Chapter 248 — Chapter 248 Real-world Trading

"It’s okay, Yu Rou. Fortunately for us, your friend allowed me to stay here for free." Yuan said a moment later.

"Even if that’s the case, their actions are inexcusable! It’s like they’re doing everything they can to ruin your life! How can they do that to their own children?! That’s despicable!" Yu Rou sighed.

’Because I’m not really their child...’ Yuan sighed, feeling a strong urge to reveal everything to Yu Rou at this moment, but he’d managed to resist such urges at the end.

"Anyways, what should we do now? That bank account is no longer safe, so I will need to put my money somewhere else." Yuan asked her a moment later.

"I can open up a new account for you tomorrow, brother. But until you have enough money, I will pay for your expenses," Yu Rou said.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. How else are you going to pay for your food and other necessities? Although I’m not rich, I have more than enough to help you." Yu Rou said.

And she continued, "But you should really sell your in-game stuff as soon as possible, brother, as the value for gold in Cultivation Online has been decreasing lately since people are growing stronger, allowing them to grind gold at a faster rate, not to mention the number of new players joining the game everyday. It’s not really bad right now since the game is still fairly new and the rich people are buying as much gold as they can to upgrade their avatars, but every dollar counts, especially when the family is no longer supporting you."

"Hmm... How much are gold coins worth, anyway?" Yuan suddenly asked.

"Let me check real quick..."

Yu Rou proceeded to check on her phone.

"According to the most popular trading website right now, one gold is worth about 7 dollars, so it dropped a few bucks since the Wealth Leaderboards came out."

"Seven dollars for a single gold coin? That’s very profitable, no?" Yuan said in a surprised voice.

If he has one million gold coins, that’s about 7 million dollars in the real world!

"If you think about it, it’s not easy to earn money in Cultivation Online, and it usually takes on average three to four hours for the average player to earn a single gold coin. Of course, if you’re a powerful Cultivator who can fight high-level monsters, you can make much more by selling their materials and monster cores, but not many people are at that level. Even the top players just recently entered Spirit Warrior despite spending tens of millions of real-life money for Cultivation Online gold and treasures to boost their cultivations."

"Speaking of cultivation, what level are you at right now?" Yu Rou suddenly asked.

"Hm? Me? The peak of Spirit Warrior, about to enter Spirit Master." Yuan casually responded.

"Peak Spirit Warrior?!?!" Yu Rou’s jaw dropped after hearing his words.

Yuan had managed to surpass the top players by almost an entire realm without spending a single penny? That’s simply too crazy! Too overwhelming! The difference was too vast! Even if the top players spend hundreds of millions, they probably won’t be able to reach Yuan’s level!

’If the world knew of Brother Tian’s cultivation, they’d probably go crazy— even more than currently...’ Yu Rou thought to herself.

"S-Since you’re this powerful, it shouldn’t be a problem for you to earn gold in Cultivation Online. However, there is something even more precious than gold, and that is raw materials and treasures." Yu Rou then said.

And she continued, "Let’s say you have a million gold and a treasure worth one million gold. If you sold the gold coins, you’ll only get 7 million. However, if you sell the treasure, people will definitely pay more— at least 30 percent more. After all, treasures are more unique than gold, so it’s always better to sell resources and treasures."

"How much would a Divine-grade treasure sell for?" Yuan suddenly asked.

"Eh? Divine-grade? Do you intend on selling a treasure at that grade?" Yu Rou looked at him with a surprised expression.

"Yes. I obtained this Divine-grade zither after winning the competition, but I don’t really need it, as I already have another zither." Yuan said.

"A Divine-grade instrument... The families with a music background will go crazy for that. But I’m not sure about the price since nobody has sold anything even close to this grade before..."

"What’s the most expensive item that has been sold thus far? Xiao Hua sold a Heaven-grade with peak quality to an auction house for over 30 million gold coins before." Yuan said.

"T-Thirty million gold coins? That must be when you unlocked the Wealth Leaderboards. If you’d sold that in the market, you’d have earned at least 300 million dollars!" Yu Rou exclaimed.

"Well, yeah, but I don’t really consider that my money since it was Xiao Hua’s treasure that was sold," Yuan said.

"If you sell the Divine-grade zither, you can easily get half a billion dollars, Brother Tian! That’s more than enough to support yourself for many years! Are you going to sell it?" Yu Rou asked him.

"Yes. I plan on selling it. But how do I go about selling something so precious?"

"Indeed, you cannot sell something that precious in an ordinary market. However, I know just the place for expensive treasures— the auction house!" Yu Rou said.

"You can place the zither in an online auction house with a minimum starting price and the highest bidder gets to buy it."

"How will the trade work? Do I give them the treasure before or after they pay? Either way, this doesn’t seem safe." Yuan said.

After all, what if the buyer just logs off the game after receiving the item without paying? How can you chase the scammer, much less get your items back? Wait for them to log back on and kill them?

"Don’t worry, brother. Although it’s not perfect, there’s a system in place for that." Yu Rou said, and she proceeded to explain to him about the system in more detail.