Draco's hands felt heavy as he held the egg that Hikari had laid. He had completely forgotten that she - and truthfully, he as well - were actually Dragons. Dragons didn't give birth to their children in human forms, but laid eggs like any other serpent.
He had assumed that since they had s.e.x in human form, she would give birth in human form as well.
However, he had forgotten that while he had started out as a human who had gained his Dragon bloodline, in Hikari's case it was the other way around. She only took on the form of a human on Draco's behest.
The fact that she had taken on a half-dragon form while alone, clearly showed that if it were up to her she would remain a dragon, yet she did not want to fully disobey her Dragomate's wishes.
Nevertheless, it was reasonable for her to have returned to her most natural form to not complicate the laying of her very first egg in the anomaly realm.
With the boons of Vita City State that increased natural population growth by 500%, the time for the fertilization had been greatly reduced and the egg had been formed quickly.
As such, Hikari had laid the egg quietly and returned to her human form before coming to Draco. Now, he held that same egg in his hands, and he could feel the warmth radiating from it.
Inside this egg, his child was growing. It was a surreal thing to experience, and Draco would never be able to truly describe the feeling of it in words.
He sub-consciously inspected the egg.
｢Dragon's Egg – Offspring
Rank: ???
Description: This egg contains the offspring of a Supreme-Rank Black Dragon and a Supreme-Rank White Dragon. The offspring furthermore possesses a sparse amount of Ultima Sunt genes. Lastly, there is an almost negligible amount of human bloodline.
As such, the final status of the offspring cannot be calculated.
Skill:
- Time left till hatching: 1095 days
- Egg viability: 100%｣
It seemed as if this child would become something special, since even the AI couldn't judge what it was. Draco distinctly remembered only infusing his Serpent God Inheritance into the child because he didn't want to lower the chances of gestation.
However, it seemed like his Ultima Sunt bloodline had crept in there somehow. As for the human aspect, that was a given, since he was mostly human anyway.
Riveting Night also stared at the egg with curiosity. After all, this was the child of Draco and Hikari, who would become the half-sibling of her own child. She would be a mother to this child as well, so Riveting Night naturally hoped it would turn out great.
Zaine's eyes flashed with endless jealousy. She direly wanted to also accept the seed of Draco and birth the most powerful devil in history. Zaine didn't know how, but Draco's bloodline was even purer than Mephisto's first son, Beel.
With her own purity and his, their child could become the greatest Devil on this earth. Her father would be satisfied and Zaine would be able to carry out her own wishes through her child.
However, Draco was not easily tempted. In fact, he had never been tempted. Zaine was painfully aware that he only played with her due to the coaxing of his soulmate, Riveting Night.
After being 'trained' by Riveting Night, Zaine realized that it would be hard to move Draco with her body. Even though it was to his liking, he would never trust her with his seed if she continued to play tricks.
This factored into her decision to reveal her devil lineage and tear down the wall of pretense. Draco had then praised her and given her a position of importance. She was stuck between being a concubine and an advisor.
People listened to her because they knew she belonged to him, but she knew that entering his bed was hard. As such, Zaine was adopting a 'wait and see' attitude.
She would behave in whatever from Draco wanted her to. She was willing to wholeheartedly submit to him if she could only gain his seed.
However, talk was cheap. Draco wouldn't be giving that to her any time soon, so she would have to prove herself worthy time and time again through her actions.
How could Zaine know that Draco could easily see into her mind? He was pleased with her train of thought, but decided to maintain the pretense. He would naturally reward her at the right time.
When would he be able to get another pure-blood Royal Devil to i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.e? The number of them was extremely low, not to mention that most were males. Zaine was one of merely three female Royal Devils, so her presence was important for his plans to leave a great genealogy.
Draco marveled at the presence of the egg and rubbed it all over. Hikari just watched him with an amused and gentle smile. After losing her v.i.r.g.i.nity and laying her egg, she felt different.
Maternal instincts she never knew she could have revealed themselves to her, giving her a more grounded presence. Draco returned their egg to her and smiled.
"It is beautiful, Hikari. Go to the master bedroom and wait for me. Eva and I will be with you soon."
Hikari nodded and left with the egg. She was led by the Head Maid herself, who was shocked by Hikari's beauty. She had no idea where her Lord found such a woman, but she was on the level of something emperors would fight over.
Hikari's sharp eyes and noble demeanor struck Verita. She felt like she was but an ant in front of a capable woman like Hikari, and her respect for Hikari grew.
If only Verita know that just a week ago, Hikari had still been a naive girl who didn't understand the world. She had been the type of girl no one would take seriously in an important discussion, but now, her words were heavy.
It wasn't a matter of losing her v.i.r.g.i.nity or becoming a mother, though they played a minor role. It was the drastic change in perspective started by Draco's words and teachings.
It didn't turn her into a genius, but it made her more serious and layered. She was no longer as simple as before.
Even Riveting Night noticed this and nodded. Any woman that had a fate with Draco would be changed by him in a great many ways. As Draco had once told Jada before, he could turn any average woman into an Empress.
Draco then turned to Happy Saint. "Uncle Happy Saint, a Master Rank Blacksmith is working in this Castle called Camilla. She will assist you in becoming a Master Rank as quickly as possible."
Happy Saint seemed excited by this and he bowed his head. "That would be a great help, Nephew Draco. I am confident that I will be able to outfit our guild members in Epic items soon!"
Draco smiled gently. He didn't want to burst Happy Saint's bubble, because the old Draco had told Happy Saint something similar in the past.
The Happy Saint of back then had simply laughed and agreed with Draco. Draco felt like this was payment for Happy Saint's kindness back then.
Another maid led Happy Saint to Camilla's forge, and the two were introduced. Camilla felt that Happy Saint was extremely awesome with his meticulous demeanor and s.e.xy baritone.
Happy Saint thought she was quite attractive too, but only in passing. He was far too old to be thinking about such things, not to mention he was happily married anyway.
Camilla also didn't think too deeply about it. Right now, her body itched all over and her heart began to thump painfully whenever she thought about Draco.
She was a healthy female, but she had devoted herself to blacksmithing for so long that she hadn't had time to socialize with boys her age. Because of her focus on her vocation, she had created a false misconception that she was as.e.x.u.a.l.
So, when she finally became a Master Rank Blacksmith, she wanted to experience romance and womanhood. However, it was now very difficult to find someone she could love or trust in her circles.
Most blacksmiths were burly, bald or extremely tanned or just far too immature in her eyes. As for people who looked like Draco, they were mostly nobles and which noble would marry a slightly pretty blacksmith?
That was something that occurred in fiction.
It wasn't like Camilla was a drop-dead beauty like Hikari. She was the kind of pretty that any city dweller would love to have as a gentle housewife, but she didn't want that.
Cue Draco, who was the incarnation of male beauty, and Camilla had lost her marbles. He was perfect for her in every way, encapsulating everything she wanted for her dream man.
Yet, he seemed disinterested in her and even disappointed. As such, Camilla burned with desire and motivation. She would become a Grandmaster Blacksmith at all costs and propose to Draco!
This was her current goal.
.........
Draco turned to Zaine and asked. "Well, why are you here?"
Hikari had been a welcome surprise, whereas he had expected Happy Saint to come one of these days. Only, he had imagined Happy Saint would be sent over by Sublime Notion, not for him to be accompanied by Zaine.
Zaine smirked. "Second Vice-Guildmaster Sublime Notion is busy managing your Immortal Adventurer Guild and the City-State, so she sent me as I knew the location of the castle."
Draco nodded, as he had guessed that much. Sublime was likely swamped with work, so she wouldn't have time for such side jobs.
Draco and Riveting felt bad about leaving her with so much to do, but it was important. Just think, what kind of havoc would an evil loli like Sublime be up to if she wasn't kept busy?
Many countries would fall and empires would crumble. It was for the good of the world that Sublime was too busy to cause trouble.
Draco smiled at Zaine. "You can take residence in one of the VIP guest rooms. Feel free to do whatever you want while you're here, but try not to interfere with Eva or Hikari."
Zaine performed a curtsy. "Thank you."
She walked away calmly. She didn't intend to seduce Draco anymore, because she knew it was futile. However, she was still Zaine, so her gait was naturally in such a way that it emphasized the roundness and softness of her behind.
Both Draco and Riveting Night stared. Riveting Night even spoke for the two of them when she said, "Wow."
Zaine had a peach so perfect that even a straight woman like Riveting Night was astounded. That was just how s.e.xy Zaine was, thanks to genetics and her species.
The Evil Duo then returned to the master bedroom, where Hikari was with her egg. Draco hugged her and then cradled their egg. Eva removed her hood and got comfortable, before chatting with Hikari.
Judging by how red Hikari's face was and how lewd Eva's smirk looked, it was clear that the incarnation of the Sun Goddess was teaching the White Dragoness some very questionable things.
Meanwhile, Draco was in his own world as he played with the egg for more than half an hour. He finally got his fill of it and decided to continue with his original plans.
Draco stood up and addressed Hikari. "I need your help to create an alchemical set out of Worldly Energy. Would that be an issue?"
Hikari pondered for a bit. "It shouldn't be, but I have no idea what an alchemical set looks like or has to perform."
Draco smiled and brought out Pair Dadeni. "Take a look."
He used a very basic alchemical set to filter out more Darike Plants. Draco wanted to demonstrate how an alchemical set worked. He would naturally move onto making more amazing Epic potions he knew of, but that was for after his lessons with Richmond.
After all, mass production required time. His time was extremely limited at this early stage of the game. When he reached Rank 4, Draco calculated that it would be when he might have acc.u.mulated enough that he - as an individual - would reach his peak.
It would then shift to how he could strengthen his guild members.
As such, he filtered over 300 Darike Plants in the span of an hour. Normally he could manage 500 in that amount of time but he made sure to slow the process down for Hikari to observe it carefully. After assessing the process for long enough, the Dragoness nodded.
"I think I can make a replica, but it might not be as good as what I made for your Blacksmithing." Hikari said seriously.
Draco gestured to the bathroom. "No worries, we have a super mini small world here too."
Draco led her into the super mini small world bathroom. Hikari marveled at the ambiance of the natural bathing areas, and she seemed a bit thoughtful.
"The super mini small world here is much smaller than the other one, but the alchemical set is also much smaller than a forge. I can do it."
Hikari said this with utter confidence and spread her arms out. Before, Draco would have had to use his State of Being to sense it, but he had kept it 'off' since yesterday due to Richmond's lessons.
As such, he was stunned when he could feel the flow of the Worldly Energy before Hikari even pulled it in torrents. Draco activated his Eyes of Caelo to see what she was doing and almost screamed.
Riveting Night's tendrils as a 50% Low-Rank Dragon had been giant, but Hikari's were like a monster trying to swallow the world. It was a horrifying sight, especially with how focused and serious Hikari was.
The entire super mini small world was encompassed by her tendrils, and the Worldly Energy it touched simply gave up resistance and heeded her call as if they had met their master.
Draco watched her coalesce the Worldly Energy into the alchemical set. The tendrils she emitted molded the Worldly Energy without any resistance.
Soon enough, a Semi-Epic Alchemical set was made for Draco, and Hikari expected to see praise in his eyes. Yet, he looked at her as if he had seen a humongous monster.
Hikari tilted her head with confusion. "Did I do something wrong?"
Draco sighed with defeat. "There is a reason why Dragons are number 3 on the Rankings after all."
Hikari could not understand what he meant by that, but chose not to dig deeper. It wasn't a big deal and she had a more pressing question.
"Draco, what happened to your Source Origin?"
How did her omnipotent and omniscient Black Dragon who was one step away from becoming a God-Rank Dragon return to being like a babe fresh out of the egg?
Draco smiled bitterly. "It is a trade-off I made to achieve more power in the future. Hikari, let me ask you, is there anything higher than a God Rank Dragon?"
Hikari pondered for a while before answering. "There exists the rank of Dragon God... and I assume you could count the Primogenitor Dragon."
"The Primogenitor Dragon was the first Dragon, and the creator of our race. An Origin God who disappeared eons ago."
"The Dragon Gods have all been Semi-Origin Gods who have reached the pinnacle of their respective elements who act as the patron deities of our race. It isn't a position that one can acquire without stepping beyond the boundaries of a God Rank Dragon."
"By the time I was born my father, was the first Dragon God in many millennia. Legends tell that those before him did not die, but simply left either to look for the Primogenitor Dragon or ventured out to become Primogenitor Dragons in other distant realms."
Hikari seemed dismissive though. "However, those were just bedtime stories my mother used to tell me. Even when the Dragon Race was flourishing, we never had more than one Dragon God. And nobody, not even the most ancient dragons had ever seen the Primogenitor Dragon."
Draco though, was shivering. Dragon God? Primogenitor Dragon? It wasn't that the AI was really considering allowing him to acquire such fraudulent power, right?
A player that was an Origin God? That was a step above 'breaking the balance'. This would directly shatter the system and hierarchy between players, especially after the pods come out.
However, Draco soon calmed down.
How could he forget? Was this AI one to give out free rewards? It had taken away his Supreme Rank power and replaced it with this system. It was likely that Rank 6 meant he would become a Dragon God and Rank 7 meant he would become a Dragon Primogenitor.
This meant that the class up procedures would naturally become more difficult. Last time he had struggled to enter Rank 6 and had been unable to enter Rank 7.
This time around he was convinced that he would sweat to enter Rank 2, go through hell to enter Rank 3, sell his soul to enter Rank 4, die and become an undead to enter Rank 5, sell the souls of his whole genealogy to enter Rank 6 and beat up the creator of the AI to become Rank 7.
The difficulty would be incomparable to his past life, or for anyone else. However, the rewards would be greater than anyone could imagine if he could persevere.
Draco's eyes flashed. He wasn't scared of a challenge in the least. What he feared most was that things would become boring and too easy!
Draco left the super mini small world with Hikari. He began to work on the Darike Plant paste he had refined earlier.
He engaged the Fire of War and got to concocting. At this point, he was extremely familiar with the production of the Angel's Kiss potion, and he also had a higher level in Alchemy.
Right now, his Tradeskills looked like this;
Level: Amateur (level 1-20), Elite (level 21-40), Expert (level 41-60) Master (level 61-80), Grandmaster(level 81-100), God(level 101-?), Primogenitor(level ?)
Basic Tradeskills -
1. Smithing: (level 38, 93%)
2. Alchemy: (level 47, 34%)
3. Enchanting: (level 100, 0%)
4. Cooking: (level 80, 99%)
Advanced Tradeskills -
1. Taming: (level 1, 0%)
Epic Tradeskills -
1. Tactics: (level 1, 25%)
2. Magical Engineering: (level 1, 0%)
Alchemy had gone up from level 45, 89% to level 47, 34% after his last batch. The experience returns he was getting from making the same Angel's Kiss potion over and over again had bottomed. If it wasn't for the (enhanced) versions, he wouldn't have gained two levels.
However, it was much more lucrative than making Rare potions in the Expert Rank. Even if he crafted non-stop for days, it would take him at least three in-game years to reach Master Rank.
Otherwise, how could they have been stuck there after 15 years of play, putting aside the difficulty of the act?
Tactics had gone up by a whole... 10% after the Guild War, but Draco wasn't bothered. He had the perfect counter for trouble Epic Tradeskills that refused to be leveled up no matter what.
Draco then spent over five hours crafting Angel's Kiss potions, at a rate of one attempt every 10 minutes. At the end of it, he had 18 success of 30 tries, which was pretty good.
Draco cleaned himself up and went to bed with Hikari and Eva. Before long, the trio were fast asleep.