Draco noticed Richmond being more thoughtful than usual. He wondered what the old mage was thinking about, but didn't press the matter. He simply sat down before Richmond and began attempting the Spell Formation process again.
In two seconds, Draco was able to create a fireball and cast it out. This time, he wasn't nearly as exhausted as he had been yesterday after the resource gathering stage.
As such, he created another fireball and sent that one out right after the first. It was only then that he felt tapped out and had to take a moment to rest.
Richmond was surprised that Draco was able to improve so much in terms of willpower after just one night, yet the mage had seen the strange phenomenon yesternight.
He knew Draco was an Enchanting Grandmaster, so it was likely he had created some Legendary Enchantments. Working with such tough enchantments was a sure-fire way to increase his willpower, thus Richmond was pleased.
Richmond restored Draco once again, allowing him to send out the two fireballs one after the other. Both of them hit Richmond's water shield and exploded before dissipating.
Draco repeated this continually for over 4 hours. He felt like he was making a certain breakthrough in his understanding of the magic system of Boundless the more he cast through subjective magic.
His Spell Formation speed increased with every attempt, and eventually, he was able to create it in under a second! He also became able to fire out three fireballs, before being spent!
Suddenly, Draco paused and took some moments to ponder. He then partitioned his mind and summoned two Spheres next to each other. After putting them through the processes, Draco provided them both with resources and closed them off.
He then fired them out at the same time. The two fireballs hurtled at strange angles to attack Richmond. The old mage was caught off-guard by this sudden development, but he didn't even flinch.
His water shield enveloped the flames like they were choco balls, the fireballs disappearing into the ether.
Richmond stared at Draco with an expression that showed how impressed he was. The fellow was already double-casting using the trick Richmond had taught him.
Partitioning one's mind was the only way to pass the previous test, and doing so laid the foundation for double casting. Otherwise, why would Richmond make Draco hold both shapes for as long as he could?
Richmond just didn't expect that Draco would catch on so quickly. The fellow was certainly quite the catch as an apprentice. Not only was he already able to fire three spells back to back, he could even double cast in a matter of 3 seconds.
Richmond restored Draco, and the fellow began double-casting once more, but this time with one ice lance and one wind blade. Draco took a couple extra seconds to conjure them, as he had mostly gotten used to his fireballs, but he was still successful.
A wind blade and an ice lance were fired out at the same time. Draco found that he could easily control the direction of the wind blade, but the ice lance was harder to move.
It might be due to their shapes or their elements, but he wasn't sure yet. He could ask Richmond, but he preferred coming to his own conclusions after testing it out some more.
Draco spent the next 5 hours double-casting non-stop. He also made sure to mix up the variety of elements he used in his spells, from water to earth.
Draco even tried lightning and poison, but both required a lot more resources and providing those really pushed Draco to his limits. Since he was double-casting too, he easily failed.
As such, Draco went back to normal casting and worked with the rarer and more powerful elements. He sent out lightning bolts, poison sludges, and shadow tendrils.
These spells required 400% more Worldly Energy than their normal element compatriots, thus Draco felt like he was pushing his will to new limits. Casting simple spells with the normal elements had become easy enough for him now, and he could even double-cast them.
However, casting simple spells of the rare elements quickly tapped him out. He, therefore, spent the rest of his day working on them. Even though this was diverting from Richmond's plan, the old mage allowed Draco to follow his hunch.
Personally, Richmond continued to be surprised that the fellow could succeed, so why stop him? It would bring endless benefits if Draco could master the simple spells of the rarer elements.
As for the highest-grade elements like space, time, gravity and healing, Richmond had no confidence that Draco could master it so soon. He might be able to cast one or two spells before the training ended, but to cast it easily - or double-cast - would be stretching it.
By the time evening came, Draco was tired but overall pleased with the results. Not only had his willpower increased greatly, but he could now barely double-cast spells of the 'easier' rarer elements.
This was astounding progress, and Richmond was glad he had made Draco his herald. He watched Draco leave the courtyard and returned to his room with a thoughtful expression.
The Mage God even began suspecting that Draco might be some child of a God of Magic, or the incarnation of one, yet he had checked him thoroughly. There was not a hint of Divine Energy in the fellow, not to mention the fact that he was an Immortal Adventurer.
Given the future greatness Draco was guaranteed to achieve, it seemed as if the old man would have to shift about some of his plans.
............…
Draco returned to the Rank 7 Castle with a light smile on his face. He knew that his progress so far was great and that he would only get better as time went on.
Draco frowned when he realized that the maids were still missing. He had not encountered a single one of them on his way back. Stumped, he had used his Void of Perfection, but the only NPCs he found where the Tradeskill trainers, and he felt like that was a very bad thing.
Riveting Night and Hikari had noticed this long before, yet they were aware that something sinister was brewing in the dark. They had discussed it while Draco was fully focused on his training with Richmond, and had made their decision.
...more like Riveting Night had spoken and Hikari acquiesced. Both Hikari and Roma deferred to Riveting Night and took her as their leader for various reasons.
When they reached their bedroom, Riveting Night informed Draco that she had to perform some checks on her body, so she left the game after lying down on the bed.
Hikari sat down and thought for a bit. She didn't say anything, but when she saw Draco bring out his Semi-Epic Blacksmithing set, she understood that he planned to do some more work.
Draco took out an Uncommon ice ore called Frost Crystal. Verita had brought this to him early in the morning, and she had refused to comment as to why his maids were missing.
She had just given cryptic answers and fled. Draco had been too bored to read into her mind at the time, thinking it wasn't a big deal, and even now he wasn't too worried.
Draco smelted the ore and refined it, bringing it to Perfect grade with ease. Now that he was in the Expert Rank of Blacksmithing, Uncommon ores were mastered.
After the ore was smelted and refined to perfection, he only had to place it in the forge for a little while before placing the malleable ingot on the anvil.
Once he reached here, Draco raised Mjolnir over his head and brought it down without hesitation. When the hammer collided with the ingot, it transformed with the help of Worldly Energy.
Underneath the hammer, a new ingot was born.
｢Frostwater Ingot – Material
Rank: Epic
Use: Blacksmithing｣
The Frostwater ingot was a light-blue metal that gleamed with purity. It was almost at the level of a crystal, which made it a beautiful item. Such a metal would be the best for making ornaments.
Draco brought the hammer down on the ingot, and the backlash occurred. His hand froze into an ice sculpture, but that was it. Instead of consuming his whole arm, now it only swallowed up his entire palm up to his wrist.
Nevertheless, it still hurt like hell, but it couldn't be compared to before when his whole arm from palm to elbow would shatter, or had been burnt to a crisp. As such, Hikari's healing restored him and he was able to forge without screaming in pain.
He continued to shape the metal with the hammer, all the while relying on Hikari's healing to save time. Once again, a certain menu popped up before Draco.
｢System to Player Announcement
Your Ice Resistance is increasing. The total increment will be tabulated after the tempering process is completed.｣
Last time, he had gained over 5,000 Fire Resistance from forging in those hellish conditions. This was 1/3rd of the former Semi-Epic Dragorugio set that had been sold at the Divine Auction.
Today it was his Ice Resistance which was climbing, but Draco knew it would be a lot less. After all, the system upheld its golden rule. Unfortunately for Draco, this meant no pain, no gain.
Draco eventually completed the forging process by shaping the ingot into a spike with a halo. The spike was a bright blue color while the halo was a dark blue, surrounding it like they were Saturn and its rings.
(Author's Note: Like this, but smaller and more minimalistic i.imgur.com/PnK87cn.jpg)
Draco wiped the sweat off his brow and began working on the enchantments. Despite its strange aesthetic, this item was still classified as a wand.
The first set of runes were Enka, Bing, Reva Rowa, which was the 'Wand, Ice, Eternal Growth'.
The second set of runes were Enka, Bing, Reva Forto, which was 'Wand, Ice, Eternal Defense'.
The third set of runes were Enka, Bing, Iko Ture, which was 'Wand, Ice, Trap All'.
Draco nodded and began filling the enchantments with medium grade Aether Crystals. Again, it took just about 15 of them to fill it up, which resulted in Draco feeling his mind going blank.
He was certain that Aether Crystals had a use in Magical Engineering, so he had postponed activating the skill until he had more than enough.
He didn't want to end up in a similar situation where he could only covet the goods but have to go away because he was a broke loser, as had been the case in Shuro's shop.
After the enchantments were filled, Draco began the battle of merging. His willpower had been strengthened by his attempt yesternight and today's repeated training, so he was able to push this one onto the wand within 2 hours.
He was still tapped out at the end though, but he was no longer semi-conscious. This time he was able to witness the phenomenon that occurred over the whole of Cario City.
Everyone wrapped themselves tight due to the emerging cold and those in the poor district were able to experience what it was like to have an A/C for a few seconds before the phenomenon returned to the wand.
Presently, it was an ice phantom that looked like a Snow Woman, with ethereal beauty and snow-white hair. She glared at Draco with hatred before returning to the weapon, unable to vent her negative feelings towards him.
Draco inspected the item after the phenomenon elapsed.
｢Unnamed – Wand
Rank: Semi-Legendary
Effects:
Passive 1 – Eternal Growth: The user can sacrifice experience points to grow this item's rating.
Passive 2 – Eternal Defense: The user's auto-attack magic is modified to a defensive skill. Each defensive barrier spawned through this modified auto-attack has 5,000 HP and 50% damage resistance.
Active 1 – Field of Ice: Send out a wave of ice that traps all enemies over an area of 50 miles. Cooldown: 1 day.
Further abilities can be unlocked by sacrificing experience points. 0% of 15,000% needed to upgrade to Legendary Rank｣
｢Congratulations on creating new weapon: Unnamed (Wand) (Semi-Legendary)
Rewards:
500% Exp
500% Tradeskill Exp
5,000 gold
500 reputation with the Tradeskill Association｣
This one was also great, just like the Wand of Eternal Fire. The Eternal Defense would allow Jade to protect herself and Jada at all times without having to rely on spells which drained her mana.
5,000 HP defense was pretty good since the auto-attack could be used once every second. If they faced an enemy who could not deal over 5,000 damage with every hit, it would be impossible to kill the duo.
Even if they faced an enemy who dealt 10,000 damage, they would still be unharmed, as there was an insane 50% damage reduction. So that 10,000 damage would be reduced to 5,000 at best.
If this was paired with Jada's Eternal Strike, the Fire and Ice Twins could become the fastest hunters in the whole guild, as well as the biggest damage dealers.
They would be able to solo any normal Dungeon or Field Boss on their own, which was what Draco was aiming for.
In order to conquer the almost limitless world of Boundless, every single member of Umbra needed to become a balance-breaking monster. Otherwise, Draco could only rule over players and a few empires at best.
Maybe the Cario Continent as a whole if he was lucky and played it smart.
But the other continents and landmasses? Forget it. Even the Cario Continent was a hurdle to acquire, much less the many other continents of the Western Fantasy world.
As for the active skill, it also made Jade overpowered. She could trap everyone for an indefinite amount of time over 50 miles.
In essence, it would depend on each individual who was trapped to break themselves out, otherwise, they could be there for all eternity. … or as long as her twin needed to roast them alive.
Draco was satisfied with it, and named it the Wand of Eternal Frost.
｢Boundless System-wide Announcement
Player Draco has created the unique wand forging design, 'Wand of Eternal Frost'. Players can now purchase the design from player Draco and achieve a 10% extra success rate when forging the equipment.｣
Draco smiled and put it away. He now had something for Jade, so the balance between the twins would be maintained.
Draco placed the 500% experience into Mjolnir, bringing the hammer to 25,000% from 24,500% which was the exact halfway point. It was crazy to think that he had shared over 250 levels with this hammer alone.
This wasn't even accounting how many more levels he had dumped into all his other upgradeable items. And yet, he still had a long way to go with just the amounts he had.
Just how was he supposed to find the time to level up the items for himself which could grow in power?
Since he was now in the Expert Rank and this wasn't his first time making something Semi-Legendary, Draco's rewards had been reduced to 10% of the former reward, yet half a loaf was better than none.
This also reflected in how much experience he gained in the Tradeskill. He only got 167% added, which was barely one level and a half. Even making a Semi-Legendary item wasn't enough for this goddamn system anymore.
His smithing had gone up from level 41, 56% to level 43, 23%. If he could put in the effort to make a few more items like this, especially for the auction, not only could he earn big, but Draco could gain levels, create better items and continue this cycle!
Once he reached the Master Rank, he could become a mass-production factory of Epic items for his people. He would only sell sparingly to the world, as the reason for the high price tags of Epic stuff was the same as for any good in the economy.
High demand but low supply.
If the market was suddenly flooded with them, their value would drop. Not only that but he would be empowering possible enemies.
Draco didn't want to see that just yet, not until his people were outfitted. So what if he gave his enemies a gun, as long as his own people were driving around in tanks!
Draco sighed and put his thoughts away. He went over to Hikari, who was currently cradling their egg gently. The look of love on her face as she rubbed it touched Draco's heart.
He kissed Hikari on the forehead and also felt the egg. It had been plain at first, but some strange markings and designs had begun to spawn over it.
Draco couldn't exactly tell what they meant, but for something like this to happen meant that their child would be outstanding, an unparalleled monster under heaven.
"If you don't give the egg some room to breathe, it won't be able to develop independence, you know." Draco teased.
Hikari laughed and held it tighter. "Your tricks won't work. It's my turn to pamper the egg!"
Draco pouted and made a petulant expression. "Sharing is caring, how could you be so wicked?"
Hikari smiled playfully. "Says the one who hogged our baby for over three days, giving me the stink eye whenever I came close."
Draco blushed, but his shamelessness suppressed his embarrassment. "It was for the good of the world."
Hikari gave Draco a skeptical and unimpressed look. Eva had warned her that Draco had an alternate personality that had zero dignity, but she didn't believe it.
Now though, Hikari was ashamed that he hadn't trusted the words of her Elder Sister. Hikari hadn't interacted with Qiong Qi, so she didn't know that this wasn't even Draco's final form.
Draco channeled his devilish seduction and began caressing Hikari in all the wrong areas. "My sweet Dragoness, I just want to play with our child for a bit. After all the hard work I've done today, it will be the best tonic for my soul. Not too long, just a few minutes. Surely, that isn't a problem?"
Hikari's face became red and her breathing quickened. "Well… It should be fine…"
The moment her hands around the egg loosened, Draco's eyes flashed with evil. He quickly grabbed it and pulled it away.
YOINK!
By the time Hikari realized she had been tricked, it was too late. Draco was already laughing triumphantly. Hikari was so mad that she began to release steam.
"H-How despicable! Hmph!"
With an unhappy expression, she strutted out of the room. However, her posture made her nice bum swish and swirl in her goddess dress. The shameless Draco made sure to let her know how much he appreciated that by smacking it lightly.
Hikari yelped and rushed out of the room with a beet-red face.
Draco watched her leave, holding their egg with a smirk. He then proceeded to play with it for over 10 minutes before he decided to take a bath with his egg in hand.
Draco receded his armor into his body and wore a towel before entering the super mini small world bath.
However, he almost dropped the egg and fled when he saw that there were around three hundred n.a.k.e.d maids who were bathing happily. Their bodies had been boosted by Richmond, so they were at the level of top-tier internet models… even some notable p.o.r.nstars.
In the center of them was the dark-skinned goddess of sensuality and l.u.s.t, Zaine. Her form and curves were perfect, something that Hikari, Roma and no other woman Draco had seen could compare to.
When Draco entered, all the chatter and playing among the stop as they turned to face Draco.
Suddenly, the eyes of 300 women gleamed with evil and nefarious intent.
