Of course, Isaac had no intention of "farming himself." Crimson Pact had clearly misidentified their target. But it wasn't like Isaac owed them an explanation. He was just a wild mob, after all—not their babysitter.
Now that he was sure players weren't going to break into his territory anytime soon, Isaac calmly resumed farming with Red Team.
As he was grinding, a notification popped up—an unread mail. He had forgotten that he'd muted the notification sound earlier, so he had no idea when it arrived.
He opened it casually.
[Your auction item "Cragstone Hyenaman Club" has been instantly purchased by player "ObsidianScript." After deducting a 10% fee, $4500 has been transferred to your PayPal. Please verify your account.]
"What the—? It actually sold?!" Isaac blinked in surprise.
The instant-buy price had been more of a joke than anything serious—he'd never expected someone to click it.
"Damn… guess there really are whales out there, dropping thousands for the first green weapon."
With that sale, Isaac's total PayPal balance now sat at $25,221. He felt fantastic.
Then he noticed something else: a dozen more player mails.
In Celestia: The Eternal Realms, if two players had ever conducted a transaction, they were allowed to message each other directly. It was a logical feature—buyers should be able to reach sellers. But players who hadn't interacted before couldn't send unsolicited messages.
These emails were all from people who had bought something from Isaac before—whether it was a basic Hyenaman Club from the trade zone or something from the auction house.
[Dear LoneMadness, I'm Teresa from RTS Guild. We're wondering if you have more equipment for sale, or if you could give us a heads-up before listing anything on the auction house. That way, we can be ready in advance.]
[Hello LoneMadness, I'm Holly from G9. Do you have any more Cragstone Hyenaman Clubs? If you're open to negotiating the price a bit, we'd be interested in bulk purchases.]
[Hey LoneMadness, I'm ObsidianScript from Ashfire Judgement. Honestly, the Cragstone was overpriced, but I still grabbed it. Just wanted to reach out and make a connection. Could be mutually beneficial.]
[Hi LoneMadness, this is the CIA guild. Do you have any more Hyenaman Clubs for sale? We're looking to buy in bulk at around 260 each. We can also discuss higher-tier gear, if you've got any. Feel free to message or add me as a friend.]
All variations on the same theme: people wanting gear. And as for "making friends"… yeah, that was about gear too.
Isaac thought it over, then sent a batch reply:
"Thanks for the support. I don't add in-game friends, but I'll send out an email before listing anything new. Everyone will have a fair shot. Best regards."
Done and dusted.
He turned back to the game.
"Alright, Red Team—let's grind. Today's goal: another $10K!"
Red Team was now two levels behind Isaac, but he had no plans to replace them just yet. He'd invested 120 Star 1 Quality Points into those three—if he kicked them out now, it would all go to waste.
Besides, for this leveling spot, their performance was still excellent. He'd consider replacing them after hitting level 10.
Level advantage was everything—and the reason he could always get to the loot first.
Ashfire Judgement Guild Headquarters – IRL
A group of young men and women sat gathered in the guild's executive office.
At the center was Omar, aka ObsidianScript, director and first division leader of the Ashfire Judgement guild.
"This LoneMadness guy…" muttered one of them, narrowing his eyes. "Way too full of himself."
"Right? Omar reached out personally and got snubbed. People would kill for a chance to be on friendly terms with Omar."
"He probably doesn't even realize who Omar is," someone sneered. "And look—we were the first ones to buy Cragstone while everyone else was hesitating. That means something."
"Money talks. This idiot thinks a little luck makes him invincible?"
A girl curled her lip. "What a joke. If we knew which starter village he was in, I'd make sure he never left it alive."
Another teammate tried to calm things down. "C'mon, Omar, don't waste your energy on small-time fame junkies like him."
"Yeah, no rush," someone else added. "Level 10 merges the three starter villages. Then level 20 merges three level 10 cities. Once everyone's leveled up, we'll run into him eventually. Then we'll teach him what it means to cross Omar."
Omar's eyes narrowed. "Good. Let him keep grinding now. The more time he puts into this game, the more satisfying it'll be when we bleed him dry later."
With that, Omar calmly opened his friend list and blacklisted the name LoneMadness.
"You think you can brush me off? You're not even in my league."
At the XSX Guild HQ, Olive showed LoneMadness' reply to Keith and Quincy.
Keith shook his head. "No special treatment for us either, huh?"
Quincy nodded. "Looks like he sent a mass reply. Probably got a ton of messages. Seems like he doesn't care about friends—just profits."
"That's not necessarily a bad thing," Keith replied. "At least we know he's fair. He won't favor one guild over another. We're competing on equal footing."
"And the heads-up before listings gives us a slight edge," Quincy added. "Better than constantly missing out."
"But we still need to be careful," Keith warned. "What if he suddenly jacks up the price? Olive, be extra cautious when purchasing from him."
"I will," Olive replied. "But… I don't think he's greedy, actually."
Keith raised an eyebrow. "Not greedy? He sold a level 5 weapon for $5,000!"
Olive calmly explained, "Yes, Cragstone was overpriced, but I reviewed all his past auction records. Every other item he's sold was reasonably priced—some were even undervalued. In the trade zone, none of his gear was sketchy. In fact, some were bargains."
"So what's your point?"
"I think… maybe he didn't know what Cragstone was worth. It's possible he set the high instant-buy price just as a placeholder. He probably expected people to bid instead of buying it outright."
Keith and Quincy glanced at each other, considering it.
"You might be right," Quincy admitted. "A $1000 starting bid and a $5000 buyout? That's a massive range. Makes sense if he wasn't sure what it was worth."
Keith nodded. "True. It was the first of its kind. Misjudging the price would be understandable. But still… regardless of whether it was deliberate or not, treating every guild the same? That's a risky move."
He looked at Quincy meaningfully.
"Refusing to build relationships at this early stage? He's too short-sighted. He thinks he can blaze ahead forever, leaving everyone else in the dust?"
"Quincy, mark my words. Celestia: The Eternal Realms is going to evolve into something far bigger than we can imagine. No one—not even LoneMadness—can stand against the entire player base."
"When you're leading your team, remember: don't get cocky like him."
"In the end… he's just a narrow-minded guy with no long-term vision."