Chapter 02: The Price of Standing Amongst the Top

“I can’t believe what happened. Do you, Al?”

“No, Ed. I can’t believe it either. To see the real Demon King of LIXXO right in front of our doorstep.”

The two shifted the gaze towards each other and outwards to the main door of their shop where Bryan Walker had just walked out earlier.

“I better get the sales on. I’ll contact everyone on the list as this is something not to be missed by anyone in the world. I don’t know what will happen, but this would be awesome and game-changing by itself.”

“So, how much would you set the auction bid?” Al was excited to get going.

“Start at a hundred thousand dollars, with 24 hours expiry date. And post it all in the forums. I will vouch for its authenticity.”

“Right away. Anything else?”

“Yeah, I’ll be busy for the whole night. So, unless it’s urgent, I shall not be disturbed.”

Edward Gause of AppleFruit Inc. was one of the world most famous E-trader. The reason why his small company still exist was because of his other business venture, in the shades of selling and buying anything related to games. He was the creator of the site called E-World, top 3 sites for getting anything related to games. Operating as a trading site and also a forum, EWorld has no less than 10 million registered users, making it one of the most visited sites daily.

Having trouble getting certain items? There was always someone willing to find it for you. Needed help for a quest? Someone would be willing to offer their service at a right price. Needed to find someone? Just put it up and someone will respond. What about items? Or equipment? Getting bullied online and wanted revenge? Everything that you needed in a game, E-World had it. And if you needed someone to player-kill or PK others, there’s a thread for that too.

Account selling, though considered illegal, was practically normal. A player, once bored of a game, could opt to sell their account to other players either directly or use a middle person, someone like Edward Gause. However, Bryan’s account was not considered normal by any means. The account was way beyond abnormal. And that would surely bring a lot of attention to it.

The company that ran the game, RoundNox, was particularly stringent and would ban anyone who attempted to sell their account. However, LIXXO was on its last leg. RoundNox had merged with a few more companies and formed a mega-company that now ran the Noble Path Online. This was a great opportunity no matter how one looked at it. Edward Gause, as an avid gamer himself, knew the significance of this sale. As a businessman, this was an opportunity that came once in a lifetime. Not something that he would miss for the world.

The moment Bryan’s account was posted online, immediately the community started to make noise.

“Wow… look at that. Is that even legit?”

“Shiz my eyes. What is that character? This must be fake!”

“This is no fake. The forum mods and staffs had confirmed it’s original!”

Many comments popped-up one after another. At 100,000 dollars, the number was too large to be even fake. However, most people could only see and comment but no one had bided yet. It had not reached the tipping point as for how Ed wanted.

2 hours later, the comment sections have been flooded. More than 30,000 comments had been posted, each with their own opinions of the auction. 10 bids had been placed and the bid amount reached 250,000 dollars. The bid was placed by the rich players who once played this game. Even though they knew that the game would cease to exist and the character wiped out, it did not deter them to pour out such obscene of money. Perhaps, to these rich people, 250,000 dollars were considered small.

Netizens had started to stir. 6 hours in, the news leaked outside of EWorld. Mainstream social media had taken notice of it and famous bloggers, social media elites with hundred thousands of followers had linked the news to their stories, site or page. Even some online news media was covering it into their latest news.

400,000 dollars for an account?! That must surely set the highest and the most expensive account ever sold. This was newsworthy indeed. And finally, 16 hours in, it was in the mainstream news. Bryan did not have any access to the internet nor watched any news, so he did not know what happened.

From bidding wars between players, it was now on the territory of companies. That single post was viewed more than 30 million times in the first 8 hours. In the next 8, the numbers jumped to 200 million views boosted by the virality of the news. And as Edward guessed it, the time has come to the tipping point.

The bid now became at 2 million dollars. The playground of the rich and powerful people and companies where money was not an issue. For them, it was to own this Legendary Demon King account at all cost. To stand at the pinnacle of an online game, no matter how short it was, was secondary. What was most important was the eyeballs. The whole netizens world; gamer or not, had been shocked upon.

To those who play games, it told them if they play it right, they might earn some money. To those who don’t play or thought that playing games were beneath them and just a time waster, 2 million dollars for an account might turn their heads. 500 million views in a single night and the bid had to be extended to 48 hours. This was a PR success to anyone who could be associated with it. At 36 hours, the numbers of view had reached 1 billion times and the bid amount was at 4 million. This was where Ed would finally make his move.

With one phone call, he reached one of the staff of a company.

“Excuse me, do you have your Director Joshua with you. I’m Edward, from EWorld.”

“He’s in his room. Shall I transfer your call to him?” A secretary of a public listed company answered his call promptly.

After waiting for a while, Ed managed to get hold of him. The first thing he asked was, “Do you want to buy the Legendary Demon King’s account, Josh?”

Upon hearing the words, the Director was astounded. He was an avid player in LIXXO but he was too busy with his work. He stopped altogether from playing 10 years ago, but his love for the game never died. Now in his late 40s, he finally had his chance to own the greatest player’s account in that game.

Ed would never call and pranked him like this. Director Josh was getting excited. The little child in him was trembling nonstop urging him to get it now.

“H-How much is it?”

“Have a look at my site. I’m sure you will find it favourable to you, Josh.”

Immediately, he hung up and called one of his secretaries from a private line.

“Check the price for the Legendary Demon King’s account at EWorld. I want it no matter what.”

“As you wish, sir.” Came the swift reply.

Edward had played his hand very well. Waiting for the right time to strike, he made sure that the bid reached a certain amount before he finally made his call to Director Joshua. During those time, he was busy reaching throughout his whole contact to make the news viral. LIXXO had a very strong fan base throughout the world. Not only Bryan’s account made EWorld more famous, but anyone would have bought it would actually have made themselves part of the viral news. The one that bought the most powerful character in LIXXO, the most expensive where everyone, gamer or not had watched the news, would have their name be elevated into the stratosphere. In 48 hours, at the bid ended, the post had been viewed 2 billion times with more than 3 million comments. EWorld crashed but the winning bid was already made before that.

After the payment has been completed and transferred into Bryan’s account, the Legendary Demon King’s would have a new owner. Whoever was it, had reached the pinnacle of the viral news and now had the whole world’s eye on him.