Eventually, Draco's team completed The Princess's Delight and moved onto The Mourner's Dirge. He was left speechless when he found that the design was actually similar to a typical ship, but what gave it the aura and the looks was the enchantment used.
It was complex and troubling, even more so, The Source rune stated that it drew from Darkness Energy. This was the first time for Draco to encounter something that absorbed anything other than Worldly Energy in order to fuel its processes.
Even the Rapscallion's Glee and the Princess' Delight had both used Worldly Energy as a source, so the Mourner's Dirge stood out. Also, the Function stage of the runes was so detailed and lengthy that Draco had to do it himself in order to save time, as he was the only Grandmaster Enchanter among them.
After it was done, the Mourner's Dirge came to life and was completed. It had taken the group another 7 days to achieve this, making Draco realize that he couldn't straight-up build the armada of his dream while he was here.
He was feeling more and more that his time was becoming limited, maybe because barely 3 months were left out of the 1-year time limit he had for this Unique Quest.
He couldn't afford to enter another seclusion to solely build sh.i.p.s. He wanted to also check out his Dungeon Creation and Skill Fusion Tradeskills, because both looked super interesting and useful.
As such, Draco left the shipwright assistants in the work area, telling them to build one of The Sailor's Rave and The King's Spear each. Since he had been the one to summon them, he would still get the entire experience without having to lift a single finger.
In the meantime, he went to the Tradeskill Library once again. Unfortunately, he couldn't draw any new Tradeskills for himself, so instead, he opted to head towards the aisle for the techniques for Privateering and see what he could learn for himself.
Upon browsing, he noticed a few good Legendary Techniques and some unique designs for sh.i.p.s, though he kept to those at the Common Rank.
｢Ian Water's Sailing Technique – Legendary Technique
Effect: This technique is estimated to increase the speed of sailing by 30%, the comfort of the journey by 15%, and reduce the consumption of stamina by 30% for all sailors.
Description: This technique utilizes a set of methods created by Ian Water, a well-known sea captain who had never failed a cargo run in his entire career. He propounded that sailing atop the sea is not a matter of spirit, but science and wisdom. As such, he left these special set of procedures to educate any young sailor on the maxims of water-based travel at the helm of a ship.｣
｢Richter's Cannonmastery Technique – Legendary Technique
Effect: This technique is estimated to increase the damage of a ship by 20% during combat, the reload speed of the cannons by 75%, and increase shot accuracy by 90%.
Description: This technique utilizes a set of methods created by Richter, an infamous sea lord who fancied the life of conflict and war. He usually utilized this technique for hunting down pirates and foul fellows atop the seas, but occasionally used it to battle navy sh.i.p.s out of boredom. These are a special set of procedures that can allow a ship's captain to mobilize his crew in such a way that their cannonwork would be most efficient.｣
｢Ship Speedbuilding for Professionals Technique – Legendary Technique
Effect: This technique is estimated to increase the speed of ship construction by 70%, the quality of the final product by 15%, and reduces stamina consumption of shipwrights by 80%.
Description: This technique utilizes a set of methods created by the Seafarer's Union, a collectivist group of sailors and shipwrights that sought to make sea life more streamlined and efficient. This technique propounds a special set of procedures to undertake when constructing a ship, preferably with the assistance of able-bodied assistant shipwrights in order to shorten construction time while not only maintaining quality, but increasing it.｣
Draco honed in on these three techniques because they had been the best of the lot and the most useful to him per se. One for how to sail, one for how to fight, and lastly one for how to build were.
He also found a few techniques for navigation, but none had managed to catch his interest. It would be far more fun to explore randomly and expand upon a new route on his own.
As for the extra Common Rank ship designs, he didn't inspect them in too much detail. Already dealing with the ones he had would take time, and he wasn't willing to spend that much time on it overall.
He then left the Privateering aisle and went over to the Blacksmithing, Alchemy, Magical Engineering, and Scrivener aisles. The last time he was here, he had limited himself to the level he was at in all four of these Tradeskills in respect to designs and special methods.
This time, he soaked up more and increased his wealth of knowledge up to his current Rank. This was especially important for Magical Engineering and Scrivener, whose levels he had jumped through during his seclusion.
One could consider him doing this as semi-consolidating his current Rank in the Tradeskills. He spent less than half a day in there, as there was not too much for him to catch up on in this sense.
Once he exited the library, he moved over to the bathroom to clean himself with the help of one of his seeded concubines and then had a meal with the trio of Ophie, Hoover, and Doris.
Natasha was still in her own seclusion, though Hoover reported that she appeared to be on the cusp of a breakthrough to a Grandmaster Cook, although the exact moment could be anything ranging from a day to over a month. This impressed Draco, and he wondered if the irritable birdwoman could actually do it.
Whatever the case, he had his own issues to solve. After resting for a bit, he went over to the dwelling of Qiong Qi and Clarent to bully the two for a bit. By the time Draco left a few hours later, the duo were howling in pain and regret, wishing they had never encountered such a vile fellow!
Alas, as soon as the one in charge was out of the room, the two of them didn't hesitate to make plans on how to get their revenge on this fellow. One would think that Draco's action would warn them about the consequences of such a futile attempt, yet those two were incorrigible.
Feeling extremely satisfied, Draco returned to the wookroom to see that work was underway on The Sailor's Rave. The foundations had already been laid out and it only needed some more time for the rest to be put in place before the enchantments and whatnot would be added.
Satisfied with this, Draco turned to Pair Dadeni and Mjolnir who had just finished another batch. He checked their settings and thought for a little bit before changing what he had put there for the Alchemy queue only.
｢System to Player Announcement
Set up a crafting queue for the 'Angel's Kiss' potion?
1. Auto-craft (Success rate 65%) - Amount: 600 (ETA: 10 hours)
2. Batch-craft (Success rate 32.5%) - Amount: 600 (ETA: 10 hours)
Y/N｣
｢System to Player Announcement
Set up a crafting queue for the 'Dragorugio' set?
1. Auto-craft (Success rate 65%) - Amount: 700 (ETA: 70 hours)
2. Batch-craft (Success rate 32.5%) - Amount: 700 (ETA: 70 hours)
Y/N｣
As one could expect, he chose Auto-Craft over Batch-Craft as usual. Draco even checked his inventory and found that there was quite a hefty amount of completed Dragorugio sets and Enlightenment potions during his months-long seclusion.
As for his Aether Crystals, it was best to drop the matter. Investigating exactly how many Draco had could make anyone spit three liters of blood in shock and indignation.
(Editor's Note: For all intents and purposes we will treat it as if he has an infinite amount unless explicitly stated otherwise)
Once Draco sorted all these misc issues out, he smiled and moved towards the shipwright assistants in order to supervise them in their activities.
However, before he could even take a step, a loud and indescribable voice spoke.
"It is once again that time. It is time for me to test my descendants as well as one worthy outsider to see who is worthy of my inheritance. A competition will be held in the core area, so all parties who wish to participate should be present there in 12 hours, or not at all."
Once Draco heard this, his red eyes flashed with malicious intent and his lips curled up into a smirk.
"Finally!"
...
｢Event Zone Announcement
All players, congratulations on completing: Abyssal Invasion Emergency Quest
Time elapsed: 03:12:07
Assessment: SSS+
Reward:
10,000 reputation with Sturgehaven Kingdom
20,000 reputation with all races
8,000% experience
300,000 gold
7 Epic Treasure Chests｣
｢Event Zone Announcement
All players, congratulations on completing: The Abyss World Event
Time elapsed: 7876:09:12
Assessment: S+
Reward:
100 reputation with all world organizations
1,000 reputation with the War Maniac Pavilion
70,000 gold
1 Legendary Treasure Chest｣
｢Event Zone Announcement
Guild Rankings have been calculated:
1. Umbra
2. Kamisuo
3. Desecrators
4. Meiren
5. Myriad Cards
6. Lorebinders
The list of rewards will be privately shared with each Guildmaster accordingly.｣
｢Event Zone Announcement
Individual Rankings have been calculated:
1. Fitter Cleric
2. Riveting Night
3. Quiet Blade (Cobra)
4. Slim Fatty
5. Jada and Jade
6. Loving Aunt
7. L.u.s.ty Wench (Rina)
8. Rambunctious Buttlover
9. Essence Stalker
10. Tunder Power
Rewards will be privately sent to each player accordingly｣
｢Event Zone Announcement
Last hit bonus awarded to:
Riveting Night
Rewards will be privately sent to the player.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
Player Riveting Night, congratulations on placing second on the individual rankings.
Rewards:
3 Legendary Treasure Chests
10 Epic Treasure Chests
50 Rare Treasure Chests
100 Uncommon Treasure Chests
5,000 Common Treasure Chests
100,000,000 gold｣
｢System to Guild Announcement
Guild Umbra, congratulations on placing first on the Guild rankings.
Rewards:
3 Divine Blessing Tokens
10 Cassus Belli Waivement Scrolls
10 Compulsory Muster Scrolls
500 City Resource Packs
2000 Aether Crystals
1,000,000 platinum｣
｢Sturgehaven Kingdom Regional Announcement
Players Fitter Cleric, Riveting Night, Quiet Blade (Cobra), Slim Fatty, Jada and Jade, Loving Aunt, L.u.s.ty Wench (Rina), Rambunctious Buttlover, Essence Stalker, Tunder Power have ranked in the top 10 of the Abyss Event!｣
｢Cario Continent International Announcement
Players Fitter Cleric, Riveting Night, Quiet Blade (Cobra), Slim Fatty, Jada and Jade, Loving Aunt, L.u.s.ty Wench (Rina), Rambunctious Buttlover, Essence Stalker, Tunder Power have ranked in the top 10 of the Abyss Event!｣
｢Boundless System-wide Announcement
Players Fitter Cleric, Riveting Night, Quiet Blade (Cobra), Slim Fatty, Jada and Jade, Loving Aunt, L.u.s.ty Wench (Rina), Rambunctious Buttlover, Essence Stalker, Tunder Power have ranked in the top 10 of the Abyss Event!｣
｢Sturgehaven Kingdom Regional Announcement
Guilds Umbra, Kamisuo, Desecrators, Meiren, Myriad Cards, and Lorebinders have ranked in the top 6 of the Abyss Event!｣
｢Cario Continent International Announcement
Guilds Umbra, Kamisuo, Desecrators, Meiren, Myriad Cards, and Lorebinders have ranked in the top 6 of the Abyss Event!｣
｢Boundless System-wide Announcement
Guilds Umbra, Kamisuo, Desecrators, Meiren, Myriad Cards, and Lorebinders have ranked in the top 6 of the Abyss Event!｣
Just as Eva was trying to parse and break down all these announcements and screens before her, even more came on top, like a cascade of error windows.
｢System to Player Announcement
Goddess Sunna has declared a Holy War on you! As two competing Deities for the same attribute, you will have 30 years to gather followers of your own, paladins, clerics, and priests to fight on your behalf! The winner is granted the Divine Attribute while the loser is stripped of all Divinity!｣
｢System to Player Announcement
Error! Detected that while Player Riveting Night has deific bloodline and special skills, player Riveting Night neither has a Divine Source Origin nor a Divine Rank! As such, the issuance of the Holy War is voided and the issuer pays a penalty of 5% of their assets and Divine Energy to the victimized party!｣
｢System to Player Announcement
A message from Goddess Sunna: "IMPOSSIBLE! YOU VILE BITCH, HOW DARE YOU TRICK ME?! YOU ARE A MERE MORTAL, NOT WORTHY OF DIVINITY!"｣
｢System to Player Announcement
Goddess Aphrodite is speechless by the events and Sunna's behavior, but encourages you to climb the Ranks. ｣
｢System to Player Announcement
The other True Gods are gazing at this matter with amus.e.m.e.nt and mockery.｣
｢System to Player Announcement
Fire God Flashflame has passed out from laughter.｣
Eva's lips twitched.
Truly, the jokes write themselves sometimes.