Draco inspected the leather pouch that possessed a very light sheen that made it seem special.
｢Bag of Holding – Misc
Durability: 50,000/50,000
Rank: Rare
Effect: Holding Space, Weight Reduction｣
｢Holding Space – Passive
Effect: 300x30 inventory slots that can hold up to 999 stacks each. Only items below gigantic size can enter.｣
｢Weight Reduction – Passive
Effect: Practical weight of the pouch is fixed at 1% of the total weight.｣
Draco wanted to scream out with joy. He had known that it was a success as soon as he saw it, but nothing could have prepared him for the shock that it would be such a great success!
He had had the fortune of receiving a Bag of Holding as a drop for killing a World Boss back in the previous timeline - that was how rare they were - yet that one had been Common Rank!
It too had possessed these two effects, but they were almost ten times weaker! The Holding Space passive had only granted one a 30x30 inventory slots with 99 stacks each, and a size limit of small.
This meant that one could fit only normal weapons and some materials, but they would be limited. It had still been a prized item when Draco sold it at the Divine Auction back then.
How do you think he got the right to participate back then? Riveting Night had also been forced to present something valuable back then, but that was a matter of the past.
What use did it have to NPCs? The question was very prudent. After all, players had expandable inventories, which was something that couldn't be broken into unless they lost.
So as long as players had gold, they could work on this matter slowly and at their own pace. Besides, the default inventory was already large enough for most things, and it was primarily serfs who focused on gathering that usually wanted more.
As for NPCs, they also had inventories. Richmond had displayed its presence and use before, but the true question was whether the inventories of players and NPCs were the same.
Naturally, they were not. NPC inventories were excruciatingly small, able to hold only 10x10 slots with a stack of 9 each. Otherwise, why would kingdoms need treasuries, banks or warehouses?
Everyone would just pop everything they owned into their inventories and live life. Even the knights of Draco's Rank 7 Castle had manually carried everything Draco sent Darnia to buy.
It wasn't because they enjoyed the feeling of working themselves half-dead, but due to the fact that they simply couldn't place all the things in their inventories easily unless they were really small.
Even weapons were held by hand for them, which was something players only had to do after Update 1.
So, a Bag of Holding that could carry weapons, and had so many slots with a weight reduction that lowered it to a 30% at the Common Rank was certainly something that many would kill for.
With this Rare version, Draco could place only this one item on sale during the Player Auction and still earn more than putting all his potions as well as other creations on.
This was something that was destined to become the star item of an auction, and forever cement its reputation!
It was something that Draco could swear that no modern Magical Engineer could make. Most of them even struggled to make the Common version, much less a Rare version!
What made Draco froth at the mouth was that he currently had more than 2,000 Aether Crystals! More than 40% of them were all top-grade too!
Evil thoughts about shattering the economy and causing a bloody war passed through Draco's mind, but he suppressed it. If too many of these entered the market, the value would drop among those who could actually afford it.
He would just be hurting himself in the long run, not to mention that he could find much better uses for his top-grade Aether Crystals than this.
｢Boundless System-wide Announcement
Player Draco has performed a notable contribution to the human race by creating a new design for the Magical Engineering Tradeskill!｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have developed a new design for an Epic Tradeskill, as such, you have been directly granted 500% experience in the Tradeskill in question. Congratulations!｣
｢Congratulations on creating new design: Unnamed (Device) (Rare)
Rewards:
10,000% Exp
10,000% Tradeskill Exp
10,000,000 gold
10,000 reputation with the Tradeskill Association｣
If Draco had been drinking coffee right now, he would have spat it all out. As it were, he exhaled so strongly that all the air left his lungs, causing him to wheeze in pain.
After all, this was extremely shocking. Just creating a new design in an Epic Tradeskill made it worthy of a system-wide announcement, but that was reasonable.
In his encounters with Magical Engineering, Tactics and Scrivener made him aware of one key truth. Unless one had centuries of experience in the field, it was impossible to create something new for them.
Everyone in this era had to live off the handouts that came part and parcel with the Tradeskill. Even Draco had to rely on it to begin working on this Tradeskill, as he had no clue where to go.
So why had he achieved this? The answer was honestly quite simple. He possessed three traits or features that allowed him to achieve this feat in this era, which was something that would be hard to replicate.
The first was his knowledge of the runes, and how they worked. In truth, this wasn't anything special. An Elite Rank Enchanter (level 21-40) would have grasped at least 70% of everything, and an Expert Rank Enchanter (level 41-60) would have a total grasp.
There were more than a few who could fit this criterion in this current age, and probably millions in the old era.
The second was possession of the Magical Engineering Tradeskill. This was pretty much self-explanatory.
The third and most important reason was the bloodline of a Dragon with the Aether Production passive skill. This would allow one to carve the intricate runes directly onto their Aether Crystal without fear of backlash as long as it was produced by themselves.
With these three, anyone could have edited this formula and made something new.
In this era, such a combination was almost impossible. Currently, there was only Draco who fit these criteria, which was why he got to enjoy the system-wide announcement as well as a good reward.
In the old era, Draco was certain that many of the Dragon tribe took up Tradeskills, as the Ancestral City was said to be the most prosperous land on the main plane according to Hikari, as well as some game lore he had discovered in the previous timeline.
No matter how epic Dragons were, without Tradeskills, a city could never achieve a healthy economic system to the point where it could be described as number 1, even if they produced Aether Crystals.
After all, the designs that were already in the Personal Workstation had to come from somewhere, right? They couldn't have been magicked from nowhere, which meant that someone had done even better than Draco, which was to create something from scratch.
After all, no matter how it was put, this fellow just took someone else's design and tweaked it heavily to produce something new that functioned a hundred times better.
It could even be described as an enhanced design, but the problem was that the enhancement was so strong that they couldn't be put in the same category. As such, it had to be treated as a new design.
Draco was moved by the 500% reward that went into Magical Engineering, sending him from level 9, 15% to level 14, 15%. This was a huge jump that sent him closer to the Elite Rank, something that no Magical Engineer of this era had reached!
Next up was what had Draco coughing in pain as he struggled to breathe properly. The reward for creating a new design in Magical Engineering was just too extreme!
It wasn't something he would be able to replicate easily in the future, so he greatly treasured its presence now.
He received 10,000% experience, which was on par with clearing a whole outpost in the Paradise lands during the conflict between the Nshaw tribe and the Adventurer's Guild back then!
The reward had been so high because there were Rank 3 fellows who would assault anyone that tried to raze the outposts of their youths to the ground.
In other words, those who were powerful enough to survive such a thing couldn't even be bothered to perform this act, and those who would try would 100% die in the attempt, yet in case they somehow magically ended up surviving, they were deserving of the reward.
And he had just received another serving of this right now. Draco placed 8,900% experience into Pair Dadeni, sending it from 21,100% to 30,000%. He then placed 1,000% in Mjolnir, sending it from 25,000% to 26,000% putting it slightly behind the cauldron.
As for the last 100%, he gave 19% of it to Fragarach, sending the sword from 2,381% to 2,400%. The remainder he let onto himself, bringing him to level 35, 15%.
Last time, Draco had limited himself to level 30, 0% in order to maximize his gains for killing monsters, but he could hardly keep that up when he continued to craft like a beast.
As shown before, Tradeskill crafters earned experience in both their Tradeskill and their basic level. After all, one could not expect them to go out and kill monsters when they were workers?
It might not be a problem for the player who could respawn but if NPCs tried all Tradeskills would die out.
Draco had crafted a lot of stuff ever since the First Guild War came to an end, yet he only went up 4 levels at Rank 1. Majority had been Epic, Semi-Legendary or in the case of Cooking, Legendary.
The truth was that his basic reward was dumbed down greatly because of his Tradeskill level. So, the Aether Crystal shortcut had many benefits, but also some detriments.
There was no perfect thing in the world. Everything had pluses and minuses, it only came down to which side was higher objectively and subjectively.
Right now, Draco's character sheet looked like this.
｢ Name: Draco
Class: Avenger (Optimal)
Race: Hybrid (Human/Ultima Sunt)
Rank: Adventurer (1)
Level: 35
Exp: 12%
Str: 40
Dex: 25
End: 10
Int: 20
Spr: 15
Cha: 10
Lck: 10
Combat Skills: Absolute Void, Armageddon, Instant Healing, Rain of Arrows, Necrotic Hands, Evil Curse, Life Steal, Divination, Dark Resurrection, Beckon.
Non-Combat Skills: Soul Bond, Omnipotent Archer, Charm, Insight, Foresight, Flexibility, Nymph Lord, Illusion, Evolution, Ultimate Stealth, Pinnacle Intelligence, Revenger, Cloud Feet, Dragobond, Aether Conversion, Ruler of Nine Hells.
Tradeskills: Smithing (level 60, 10%), Alchemy (level 60, 15%), Enchanting (level 100, 0%), Cooking (level 80, 99%), Taming (level 1, 10%), Tactics (level 1, 25%), Magical Engineering (level 14, 15%), Scrivener (level 1, 90%)｣
His strength was almost at the 50 mark, which was a big milestone. Dexterity was halfway there and the next best stat was surprisingly intelligence, which was 40% of the way.
As for what benefits came with reaching such a milestone, Draco knew and awaited it with anticipation. It and his eventual Rank up would provide him with leagues more power than anyone could comprehend.
Draco also got 100,000 platinum from this creation, which he divided up before he sent it to Loving Aunt with a few smiley faces, and the other half to Jada, to which he added a note 'Down payment for that lovely w.o.m.b ;)'.
Loving Aunt heaped praises of love for him in her reply while Jada put in so many insults that the AI had to censor more than half her message.
Draco chuckled and focused on his Tradeskill experience. In truth, this was the reward he had gained that was truly to best of them all.
Following the AI's explanation from last time, Tradeskill experience given in rewards had different points of conversion. From a Common Tradeskill like Blacksmithing, it would have to be converted up depending on whether the recipient Tradeskill was at the Epic or Legendary Rank.
So, the same logic should apply here. Tradeskill experience earned from an Epic Tradeskill should work perfectly fine for other Epic Tradeskills, and should it be converted down, Draco should receive an even greater amount.
Naturally, he put this experience aside. He would rather walk through the beaten path slowly and acc.u.mulate experience the hard way, improving his skills.
After all, he was only Rank 1, what was the rush? If he reached the pinnacle of everything before even hitting Rank 7, life would be too boring. Part of the enjoyment came from the journey, not just reaching the destination.
This was even saying it nicely. The beaten path was long and arduous, but it boasted the best results once one reached the end. A solid foundation and output in all aspects.
Draco decided to name the contraption 'Advanced Spatial Creation Device'. The system accepted the name and no other announcement came, probably because part of the reason Draco was reward so heavily for creating the recipe was that it was automatically inputted into the Tradeskill.
Should any Magical Engineer reach the Expert Rank, unlikely as it was, they could buy it from the interface. Of course, they could also buy it directly from Draco, and he wouldn't mind selling it.
After all, while he knew the three criteria, no one else would, and it wouldn't be listed on the design. If they tried to copy him, many interesting explosions would occur around the world.
Draco found the notion funny, and he wouldn't mind that. The fewer Magical Engineers there was, the more of a monopoly he would have.
He picked up the Bag of Holding and threw it into his inventory. He would sell this during the Auction for sure, but it wouldn't be his main show. What would fit that bill would be the device itself.
Draco took out not one, not two, but 10 top-grade Aether Crystals. In truth, it had taken him only around 10 mins to create one device due to his circ.u.mstances, so barely any time had passed.
As such, he made ten more of them as quickly as he made the first, and his Tradeskill experience climbed from level 14, 15% to level 16, 76%.
Draco was truly tempted to continue on, as this was the fastest rise he had ever experienced in any of his Epic Tradeskills, but he held himself back.
While he might have a lot of top-grade crystals, he needed to save a lot of them for Vita City-State. When it was time to upgrade to a fledging kingdom, he would certainly need thousands of them to upgrade the Aether Hall as well as the concentration of Aetheric Energy.
Thankfully, he had the ten completed devices to account for anything that might derail his plans during the auction, so Draco was content.
He no longer needed to craft like a beast, and since his time after the auction would be spent reaching Rank 2 and then heading straight for his Unique Quest, he chose to spend the rest of the time with his children.
Rosella, Loki and Rila were happy to get pampered by him, with Rila taking the 'brunt' of it since she was the oldest. The poor Origin Goddess was torn between extreme contentment and frustration, but she told herself that it was for the happiness of her daddy, so it was fine.
Sigh… Rila was truly a darling. She simply spoiled this Draco fellow too much.
The remainder of the time passed, and the date for the Player Auction was tomorrow. At this time, there was no one in the world who didn't know that the first auction of the Rank 7 Shop in Cario City was beginning.
Many NPC powers had fought direly for the rights to participate, because all of the top powers were attending. It wasn't because they expected anything too extravagant, but because of the rules of the auction.
After all, they only accepted Aether Crystals as payment! This had been announced from the very beginning, but no one had taken it seriously back then.
What could a Rank 1 fellow possibly have that could warrant spending Aether Crystals? However, they had recently been given a huge supply of the required resource during the Divine Auction, and this led to many coming to some interesting conclusions.
No one was an idiot, and many people could put two and two together. However, the problem was that there was nothing concrete enough to confirm their theory, and the backing of their suspect was quite sturdy to act without definite proof.
So, unless they were 100% sure, everyone chose to play stupid.
Another reason, which was even more important as to why many NPCs were dying to attend, was that a certain item had been marketed as part of the auction's line-up in the past two weeks.
That's right, it was the Bag of Holding! Its specifications had been shared freely to the world by Draco, making many people froth at the mouth.
In truth, such an item was really a hot potato in the possession of the wrong person, but Draco was qualified. Not only that, but he was putting it on sale in a fair manner, so the burden would fall on the buyer.
However, this auction also sent out invitations to players. Every single player in Boundless was eligible to attend the auction free of charge, with priority seating too.
The players had naturally been very proud of this and had flaunted it among the various NPC friends they had or knew. Many NPCs had silently cursed Draco, while those top powers only smiled lightly.
They knew that Draco's invitation for the Immortal Adventurers was not about favoritism, but about education. Soon all these frogs would learn what was outside of their well.
Seeing through Draco's plan, even the AI was in favor of it, choosing to generate an event on the scale of the First Guild War called the First Player Auction, in which - once again - players received a small reward for attendance.
As such when the day came for the Player Auction to begin, the Rank 7 shop was truly bustling with activity!