As for using Mjolnir to do Blacksmithing, Draco would rather wait for Hikari to lay their second egg before burdening her. Even though he had made great progress in his combat efficiency, his Tradeskills hadn't gone up by much.
With Pair Dadeni out, Draco first brought out some Darike Plants he had filtered last time and threw them into the cauldron. They instantly transmuted themselves into the Epic Viva La Vida variant.
With that done, Draco began the concoction process. His movements were quick and refined, as he was so familiar with the process he could do it in his sleep.
His Alchemy was also at level 50, 65% which meant he was closing in on the Master Rank. Once he reached that level, the time penalty for making potions would greatly reduce, and his success rate would climb frantically.
At that point, he could even begin mass producing Angel's Kiss potions for his guild members, selling them at the same price as a common potion!
What in God's name?!
Selling an Epic potion at the price of a Common one?!
At that point, even Hidden Powers would clamor to join Umbra. Too bad, NPCs could not join player guilds no matter the circ.u.mstances. This was a core game mechanic that the AI wouldn't budge on even if its creator were to say anything.
Draco spent more than 3 hours working on the Angel's Kiss potions. With his success rate of 65%, more than half of his crafting attempts were great successes.
He refrained from using an Aether Crystal to further enhance the potions. The time for that would come later, as he was currently saving up on them, for the Magical Engineering Tradeskill.
Draco's time penalty for making Epic potions at the Expert Rank was 10 minutes. Each attempt cost ten minutes of time, but had slightly more than a 60% chance of success.
This sounded great, but the majority of his success came from his Refined Star Technique, which was his Control-based Alchemy technique.
Now that his Control had basically undergone an evolution, his techniques that used it as a foundation were as well.
The Three Pound Origin for Blacksmithing, the Star Shot Technique for Archery and the unnamed technique that he used for his swordsmanship.
Come to think of it, Draco had yet to make a technique for Cooking, Brewing and Taming. However, that fellow had no interest in doing so, because those Tradeskills weren't as useful or profitable as Blacksmithing and Alchemy.
He was happy enough just abusing his Aether Crystal shortcut without spending any more time further refining them.
Draco's willpower had greatly increased thanks to his activated Dark Angel Inheritance, so he could easily manipulate his Low-Rank Draconic Source Origin's State of Being tendrils to move Worldly Energy as he pleased.
As he had discovered earlier during his training with Richmond, the State of Being also relied on willpower to work, but between State of Being and the Cause and Effect Theory, the former was incredibly simple and easy to use.
Using his State of Being was like doing normal pushups, with leather gloves and a good posture. Using the Cause and Effect Theory was like doing pushups with your extended family placed on your back, while you were malnourished and had soft bones.
It might seem like an exaggeration, but it was the truth. This was what it was like to use the cause of 'because I will it' which was the basic cause theory.
Draco had just found a wise shortcut by using 'because I am a Black Dragon', which reduced the difficulty of doing pushups to a level with your pet on your back while you were somewhat out of shape.
And with that, he had been able to progress to the point where he could cast spells. So, if he used an actual State of Being's benefits, even if it was a Low-Rank Dragon's, there was almost no strain.
This was why his success rate was able to climb so high. 5% came from his Tradeskill Rank, 15% from the Fire of War's first passive, 20% from the Refined Star Technique and 25% from his State of Being's manipulation of Worldly Energy.
Were it not for Draco being a reincarnator he wouldn't have had access to the last three until much later in the timeline, instead he would only have a 5% chance with Epic potions at the Expert Rank, which was meant to handle Rare potions.
Then again, who at this stage was at the Expert Rank anyway? More than 90% of crafters in every Tradeskill were still bumbling about at the Amateur Rank (level 1-20) while the last 10% were elites who were at the Elite Rank (level 21-40).
The Elite Rank in one Tradeskill was the minimum required to apply for Umbra's basic member test!
Within that 10% was a small 3% who had two Tradeskills, with one being at the Elite Rank and the other in the early Amateur Rank of at least level 5. This was the requirement for the advanced member test, whereas the expert test required one to be in the middle Amateur Rank of at least Level 10.
Then there was a tiny 0.2% who were like Happy Saint, with two Tradeskills at the Elite Rank. These were the requirements to be eligible to take part in the core member test of Umbra, and the number of players in this category worldwide were far too few.
Draco made around 12 potions in the 3-hour timeframe. With a smile, he gave half to Eva, who had lowered her hood, and kept them.
The Evil Duo then went to take a bath together. After that, they came to their bedroom and went to sleep.
............…..
In the morning, Draco woke up first and proceeded to make a light breakfast for himself and Eva after they washed up. He made an Epic dish, as he would definitely not use Aether Crystals for Cooking if he had refrained from doing so for Alchemy already.
Draco went to the courtyard with Riveting Night and saw Loving Aunt there waiting for him. Draco's face went black when he saw that she had changed her attire once again, this time in a style of a bikini.
Her lovely cream skin was exposed to the sun and she wore black sunglasses while lazing about on a pool chair. Her flat stomach and plentiful b.r.e.a.s.ts would make one's mouth water.
However, Loving Aunt could only suffer as no one in the courtyard was s.e.x.u.a.lly attracted to her, so her lovely melons lay there unappreciated.
The maids who passed by gazed at her with curiosity, wondering what kind of fashion this was. They blushed when they realized how revealing her attire was, but many of them also got some nefarious ideas deep down.
Loving Aunt refrained from moving when she noticed Draco. "Hehe, just in time my darling nephew, your aunt was enjoying the sun on my lush skin."
Riveting Night snickered lightly and went to her own seat that was styled like a pool chair. She seemed perhaps too eager to leave Draco to handle his troublesome aunt on his own, making the fellow sigh deep down.
"It is the sun's greatest fortune to have the opportunity to shine on your lovely skin, my dear aunt." Draco replied with an awkward smile.
Loving Aunt climbed to her feet and removed her black glasses while staring at Draco with a light smirk on her face. "Well said! I always knew that you were enlightened Draco my dear!"
Draco nodded. "It is only thanks to your teachings that I can think like this anyway."
Loving Aunt laughed but made a 'it's not a big deal' gesture. "Enough with the praises. We must work hard while the sun is up. You are simply too playful Draco."
Draco wanted to cough up a wad of blood from her words due to anger. He had come here with true solemnity to learn, only to see her sunbathing and praising herself.
Now that he was actually adding in some praises of his own to satiate her ego, she was now claiming that he was playful and did not take their time serious?
Loving Aunt seemed to miss Draco's indignation and went to sit in the same spot as yesterday. Draco sat opposite her and calmed his mind, waiting for her to begin.
"Since you have already activated your deposits and achieved the Ability Bond technique, we shall try the Atavism Technique."
Once she entered training mode, her playful aura diminished greatly and she became strict. However, one would find it hard to take her seriously when her large chest was covered by a flimsy cloth and her sitting posture highlighted her crotch area.
Draco though, had no eye for this. If Loving Aunt had been a random female, he might have been moved a little, but since she was family it all became clouds and fart.
"The Ability Bond allows us to take some characteristics of Serpents as our own permanently. Atavism though, allows us to take characteristics of our own Serpentine Familiars permanently."
"Essentially, the former is a general assimilation of serpentine traits while the latter is a specific assimilation of traits belonging to one's Serpentine Familiar."
"This is harder because of two reasons. The first is that one needs to know the full extent of their Serpentine Familiars powers and biology, which could take years of research assuming it is a completely unique familiar with no similarities to any other."
"To learn this is easier said than done. One would need to use the Advanced Manifestation Techniques many times and study their Serpentine Familiar over and over until they grasped everything."
"Of course, one could try to perform the technique without this knowledge, but the risk of failure rises to above 90% and there would be a 20% chance of severe backlash."
"The second reason as to why learning this is hard is because of the bloodline energy requirement. Even for relatively weaker Serpentine Familiars like mine - compared to yours of course - it would take more than 20 times the energy it took you to summon and maintain your Black Dragon's full form."
Draco's face displayed his shock when he heard that. Almost 20 times the amount he used to summon the Black Dragon back then? Even with loving Aunt helping him to avoid wastage, he had consumed almost 100 Angel's Kiss potions for that battle.
Didn't this meant he would need about 2,000 Angel's Kiss potions to activate the technique?
Crazy! Mad! Wasteful!
That was hundreds of thousands of platinum for such a task… even Draco with his cheat like items felt like it was too much.
"Since it was only discovered recently thanks to you and your Little Wife's atrocious bloodline purity, we are still doing intense research on the matter."
"Luckily the technique is one that can be staggered. In essence, you don't have to do it all at once, but you can do it bit by bit until you reach 100%"
Loving Aunt shook her head. "However, that would take the best Lineage member almost 50 years of continuous work, assuming they only ate, slept and performed the Atavism Technique."
Draco sighed with lament. 50 years! All of that to unlock a technique that had unknown benefits! Of course, they could be great, and it was reasoned that the rewards would be out of this world, but…
Who could spend FIFTY years of their life doing one thing day and night, without taking a break to do anything but eat and sleep? Just who?
They would have to start from their youth and work towards it non-stop, till they were decrepit. It simply wasn't worth it.
However, this brought Draco's mind to an issue he had glossed over all this time. "Aunt Fyre, how old are you?"
Loving Aunt gave Draco a reproachful gaze. "Draco! You should know better than to ask a lady for her age!"
Draco's face remained neutral as he retorted her seriously. "I am not talking to a mere lady, I am talking to my Aunt Fyre who is the most beautiful woman in the world. How can I use mere etiquette reserved for ladies on someone of your standing?"
Loving Aunt harrumphed and folded her arms under her chest, bring them up into focus. "You and your sweet words… hmph! I am 134 years old today."
Draco rubbed his temples when he heard this, but he wasn't too surprised. After all, the entire time she had taken care of him, Aunt Fyre had been an old granny who looked ready to pass away.
Besides, with all he had learned for the bloodlines and Lineages, it would be extremely weird if they had the same lifespans as sub-humans.
"How long do we live on average?" Draco decided to ask.
"Well, it depends on your inheritance and your bloodline purity. If you want a stable benchmark, 10% purity and the Horned Demon Inheritance should give one about 200 years of life."
"Since I have 25% bloodline purity and am a part of the Serpent God Inheritance which has the strongest vitality, I can go for about 400 years. Technically, you could say I am in my early twenties in normal sub-human terms."
Loving Aunt then snickered and pointed at Draco. "You though, are not even a baby. You're like a zygote! Your lifespan at 99% purity with all three Inheritances should probably be measured in millenia. You're only 21 too! Hahaha!"
Being laughed at by his Aunt for being young made Draco's face become red. Her laughter was shrill too, just like Jada whenever she was mocking someone.
It was extremely painful and hit right in the soft spot, especially since there were tears in her eyes from laughter.
Riveting Night also cackled from where she sat, finding Draco's misfortune in this situation to be extremely amusing.
However, Loving Aunt suddenly cut her laughter as she glared at Riveting Night. "Why are you laughing? You are the exact same as him! You're an oversized zygote walking!"
Riveting Night, who had just been snickering in her spot, choked on her laughter and coughed in pain. Draco felt like he had breathed in some clean air as he saw Riveting Night dealt a blow and he felt better.
Loving Aunt then got back to business. "Let me take you through the assumed routes for the technique. When you have the time, try to increase it as much as possible."
She then came up to Draco and placed a finger on his forehead. The two closed their eyes and focused. After Draco started moving bloodline energy slightly, Loving Aunt began to speak the routes.
"The first place is your governing meridian at your centerpoint, you need to deposit more than 400 bloodline units there…. Then next is the heart meridian where you need to deposit…"
Draco followed her instructions and could only smile wryly. While he could easily remember the positions and the amount needed, he was still shocked by how just handling even the first deposit drained him of all bloodline energy without showing any change.
It was like taking a glass of water and pouring it into an empty swimming pool. This glass of water represented his total bloodline energy at 99% purity, and yet…
Well, his Serpentine Familiar was the Black Dragon, so it sort of made sense that it would require more than what another would need to fill it up. Still, this was extremely disheartening.
Draco had expected some shortcut to exist for him since he was the prodigy and all that, but he was solidly denied this time. He would have to put in the full time and effort for this one.
With a sigh, he decided to wait until he had acc.u.mulated enough Angel's Kiss potions. It would be too disheartening to do it breadcrumb by breadcrumb in such a manner.
After Loving Aunt was done, only about an hour had passed. Since Draco was only memorizing the routes and the required quantities and not activating them, it didn't take as long as it did to use the Ability Bond Technique.
Loving Aunt sighed and sat down. "Now with that out of the way, let's move onto the Ultimate Manifestation Technique."
"This technique allows you to bring your Serpentine Familiar into the real world permanently."
"As you saw when I performed your test in the real world, I have performed this technique myself, since I was the one who had improved on it to the highest degree to date. Of course, I paid an extremely heavy price to do so, and had to leave the clan for a few years."
Loving Aunt seemed to have a bitter smile on her face. "And yet what did I find in my moment of triumph when I returned to the family? My little sister was coiled around the man I love with a triumphant expression… sigh."
Draco sensed the awkwardness in the air, but didn't know how to resolve it. He didn't know enough about his father, mother and aunt's relationship to pass judgment.
From the way Aunt Fyre had spoken so far, it didn't appear as if his father had even shown any sort of romantic interest in Loving Aunt, so it wasn't like she was actually betrayed. Following clichés, it might have been more a case of the sisters aiming for the same boy without him realizing and the older sister losing out to her love rival.
Her period of absence was probably the key to this. She had gone out to unlock a great power, making her the most powerful Serpent God Inheritance member of this generation, but the cost became the man she loved and wished to impress.
Draco couldn't help but feel like his father, mother and aunt were like three main characters of a dramatic romcom and that their story could fill pages of its own book.
"Haah... sorry. Old me cannot help but reminiscence of the past when I think about certain things." Loving Aunt apologized.
"Your grievances of the past are not something to be ashamed of Aunt Fyre. If things hadn't happened as they did, would I still have had the pleasure to be with my beautiful aunt?" Draco questioned with an honest look on his face.
Loving Aunt couldn't help but tear up a little and wiped the corner of her eyes. "Thank you, Draco. You really are a darling."
Seeing that his aunt was soothed, Draco smiled with satisfaction. Truth be told, he favored his aunt over his own parents, as she had at least made the effort to watch over his growth.
As for the other two, well… the time for the family to resolve their disputes would be coming in due time
"The Ultimate Manifestation Technique requires three things. The first is a suitable vessel. The second is a part of your soul or spirit. The third is a lot of energy."
"What is interesting though, and herein lies the discovery I made for the betterment of our people, is that it isn't specifically bloodline energy that is required."
Loving Aunt opened her palms in a 'that's how it is' gesture.
"One can use any form of energy to activate it, but the quantity required is crazy."