Chapter 592: New Lord
At Boss Blaze’s shop, all the bros were gathered together.
"Stone, hurry up! Let your adorable little brother see that Corpse King Art!"
Invincible Strong had been waiting for days and had finally run out of patience. The moment he saw Marcus walk through the door, he practically threw himself at him.
"You little punk..."
Marcus tossed the Corpse King Art over to him. Invincible Strong caught it and immediately checked its powerful attributes. The instant he saw the stats, his eyes went bloodshot with excitement. He threw his head back and howled like a lovesick wolf.
"Stone! The age of Invincible Strong’s undead empire has begun! Wahahaha!"
Still riding the high of his newfound treasure, he turned toward Drunkard and began taunting him. "Kid, just wait until we hit level sixty. That’s when I’ll show you what real tears taste like..."
It was obvious that Drunkard had been bullying him in PKs lately. That was hardly surprising. Necromancers, Clerics, and Beast Tamers were notoriously weak in the early stages of the game, only hoped of becoming terrifying once they reached their later development.
Of course, Drunkard’s Assassin class wasn’t exactly powerful in the early game either. Normally, his lack of defense would have been a serious problem, but the Mythic Artifact Bone Boar Burst Stinger Marcus had given him had completely made up for that weakness.
With its terrifying Critical Hits, Drunkard’s single-target damage was already outrageous, making him far more confident in his Assassin than most players would have been at his level.
"You worry about getting to level sixty first, Strong."
Drunkard didn’t even bother looking impressed by Invincible Strong’s threats. He simply grinned, clearly having no intention of giving up his advantage.
"Awesome! Race to level sixty and learn the Corpse King Art!"
Invincible Strong was practically bursting with excitement. He could barely contain his pride as he turned back to Marcus.
"Stone, you should get yourself an undead class too. Then you can learn the Corpse King Art as well, and the two of us can become twin partners of the undead!"
Marcus stared at him for a moment, completely speechless. "You gay bastard. Watch yourself, or your sisters-in-law are going to kill you."
Drunkard and Cleaver had already moved on from the argument and started asking Marcus about Twin Wing Island. Seeing their interest, Marcus quickly laid out the spoils he had brought back from the island for everyone to examine.
He also opened the recordings he had made there and began telling them about everything he had encountered, from the strange scenery to the monsters covering the various islands.
Everyone was stunned as the recordings played. "Wow, incredible..."
Drunkard and Invincible Strong were especially aggrieved. After watching the breathtaking scenery and seeing the monster-infested islands, they immediately started complaining.
"Stone, you’re too heartless! You took all the girls to a place like that and left your brothers behind. You really value women over your brothers!"
"Stone, when are you going back to Twin Wing Island?"
Everyone was visibly excited. The islands were not only beautiful, but also filled with monsters and opportunities that could be turned into experience and wealth. For players like them, it was practically a paradise.
"Heh heh..." Marcus couldn’t help smiling, and his bros knew that smile far too well.
Drunkard immediately narrowed his eyes. "Stone, that’s your scheming grin. Whenever you smile like that, you’re either planning to rob someone or doing something perverted. Out with it!"
"Guess."
Marcus deliberately kept them hanging, intending to tease them for a little longer. Unfortunately, this time he had pushed his luck too far.
A barrage of fists immediately came flying at him.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
"Who kicked my ass?!"
"I surrender! I surrender!"
Marcus hurriedly gave in before his brothers could beat him any further. He then slowly explained the quest he had undertaken to save Dragon’s Roar Town and the conditions required to activate the town’s teleportation array.
"We have to go kill a Mythic Beast..."
The mood immediately dropped when they heard that. Everyone had been expecting some amazing adventure, only to find out that the next step involved hunting down a Mythic Beast.
Marcus couldn’t keep pretending to be serious for long. A smug grin gradually spread across his face. "Heh heh..."
He dramatically continued the story, describing his trip to the palace and everything he had gained there. Finally, he pulled out the golden token bearing the words "Lord of Dragon’s Roar."
The moment they saw it, everyone’s disappointment vanished.
"Stone, you’re insane. You’re going to be ridiculously rich..."
Everyone crowded around the token, and they once again started discussing the recordings of Twin Wing Island with excitement.
"Of course."
Marcus proudly put the token away.
"Get your girlfriends ready. They’ll be going on vacation to Twin Wing Island soon."
The bros immediately became even more excited.
After that, they went over the results from the past ten-plus days of screenings at the Nightmare Auction House.
The recording titled "Harmony Peak: Solo Cultivation or Dual Cultivation?" had caused an enormous sensation among players. Even with the viewing price set at 120 gold coins, players were still flocking to the auction house to watch it.
Over the course of just ten days, the recordings had brought in an average of more than one billion gold coins in revenue every day. After deducting the system fees, Boss Blaze had transferred a staggering 13,050,000,000 gold coins in pure profit directly to Marcus.
That was the equivalent of roughly 1.3 billion dollars, and they weren’t finished yet.
There were still two recordings waiting to be screened. With the popularity of the Nightmare Auction House continuing to soar, they would have to raise the viewing prices accordingly.
According to Path to Heaven’s conservative estimates, the 13 billion gold coins they currently had, combined with the previous 9 billion, represented only about half of what they could potentially earn from all the recordings.
If nothing unexpected happened, they could rake in another 20 billion gold coins before all the recordings were finished, which would mean another 2 billion dollars.
Even Marcus found the numbers difficult to believe, but the figures were real.
The US region alone now had nearly 500 million players. With such a massive player base, the potential market was naturally enormous. If someone understood player psychology, knew how to identify opportunities, and could consistently provide content that people actually wanted to see, there was money to be made. A lot of money.
For Marcus, the success of the Nightmare Auction House was especially satisfying. It wasn’t simply the enormous revenue from his recordings. The auction house itself had become a valuable brand, an intangible asset whose reputation among players was becoming increasingly difficult to shake.
Players who obtained rare or valuable recordings no longer had to wonder where to sell them. Nightmare Auction House had become their first choice.
The plans for what would come after Marcus’s recordings were already underway as well. Once his own recordings had been fully screened, the auction house could move on to properly organized equipment auctions and expand its business even further.
Their original vow when they established Nightmare Auction House had been simple: monopolize the industry. And now, that ambition was gradually becoming reality.
"Alright. I need to head to the palace."
It was almost time for Marcus to meet the princesses, so he said goodbye to everyone. Drunkard and Invincible Strong didn’t seem worried in the slightest. Instead, they confidently gave him their plan.
"Got it, Stone. You focus on getting that teleportation array activated. We’ll go to the government offices and find out exactly what authority a lord has, along with the limits of that authority. Once we understand the rules, we’ll figure out how to properly develop the territory around Twin Wing Island."
"Yeah. This is our first real home base."
Marcus nodded.
The 13 billion gold coins sitting in his inventory could remain there for the time being. The system was a greedy bastard, and properly developing Dragon’s Roar Town was going to require an astronomical amount of gold.