Draco exited Ophie's room with his armor on. As for the halfling, her small body lay sprawled on the bed, fast asleep and snoring loudly with a wide satisfied grin on her face.
Hoover came up to Draco and bowed with respect. "My Lord, what are your orders?"
Draco pondered his options. After enlightening all the natives inside the Treasury, they were still digesting their gains, so it was not good to disturb them. He had already harvested enough from them, and he had the premonition that nothing they could show now would further his gains.
Draco tabulated his current status and made a list of priorities to complete before the inheritance competition would begin.
First, he needed to become a Grandmaster in Blacksmithing and Alchemy. This was a large goal that could be broken down into smaller steps.
The premier step would be to create a Grandmaster Design. For any other Tradeskill, Draco would have a problem, but not for Blacksmithing and Alchemy.
One should remember, in the previous timeline, he had made the Mana Sword. This had been a true Legendary design that he had drafted after years of experimentation, which was unfortunately brought down to the Pseudo-Legendary level as a result of his level 3 Three Pound Origin Technique back then.
All he had to do was re-create the design if he wanted to be lazy about it, but Draco preferred to challenge himself and come up with one from scratch without external help.
Then if he could create Legendary Items, even if they were not the same as on his design, he would have satisfied another requirement to become a Grandmaster. This part was not exactly easy, but it was not too hard either, especially if he upgraded Pair Dadeni and Mjolnir before then.
However, it did not end there. He would also have to upgrade his two Grandmaster Techniques through research and experimentation. Now that his innate technique generator had finally quantified them, the path forward had been revealed to him, so he no longer needed to struggle for an answer.
His second main goal would be to develop techniques for Scrivener and Magical Engineering. They were two Tradeskills that were absolutely integral to his progress as a guild leader and supreme player.
Anyone who had seen what both Tradeskills could do would agree that for an MMORPG, they were practically unsurpassed. Even Blacksmithing and Alchemy could only play second fiddle to them.
To do that though, he would need to sit down and work on those two Tradeskills, which was fine since he now had to remain indoors as he increased his proficiency in both.
He had enough Aether Crystals to skip the conversion process for the remaining Sword Skills, not to mention that he also needed to add his Bow Skills, Grandmaster Techniques, and all other techniques to his repertoire.
That wasn't all though. One shouldn't forget the sheer endless number of spells he could add. Spellbooks were usually created by the system and handed out. The ones that were sold were only copies from originals made by the Epic Tradeskill Copywriting.
This was one tier above the Advanced Scribing Tradeskill. Scribing alone would not allow one to replicate a Tradeskill, but Copywriting could. It also costs far less and was easier to Rank up compared to Scrivener.
But as a person with subjective magic, Draco could easily create endless spellbooks. Don't forget, subjective magic was treated as a technique and not a skill, so any spell Draco made with it could be transformed into an official skill.
As for Magical Engineering, Draco simply needed to continue learning designs and trying his hand at them. If he could find blueprints that he could abuse with his bloodline talents, his combat talent, or his Control, he would be set.
For example, the Basic Spatial Enlargement Device had used his Draconic affiliation and subjective magic to twist into the Advanced Spatial Creation Device which was extremely valuable.
As for creating a new blueprint using his own skill, that was impossible. To do that, he'd need to invest as much time in the Tradeskill as he did for Alchemy and Blacksmithing in his past life, which was not optimal.
Draco knew his limits, which was why he kept searching for shortcuts. He could certainly tread the beaten path like everyone else and succeed at the end with his level of talent, but that required the investment of time and effort.
His third main goal would be to practice his newly acquired Tradeskills and understand their maxims, as well as try to develop his own technique for them. This was important, as he would have the best access to the library during the quest.
With that in mind, Draco nodded to Hoover and said: "Prepare the workroom for me. Stock it up with Epic and Legendary materials for Blacksmithing, Alchemy, Scrivener, and Magical Engineering."
"Also, have Natasha alone serve me during my work time. She is to prepare my meals and co-ordinate with Ophie to prepare my drinks. She will also warm my bed during this period."
"As for the miscellaneous tasks for the manor, I leave them to you and the other maids. If the others wish to warm my bed as well, inform them of these details before they apply."
Draco proceeded to explain to Hoover about the Morningstar Clan and made the same offer to them as he did to Ophie. The goatman was moved to know that Draco was such a powerful bloke in the outside world.
Draco also explained how they - the future concubines should they agree - would live in his clan, as well as what their statuses in the main world would entail. For a clearer picture, he informed him little about Umbra and Vita City-State, but not too much.
After all, Draco cared little about whether or not they would agree. It was their life's fortune to jump on the diamond-encrusted train that was the Morningstar Clan. If they opted not to, that was a valid choice of its own.
Draco had put this same choice before Roma and the maids of the Rank 7 Castle. Those maids had numbered about 300 in total, yet only 28 joined Draco, which was less than 10%.
He did not begrudge the 90% their choice, but neither did he remember their faces nor names. After they declined the opportunity, they had returned to being faceless background characters in his life, and he was focused on his own path of progression.
Hoover nodded and carried out Draco's orders. In the meantime, the fellow himself walked into the workroom of the Evergreen Manor. It was a truly magnificent space with almost everything Draco needed.
Well, that was probably because it was a super mini small world room with easy customization. Its base setting was the typical lush meadowland with birds chirping and rivers running, but it could be re-arranged into anything.
Of course, any artificial super mini small world could be customized by one who had the skill or a powerful State of Being, but what was special about this one was that anyone could do so even if they were a complete idiot.
It seemed as if the Refinement God had anticipated that those outsiders who came in might either be completely ignorant of Tradeskills or have poor States of Being, so he had planned ahead for them.
Truly, this Refinement God was showing himself to be a supreme character. He wasn't even alive, but one could see his meticulous and clever nature from how everything was set-up so many millennia ago.
Draco changed the world from a lovely meadowland to a Victorian-era/steampunk-ish forge. Even though such a thing was definitely illegal in the outside world, he could easily create it in here due to the place being a Unique Quest and a super mini small world.
Even then, it only really served an aesthetic value, as he already had his own tools. Draco took out his Semi-Epic Blacksmithing set and Alchemy set.
He rubbed them fondly, as they were made by his beloved White Dragon. Hikari had only spent a few seconds to create them with her power, but she hadn't realized the emotional value they would have to Draco.
Even though he probably could make a better set or purchase one, he refrained from doing so. What Hikari made was just perfect enough for him.
Draco also took out Pair Dadeni and Mjolnir. He patted the Epic tools lightly and blew on them. Even though there was no dust, he still felt like he hadn't touched them in too long.
Draco also opened his status screen.
｢ Name: Draco
Class: Abyssal Prime
Race: Hybrid (Human/Ultima Sunt)
Rank: Adventurer (1)
Level: 50
Exp: 188,362%
Str: 100
Dex: 100
End: 100
Int: 70
Spr: 70
Cha: 70
Lck: 100
Combat Skills: Dragon Form (Rank 1), Demon Form (Rank 1), Devil Form (Rank 1), Necrotic Hands, Evil Curse, Life Steal, Divination, Dark Resurrection, Beckon, Angel's Blessing (Corrupted), Mind Blast, Charm.
Non-Combat Skills: Soul Bond, Charm, Insight, Foresight, Flexibility, Illusion, Evolution, Ultimate Stealth, Pinnacle Intelligence, Dragobond, Aether Conversion, Devil's Guile (Rank 1), Demonic Might (Rank 1), Draconic Superiority (Rank 1).
Tradeskills: Smithing (level 62, 49%), Alchemy (level 63, 13%), Enchanting (level 100, 0%), Magical Engineering (level 14, 15%), Scrivener (level 5, 30%), Privateering (level 1, 0%)｣
Draco's lips twitched. Now that he checked it, his Blacksmithing and Alchemy weren't even at the level cap for the Master Rank. So, he wouldn't become a Grandmaster even if he fulfilled all the conditions…
He also needed 51,257% experience to upgrade all his items at once. Looking at it this way, he could kill two birds with one stone, which was to raise his Tradeskill level and gain experience from new designs.
After all, he would not gain anything if the design was already established apart from common Tradeskill experience. However, if he created a new design, he would get a system notification and some experience for his stuff.
At least, he hoped so.
He knew that being in a Unique Quest had its benefits and detriments. For one, he broke through the constraints of the current era and could endlessly become a Grandmaster at will, and his actions were out of the view of the Gods among others.
But it was likely that his creations could be held up to old era standard, in which his supreme talent might become less supreme and more common.
With that in mind, Draco began work. He decided to start with Alchemy, since that would be faster than Smithing. This time, he obviously didn't limit himself by switching off his titles and using only his technique.
Draco poured all his knowledge and focus from two timelines into Alchemy. Everything he knew and experienced regurgitated and molded into a new and more practical form in the hands of Pair Dadeni and his own technique.
Which such a high success rate - one that was over 100% - it meant that his chance of failure was nil. In fact, it even helped shorten his already short crafting time. What should've taken 5 minutes now took only 1.
This shocked Draco greatly, but he rolled with it. Not only that, but his Grandmaster technique passively increased many aspects of the crafting process, like the item's quality, quantity and value, but also decreased others like time consumption, material consumption, and stamina consumption.
To Draco, it felt less like he was crafting an Epic or Semi-Legendary potion and more like he was making a Common potion as a Master Rank Alchemist. It was just too easy.
It was like he was boiling water, not making a powerful potion for Christ's sake!
The difference a Grandmaster technique could make, especially one of supreme quality like those he auto-generated, was not comprehensible by normal means.
Whatever that auto-technique generating thing of his was, it was too overpowered. Beside his bloodline and Control, it was the most overpowered aspect of Draco's existence, something deeply tied to his rise and fall in both timelines.
By the time 1 day had come to pass, Draco had already produced more than 1,400 Epic potions. This number was truly frightening when looking at the Rank of the potions.
He made in one day what another Master Rank Alchemist made in a month! Holy shit!