When Natasha heard Draco's command, her face became blue from fear. The one thing she didn't want was about to happen, and she wasn't able to refuse thanks to Vishad's orders.
She even considered sneaking out and running away, but Hoover came with Ophie. The butler was not just a piece of decoration, he was the main protector of this manor and any resident of Evergreen Village knew better than to cross him.
Natasha could only grit her teeth, walk out of her room, and head to the kitchens under Hoover's careful watch. Surprisingly, the birdwoman was actually a competent cook, and she quickly whipped up many Master Rank dishes for Draco to enjoy.
One could only wonder how Draco was able to tell that Cooking was her main focus. Then again, it was probably the Eyes of Caelo. Ophie and Natasha were not like Doris, whose Tradeskill revolved around being a maid.
They were normal girls pulled from the village who were around Draco's age and were the most beautiful of their age group. Naturally, they - like almost every other resident of this Treasury - had Tradeskills they practiced.
Ophie was a Brewer - shocking for her size - and Natasha was an expert cook who loved making dishes. As such, when she and Hoover laid out the table for Draco, even Ophie was shocked.
Draco sat at the head of the table and smiled lightly at Natasha. "Come and stand behind me."
Natasha hesitated, but ended up biting her lip and quietly stood behind Draco's seat. Draco then nodded to Hoover, and the goatman respectfully nodded back.
"Ophie, prepare drinks for me while I eat." Draco ordered the halfling whose mouth was watering.
Ophie snapped out of her daze and nodded. She removed some casks from her inventory and shook them. She fetched a mixing jar and poured a few different casks into them.
The pint-sized halfling then shook these jugs wildly, which was a thoroughly adorable and amusing sight to watch. Even the unfriendly and irritable Natasha smiled warmly while watching this.
After doing this tough task, Ophie panted as she presented the jug to Draco. "H-Here you go, my Lord."
Draco smiled and gently rubbed Ophie's head. He used his Subjective Magic to restore some of her stamina, greatly refreshing Ophie's fatigue. While he wasn't at Richmond's level in this regard, Draco could still do this much.
Ophie smiled happily under Draco's care and temporarily forgot how he indirectly abused her for his own gain.
"The drinks are a bit warm though…" Ophie noted with uncertainty.
Draco simply used Subjective Magic to chill it on the spot, which startled everyone in the room. When he restored Ophie's stamina, there was no clear indicator of this, so they didn't exactly know what he did.
It could have been a spell or a skill. However, perfectly chilling the drinks before him was definitely not a skill or spell, because no spell was so precise and specific, nor were spells meant for household functions.
When they remembered that Draco was an outsider, they felt that this was normal. After all, outsiders were known to have a variety of means. Draco being able to cast magic so easily should not be that shocking.
Draco then began to dig in. Natasha just watched him eat so freely with a grimace, like she wanted to push his face into the food. Ophie simply stared at the food while her mouth watered endlessly.
Only Hoover was professional, calmly standing by the side while gazing into the air. It was like he was watching the most fascinating play going on in the air, and his eyes were unfocused.
Draco eventually finished the meal. He then wiped his lips delicately and stood up. He gazed at Natasha with a slight smirk playing on his lips as he said: "Not bad."
Natasha gripped her skirt, as she felt like she would rip Draco to shreds otherwise. Anyone could clearly see that he had enjoyed her meal, and her cooking was top-tier in this world.
Yet, he merely ranked it as 'not bad'… it was obvious he was purposefully belittling her. How could she swallow such a blatant insult so easily?
Ophie and Hoover moved to clean the plates as well as the table while Draco left with Natasha in tow. The birdwoman's wings were folded behind her, but one could see them twitch every now and then.
She was tempted to unfurl them and fly away, but something prevented her from doing so. As such, she quietly followed Draco as he returned to the library of the Evergreen Manor.
Normally, she wouldn't be allowed in here, but she also could not disobey Draco's commands. As such, she simply stood behind him as he visited the aisle for the Scrivener Tradeskill.
Draco picked up a technique on the shelf before him and read through it. Once he was done with this, the same screen he saw when he had read through techniques for Magical Engineering appeared again.
｢Gaddeus' Theory of Scribing – Legendary Technique
Effect: This technique is estimated to increase the speed of writing by 50%, the quality of the penmanship by 20% and reduce stamina consumption by 5%.
Description: This technique utilizes a set of wrist training techniques meant to be performed at least 1 hour before writing. Along with it are special writing techniques meant to help increase speed while reducing tiredness. This method was developed by Farrad Gaddeus, the world's most prolific Scribe.｣
Draco nodded as he read this. This technique was meant for mass production. After all, one should remember that printing presses did not exist in medieval fantasy worlds.
As such, books had to be handwritten from scratch, so this was the duty of Scribes in the past. They had to have a certain level of mechanical accuracy in terms of legible handwriting, writing speed, and memorization to prevent spelling mistakes or grammatical errors.
This also held true for the world of Boundless. There were some who preferred to only Scribe or Scriven something once and be done. However, most people in this profession had to make many copies of the same things in order to increase their Tradeskill level, as well as their income which stemmed from sales.
Not everyone could be like Draco who had 360 techniques to choose from, so he could Scriven each one once so that he could enjoy that sweet 'first-time' experience bonus.
He also had his bow skills, his Tradeskill techniques, and of course, his Subjective Magic. He would never lack fresh things to Scriven, so what he wanted to do was build a strong stockpile of Aether Crystals allowing him to could fast-forward the conversion when the time was right.
Not to mention, a writing technique would make his works more perfect. He would be able to increase their quality and make more from selling them, as well as enhancing his special brand.
As such, he went onto the next technique. One should note that there were only about 200 or fewer techniques here in total compared to the aisle for Magical Engineering.
Then again, this was understandable. After all, if Legendary techniques could be created so easily, then Draco would just destroy the world and turn back time to recreate the old era, for there was no reason for it to have died out with so many geniuses.
｢Insolar Writing Technique – Legendary Technique
Effect: This technique is estimated to increase the speed of writing by 30%, the quality of the penmanship by 15%, and reduced the consumption of ink and paper by 30%.
Description: This technique utilizes a set of methods created by the Union of Scribes, and is their most crucial technique related to the Union's success. It propounds that a Scribe cannot simply write from the mind, but has to write from the soul. A special set of procedures are listed within that allow an individual to connect with their tools and materials to shape them in the most perfect way.｣
Draco raised an eyebrow in surprise. It seemed like anything was possible under this sun, as even techniques for writing could have spirituality in them.
He then continued to browse through the rest of the techniques here. It took him just under 18 hours to go through all 200 of them, and Natasha was barely awake by this point.
After all, she was just a normal girl, not like Draco who had amazing willpower and high stats/capabilities. Draco turned to gaze at her and used Subjective Magic to buff her by removing fatigue and increasing her attentiveness for an hour.
Natasha instantly perked up. She felt like she could continue to move around for a while, so she stared at Draco with undisguised surprise and awe. However, this quickly turned into a dark frown when she remembered that he made her stand behind him for almost a whole day while reading books!
After going through the techniques, Draco next went to peruse the various recipes for books. These mostly dealt with the kind of materials needed to make special kinds of papers or inks, like eternal paper, inflammatory paper, explosive paper, and more.
There were also invisible ink recipes, death ink, hypnosis ink, and more. Even further, there were recipes for quills using those from true Phoenix feathers to create nirvanic writing, feathers from c.o.c.katrice to make toxic writing, or even feathers from angels to make holy writings.
There were also recipes for specific nibs that could yield different effects. One could use High Iron mixed with some Sedentia to make a sturdy nib, one could use small bits of Aether Crystals to make a powered nib, or one could even use special ores like the Void Stone to make elemental nibs.
The options were many and Draco carved them all into his mind. Even though he only needed these things to make skillbooks and spellbooks, it never hurt to learn. One could never predict the future, and all these recipes kept in his mind may yield some use later on.
Draco was done with the Scrivener section soon enough and exited the library. He didn't look at the Privateering section or those for his selected Tradeskills. After all, his plan was to manually get a feel from them through practice before he relied on the techniques here to derive a path forward.
Basically, Draco was the type of gamer who preferred to play a game without the help of walkthroughs unless absolutely necessary. He would rather tough it out and glean his own initial understanding of the matter.
If he didn't do this, it would be hard to make exemplary things in the future like the Advanced Spatial Creation Device.
Draco had spent a total of 24 hours in the library this time, and Natasha was running on fumes. Draco first sent her way to sleep, and the birdwoman walked through the halls like a zombie on its last legs.
He himself went over to the bath, which was handled by Ophie again. As she had gotten quite used to the torturous process, Ophie washed him down and this time even helped wipe him down.
It wasn't that she had become immune to her desire, but rather that she craved an even closer look. She certainly got her fill, and Ophie was even more aroused by Draco, which Draco happily extracted without her knowledge once again.
Thinking that being around him would refresh her mind, Ophie decided to spend more time with him subconsciously. Whether that was something she herself thought up or it was a suggestion implanted into her mind, one might never learn.
After bathing, Draco went to sleep as well, as that debuff had yet to leave. Thanks to Natasha's Master Rank dishes, he didn't need to eat for 2 days, and Ophie's Master Rank drinks also kept him quenched for the next 2 days at the least.
Draco slept alone in his bed with a slight smile on his lips. He chose to do so because it wasn't time to defile Ophie and he wanted to… prepare… Natasha properly.
Just like how a cook would carefully beat the meat, salt it and add various sauces and spices to glaze it, he too wanted to carefully let Natasha, as well as Ophie, simmer on the fire till they were just ripe.
When the time came for him to savor his dishes, he wanted the taste to be absolutely delectable.
