Awesome AoE

You see, what I lack the most right now is an AoE skill, even if it's just a regular one!

"One hundred gold coins?"

But when Su Mu saw the price listed behind the skill, his eyes widened.

The number of players in ShenTu is immense. Even if the drop rate for skills is low, there's bound to be a lucky player who obtains one.

However, there's a reason why there's only this one skill available on the auction house. The ordinary leveling skills that are suitable for players have surely been absorbed internally by large corporations and won't be put up for sale.

On the other hand, this Fire Rain skill may appear impressive, but for the majority of mages, it can be considered lackluster.

Firstly, it has high mana consumption. With a mana cost of 200, a mage's mana pool must reach 20 points. Given the current levels of most mages, the number of mages capable of casting a rain of fire can be counted on one's fingers.

Furthermore, at this stage, warriors simply can't withstand such a large number of monsters. It's not feasible to have mages gather monsters on their own, right?

The key is that in order to achieve significant damage with this skill, a substantial investment of skill points is required. Wealthy mages certainly wouldn't waste their skill points on such a skill since they have someone to level up with.

"One hundred gold coins? It's unlikely to sell even if I put it up for three more days!"

The price of this skill is the most crucial factor to consider.

Remember, that Wild Boarman's Cleaver sold for just over fifty gold coins. In comparison, that axe provided a substantial increase in attack power. Who would be willing to spend one hundred gold coins on an AoE skill that has very little effect in the early stages?

"I'll negotiate the price!"

After thinking it over, Su Mu sent a private message to the consignor with the hidden name.

"A fixed price of 50 gold coins, I'll buy it instantly!"

Fifty gold coins is definitely not a small amount. Perhaps there are too many people interested in this skill book, as the consignor didn't reply immediately.

Su Mu wasn't in a hurry and patiently waited. If he could obtain this skill book, it would greatly enhance his efficiency in killing the Wild Boarmen in the camp, and the time spent wouldn't be wasted.

"Can you add a bit more?" After about ten minutes, he received a reply.

"I can't add more!" After seeing that message, Su Mu thought for a moment and directly replied.

There was suddenly no response from the other side.

Now Su Mu felt a bit uneasy. If the other party insisted on the price of one hundred gold coins, he wouldn't have a solution.

"Ah, in novels, the tactic of luring the enemy into the trap seems like a game, but why doesn't it work for me?" Su Mu sighed.

Fortunately, at that moment, he received another message: "60 gold coins. If you want it, I'll take it down, and we can trade directly!"

"60 gold coins are within my acceptable range, but if I agree too readily, the other party might raise the price."

Su Mu pondered deeply.

He didn't rush to reply, following the other party's tactic of keeping them waiting.

...

In a certain newbie village, a team of five mages were casting fireballs at level 5 wolves.

"Xiang Ge, what do we do if that person doesn't respond?" One of the mages couldn't help but ask after casting a fireball.

"Wait a little longer. Whoever speaks first at this moment will lose!" The person referred to as Xiang Ge was the last one to cast a fireball, killing the wolf.

"But this is already the highest bid. Among the current bids, apart from this guy's fifty gold coins, there's only another bid of twenty-five gold coins, which is exactly half the amount!" The mage couldn't contain his frustration.

"Why the rush? Currently, this skill doesn't seem to have much value. But after a while, it will definitely sell. If worse comes to worst, we can learn it ourselves!" Xiang Ge looked at his anxious subordinate and shook his head.

"But the value of gold coins now is completely different from the value later!" The subordinate's expression became somewhat helpless.

"Yeah, Xiang Ge, I heard that the value of gold coins is starting to depreciate now, and it's depreciating quickly!" The other subordinates also chimed in.

"Is that so?" Xiang Ge furrowed his brow.

He was different from those big conglomerates. He was the guild leader of a well-established gaming guild and considered himself a somewhat wealthy second-generation rich. However, his wealth was insignificant compared to those big shots in the game.

"It's true. It seems that most people have realized that achieving success in God's Journey is not that easy, so they're all planning to earn money by farming gold. As soon as they have some copper coins, they immediately sell them."

"Yeah, now there are specialized copper coin traders in every newbie village, and they've pushed the prices down. And as everyone's levels increase, the amount of gold coins dropped by monsters will also increase, leading to the devaluation of gold coins!"

The subordinates spoke one after another.

"Uh!"

Upon hearing their words, Xiang Ge became hesitant. He was well aware that if he learned the Fire Rain skill, it probably wouldn't be useful for a long time.

"Then reply to that guy: 50 gold coins, direct transaction at the auction house, and he covers the transaction fee!"

"Got it."

...

"No response yet?"

Sitting on the ground in the boar camp, Su Mu frowned.

"Bro, 50 gold coins are fine, but you have to cover the transaction fee. We'll list it for 55 gold coins, and you can buy it instantly!"

A message suddenly popped up.

"List it for 40 gold coins, or forget it."

Su Mu thought for a moment and directly lowered the price.

This time, the other party remained silent for a few minutes before sending a message: "Bro, that's not fair. Why are you lowering the price?"

"Then you can sell it slowly. No need to reply!" Su Mu didn't mince his words and closed the private chat.

Sitting in place, Su Mu opened the auction house and silently waited.

As expected, after more than ten minutes, the price of the Fire Rain skill was changed to 50 gold coins.

"There's still room for price reduction!"

Su Mu didn't choose to buy it and continued to wait.

After another ten minutes or so, the price of the skill was indeed changed to 40 gold coins.

"Hehe!"

This time, Su Mu didn't hesitate and directly selected the buyout option.

After deducting 40 gold coins from his inventory, he was left with around three hundred and something gold coins. And in his inventory, he now had the skill book.

[Do you want to learn Fire Rain?]

"Yes!"

[Small Fire Rain successfully upgraded to Small Fire Rain (E rank)]

[Small Fire Rain (E rank) successfully upgraded to Small Fire Rain (D rank)]

...

[Small Fire Rain (A rank) successfully upgraded to Big Fire Rain (S rank)]

[Big Fire Rain (S rank): Summons a rain of fire within a 30-meter radius at the target location, dealing 300% magical damage to enemies within the area. Consumes 500 mana, instant cast, cooldown of 60 seconds.]

"This is great!"

As the skill reached S rank, Su Mu couldn't help but smile.

Although the mana cost of 500 points was very high, the threefold increase in magical damage was remarkable.

The key was the skill's 30-meter range, which allowed him to envelop both ranged and melee enemies.

"A mage with area-of-effect skills is a true mage!"

Walking to the entrance of the camp, Su Mu began adjusting the casting range of the skill.

He could cast the skill anywhere within a 30-meter range.

In other words, as long as he cast the skill from a position within 30 meters, he could attack monsters up to 60 meters away!

"Big Fire Rain!"

Directly targeting the area with the densest concentration of monsters, Su Mu unleashed a rain of fire.