worlds Market allowed no real names, messages, or bargaining. He could find the best price without listening to anyone complain about it.

"One million."

This time, several minutes passed without a sale.

A pity.

He took out pen and paper.

"First condition: my current Moonfruit stock. Second: average daily output..."

He continued testing prices while working through the figures. One trial at one million six hundred thousand took fifteen minutes to sell.

"Latest rich-buyer constant: 3.1415..."

Hundreds of known conditions went into the formula. Half an hour later, he had the current price that would earn him the most.

"Six hundred and thirty-two thousand five hundred. More than I expected."

Studying had its uses. Guess at a price, and he would either leave produce unsold or throw away profit.

"Amethyst Grapes next."

He worked through several products at once. Before long, he had prices for dozens of spiritual plants.

Two stayed off the list: Moonrice and Azuremist Fruit.

People knew the Agriculture Ranking’s winner had traded in both, along with Moonfruit. Someone might make the connection.

It was a very small risk, but easy enough to avoid. Keeping Moonfruit among his listings made the omission of the other two less conspicuous than removing all three.

A chime sounded from the Riftward management group.

Darian had posted a message.

[Darian Frost: I just snapped up some Legendary fruit. Under a million Aether, and only fifty percent in fees. Ridiculously cheap!]

[Darian Frost: There must be a powerful Farming Lord somewhere near the Homeworld. Better than Cassian! I’d put my money on an Elven royal from Emerald Star.]

Cassian had nothing to say.