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I glance warily at the stalls I pass Some sell virtual Warcross itelittering capes, leather boots and platinu elixirs and treasure chests Others sell illegal, real-world iteht delivery for cases of thirty and up Another sells drugs--the stall is set up as professionally as any online shopping site, where you add graes delivered to your doorstep two days later, and leave custo your identity A third stall hawks diet pills not approved by health departments, while another offers discounts to watch a farimace and look away There are stalls for stolen artwork, poached ivory, currency exchange between virtual notes and bitcoins and Japanese yen, and, of course, gaaht now for the final tournament--and the amounts are astronopurchases at that vendor The nu stall says 10,254 Ten thousand peoplestall alone I can only ia shops like the Pirate’s Den It’s another re the final game, and it e a huge chunk ofthis iven just a fewon to thison as the nue from one type to another Then I continue on Finally, I reach the intersection of the Silk Road and Big Top Alley When I look down the alley, I see the vendor I’ for: the Emerald Emporium, home to expensive, valuable, and very, very rare power-ups

The outside looks like an enorold stripes that glitter under the strings of lights The flaps of the tent’s entrance curve to both sides, revealing a yawning, pitch-black hole into which a velvet carpet extends An immediate, instinctive fear hits the back ofin the woods at h the black space of a gnarled tree trunk, I’d nearly had a panic attack Everything in darkness looks like fragers the sa into the black unknown, beyond which is so entrance is all part of the vendor’s security shell, to deter -shoppers If you’re too scared to enter, then you’re probably too scared to make purchases

A pair of twins on stilts stand on either side of the entrance They lean doard me as I approach, their faces painted white and their eyes completely black "Password," they say in unison, their frowns identical At the sa box appears in the center ofof thirty-five jumbled letters, numbers, and symbols The twins consider for aarms for me to enter the Emporium I take a deep breath and step forward

Inside is coten steps, I stop and turn to htin a long, elaborate combination like this until I finally take twenty steps forward and stop coet past this second security shell, they’ll get trapped entirely in the darkness It’ll then take them weeks to reclaim their lost avatar and account

I reach out and knock To my relief, a rap-rap-rap sounds out as I do so, as if I were knocking on wood A gate slides up, and I enter the enorling bulbs

Shelves and pedestals are everywhere, displaying glass jars inside which are power-ups of all kinds--scarlet gems and white marbles, rainbow-hued balls of fuzz and blue-striped cubes, black-and-white-checkered spheres, and clear, soap-like bubbles Soaain, while others are prototypes, still in development at Henka Games but yet so the with its starting bid price Sudden Death: N46,550 Alien Attack: N150,000

Clusters of anony excitedly Security bots glide around the floor, looking like ladies with -nosed masks and black parasols I study their movements There is always a pattern to the way theycart icon floats in my vie, as well as a field that I can type an alass jars on display, before I finally find one on a pedestal, inside which is a marble that looks like a frozen crystal ball, its surface adorned with beautiful feathers of frost

Tea description above it, immobilize the entire eneathered around this glass jar all have auction paddles, and I realize that an auction is happening for it right now I join in, accepting a paddle fro this auction noo of the over fro next to the glass jar is a little girl, the auctioneer, wearing a top hat nearly as tall as herself "Two hundred and fifty-one thousand notes!" she says at a loud, rapid clip "Do I hear two fifty-two?" Someone raises their paddle "Two fifty-two! Do I hear two fifty-three?"

The bidding goes on and on, until it narron to a battle between two users I watch thehest bid is now 295,000 notes, and the second user is hesitating on raising the bid to 300,000 The little girl continues to shout out the nuhest-bidding avatar straightens, puffing his chest out in exciteirl says, looking around "Two ninety-five going once, going twice--"

I raise my paddle and call out, "Four hundred"

All eyes whirl to irl points at ! Do I hear four hundred and one?" She looks around the tent, but no one budges The other avatar glares at me with a look of murder, but I’irl claps incart icon suddenly updates, the nu, and my number of notes drops by 400,000 At the salass jar on the pedestal, and the other avatars start to wander off, h, his eyes still on me--as are the eyes of the security bots

I thank the auctioneer, then go to look at the rest of the jars I can still afford to spend another et

I join a second auction happening for a power-up that looks like a round, growling, fuzzy black creature with two large paws Artifact King If your ene this power-up will autoht into your hands, instantly winning your tea bid is 500,000 notes

Again, the auctioneer calls out the rapidly rising bids Again, it boils down to a few active bidders I’ainst one other opponent, and yet still, he won’t back down Finally, in frustration, I thron an amount that I know is hty!" the auctioneer exclaims 880,000 notes

I wince at the dent this makes in my funds, then check my backpack to make sure both items are properly stored In real life, I run a scan to see if anyone is trying to break into my inventory Rich users will so items Other users will then lie in wait until the rich user has turned his back, then hack into his inventory and steal those power-ups A couple of avatars have already turned their attention to me after my two purchases, and their interest makes the hairs rise on the back of my neck

I have less than 200,000 notes left, which won’t buy aht be able to target in order to steal myself one more valuable power-up Finally, I settle on an auction happening for an iteht up I’ve never even heard of this one before--leading al, user-created iteives you the te in a Warcross level Perfect

The auction is al narrowed to two users, but this ti behind the security bots as the price continues to climb Eventually, it tapers off, stuck on nearly a million notes as one of the users hesitates