The introductions wrapped up quickly. There was plenty of surprise and disbelief, but after the excitement settled, everyone turned their attention to the matter that had brought them together.
"Stone, to avoid attracting too much attention and making people jealous, once your screening revenue passes five billion gold, transfer the excess out of the Nightmare Auction House and convert it into dollars."
Boss Blaze handed him a gold card.
"Stone, this card is linked directly to your auction account. Youāre the only one who can access the funds on it. Right now, it contains 9,857,690,000 gold, which is the total screening revenue from this cycle. However, the system handles recordings differently from normal auctions. Instead of taking the standard 2% fee, it takes 10%. After that deduction, your actual earnings come to 8,857,690,000 gold."
He pointed to the red button embedded in the card.
"If those numbers look right, press this. The system will settle everything automatically and transfer the 8,857,690,000 gold into your account."
"Got it."
Marcus accepted the card and pressed the button without hesitation.
The transfer completed instantly.
Combined with the gold he already had, his wealth jumped past everyone elseās once again, returning him to the top of the Wealth Leaderboard with over 9.2 billion gold.
He opened the rankings and glanced through them.
Wealth Leaderboard
1. Name Hidden - 9,258,210,000 Gold
2. CryptoWarlord - 612,500,000 Gold
3. Old Vine - 554,120,000 Gold
4. GoldDiggerIRL - 572,410,000 Gold
5. Hexium - 250,120,000 Gold
6. InfernoFiend001 - 232,540,000 Gold
7. Demonic Dragon - 201,250,000 Gold
8. Blaze Phoenix - 174,890,000 Gold
9. ThreeleafDad - 100,570,000 Gold
10. SoulfireBlade - 135,810,000 Gold
A faint smile appeared on Marcusās face.
The difference was absurd.
Everyone below him was competing for second place while he sat in a league of his own.
It was obvious that the Merchant Alliance Auction House, Old Vine Auction House, and Gold Coin Auction House had already started expanding into the recording-screening business. Otherwise, their wealth wouldnāt have risen so quickly, nor would they have overtaken so many large guilds in such a short period.
Even so, Marcus wasnāt concerned.
His recordings were the reason viewers were willing to spend money in the first place. The other auction houses could imitate the business model, but they couldnāt reproduce the content. No matter how hard they tried, he doubted the combined daily revenue of all three could match what his recordings generated alone.
In the end, quality was what mattered. And nobody else had access to the kind of footage he could provide.
"Youāve all worked hard," Marcus said with a grin. "Go ahead and name your reward. We should celebrate."
Only three recordings had been screened so far, and the returns were already beyond anything he had imagined. The future of the Nightmare Auction House looked brighter than ever.
"Celebrating is mandatory."
Drunkard was the first to respond.
"But honestly, besides eating and drinking, there isnāt much else we can do. And letās not forget that Stone still owes us two meals."
"Exactly!"
Invincible Strong immediately joined in.
"In a little over ten days, Stone made nine billion gold. Thatās nine hundred million dollars. Forget our city, forget the country. There arenāt many people in the world making money at that speed."
He paused to think before snapping his fingers.
"Iāve got it. Everyone picks a destination. Once we hit level fifty, we take a trip together. Stone pays for everything."
"Works for me."
Marcus agreed without even pretending to hesitate.
"Itās been a while since weāve all gotten together in person anyway. This gives us a good excuse."
As he spoke, he couldnāt help doing the math again. More than nine hundred million dollars in a little over ten days. An average of roughly ninety million dollars a day.
Pure profit.
Outside of major corporations and massive state-owned enterprises, there probably werenāt many individuals in the world earning money at that pace.
And this was only the beginning.
The auction house had screened just three of his recordings. The demand wasnāt slowing down anytime soon, which meant the stream of revenue would continue for a long time.
"Then itās settled," Boss Blaze said. "Once everyone reaches level fifty, weāll arrange the gathering."
As always, he naturally took charge of organizing things.
The atmosphere relaxed for a moment before Blazeās expression became serious.
"Now that Stone has returned from the Mystic Turtleās Tomb and everyoneās present, itās a good time to officially finalize the revenue distribution plan weāve been discussing in the squad channel."
The group immediately focused.
"The Nightmare Auction House handles auctions for our own equipment, weapons, and recordings. For those, aside from the system fees, the auction house doesnāt take a share. Everything belongs to the owner of the item."
Blaze nodded toward Marcus.
"Take Stoneās recordings as an example. He only pays the systemās 10% screening fee. The remaining revenue is entirely his."
"The distribution weāre discussing today only applies to income earned from auctioning and screening content for other players."
He paused briefly.
"And thatās going to be a huge source of revenue."
Everyone understood what he meant.
Stoneās recordings had made the Nightmare Auction House famous almost overnight.
Not only had they broken the long-standing dominance of the Old Vine, Merchant Alliance, and Gold Coin auction houses, but their popularity, reputation, and daily gold income had already surpassed all three.
The future potential was obvious to everyone present.
"Once Stoneās recordings finish their current run, weāll start accepting more recordings and auction listings from outside players. When that happens, our earnings should at least be comparable to those of the Old Vine, Merchant Alliance, and Gold Coin auction houses."
Blaze looked around the room before continuing.
"Stone contributed the most. Without Stone, there would be no Nightmare Auction House, no current success, and no future worth talking about. Because of that, Stone receives 30%."
Nobody reacted. They had already discussed this many times.
"Path to Heaven and I will each receive 12%. The remaining 46% will be divided equally among Thunder, DragonBlade, Cleaver, Fateās Trial, Drunkard, Gloomy Arrow, and Invincible Strong."
He continued calmly.
"Since Path to Heaven and I are taking larger shares, weāll also be responsible for managing the auction houseās daily operations, business partnerships, events, and administration."
Only after explaining everything did Blaze ask the question that mattered.
"Any objections?"
"No."
"None."
"Sounds good to me."
The responses came one after another without hesitation. The plan had already been discussed thoroughly, and everyone considered it fair.
In truth, Marcus had argued against receiving such a large share.
From his perspective, 20% was more than enough. He rarely had time to help manage the auction house anyway, and most of the operational work would fall on Blaze and Path to Heaven.
Unfortunately for him, nobody agreed. Every vote had gone against him.
In the end, the group had unanimously decided that 30% was exactly what he deserved.