Draco and Riveting Night spent the rest of the day working on their General Aspect Transformation, as well as continuous practice. Now that Draco had activated all of his Inheritances to large degrees, he felt much stronger.
It wasn't the same as gaining a new passive skill or level up. It was more intrinsic and much closer. The powerup he got from learning subjective magic paled to the powerup he got from activating his Inheritances.
Even though he had yet to actually learn any techniques for the other two, their passive benefits alone made him stronger overall.
It was similar to the Super Saiyan transformation from Draco's favorite evergreen anime Dragon Ball Z. The transformation was a modifier technique that raised the base power level by 50.
If the individual in question had a base power level of 100, and his enemy was at 50,000, his transformation would only send him to 5,000, which still put him far below his enemy.
However, if the fellow was able to train in some time-speed up chamber for 1,000 years, his base power level would rise from 100 to 1,000. As such, when he transformed, he would have 50,000 as his power level, putting him on par with his enemy.
The theory was similar here. Subjective magic could be likened to the modifier transformation technique, in that it raised Draco's combat efficiency by a certain amount externally.
Once it consumed enough energy, it would cease to work and would 'switch off'. However, the bloodline activation was a natural boost of one's base power, which could not be removed or switched off.
Most importantly, the subjective magic technique was strengthened by his bloodline activation, but his bloodline activation was not affected by subjective magic.
(Author's Note: a bit of an immersion breaking comparison, but the aptest. And yes, DBZ survived WW3 and is still relatively popular in the future.)
By the time the sun was about to set, Draco had somewhat gotten used to his bloodline's increased presence. It felt like he was slowly becoming more and more whole, and it was an intoxicating feeling.
He now understood why bloodline descendants revered their own bloodline and tended to take it as the only path forward, neglecting their own progress.
It was too easy to rely on such power, because it was of your blood and body. It tricked you into thinking it was your own power, making you forget that it is the genetic leftover of your progenitor.
It was like an heirloom weapon which you were granted upon birth, where even if you trained with it each and every day, nothing could change the fact that it had been crafted to the specifications of someone else who could use it much more proficiently.
Putting aside whether one could reach the level of one's progenitor, trying to surpass the bloodline limit was almost impossible, and hardly any descendant even considered that.
Even Loving Aunt and everyone else in the various Lineages didn't consider it. After all, no matter how powerful a level they might have reached, in their hearts they felt like their relatively low purities meant that they could never surpass their progenitor.
Only monsters like Draco and Eva, who were literally just clones of their progenitors, could achieve such a feat.
Draco was even better off than Eva slightly, because, in both lives, he had attained pinnacle power through just himself. Eva had relied on a mixture of her bloodline and her own skills, so while it made her better at controlling her bloodline, Draco had the advantage of eternal adaptability.
Later in the evening, Draco got serious. He took out Pair Dadeni once again and began crafting All-sight and Angel's Kiss potions like he was possessed by a devil.
3 hours… 6 hours… 12 hours… 1 day… 3 days…
Draco went on a crafting spree for three days before going to sleep for a bit. It wasn't that he was drop-dead tired like before since his enhanced body and mind gave him enough stamina to go on for a week.
However, everything had to be done in moderation. Draco even logged out and slept in the real world after talking with Eva who 'coincidentally' logged out at the same time.
They slept in each other's arms, and more than 10 hours passed before they woke up. This equated to 40 hours in the game, which was about a day and a half gone.
So, counting Draco's time spent crafting and his time spent resting in the real world, over 4 and a half days had passed. From 68 days remaining, there were 63 days to go until the first player auction.
Draco resumed crafting in this manner, spending another 3 days working on the two potions with trying new recipes or even mixing up his portfolio.
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During this time, he went down to the cellar to retrieve his fermented beer that was ready for the final stage.
This was the bottling stage, where the beer was moved from the cask into prepared bottles using a very specific method in order to ensure the objective quality of the liquor.
Draco met Carlo in the brewery, and the fellow grunted him a greeting. On his shoulder were two whole casks of beer that looked like they weighed a ton, yet he handled them with ease.
Draco inspected the fellow with his Eyes of Caelo and was intrigued to find that he had some barbarian blood in his body. That would certainly explain the fixation with liquor and the insane strength.
Draco shook his head and focused on his own matters. Before he began the bottling, he went on to carefully cleanse everything: bottles, bottle filler, bottle caps, bottling bucket, and any transfer hoses used.
He specifically used a bottle brush on the bottles he planned to transfer the beer into. Carlo had shown him the whole process of bottling last time, so he just had to repeat the steps.
Draco then boiled his priming sugar in water. This would help settle the beer when it was transferred, so it wasn't a process that could be skipped.
Upon reaching a boil, Draco checked to see if it dissolved and then nodded when the water had become a solution.
He was supposed to let it cool, but he didn't want to waste too much time, so he directly double-cast a wind spell and an ice one, both of them in the misc category.
The wind was basically just a light breeze and the ice one was a form of mist. They merged externally to form a breeze that could freeze anything, and Draco used a bit of his Control to mix it with the solution.
After it cooled to his satisfaction, he directly added it to the bottling bucket.
Now, it was time to transfer the beer. Draco siphoned the beer out of the fermenter that had housed it during its 2-week fermentation straight into the bottling bucket.
Following Carlo's advice from last time, he made sure to leave as much sediment in the fermenter as possible. Mixed with the priming sugar, these sediments settled rather quickly and the attractive smell of beer began to float around the room.
After taking a hefty sniff and sighing in pleasure, Draco filled the bottles with the liquor.
To do this, one had to attach bottle filler to the hose (which he had cleaned earlier), then the hose to bottling bucket spigot.
After that, one had to open the bottling bucket spigot (which was like a tap) then push the bottle filler to the bottom of the bottle.
It was actually a simple and straightforward process if one knew what to do and had the necessary tools and equipment to do it.
It was naturally advisable to fill each bottle right to the top. This was so that when the bottle filler was removed, it would leave the perfect amount of space at the top of the bottle.
After this, Draco was pretty much done. All he had to do was to cap the bottles with the caps he had prepared a long time ago, with the help of a bottle capper.
Now that the bottles were filled and sealed, the beer-making process was effectively complete.
All Draco needed to do now was to store the bottles at room temperature for roughly two weeks. This was to give the beer time to carbonate.
After this period passed, he would still need to refrigerate the beer, then it would be ready for consumption!
His cask of beer had granted him 100 bottles of liquor. He could either sell them or save them for himself, but since Draco didn't use Aether Crystals, the beer would basically just become a very well-made Common Rank item.
Brewing wasn't a mystical Tradeskill. No, it was exceedingly common. Many taverns and inns already had their own suppliers for beer and very few would be willing to buy Common beer.
However, with his name attached to it, many shops would naturally clamor to buy his stuff. Even if the beer tasted like rat's piss, they would still force it down the throats of their customers if it meant that they could get into the good books of the rising Lord Draco.
However, Draco wasn't interested in pursuing a career in Brewery. He was a swordsman and a magician foremost, so his fate lay with combat, battle, and war.
After the brewing was done, Draco worked on another brew straight away, with the very same recipe. However, this time he used ground Aether Crystals as his hops, and the mixture that came out was truly intriguing.
Until he completed the brewing, the reward wouldn't be granted, so he put the fermenter away for another 2 weeks. When his first batch was ready for consumption, this second batch would be ready for bottling.
At this time, Hikari returned from Vita City-State with a slightly tired expression. In her hands was another egg, but this one was slightly smaller and seemed to be much sleeker.
"What's wrong?" Draco asked worriedly when he saw her state. He didn't want anything bad to happen to her from his experimentation.
"Nothing, it just took longer to produce this egg as the amount of human genes was higher than our first. Humans weren't meant to be born from eggs, so I had to manually re-arrange everything to suit our child's growth."
Hikari answered with a proud and triumphant expression, and Draco couldn't help but hug her gently.
"You are amazing, my Hikari. Only you could adapt so quickly to make our child's life better. I'm proud of you. What a blessing for our child to have you as its mother." Draco praised while kissing her on the forehead.
Draco was lucky that Hikari was too tired to shift form, otherwise, her wings and tail might have just popped out and fluttered due to her happiness.
"Thank you, Draco." She said sweetly.
Draco took her to his room, where Hikari directly curled into the arms of Eva, who gently caressed Hikari's hair while whispering praise and encouragement to her with a smile.
Seeing that Eva was on top of things as always, Draco decided to check on his Drake's egg.
｢Drake – Combat Pet
Rank: Legendary
Description: This egg contains the offspring of a low-rank fire Dragon and a Rank 7 Sea Serpent.
Skill:
- Time left till hatching: 45 days
- Egg viability: 100%｣
It was good news that the Drake would hatch before the player auction. It meant that when Draco went to raise his items to Legendary/Divine Rank through endless combat, he would be able to raise his Drake as well.
The moment Draco took out the egg though, the lazy Dragon Soul stood up and stared at it. Draco hardly ever took out the Drake's egg when it was awake, so it wasn't able to see much about it.
However, the Dragon Soul was now aware of this egg and its eyes showed endless greed. It turned to the Black Dragon and wore a fawning expression.
"Brother Blackie, your scales are just too vibrant. Which soap do you use? I must definitely have some since it can make you glitter like the darkest obsidian!"
It had to be said that the Dragon Soul was a born sycophant. If this were the Eastern Fantasy realm, it would be described as the incarnation of the Dao of Bootlicking.
Even Draco (the Black Dragon), who knew exactly how it was and what it was trying to do, couldn't help but flex his claws and blow on his scales with a prideful expression.
"You have good eyes. Speak, what do you want?" The Black Dragon (Draco) demanded with a haughty expression.
The Dragon Soul didn't feel like this was wrong, as even a Low-Rank Black Dragon was more important than a Divine Dragon like him.
However, its eyes became red and it seemed to be hurt. "What are you trying to say, Brother Blackie? That I only compliment you when I need something?! Can I not want to share my honest opinion without being seen as a leech?!"
Had Draco not been a skilled and shameless sycophant himself - which was shown when he first met Richmond and Qiong Qi - he might have fallen for the Dragon Soul's roar and felt bad.
As it were, he just flicked the poor fellow, sending him flying into a wall while spitting blood endlessly. "Yes, I do. Hurry up and state what you want, I won't be benevolent forever."
Despite being bullied like this, the Dragon Soul jumped to its feet and wiped the 'blood' it spat away with a grin. "Hehe, after all, it is Brother Blackie who knows me best."
Suddenly the Dragon Soul became serious as it gazed at the Black Dragon and sat on its paunches. "I want to move into the fetus of that inferior 'red dragon' and use it to build a new body in the material world."
The Black Dragon blinked with surprise and then asked. "1. What benefits would I get if this happens compared to what I'd lose? 2. Is such a thing like de-fusion even possible? 3. Wouldn't you be killing the soul of the baby dragon if you do this?"
The Dragon Soul had expected these questions, so it answered immediately. "On the topic of the first matter, the benefits are that you would have a combat pet with a possibility of actual growth."
The Dragon Soul 'pointed' at the Drake's Egg on the outside world and spoke with derision. "I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but that… thing… is not a dragon, and it would never grow in terms of bloodline after birth without paying a hefty cost that would be barely worth the trouble even if you magnanimously decided to help it."
"Its father was a mere Low-Rank Dragon, but let me ask you this Brother Blackie, have you ever heard of an a.d.u.l.t Low-Rank Dragon?"
Draco was startled before it dawned on him. His own situation was special, because it was a rebalance due to his powerful bloodline. He was at 99% purity and his Serpent God Inheritance was the highest in the lineage, just a smidgen away from Lucifer.
As such, his State of being as a Dragon should be either Primogenitor or higher, but the mechanics of the game didn't allow for this. However, the rules demanded fairness for players based on effort, so his bloodline couldn't be illogically suppressed.
As such, the system had compromised to give him a path to reach his pinnacle naturally. With every Rank up, he became stronger in his State of Being until he eventually reached his true form.
Since he would be Rank 7 at that point, the AI would no longer worry about balance, because Rank 7 was the pinnacle for players unless they agreed to become Gods, at the cost of staying region-locked.
However, not everyone was like Draco, who had to be rebalanced in such a way. Low-Rank Dragons were babies as Hikari had revealed to him before, when she questioned his reduced State of Being.
Teen Dragons were Medium Rank and a.d.u.l.ts were High Rank, Elder Dragons were Supreme Rank and Divine Dragons were God Rank.
Of course, it depended on your elemental affinity as a Dragon, as that was the only distinguisher between them. Some, like White or Black Dragons, directly jumped to Supreme Rank when they became a.d.u.l.ts, like Draco and Hikari.
For a Dragon to be Low Rank and yet be an a.d.u.l.t, it could only mean one thing!
"That Dragon evolved from a lower species? Possibly a wyvern?" Draco concluded pensively.
"Exactly. As such, its bloodline is impure and cobbled together. It would live and die at the Low Rank, never able to grow higher." The Dragon Soul answered knowledgeably.
"Of course, to the Wyvern turned Dragon, this would have been a great climb and all those in its circle of life would have envied its achievements. Even I have to admit that it must've gone through absolute hell to achieve this evolution."
"But it doesn't change the facts of the matter. Its bloodline is impure and it is constrained forever to the Low Rank. This is also true of its offspring…"
"… if the offspring had been birthed by another Dragon. Instead, for some extremely mind-boggling reason, the mother was a Sea Serpent! A Sea Serpent!!"
The Dragon Soul facepalmed like it couldn't understand the stupidity of the Drake's parents, which Draco only slightly agreed with.
It was like a globally famous female celebrity choosing an owner of a medium scale business that was average in one random country as her baby daddy, or a powerful CEO male choosing an average secretary from one of his many branches to be the mother of his child.
It was a match-up were the rank/class of one parent was so far above the other that it shouldn't logically have happened.
Of course, Draco was sure that the wyvern turned dragon must have been the protagonist of his own story, battling the myriad races to earn a chance to evolve.
After struggling bitterly and succeeding, he must've returned home to his loving partner, the Sea Serpent, and remained faithful to her even though their formerly similar status was now worlds apart.
As such, the Drake had been conceived, but how it came to the Divine Auction was another matter. Quite possibly, the Dragon had not had the proverbial happy ever after and his epilogue had been cut short.
Alas, such was life.