Dragorugio's changes ended up being on both extreme ends. It had simultaneously been greatly buffed and greatly nerfed.
The situation surrounding the evolvable set had always been complex. The system hadn't been able to Rank it properly because of how it had been created.
At the time, Draco had been making multiple sets of equipment that ended up being Semi-Epic items, and such items still had stats like all Common, Uncommon and Rare items. Only true Epic and above items ruled out the need for stats thanks to their active and passive skills.
As such, it still had stats and only two basic effects. However, the issue was that one of the Semi-Epic sets had been infused with a hefty amount of Sacred Force and Source Origin of a Divine Dragon, courtesy of the Dragon Soul.
As such, it mutated and started to possess fraudulent stats for its Rank. It had been granting Draco maximal Fire Mastery, a boosted attack, as well as defense.
It had also allowed him to gain the Source Origin of a High-Rank Dragon as well as the original Dragon's Roar.
Then, Draco had unlocked his bloodline. After that happened, he had gained two new benefits, genetic compatibility and bloodline compatibility.
Genetic compatibility allowed him to i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.e NPCs and players, assuming they also had genetic compatibility.
Bloodline compatibility, on the other hand, allowed him to learn skills and use items related to his bloodline.
As soon as he logged in, his Draconic Heritage resonated with the former Guinevere's Necklace and the previous Dragorugio set to create the infused versions, which were much stronger and contained even more unique effects.
This allowed the system to quantify the previously left '???' set as Epic, which was also evolvable due to the inherent Divine Energy in it.
He had consequently gained Darkness Mastery and the Source Origin of a Supreme Ranked Dragon.
The Dragorugio set - in essence - became the way he could display his Draconic characteristics in Boundless, as it had merged with his black mass.
The skills the individual items had gained were great, extremely so. They gave Draco a myriad of ways to maximize his versatility in battle.
However, that was all in the past now.
His previously Maxed out Fire Mastery and Darkness Mastery had been taken away, and the same had been applied to the Maxed Fire Resistance and Darkness Resistance.
Based on the scale of what he had gained and lost, Draco judged that it was roughly equal.
Mastery only helped in learning spells. He had already used it to learn Armageddon which was one of the strongest spells he knew of in that family of spells.
As for Darkness Mastery... it never meant much to him, because Riveting Night already had the ultimate skill, Shadow Veil.
The loss of the Resistance, on the other hand, was terrible. Someone else might cry at this point, but he was strong enough to feel no fear before any flames on this earth.
After all, he still had the source of the former boon, the Dragon Soul.
As for the darkness aspect of it, it wasn't a problem as darkness fell under Destruction Energy. It was precisely because it came from his own Draconic affiliation that he had gained that resistance.
It was the set effects that made Draco feel pained and happy. The +1,000 MP had changed to +1,000 STA, which was much more useful to him.
One shouldn't forget, he hardly used spells or the like, so it didn't make sense for him to have that boon.
However, his passive and active skill had been… nerfed? No, they were converted.
They had changed from static skills with no clear condition for an upgrade - as the Dragorugio armor never specified how it could be upgraded - to growth skills that increased in power with every Rank up.
Following this trend, Draco estimated that he should recover his Supreme Rank at Rank 4, evolve it to God Rank at Rank 5 and at Rank 6...
He had no idea what it would be.
He should evolve to become something above a God-Rank Dragon, which should be impossible, but Draco wasn't going to pretend he understood 100% of the lore of Boundless.
If it weren't the Flora and Fauna Quest, Draco would not have been privy to the secretive knowledge he had gained, like the Ultima Sunt and the true State of Being rankings.
If it wasn't for Vadoma, he wouldn't even know about Origin Gods and True Gods until much later into the future.
If it weren't for the Elf King, he wouldn't know how Divine items existed in this realm even though the Gods had receded into heaven.
So, something above God Rank Dragons might have existed, and Draco felt that he had been given a path to it. He didn't even have to put in extra work, he just needed to Rank up naturally.
The same went for the Black Dragon's Roar. The absurd 30x damage, where x was his total attack damage, had been reduced to 5x. Assuming the multiplicator increased in fives, he would regain its original power by Rank 6.
At Rank 7, it would become stronger. Not only that, but its range and cooldown had been buffed. It would become an even more versatile skill in battle.
All-in-all, this rebalance patch was logical. Some things were taken away and some things were given. Some things were changed from something useless to something useful while others from something useful to something not so useful.
Draco and Riveting Night shared a look before shrugging.
Ultimately it didn't matter anyway, because in this timeline - thanks to their knowledge and their current foundation - they could both acquire Epic and Legendary items if they tried really hard and went above the mark.
As for Divine items, one needed providence. Draco had some hints to get a few, but he knew he was far too weak to acquire them just yet. Examples were the Tower of Babylon, the Refinement God's Treasury and the Vault of the Deep.
Draco checked his skills that would be affected by these changes, like the Aether Conversion skill.
｢Aether Conversion – Passive skill
Effect: You are able to convert Worldly Energy to Aetheric Energy at a rate of 1 crystal per quarter-hour. Crystals vary in quality and are always above the low rank.｣
However, nothing had changed, After all, the skill was boosted 500% by the Dragon Soul's passive skill. This meant that for the purpose of the skill, Draco was still a Supreme-Ranked Black Dragon.
However…
"Why hadn't this ever worked before?" Draco asked with a confused expression.
(Author's Reply: Because I am forgetful, and without my lovely readers and devilishly evil editor, I would never have found out. Come and kowtow to your creator here for giving you these blessings.)
Draco shook his head and walked away. "Now I am even hearing the voice of an idiot on my head."
(Author's Reply: …)
Draco decided to leave the Fleeting Forest with the remaining members of Umbra as well as Gentle Flower and Noble Soul. Unfortunately, Yui and the whole of Meiren had perished, but there had been nothing he could do to save them this time around.
The group returned to the Portal Center of Cario City. It had been just over an hour or slightly more, yet it felt like days had passed. In this Guild War, many things had happened one after the other, all of which were intense.
Now, he was going to move onto the second phase of his current checklist, which was to re-open recruitment for Umbra and swallow up 10,000 players, as well as 2,500 crafters.
Of course, the terms of recruitment wouldn't be changed. At present, they were already almost impossible to complete. If they made it any harder, Umbra could boast a fail rate of 99.9%!
This would be extremely counterintuitive, so Draco naturally chose to keep it as is.
Gentle Flower and Noble Soul turned to Draco with looks that were mixed with respect and motivation. They respected Draco's talent and acc.u.mulations, but they burned with motivation to reach and also surpass him.
Draco wasn't surprised by their outlook. After all, these two had managed to become God-tier players like him. If they didn't have at least this much zest in them, they would never have reached that level.
"Mister Draco, thank you for leading us through that strenuous event. I won't need to send any bill to Umbra for your help, but know that Kamisuo will always be an ally of Umbra."
Gentle Flower bowed nobly and smiled at Draco. Her mannerisms and speech always made one feel comfortable and clean.
"Umbra will always remain an ally of Kamisuo as well." Riveting Night replied lightly.
Noble Soul clenched his fists. "Us Desecrators are thankful too, but we won't always need your help. One day, we will rise above Umbra and then we'll carry you through catastrophic events!!"
Noble Soul's noble goal resonated with everyone, and had there been heroic music in the background with a flag billowing in the wind, it would have been perfect.
As it were, everyone gazed at him strangely, while Draco simply laughed. "I look forward to that day."
The two Guildmasters then left to handle the aftermath of the event, leaving the Evil Duo, Sublime Notion, Rina, Fitter Cleric, and Dreary Traveler behind.
They traveled through the empty Cario City - since players hadn't respawned yet - and entered the Rank 7 Guild Hall.
Dreary Traveler spoke in a raspy voice. "I shall take my leave. I have an item to empower."
He didn't even wait for confirmation and just left. Draco and Riveting Night weren't bothered, as they knew about Dreary Traveler from their past lives, but the others couldn't help but feel like he was a bit…
Draco turned to the rest and said. "Follow me to my room. We have some matters to discuss there."
They nodded and went to the super mini small world room at the top of the Guild Hall. Once there, they sat on a couch opposite the Evil Duo and patiently waited for Draco to start speaking again.
Draco faced Rina first. "Now that you have one Legendary and one Epic growth item, it's time for you to enter seclusion and upgrade them. I'll send you a list of areas that give the most lucrative loot and experience on the continent."
"For the next few months, you will be traveling across the continent. Every three days, you will enter a random Field Zone and use Supernova to cull as many monsters as possible. On the days where the skill is on cooldown, you will enter dungeons and attempt the survival modes."
Draco sent Rina a great list of co-ordinates which he naturally remembered perfectly thanks to his eidetic memory concerning his future memories.
She received them and gripped her Staff tightly. She had received so many favors from Draco... to the point that she felt burdened by them.
The old Rina would have laughed and called him a pushover, but her way of thinking had greatly changed.
Money from men? Who needed that when she could make millions auctioning all the gold she had acquired so far? As such, she became fully independent and didn't have to tread down the path her mother took.
Now that she had achieved this, she took notice of Draco in a not-so-good way. He had changed from her handsome boss who was a Control master to the object of her extreme desire.
The more he kept bestowing her with gifts and attention, the more she felt her own self-restraint slipping. Rina got up and bowed, then rushed out of the super mini small world room.
Draco wasn't paying attention to such things, but Riveting Night was. She noticed the slight wetness where Rina sat, opting to use her active Control to examine Rina's body.
What Riveting Night found made her eyes glint under her hood, and she smirked slightly.
Draco turned to Fitter Cleric. "Here are our chests. Please open them for us."
Fitter Cleric nodded and took the 6 Epic chests in hand. He then chose to open them all in one go.
As was normal with Epic items, all 6 chests glowed exuberantly before dimming down. 6 items hovered in mid-air, glowing with endless splendor and majesty.
｢Reinhold – Shield
Rank: Epic
Durability: 500,000/500,000
Passive 1 – Dispersion: Attacks that land on this shield have a 30% of the incoming damage dispersed into the air.
Active 1 – Shield Toss: Throw the item like a boomerang, dealing 130% blunt damage and stunning the target for 5 seconds. The Shield will return to the arm of the user. Cooldown: 10 minutes.｣
｢Manticore Contract – Consumable
Rank: Epic (50% effectiveness)
Effect: Allows one to gain a Manticore mount with offensive capabilities.｣
｢End of the World – War Weapon
Rank: Epic
Durability: 500,000/500,000
Passive 1 – Unlimited Ammunition: Worldly Energy is used as the fuel for each round. The charging time is 3 seconds per shot.
Active 1 – Annihilation: Demolish everything within 100 miles. Cooldown: 1 day.｣
｢Veil of Eternity – Ornamental Item
Rank: Epic
Durability: 500,000/500,000
Passive 1 – Eternal Beauty: While worn, this veil maintains the beauty of the wearer for as long as they live.
Active 1 – Eternal Youth: Return one's youthful shape to the peak for as long as they live. One-time use.
Note: The item will be destroyed after use.｣
｢Intelligence – Epic Tradeskill
Effect: Learn how to create a perfect intelligence network that can never be detected and covers the entire world.｣
｢Meteor – Active Skill (Terramancer only)
Rank: Epic
Effect: Summon a rain of meteors upon an Area Zone, which deals 300% earth damage.
Note: Max Earth Mastery required.
Duration: 30 seconds.
Cooldown: 7 days.｣
The items were pretty good overall. Reinhold would be perfect for a tank to use, especially someone like Uno. Draco handed the shield to Sublime Notion to be given to him.
The Manticore Contract would be useful for Riveting Night, so she took it.
Draco had Qiong Qi, although he hadn't seen the usually lazy lion ever since their match got interrupted by the start of the Abyss Event.
Also, with the Herald's cloak granting him his blink skill, he didn't need a mount anyway.
It was the End of the World war weapon that excited the duo. It was shaped like a miniature version of a normal cannon, but Draco instantly knew that it was a feat of Magical Engineering.
This made him even more excited about his acquisition of that Tradeskill. He couldn't wait to begin using it and start discovering its marvels, but that was for later.
The Veil of Eternity, they did not need. Players would retain their youthful looks in the game world and Hikari was a Dragoness who would live longer than Draco, even if one considered earth time.
Roma was given an Immortal Spirit, so she would never age as well. Zaine was a succubus and she would naturally never lose her youthful looks.
Otherwise, wouldn't succubi starve to death when they became older?
Riveting Night quite literally did not need this, as she was the most beautiful human in the world, and she had the Celestial Maiden inheritance on her side.
Draco put it aside as an item to be sold at his auction. However, he would perhaps try and trade it to someone who had a big interest in this item.
Maybe Draco would try and see if he could some benefits from Genevieve. the last Arch Priestess of Aphrodite. Madam Carrie was also quite a good choice.
Even if both declined, it was a great item to be sold during the auction. Probably, more than a few NPC females would kill for this item. It should fetch him quite a bit.
The Intelligence Tradeskill was immediately learned by Riveting Night. There was no one better suited for the Tradeskill than her.
Not only would it benefit Umbra, but it would also benefit her in general as an intelligence operative.
As for the Meteor skill…
Draco put it aside. He did not even have a lick of Earth Mastery, so being Optimal meant dogshit here. He would have to learn it another day, but it didn't matter anyway.
He had so many AOE skills and techniques that one less made little difference.
Draco nodded to Fitter Cleric. "Excellent work, as always. Take 300 UPs from the Guild Account at your leisure."
Fitter Cleric had long since gotten used to being paid handsomely to do what he considered to be his obligation, so he just thanked Draco and left the super mini small world room.
Draco faced Sublime Notion, who was still toying with the Tome of Healing. She still couldn't understand how such a cheat item for healing like this dared to exist in this world.
"Sublime, we'll be re-opening recruitment. Our target numbers this time are 10,000 combat classes and 2,500 Tradeskill classes overall. How long will it take us to hit our goal?"
Sublime pondered and spoke honestly. "Based on the previous applications, with the increased number of players joining while also assuming we continue to have a pass rate of 5%, which gets further decreased after testing their loyalty... we should have both numbers filled within 3 months."
Draco was startled by this. "So long?"
Sublime Notion smiled bitterly. "Hey there, do you know how hard our test is? I doubt even I could pass it easily. Thank God for nepotism, hehe."
Riveting Night laughed and chastised Sublime. "What nepotism? You are here because there is literally no one else who could fill your role. There is only one Sublime Notion in this world."
Draco agreed. "That's right. Apart from you, I would never feel comfortable with anyone else."
Sublime Notion was greatly touched by their words, but this loli was a bonafide troublemaker. How could she display sappiness so easily?
"Hehe, nice words from you won't make me forget that you love being bound, Eva." Sublime Notion cackled as she prodded Riveting Night's one weakness.
"You…!!" Riveting Night almost pounced on Sublime Notion, but Draco held her back gently.
"Heh."
Sublime Notion smirked wickedly and displayed a cute fang. This expression of victory made Riveting Night almost faint from anger.
Draco got back to the topic. "I leave the management of the guild during this recruitment phase to you, Sublime Notion. Since it will take longer than I expected, I'll use this chance to do something I've put off for the longest time, which is crafting."
Sublime Notion nodded with solemnity. "You can leave everything to me, I shall make sure that there are enough ropes for the lady-in-tights beside you when you return."
"KILL!!" Riveting Night screamed as she lunged at Sublime Notion.
However, Draco quickly sent Sublime Notion out of the super mini small world room, then calmed Riveting Night down after a bit of seductive temptation that Lucifer always performed on Amaterasu.
"Let's head to the Castle. That residence keeps eating away at our money without providing anything substantial in return so far. So, let's see exactly what this freeloader can do for me."
Draco's suggestion was met with approval by Riveting Night. She also wanted to check out the hidden features of the Rank 7 Noble's Residence in full.
Surely, there had to be something special about it to justify the cost?
