Chapter 230: Kuilong Ocean
The craziness was still ongoing even though the Station Auction was already halfway done.
The players’ desire for Guild Stations had exceeded Lu Wu’s expectations. At this moment, even the cheapest one had reached the terrifying price of 10,000 soul coins while the more popular stations had risen to 39,000 soul coins.
Lu Wu’s heart trembled at such a high price. This round of harvest had gone far beyond the previous events.
The players were all staring at the screen in the sky with reddened eyes like gambling addicts at the Mansion of the Dead. Shouts and screams of joy were heard when their respective guilds appeared in the ranking.
The atmosphere at the Mansion of the Dead was unprecedentedly exciting. Everyone was anticipating the final moment.
Whether they could win a station or not solely depended on the last half.
The game notification continued ringing, stimulating their heartbeats.
[Gu Yu bid for the Sun and Moon Mountain Peak: 42,000 soul coins]
[Chen Ziyu bid for the Autumn Maple Forest: 32,000 soul coins]
[Ye Xue’er bid for the Mountain Lake: 38,000 soul coins]
[Wu Guoyi bid for the Sunset Seaside: 39,000 soul coins]
…
The game notifications continued appearing and the prices continued rising.
There were even gaming media guilds which were like Wu Guoyi’s gaming platform guild that were actively participating in the auction.
After all, no one knew when would the next Station Auction be held. No guild would want to miss the opportunity to obtain the chance for development as early as possible.
When there were only ten minutes left for the auction, the speed of bidding decelerated but the situation was still crazy. The prices of every station were changing frequently and could maintain it no longer than ten seconds, let alone the few popular ones.
The prices had already exceeded the standard price of a luxury mansion in real life. However, none of the players thought that this was peculiar. Instead, they actually found it quite reasonable.
All of them were aware that despite not having a reload system, the maintenance of each piece of equipment in Battle Online was outstanding. To them, as long as Battle Online did not stop operating, it would be worth it to win their bids.
Gu Yu and the others were not the only wealthy players in the game. There were many cash-rich players swarming in the game at this point. Their bids were causing great pressure on Gu Yu and the others.
Some veteran guild leaders like Lu Zhan, Yue Han, and the others had already succumbed to the high price. They gave up bidding on the popular stations and started another bidding battle at other expensive stations.
When the bell signifying the end of the auction rang, the air above the Mansion of the Dead was filled with the cheers of the guild members who won their bids.
Excitement, indescribable excitement!
Winning a Station would mean advanced development for them. In other words, they finally had a home in the game. The future was full of hope.
The screen in the sky faded with the wind like smoke and turned into blocks of stations floating in the sky. Every station was labeled with the name of each guild.
The cheers by the players sounded again.
Lu Wu had other ways to comfort the guilds who lost the bid. He posted an announcement immediately…
[Server Announcement: The Station Auction has ended. The next Station Auction will be held after the end of the Individual Skills Ladder Tournament!]
“Wow!”
The players at the Mansion of the Dead were surprised.
This piece of news had undoubtedly reignited the passion in their hearts.
Many of the players had put in a lot of effort to learn from the high-skilled players in the forum and to train themselves in the game. All of these were done for the sake of the Individual Skills Tournament.
This battle will decide whether they can outshine other players. A lot of players who thought they had outstanding skills were preparing to show off. They were hoping for the day to make a name for themselves.
Lu Wu smiled comfortingly while looking at the cheering players.
Happiness was really that simple.
…
The players started swarming into the Liuli Coast the day after the Station Auction ended.
This was an important day for them.
Their old nemesis, the Sea King, was establishing a new nation!
The players could not ignore this important moment. They brought many big and small packages as gifts to congratulate the Sea King.
Some of them brought Wood Spirit Wine, some brought finely made meat products, some brought Spirit Fish. Their faces were full of smiles while they were on their way to visit the Sea King to congratulate him, at the same time showing support for him.
The players adored this determined character very much.
Lu Wu was not surprised at the players’ weird gaming tactics, but he could imagine the Sea King’s expression when he sees them.
His blood pressure would definitely rise.
At this moment, there were many ships anchored at the Liuli Coast. They were all waiting for their respective guild members.
The players were well-prepared. Some even used spiritual material to hire several old turtles from the Void Ocean to serve as their guides. Since most of them had never been to the Kuilong Ocean before and the map had not opened up yet, they would definitely have to spend a long time finding the place.
Warships and Specter Ships sailed off the coast followed by other warships. They started sailing toward Xinmo Island in the Kuilong Ocean under the guidance of the old turtle guides.
The players finally reached the boundary between the Void and Kuilong Oceans after speed sailing for almost half a day.
At this moment, the players were surprised to discover that the seawater from both the oceans was clearly separated.
Compared to the Void Ocean’s deep seawater, Kuilong Ocean’s seawater was emitting a light blue soft light. There were some shiny blue plants floating on the surface of the sea. The scenery was spectacular, as if it was straight out of a fairy tale.
At this moment, the players could not stop themselves from admiring the terrifying skills of the crew behind Battle Online.
The map area was enormous yet none of the settings were repeated. All of this seemed to be a self-made system.
This map was totally incomparable to the sandbox games in the current market that could formulate backgrounds and maps according to algorithms.
The players would believe it if the game developers stated that they had spent more than ten years researching this.
This was because the production of this game required an enormous workload.
This was only the map. They still had to calculate the time and effort they put into producing the highly intellectual NPCs and battling monsters. None of these things could have been done without taking a long time.
…
Following the old turtles’ directions, the players changed direction several times on the Kuilong Ocean while enjoying the scenery. When the words Xinmo Island appeared on the map, they knew they had reached their destination.
According to the map, the island has a huge area, it was two-thirds of Beiqi at the very least. Instead of considering it as an island, it would be better to consider it as another land on the ocean.
Countless forces were gathered at Xinmo Island at this moment, including the Ocean Trading Association, the Ocean Predator Forces, the Ocean Ancient Clans, and the Deep Sea Forces.
The purpose of them coming here was not to congratulate the Sea King but to investigate the truthfulness of the Sea King’s words. After all, the sudden appearance of an enormous creature that assembled the power of the seven nations would have quite an impact on them.
Of course, there were also forces which originally depended on the seven nations who came here. They wanted to surrender under the Mu Te Sea Nation after its establishment.
It was crowded and lively. Eight huge statues were erected at the sides at the guest reception area outside the island and a blue carpet made of unknown material connected the seaside to the inner island.
The army of the seven nations was standing at the coast. It seemed like they were protecting the guests but they were actually showing off their military strength to the outsiders.
“Welcome, representatives of the Blue Sea Traders!”
“Welcome, representatives of the Captivating and Robbing Division!”
“Welcome, representatives of the Deep Sea Mermaid Clan!”
“Welcome, owner of Great Demon Island!”
…
Although the king of the Sha Shui Nation was full of smiles while welcoming the guests at the seaside, his heart was full of hatred.
As a king, he was ashamed to be assigned the position of the guest welcoming envoy by the Sea King.
According to the Sea King, all who come are guests, so he has to send someone with a noble status to welcome them.
None of the other kings objected to it at that point. Instead, they were united in turning against him, hoping that he would go.
The king of the Sha Shui Nation had a cowardly personality and weak national forces, hence he had no choice but to obey the Sea King’s orders even though he was extremely dissatisfied.
After interacting with the Sea King for a few days, he was familiar with his temper. He would be in a miserable situation if he dared to object to the Sea King’s decision.
After welcoming more than a dozen forces, Sha Shui sighed and lifted his head to look in the distance. He was astonished when he noticed an enormous fleet of warships slowly approaching.
These warships looked very mighty. They were emitting a metallic glow under the sun, like flashing sharp knives on the sea.
Important guests, they must be very important guests. The king of the Sha Shui Nation did not know which ocean force it was that would have such a big scale of warships.
Thinking that those were from some powerful force, Sha Shui worked a smile across his face and waited for the warships to come closer.