In the capital city of Hanjiang City, Shangjing, Jiang Yuan stood before the "Ministry of Works Clerk" NPC, carefully browsing through the land plots of various major alliances in the main world.
After a while, Jiang Yuan somewhat dejectedly discovered that the geographical location of his own Hanjiang City alliance was terrible. Only a few land plots in Shangjing and Youzhou were available for auction, far inferior to the other three alliances.
"Zhongzhou, Gusu, Yuhang, Qingzhou, Jizhou, Bashu—I can't bid on any of these places. How infuriating!"
After looking for a bit, Jiang Yuan grew annoyed. Every plot he fancied was off-limits because none belonged to the Hanjiang City alliance.
Helpless, Jiang Yuan had to check the realm land plots. Opening the auction list for realm land, he found the competition even fiercer than in the main world—many realm plots had already been snapped up!
Realm land offered a much wider selection of maps. For instance, Jiang Yuan could choose Zhongzhou and Bingzhou under Emperor Prefecture, Jizhou, Qingzhou, and Bashu under the Ten Thousand Mile Alliance, or the best-environment maps like Jiangnan, Yuhang, Gusu, and Jianghuai under the Tianbo Mansion alliance.
"Realm maps are the real deal!"
Jiang Yuan grinned happily as he looked at the auction list, speaking with delight.
In the end, Jiang Yuan selected the Yuhang realm under the Tianbo Mansion alliance and clicked on it. Instantly, a large map of the Yuhang realm appeared before his eyes.
On this Yuhang realm map, Jiang Yuan immediately spotted a plot numbered "Yuhang Haomen 01" by the West Lake.
As mentioned earlier, land plots are divided into main world and realm plots based on location, and by type into "Good Residence," "Grand Mansion," and "Haomen" (Luxury Estate).
The plot Jiang Yuan had his eye on, numbered "Yuhang Haomen 01," was the only luxury estate at the heart of West Lake. Looking around, one could take in the stunning views of Leifeng Pagoda, Broken Bridge, and Three Pools Mirroring the Moon!
"This is the one!"
Jiang Yuan stared at the plot for several minutes, liking it more and more. He immediately made the decision to bid on it.
"Ding! Would you like to participate in the auction for the realm land plot 'Yuhang Haomen 01'? Starting bid: 10,000 gold coins!"
A prompt sounded. Jiang Yuan glanced at the starting price, found it acceptable, and chose to agree.
"Ding! Bid successful!"
With another prompt, a small yellow flag bearing Jiang Yuan's avatar appeared above the plot numbered "Yuhang Haomen 01," indicating that the plot had entered the auction process.
Soon, a prompt rang in Jiang Yuan's ears, informing him that someone had outbid him and he needed to make a second bid.
The auction for land plots lasted ten minutes. Each player had three chances to bid. If their third bid was surpassed, they lost the right to continue competing for that plot.
Jiang Yuan opened the auction list, found the realm plot, and checked it. A player named "That Year's Me and This Year's You" had outbid him with 20,000 gold, temporarily securing the bidding rights for this plot!
"I'll just add 10,000 straight—30,000 gold!"
The auction rules stipulated that each bid for realm land must increase by at least 5,000 gold. For his first bid, Jiang Yuan had offered 15,000 gold. This time, he directly added 10,000 gold, hoping to force the other player to give up.
Unexpectedly, a minute later, "That Year's Me and This Year's You" did the same as Jiang Yuan, adding 10,000 gold in return, once again surpassing Jiang Yuan's 30,000 gold bid!
After one round of back-and-forth, Jiang Yuan had been thwarted twice, leaving him with only his final bidding chance. If his third bid was still suppressed by this player, he would have to let go of this coveted plot.
Glancing at the time, there were just over four minutes left until the auction ended. Jiang Yuan didn't blindly raise the bid. Instead, he opened the rankings and quickly scanned the Wealth Leaderboard.
Scrolling down, he finally found the player named "That Year's Me and This Year's You" at rank 26 on the Wealth Leaderboard. It clearly showed that the player had a total of 63,700 gold coins.
After secretly checking the other player's assets, Jiang Yuan felt more confident. Smiling slightly, he directly placed a bid of 70,000 gold!
He offered 70,000 gold because he feared the other player might still have gold bars, diamonds, or other items convertible to gold coins, given that he only had one bid left.
With three minutes left on the countdown, the other player hadn't responded yet.
At two minutes, there was still no action from the opponent. The bid list still showed Jiang Yuan's third offer of 70,000 gold. But Jiang Yuan checked the Wealth Leaderboard and noticed that the other player's rank had risen to 23, and their total gold had increased to 77,100!
"Just as I thought—he's selling off everything convertible to gold coins!"
In just one minute, the opponent had gained over 13,000 gold. Jiang Yuan's heart was in his throat. If the other player scraped together 75,000 gold, they would surpass him and take the plot!
The final minute of the auction countdown felt agonizingly long to Jiang Yuan. Every second was a torment!
64,000, 65,000, 70,000!
With just over twenty seconds left on the countdown, the opponent's total gold reached 70,000, making Jiang Yuan, who had been so confident, suddenly tense up!
"Damn it! I should have just raised the price to 100,000 gold. It's not like I don't have the money!"
Jiang Yuan was kicking himself now. He still had dozens of gold bars in his inventory that he hadn't converted. He had thought 70,000 gold would be enough to intimidate the opponent, but in the end, it was his own carelessness that almost cost him!
Finally, as the countdown ended, the realm plot numbered "Yuhang Haomen 01" wasn't snatched from Jiang Yuan's hands. He took one last look at the opponent's wealth, which had stopped at 71,400 gold!
"Phew! That was close—just over a thousand gold short!"
Jiang Yuan wiped the sweat from his forehead, a testament to his nervousness. He silently thanked his luck. Since he started playing this game, he had never been this tense!
"Ding! Congratulations on successfully winning the bid for the realm land plot, numbered 'Yuhang Haomen 01.' The land deed and house deed have been sent to your mailbox. Please check!"
A prompt sounded, and Jiang Yuan finally got what he wanted, securing the Yuhang realm plot for 70,000 gold!
Checking his mailbox, he saw an envelope-shaped icon glowing brightly!
Leaving the "Ministry of Works Clerk" NPC, Jiang Yuan went to the messenger and collected the land deed and house deed for the Yuhang realm plot, Haomen 01.
"What are these two pieces of paper for?"
Returning to the "Ministry of Works Clerk" NPC, Jiang Yuan waved the land deed and house deed and asked.
"Congratulations, warrior, on successfully winning the land bid. Please hand over the land deed to me for registration, and take the house deed to the 'Ministry of Works Craftsman.' They will build your house for you."
After the "Ministry of Works Clerk" finished speaking, Jiang Yuan handed over the land deed. The NPC took it, scribbled a few lines on the auction list with a brush, and Jiang Yuan saw a small note appear next to the Yuhang realm's Haomen 01 plot: "Successfully bid by player Jiang Yuan!"