The man with a plaque showing his virtual sword.

What kind of sword would you be willing to dish out $16,000 for? Maybe a well-made katana from the 14th century or perhaps a ceremonial sword used by the heroes of the Revolutionary War?

One Chinese man decided to buy an epic sword called the “Hook of Departure” for that amount of money. The only catch is that it’s a virtual sword for a video game.

The sword is for a game called the Age of Wulin, which is a huge multiplayer online role-playing game like the World of Warcraft but set in ancient China.

We poked fun at Nicholas Cage a while back for buying a $2,000 knife made with mammoth ivory simply to cut his steak with. The difference between those who buy outrageously expensive things for trivial purposes and this man is that his sword doesn’t exist.

The kicker of the whole thing is that when he bought the sword back in December, the game wasn’t even out yet. It was set to release in China soon with an English version coming our way in spring.

I often fantasize about what I’d do if I won the lottery or acquired a couple thousand dollars. Sure that amount of money is nothing when you have a few million dollars, but it’s hard to imagine spending money on something that only exists in reality for a game that will be outdated in a few years.

Among the other items sold for the game in advance are a sheath and another sword that went for $2,500 and $1,600 respectively.

Check out a trailer of the game to see if you want to buy a several thousand dollar sword for it.