Chapter 36: Price Fluctuations

The players were initially excited, then fell silent, and finally began to place tentative bids.

It was certain that this epic-grade skull femur was useless to the vast majority of players. However, that did not stop some from trying their luck; even if they couldn't use it themselves, epic-grade materials were rarely purchasable with spirit coins. These onlookers would drive up the price, and then the players who actually needed the femur would make their move.

Xiao Yang watched as the price climbed.

Five hundred thousand, one million, one point eight million! Two million! Finally, the price stalled at two million. It wasn't the limit; if Xiao Yang could stay in this trading zone for another day or two to let the news spread further, the price would likely have risen even higher.

But there was no need. Even without waiting long, the price would probably climb a bit more by the afternoon, but Xiao Yang could only stay in the Heavens Trading Zone for one day. He could not spend all his time tending a stall. The need for more spirit coins was to facilitate his own growth, not to earn coins for the sake of earning them.

Two million—the figure was enough for now. It would cover a round of "internet fees" for the God Game and should be sufficient to buy a large batch of potions for physical tempering.

"Sold!"

In the end, the femur was purchased by a gaunt, black-robed necromancer. This guy looked quite familiar to Xiao Yang; he was the impoverished necromancer who had been selling zombies earlier. He sent a trade request to Xiao Yang with trembling hands, and once the figures were verified, the transaction was completed.

After the deal was done, the necromancer took the purple femur, his face twisted into an expression that was hard to distinguish between crying and laughing. It made Xiao Yang wonder: were players following the legion or territory-building paths really that strapped for cash? At the same time, he felt a sense of relief—thank goodness he only needed to pop potions.

With the trade finished, Xiao Yang stopped managing his stall and began his own procurement. He soon discovered that his "potion-popping" path wasn't much better than the legion-building path, especially when encountering special circumstances.

All kinds of potions had surged in price—by at least two hundred percent!

"Wait, no! Come on, man? Seriously?"

The Agility Boost potions, Featherlight potions, Defense Boost potions, Thick-Hide potions, Strength Boost potions, and Bull-Strength potions that Xiao Yang needed had all seen a terrifying two-hundred-percent price hike.

The Bull-Strength potions could be set aside for now, but the Featherlight and Thick-Hide potions were already more expensive than health potions to begin with. An ordinary health potion cost one thousand spirit coins, while an ordinary Featherlight potion cost three thousand, and Thick-Hide was even pricier at five thousand.

In truth, this price gap wasn't hard to understand. Health potions were a necessity with stable demand, whereas boost potions like Bull-Strength, Featherlight, and Thick-Hide were optional accessories. Regardless of their wealth, players always carried health potions, but they didn't necessarily carry these boosters. This difference in demand, coupled with variations in materials and crafting difficulty, made the higher price inevitable.

And now, these potions had risen by two hundred percent over their original prices. Featherlight potions had risen to nine thousand, and Thick-Hide to fifteen thousand.

It was a tooth-achingly expensive price. But thinking of the two million spirit coins he had left, Xiao Yang felt a bit more at ease. Surely it wouldn't be enough to bankrupt him! He comforted himself with that thought.

Xiao Yang had added three attribute points to agility and zero to defense. Since his starting stats for both were three, he needed a total of thirty-one points of investment across these two attributes.

Xiao Yang spent sixteen thousand at the mushroom-man's stall where he had previously bought his supplies, picking up one of each potion. He popped the stoppers and downed them, testing their flavor.

Hmm? The Featherlight potion tasted like fresh grass, while the Thick-Hide potion had a strange, leathery aftertaste.

Xiao Yang smacked his lips, evaluating the flavors, and opened his panel. Strangely, neither attribute had increased. His eyes widened instantly.

Wait? What was going on?

Pondering this, Xiao Yang cast a suspicious gaze at the mushroom-man vendor, making the creature nervously twitch its thick cap. Could he have bought fake goods? That shouldn't be right; Xiao Yang used an inspection skill on the Featherlight potions on the stall, and everything seemed fine.

[Featherlight Potion]
[Quality: Common]
[Effect: Increases the user's agility by two points for a short duration.]
[Description: A potion that will make your footsteps light.]

Xiao Yang was confused. After thinking for a moment, he simply bought several more Featherlight potions and drank them one by one in front of the mushroom-man's stall. By the time he reached the fifth bottle, the attributes on his personal panel finally flickered.

[Agility: 12 (7)]

Xiao Yang had likely found the reason. He hadn't bought fakes; he simply hadn't drunk enough. The Pot of Greed seemed to convert every ten points of "false" (temporary) gain into one point of permanent attribute. The same applied to health: one minor health potion provided ten points of HP recovery, which the Pot of Greed converted into one point of permanent health.

The Featherlight potions worked the same way—five bottles provided exactly ten points of temporary agility, resulting in one point of permanent agility.

Once he grasped this rule, everything became clear. Xiao Yang hadn't bought fakes, and the Pot of Greed wasn't malfunctioning; it was just going to be a heavy blow to his wallet.

Previously, even though these potions were expensive, his newly acquired two million coins would have been enough to max out one attribute and still leave a large portion for his "internet fees." But now, with this exaggerated price hike, he couldn't count on that anymore.

After a quick calculation, Xiao Yang realized the quantity of potions he needed and the resulting shortfall in spirit coins—it would be around 1.9 million. And that was a theoretical figure; in reality, he might not always find potions at the same price.

Chatting with the neighboring vendors and players, Xiao Yang finally understood the reason for the price hike: a new, super-large-scale campaign had recently opened. Almost all players were watching this new campaign, and naturally, the demand for all kinds of consumables had skyrocketed.

Oh, and from their chatter, Xiao Yang also learned the name of this upcoming super-campaign:

The Fall of the Arcane Empire.