THE MOMENT
"It's not that I don't have a use for them...," Leego tried to be courteous about the trouble. The heroic ranger was standing in the adventurer's guild, talking to the clerk, the only person he knew who might help. "I didn't expect an army of minions as a reward for defeating the Dark Lord, and I really don't have the mental bandwidth to deal with how intensely loyal they are. Is there anything I can do with them?"
"There's a market," the friendly clerk nodded with a smile. "You can use your Slate to list them on the omni-trade, or you can also offload them quite easily on the Schoolyard server. However, they'll go for rock bottom there; your best bet is the omni-trade if you care about coming out ahead."
"Oh." Leego hadn't even considered that possibility. However, he was still new-ish to the AlterNet and hadn't quite transitioned his default mindset yet. "Hey, thanks," he nodded with a smile, and the clerk waved as he walked away. He wandered out of the adventurer's guild and to a nearby plaza. It was midday with a cool breeze and plenty of others around, a healthy mix of players and NPCs as far as he could tell.
The elven archer summoned his Slate with an upward flick of his wrist and navigated the menus to the omni-trade. He opened his inventory full of minions and moved them all over, with the going rates populating automatically. Each server had its own economy, but omni-trade was the meta-auction house connecting them all through official multiversal banks. He'd been thrilled when he could earn millions in his local currency just by spending a couple of hours adventuring. Then, he learned his local currency didn't have much value on the multiversal market. It was somewhat disappointing, but still amazing that he could vendor monster parts for cash if he ever needed to. He didn't spend much time on his home Earth anymore, and he hadn't needed to in some time.
He confirmed the transaction and waited. The good thing about infinite multiverses was that someone was always buying anything. And, he was still surprised when a black portal instantly opened in front of him. A blonde teenage girl with a green streak in her bangs smiled at him.
"Hey, I'm Aurora, you selling minions?" she asked. He nodded as a second portal opened and an older, heavier male teen with bushy hair stepped out.
"I'll buy -," he stopped, looked at the girl, then sighed. ".. anything she doesn't," he said. The girl giggled in response.
"I'm taking the whole army," she nodded.
"You don't have to sell her all of them," the latecomer reminded Leego. He shifted his weight and stood up straighter to cross his arms, as if prepared to wait for anything left.
"She was here first," Leego shrugged.
"Deal?" she offered Leego a golden glowing cube about the size of a grapefruit.
"Deal," he nodded, and she placed the cube on his Slate. It dissolved onto the glassy surface, then the army was transferred to her inventory. "It's been a pleasure," he waved as he walked away to avoid the glare of the older teen, and as he left he heard him turn to the girl.
"You selling?" he asked her before Leego was out of earshot.
"No," she giggled. "Not to you." Unbeknownst to Leego, the pair of buyers was father and daughter with a complicated relationship.
"What do you even need an army for? You're a super villain, not a dark lord."
"Minions, henchmen, same thing," she smirked. "Besides, I need a ton because I've been going through them kind of fast."
".. you have been climbing..," he said it as uncomplimentary as he could. Her smile grew brighter; he'd noticed her rank. "...how? Doing what with the minions?" he asked. She was suddenly in a hurry to leave and opened a black portal. The last thing she wanted was for him to realize he encouraged her just by knowing her rankings. She dashed through the portal with a wave and a final answer to his question.
"Mosh pit."