Draco landed in a random valley and walked through the slightly rocky paths while focusing on the screen before him. He had cleared the Unique Quest after leaving the borders of the Godmar Divine Empire, meaning he wouldn't have to bother with them ever again unless he chose to.
Of course, as vindictive as Draco was, he planned to destroy the empire when the time was right.
｢The Refinement God's Treasury – Unique Quest
Description: A strange gateway has been found in the territory of the Godmar Divine Empire. The Empire has hired you to explore the secrets of the gateway and report back to them.
Note: Certain impositions have been placed on the execution of this quest;
1. All reputation, social relevance, and title intimidation will be negated. The player will be regarded as a pioneer by default.
2. True Death constitutes failure.
3. All enemies will be 1 Rank stronger than the player. (Current Rank: Rank 2 - Lord)
4. Time limit: 1 year.
Rewards: 100,000,000 platinum, 1 Divine Treasure Chest｣
｢Congratulations on completing: Refinement God's Treasury Unique Quest
Time elapsed: 7300:00:01
Hidden Quests completed: 6
Objectives complete: All
Assessment: sS+
Reward:
1,000% Tradeskill experience (Divine-grade)
1,000% exp (non-conversion)
100,000,000 platinum
3x Divine Treasure Chest｣
Draco was pleased with the rewards. His time spent in the quest had not been in vain, though he was curious about the Hidden Quests.
After all, in the Flora and Fauna, he got rewards every time he had completed one, yet he couldn't remember ever seeing any system confirmation about inside the Treasury. So exactly what happened?
Draco decided to pursue this matter and tried to investigate. After a bit of pestering and messing around, he finally managed to get a screen that provided him with more details regarding his Hidden Quests.
｢Congratulations on completing: Hidden Quest x6
#1: Clear out the three Resource Zones in the Outer Section|| Reward: 30% of resources from the cleared Zones.
#2: Learn at least 2 new Tradeskills at the Epic Rank and above|| Reward: Increased chance to comprehend a Grandmaster Technique for the new Tradeskills.
#3: Reach Grandmaster in any Tradeskill.|| Reward: Increased success rate for auto-craft and batch-craft for that Tradeskill.
#4: Win the favor of more than 60% of the natives of the small world.|| Reward: Access to more resources and secret techniques for practice.
#5: Gain the Inheritance of the Refinement Goddess.|| Reward: Norma's Legacy Chest.
#6: Gain Control over the small world.|| Reward: Ownership over the Treasury.｣
Draco almost tripped as he walked. He had to pause and read through again while facepalming.
Umbra's Guildmaster finally understood what went wrong. Realistically he should have been informed that he had completed the first one after defeating Rexxy.
However, by that time the vile fellow had already whisked away two entire Resource Zones through the Advanced Spatial Creation Devices.
Draco might have earned certain privileges from the AI, but by basically biting the hand which fed him, he must have infuriated it. As such, it had kept mum on the quests and his rewards, causing him to waste some and miss others.
The second reward went to waste and so did the fourth. As for number three, Draco was unsure because he never felt like his success rate had increased at any point in time.
Damn!
Still, Draco was not too bothered. His rewards for completing the base Unique Quest made his months away from Eva worthwhile. 3 Divine Chests could spit out 3 new Divine Items for him and his babes, and with his Luck stat that was likely close to even Fitter's, Draco had no worries.
Still, this wasn't the kind of place to open a Divine Chest. Even if Draco had become a lot more fearless about various entities in the world of Boundless, he still couldn't face off against anything above Rank 4.
As such, the fellow closed the screens before him and decided to text Eva.
"Sweet Baby Honey, Your Daddy is coming home.- Draco"
"Sugar Honey Iced Tea, Your Mommy shall meet you!- Eva"
Draco grinned like a fool since Eva seemed as excited to see him as he was to see her. Since the two had innate sensors, it took Eva only a second to appear above Draco with the help of Luxia.
While the Light Phoenix hovered in the air, Eva departed her back, floating down from the sky majestically. With her ability to control the four elements as well as her own ability of Transvection, this was an easy feat.
Draco had an intoxicated expression as he watched Eva's grand entrance. Her beauty and her aura were truly top-notch, and Draco felt like his weathered soul was being healed just by looking at her.
Eva eventually landed right before Draco with a smile on her face. She reached out and hugged Draco tightly, kissing him all over his face which made the fellow laugh.
"My beloved Eva, you're happy to see me." Draco teased.
"Hmph, of course. It's been so long since I last got to see this handsome mug, how can I hold back?" Eva joked back.
"Hehehe, I am quite handsome, huh? Damn, why was I created? With me around, how can other fellows exist in peace?" Draco boasted shamelessly.
Eva just chuckled and brushed Draco's hair lightly. "All other fellows live in their own plane of existence while we live in ours. We shouldn't compare ourselves to them."
Draco nodded with an expression of 'finally, a woman of culture as well'. However, he froze and squinted at Eva suspiciously. Since when was his crazy babe so shameless?
Eva wore an innocent expression that almost fooled Draco, but he could sense a budding Dao in Eva, the very Dao he was most proficient in! Eva, over the course of the last few months, had become a shameless crook!
Suddenly, Draco frowned and jumped back. Eva smiled and began walking towards him menacingly.
Draco frowned and pointed at her. "Oh? You're approaching me? You're approaching me, Draco?"
Eva cracked her knuckles. "I can't beat the shit out of you without getting closer."
Draco scoffed and folded his arms. "Hoho, then come as you like."
He also began walking forward while he cracked his knuckles. Soon enough, he and Eva met in the middle, and they both threw a punch that collided with the fist of the other.
The collision of punches created a small shockwave that blew some rocks down on them. The duo simultaneously raised a hand and shot out different energies to destroy the rocks.
Eva used her Element Regulation Divine Skill while Draco used his Subjective Magic. The duo watched each other quietly before speaking once more.
"Celestial Prime, huh? Let's see how much you've improved, Eva." Draco challenged her as he summoned hundreds of fireballs.
"I'm also interested in seeing how strong Mr. Abyssal Prime is." Eva accepted as she created hundreds of ice spears.
The two did not waste any more time talking, both unleashing the arsenal of abilities on the other. Draco's fireballs were destroyed by Eva's ice spears, but he himself used his Apportation to appear behind her and threw out a punch.
Eva's Divine Symbol that floated behind her suddenly manifested an earthen wall that protected her back. When Draco's fist collided with it, he could barely crack the wall despite his absurd strength.
Draco's eyes narrowed as he realized this halo thing was a great item Eva must have acquired, for it had managed to increase the power of her skill so greatly. However, things were far from over, as Draco leaped back to avoid Eva's counterattack.
"Hehe, let's compare attack rushes, Love!" Draco shouted as he rushed at Eva menacingly.
"The best you can do is damage my 2,000,000 platinum clothes!" Eva taunted back as she rushed at Draco.
The two were locked in a brawl of fists and kicks, their martial expertise coming into full play. However, Draco knew all of Eva's moves just as Eva knew all of Draco's moves.
As a result, their high-speed beatdown brawl was largely equal. Still, the advantage was on Draco's side because he had placed more stats into his Str and Dex compared to Eva who chose to focus on Int and Spr.
She was only managing thanks to her intimate knowledge of Draco after years of being hunted by him in the previous timeline, so she knew what choices he would make.
Not to mention, Eva could easily read his intention with telepathy, and despite Draco's mind being as strong as hers, his mind's defense was slightly weaker than her offensive ability because this field was Eva's strong point.
The duo moved too fast and were so forceful, that the rocky valley was soon ruined. They broke off their deadlock and simultaneously sprouted wings, Draco's black like the night and Eva's as bright as the day.
The duo shot up to the sky and faced each other.
"It seems like I won the physical attack rush." Draco claimed smugly.
"Only barely, but fine I shall concede this round to you. Now, let's compare our magical attack rushes!" Eva replied with gritted teeth.
Draco became serious and began spamming spells of all elements to attack Eva as he bolted away from her to create distance. Eva smiled meanly, and passed her magic through the Divine Symbol, and fired out many attacks at Draco as well.
The sky lit up like fireworks were ongoing, even though it was early noon. The collision between Draco's spells and Eva's elemental attacks was even more horrible than their physical bout, as the one that either missed or collided a bit too strongly affected the landscape below them, ravaging it greatly.
Draco was continually flying back with a grimace while Eva pursued him and kept casting endlessly, Draco also doing the same. However, one would notice that Eva easily had the upper hand as her elemental attacks were raised to the Divine grade by the divine halo on her back.
Compared to Draco's Rank 2 Subjective Magic, he could barely keep his life thanks to the fact that he had access to a wider array of elements and spell variations, and he could spam them in larger numbers.
After all, Draco had received training to learn Subjective Magic while Eva's was in the form of a skill, so despite how powerful it was, it still had limitations in overall 'oomph'.
Soon, Draco was forced back down to the ground as Eva hovered above him, bombarding the fellow with endless attacks. A bit of Riveting Night came out as her face had twisted into an evil expression when she cackled like an evil witch.
Draco swore and used the pinnacle elements to beat Eva back as he took some ground, however it quickly tired him out. Luckily, he had his Devil's Guile to make his mana and mental stamina inexhaustible outside what realistically affected him.
His idea was to drain Eva out since she definitely did not have infinite mana, however, how could Eva not know this? As such, she created a large explosion and flew back.
Suddenly, the Celestial Beauty roared and expanded her State of Being to the max. Draco watched with horror as she drew in Worldly Energy like an ocean into her body and forcefully converted it to mana.
Where did Eva learn this??
Wasn't this exactly the skill Richmond had tried to teach him back then? Even Draco didn't know how to do this! The Gods almost struck Richmond to death for daring to teach him, yet nobody seemed to mind Eva accomplishing such a feat.
Eva laughed and canceled her crazy action before spawning more elemental attacks that hovered around her. Draco sighed and shrugged.
"Babe, you are too ferocious. I yield! Should I hand over my donger to you so you become the man in the relationship?"
Eva laughed and flew down beside Draco, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. "I prefer it on you. After all, you know how to use it well, Beastly Fellow."
Draco blushed and covered his face with embarrassment. "Peh, you don't mean that. You're just flattering me!"
Eva giggled and jumped in his arms. "I mean it! If I am lying, may thunder strike Qiong Qi and Clarent!"
Draco's lips twitched as his face became black. "You!! SHAMELESS!"