Chapter 50: Crashing Economy

The older appraiser with the magical monocle, Silas, was still behind the mahogany counter, meticulously polishing a Silver-Rank broadsword. He looked up, his expression instantly shifting from practiced indifference to absolute, rigid professionalism the moment his monocle registered the Sovereign’s Mantle.

"Esteemed traveler," Silas said, setting the broadsword down and bowing deeply. "Welcome back to the Gilded Anchor. We had not expected your return so soon. How may we serve you this evening?"

"I’ve had a busy twelve hours," Leon said calmly, stepping up to the counter. He didn’t bother with pleasantries. "I need to offload bulk materials. A lot of them."

"Of course," Silas said, waving a hand to activate the glowing blue appraisal field on the wood. "Our vaults are vast, and our coin is endless. Please, present your wares. I assure you, we can handle whatever you have acquired."

"Good."

Leon opened his inventory. During his 10X EXP massacre through the Weeping Hollows, the Ashen Canyons, the Crimson Mire, and the Obsidian Spire, his Lucky Fate talent had passively hoarded every single drop generated by the hundreds of high-tier elites and bosses he had slaughtered. He hadn’t stopped to look at the sheer volume of it.

Now, he simply selected everything below Diamond and Mythic rank, and hit ’Transfer’.

A localized spatial distortion occurred above the counter.

CRASH.

The sheer mass of the loot physically bypassed the limits of the designated trading zone.

Massive, jagged fangs from Level 35 Venom-Spitter Arachnids clattered against the mahogany. Thick, impossibly heavy slabs of Level 38 Iron-Clad Minotaur plating slammed into the floor, cracking the pristine marble tiles. Vials of glowing, corrosive spider ichor rolled across the counter, followed by dozens of intact, pulsing Void-Tainted Gargoyle cores. Coiled vines from Level 32 Willow Sentinels, hardened obsidian horns, unrefined spatial crystals, and mountains of elite-grade biological components spilled over the edge of the counter in a literal avalanche of endgame wealth.

Silas stumbled backward, his hands raised instinctively as a massive minotaur horn nearly crushed his fingers.

The NPC’s magical monocle flared with a blinding, erratic blue light as it tried to process the data. The glass cracked, a thin fracture spider-webbing across the lens.

"By the Gods..." Silas breathed, his professional veneer completely shattered. He stared at the mountain of loot, his eyes wide with a mixture of absolute terror and unadulterated awe. "This... this is impossible. These materials... they resonate with abyssal void energy. And pure necrotic density. These are Adept-tier biologicals. Entire raid guilds in the upper sectors spend months coordinating campaigns to harvest a fraction of this density."

"Can you buy it or not?" Leon asked, leaning casually against the only empty section of the counter.

"I..." Silas swallowed hard, adjusting his cracked monocle. His hands were visibly trembling as he reached out to touch a Void-Tainted Gargoyle core. "Yes. The Gilded Anchor’s treasury is linked to the global system network. We have the capital. But sir... the system algorithm... an influx of this magnitude, of materials this pure, being injected into a beginner zone’s market..."

"Just run the numbers, Silas," Leon interrupted, his voice calm but firm.

Silas nodded frantically. He activated the guild’s master ledger, his hands moving in a blur of glowing runes. The calculations took nearly five full minutes, the system desperately trying to appraise hundreds of elite, Level 40-50 monster components dumped into a Level 10 checkpoint.

Finally, Silas looked up. He looked pale.

"Esteemed traveler," Silas said, his voice dropping to a reverent whisper. "For the entirety of this collection... the Gilded Anchor transfers to you two million, four hundred and fifty thousand Eternal Coins."

Leon didn’t blink. He already had nearly a million coins from the raw drops alone.

"Accept," Leon said.

Ding!

[Transaction Complete.]

[2,450,000 Eternal Coins have been added to your inventory.]

"Thank you, Silas," Leon said, turning on his heel. "Have a good night."

Leon walked out of the Gilded Anchor, the heavy oak doors closing silently behind him. He stepped back into the shadows of the Eastern Checkpoint, his mind already drifting toward a very specific goal.

He was incredibly rich, he was Level 50, and he was hungry. He headed straight back to the Lotus Rest, intending to order the largest chocolate cake the NPC chefs could physically bake.

He had absolutely no idea that he had just set the entire sector on fire.

The Eternal Heaven economic system was not run by humans. It was an automated, omniscient algorithm designed to reflect the absolute reality of supply, demand, and tier-scaling across the various zones.

When a player sold an item to a high-end NPC merchant guild like the Gilded Anchor, that item didn’t just sit in a back room. The system immediately cataloged it, added it to the global and regional market boards, and adjusted the relative value of every other item in the sector based on the new baseline of available power.

For the past thirteen days, the Eastern Checkpoint’s economy had been built on a foundation of Level 5 to Level 15 materials. A pristine Iron-Quill Boar Hide (Level 9) was considered a premium, high-tier asset. Players hoarded them. Major guilds stockpiled them in their vaults to control the market, artificially inflating the prices of basic survival gear so they could extort new players.

Then, at exactly 11:42 PM, the system registered an influx of massive, commercial quantities of Level 40 and Level 50 Elite materials.

The algorithm reacted instantly.

If Level 45 Void-Tainted Gargoyle Cores were now commercially available in the Eastern Checkpoint, then the baseline for "high-tier" power in Sector 4 had just shifted astronomically. Therefore, Level 9 Boar Hides were no longer premium assets. They were mathematically recalibrated to be classified as garbage-tier starter trash.

The market crashed in less than three seconds.

In the center of the bustling Merchant District, a massive, floating crystal board displayed the real-time values of commonly traded goods and auction house listings. Hundreds of players were gathered around it, negotiating trades, shouting over each other, and checking their investments.

Suddenly, the blue text on the board flickered violently.

The listed price for Refined Iron Ore, which had been sitting comfortably at 50 Eternal Coins per unit, instantly dropped to 2 Coins.

The price for Bronze-Tier Longswords plummeted from 400 Coins to 15 Coins.

Minor Healing Potions crashed from 100 Coins to 5 Coins.

The crowd went dead silent.

A player in heavy, dented armor rubbed his eyes, staring at the board as if trying to wake up from a nightmare. "What... what just happened?"

"The board," a woman near the front whispered, her voice trembling. "Look at the new listings at the top. The Anchor’s premium inventory just updated."

The crowd collectively looked up.

[Available for Purchase: Abyssal Void Core (Level 45, Elite) - 150,000 Coins]

[Available for Purchase: Venom-Spitter Gland (Level 35) - 40,000 Coins]

[Available for Purchase: Iron-Clad Minotaur Plating (Level 38) - 65,000 Coins]

... The list went on, displaying hundreds of endgame materials that shouldn’t even exist in this sector.

Panic erupted.