Ding ding, ding ding, ding ding...
Isaac's inbox was blowing up again.
Once upon a ti, he loved that sound—each chi ant a fresh stack of cash. But now? It was annoying. He had bigger things on his plate.
"Turn off the notification sounds. And you three—what are you standing around for? Go back to grinding!"
The alert chis fell silent, and Red Team obediently trotted off to kill more mobs. Finally, peace and quiet.
Cragstone's stats were just too ridiculous. Insane damage, crazy attribute boosts. And the timing couldn't be better—top-tier players had now hit level 5.
After using the basic Hyenaman Club for two days straight, they were desperate for an upgrade.
But based on Isaac's experience, only Greedy Daffino dropped higher-tier weapons. All other Hyenaman mobs, even special variants, still only dropped the basic level-1 club.
And Isaac was certain—nobody else in the ga could take down that elite monster.
Unlike Isaac, players pulled aggro from nearby mobs. They wouldn't even make it to Daffino before getting mobbed and wiped.
So... just how much should Cragstone be worth?
"Guess I'll hit the forums again. Last ti I asked about pricing, people actually gave so good estimates."
He logged onto the ga's official forum—only to find the place in chaos.
Nearly every pinned post was talking about the sa thing:
[Holy crap! Soone found a white-tier item! Can you believe it?!]
[Where did that white item drop from?!]
[Don't bother asking. It got insta-sold, but I got a screenshot! Co see!]
"...So the shoulder pads sold?" Isaac clicked in.
Sure enough, the original poster had uploaded a screenshot of the Leather Shoulder Pads:
Leather Shoulder Pads (White - Uncommon)
"Made from pri wolfhide and crafted by expert tailors into a durable piece of armor."
Level: 5
Defense: 8
HP: 110
They also posted the auction record to prove authenticity:
Player "LoneMadness" sold 'Leather Shoulder Pads' (White) to player "Blueueue" at 07:24:33.
The comnt section exploded.
"Damn, it's real! Where did this drop? Stats are nuts."
"8 DEF and 110 HP? No wonder it's a level 5 piece. I want it!"
"Can't believe I missed it—$1500? I'd pay $2000 easy!"
"LoneMadness again? Who the hell IS this guy?!"
As soon as his na popped up, the thread completely derailed.
Soone dropped a screenshot of the auction house: dozens of sales in a row, all from the sa seller—LoneMadness.
The caption underneath:
"33 Hyenaman Clubs. I'm losing my mind. Is this guy even human?!"
"Fake AF. Nobody's sitting on 33 of those things. Nice Photoshop, dude."
"Nah, it's real. I literally just saw this in the auction list. Dude's crazy."
"WTF?! One Hyenaman Club is rare as hell—he's out here wholesaling them?!"
"Even worse: check the auction again. He's selling SIX mini-god-tier versions."
"He's gotta be so corporate heir. Thousands of employees grinding for him."
Isaac grimaced.
"Thousands of employees grinding for ? Co on..." he muttered.
These clubs were fard by his own hands!
...Well, half by his own hands. The other half? Red Team.
Truth was, once players could start farming special mobs, the drop rate wouldn't be that crazy. But right now, players were clueless and just making wild guesses.
Fed up, Isaac decided to post anonymously.
"Need a price check: Lv. 5 weapon, 9-15 damage, 6 STR, 8 AGI, 6 CON. What do you think it's worth?"
Seconds later, his thread was buried—everyone was still gushing about the white-tier shoulder pads.
So he bumped it.
"Bump."
"Still bumping."
"Manual sticky."
His effort finally paid off.
"Dude, these kinds of posts are pointless. You're not gonna get real answers."
"Is this weapon real? If so, it's worth a ton. That white armor sold for $1500 instantly. If your stats are legit, you could list it for $5000 and still get bids."
"$5000? That's nuts. Lots of people are level 5 now. They can farm it themselves."
"Farm it where, genius? No one's ever seen a drop like that. And OP? No offense, but you didn't find that either, so don't waste our ti."
"OP just wants clout. Saw how hot the armor thread was and made up a weapon."
"Actually... LoneMadness made a similar post way back, asking about club prices. A day later, he was auctioning them off. OP, are you trying to say... you're him?"
"LoneMadness? Please. That guy's got a whole damn company backing him. You think he'd be hanging out in the forums with us broke nobodies?"
Isaac stared at the screen, on the verge of losing it.
Thousands of employees? Family-owned gacorp? Rich-kid strear?
WTF?! The rumors just kept getting more absurd.
He scrolled through the replies, hoping for at least one decent estimate—but no luck. Just trolls and shitposts.
About to close the tab in frustration, he noticed a private ssage.
"Are you LoneMadness?"
He frowned and typed back.
"No."
"Yes, you are. I tracked it from your account. Anonymous posts or not, it points back here."
Isaac blinked.
"Account tracking?"
"Yep! I'm AishaDoll from the official stream platform. You tipped $10, rember?"
Isaac narrowed his eyes. That feature existed? Had he known, he wouldn't have tipped anyone.
"Sorry. You've got the wrong guy. I've got stuff to do. Bye."
Click. Chat closed.
AishaDoll—revered as the most popular female strear in the North Arican server—had that kind of pull for a reason.
But Isaac didn't give a damn.
Sure, she looked good on cara. But there were probably prettier girls who didn't stream. You couldn't trust what you saw on-screen anyway. Filters were a thing.
Besides, what did her looks have to do with him?
He barely even thought about her—aside from the one ti she'd defended him on stream. That was it.
As for why she ssaged him? Who knew. Who cared.
Isaac hadn't even told his own sister Felicity about his situation—why would he start opening up to a stranger?
anwhile, on the other end of the chat...
AishaDoll stared at the closed conversation window, pouting.
She was on a short break from streaming.
"He just cut off like that..." she mumbled, cheeks puffed with irritation. "Hmph. I know it's you, LoneMadness."
"Because seriously... who else could be this nuts?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)