What!
The only Luckmancer in the whole of Boundless currently?! Just how rare could such a thing be?
A Luckmancer was exactly as the name stated, a person who manipulated luck to achieve effects and outcomes they wanted. It was the class that would come into being when a player inserted all their points into luck before they hit level 10.
The seven stats were Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Spirit, Charisma and Luck. Each of these stats could be min-maxed to the highest degree, producing a unique and aberrant class that had extremely eccentric abilities.
Out of all these unique classes, was the most valued class to any guild that wanted to reach the Divine-tier, a Luckmancer.
A Luckmancer was the person who opened chests and blessed the guild with endless success through their godly hands. A Luckmancer never drew the short stick, they were like those 'Mary Sue' characters in novels.
It was extremely hard to kill a Luckmancer and it was also hard for them to kill you… well, relatively hard for them. If they managed to hit you and triggered an instant kill, you would die no matter how much health you had.
Every single chest was sent to the guild's Luckmancer in any Divine guild without exception. Even Draco had unhesitatingly pulled out two Legendary Treasure Chests in front of them, though it was only Fitter Cleric and Sublime Notion here.
Don't bother with Sublime Notion, she was even more trustworthy than if Draco were to meet a clone of himself.
As for the Luckmancer…
That was the gamble. Luckmancers were extremely hard to deal with, but their personalities were always somewhat kind and generous, but also very eccentric. Every single Luckmancer in the previous timeline had been like this.
However, this new Luckmancer had never been discovered in the previous timeline. He was a new face to the class in two timelines, and Draco felt the weight of the butterfly effect hit him.
Still, there was no use crying over split milk. It was bound to happen, as the very fact that he had reincarnated had shifted the cycle of cause and effect in this timeline.
There was the contract with Umbra, so this fellow could never escape the guild… possibly.
However, if he went out to the real world to share Umbra's secrets, it would be too late.
Of course if he did so, Draco wouldn't even need to do anything, the AI would penalize him based on the terms of the contract.
We had already gone through how the Virtua Helmets could not read live thoughts but could easily browse through memories.
Draco also wasn't scared that people would know he had Legendary Chests. What the f.u.c.k could the current playerbase do about it?
All they could do was band together and try to pry the items from his hands, but they would be lining themselves up for instant guild disbandment. The truly powerful guilds and players would not fall into that trap.
But the NPCs…
That was Draco's worry. With Richmond at his back, they didn't dare to accost him for killing Ratchet and acquiring the first Legendary Treasure Chest.
But with two more in his hands now, they might lose their minds and just kill him to death.
The different reactions from players and NPCs on the same issue showed how different perspectives led to different actions. NPCs of this era were constantly harassed by the Great War, so anything that could help them come out on top was their goal. They had only one goddamn life, and it would be to late for regrets if they died because they were too nice.
Players didn't even know of the Great War and even if they did, so what?
Sure, they'd lose a few levels and some items, but that was it. No matter what, their lives were not in danger as they played this game… or so they thought.
As such, Draco was able to give this chest to the fellow without much worry. He could handle the fallout in any case, and it would be a good test of character for the fellow.
Sublime Notion saw the chest and trembled, making her b.r.e.a.s.ts jiggle tantalizingly. A Legendary Treasure Chest was something she knew was almost impossible to acquire, yet Draco had pulled out two of them!
Sublime Notion couldn't help but wonder how Eva had managed to find such a successful fellow. Sigh, if only she had been faster and laid claim to him…
Fitter Cleric was rather calm about the matter. In fact, what he was worried about had to do with his ability to succeed in the matter. The fact that it was Legendary Treasure Chests he was opening did not astound him, because he knew that whatever came out was not his.
His duty was to open them and make sure that whatever came out was better than whatever the owner could probably pull out themselves. The fact that the Treasure Chest was at this Rank just increased the pressure on him.
Without waisting time, Fitter Cleric opened the first Legendary Treasure Chest.
A golden glow rose from the chest and shot up into the skies, forming a phenomenon that everyone within miles could see!
… Within the super mini small world of course.
Expecting Draco to open two Legendary Treasure Chests in a manner like before, where he underestimated the fanfare of such a thing? Naive!
Just how did you see this evil fellow's IQ??
Within the super mini small world, everything was kept here. Not even a single peep would emerge on the outside, or why would he let others into his own personal room so easily?
After the fanfare died down, an item hovered in the air over the Legendary Treasure Chest. It was a ring that glowed with a dark l.u.s.ter, making all who looked at it feel the threat of eternal damnation upon them.
Draco inspected the ring quietly.
｢Abyssal Ring – Ornamental Item
Rank: Legendary
Effects:
Passive 1 – King Of Noct: All attributes are boosted by 70% during nighttime and in an area devoid of light. Every attack that lands on the user has a 30% chance to miss despite its accuracy.
Passive 2 – Shroud of Darkness: A permanent layer of darkness covers your form, making you 300% harder to detect in stealth and 70% resistant to darkness element attacks.
Active 1 – Abyssal Pull: Open a wormhole to the abyss that swallows all enemies within range. Cooldown: 1 day.
Note: Maximum suction range is 300 meters at Rank 1.
Note: Maximum suction targets are 100 at Rank 1.
Further abilities can only be unlocked by attaining a higher class tier.｣
Draco was pleased by this one. It was tailor-made for Eva, and anyone of the Shadow Assassin class. It could even be well suited for those who favored darkness element skills and techniques in general, but to a much weaker effect.
Draco placed the ring into his inventory and remained silent. Fitter Cleric noted Draco's satisfaction and became much more relaxed as he opened the second chest.
The fanfare was slightly stronger this time, making Draco sit up in his seat. Even Sublime Notion and Fitter Cleric were surprised. Even if they didn't explicitly understand what this meant, they could reason that something good was coming out.
Draco had slightly more experience with treasure chests of this tier, so he was more certain that something great would come out from the chest than they were.
If the fanfare from this particular opening was stronger than what came from opening the Dragon Soul, then this item was definitely one with Divine origins. Draco was interested to see what nonsense would be presented to him this time.
When the light show came to an end, an item hovered in the air. It was a bow that was carved with a fiery red color and lines that looked like veins throughout the upper and lower limbs. The nocking point was shaped like the head of a hawk, which was fiery red in color.
The veins on the bow glowed with a red color that made one feel as if the weapon was alive.
｢Hawkeye – Bow
Rank: Legendary
Effects:
Passive 1 – Precision: When wielding this bow, Dexterity is boosted by a factor of 3.
Passive 2 – Skillfulness: Archery skills and techniques no longer drain stamina or focus.
Active 1 – Final Shot: After activating this skill, the user is able to kill anyone within 3 Ranks of them, but will be unable to ever use this skill again.
Further abilities can only be unlocked by attaining a higher class tier.｣
Draco was stunned by the bow, then ecstatic. On his growing path of Archery, he needed something that could allow him to develop his techniques faster and more efficiently.
Pinaka was good for the early stages, but Draco's Star Shot Technique was becoming too strong for the Rare bow to handle. After all, the technique was based around Control and his Control had been enhanced by his rebuilt body.
With Hawkeye and the Phoenix Cry arrow, Draco would not even need to buy arrows ever again, unless he wanted to use them for skills like Rain of Arrows.
Draco happily received the bow and clapped his hands. "You have done an extremely excellent job, Fitter Cleric. As such, I shall bestow you with 146 Umbra Points for your own expenditure."
Sublime and Fitter were shocked when they heard Draco's response. To give out 146 UPs wasn't a minor thing, this was a small fortune! The kinds of things Fitter could do with that money was scary to think of!
Just look at how angry and full of hate Anguis had been when he had to pay Draco 112 gold. This was slightly higher than that numerically, and in terms of relative value.
"I thank the Guildmaster. I shall take my leave."
Speaking calmly and with a strong voice, Fitter Cleric exited the room, making Draco smile at his back. His instincts told him that this new fellow who popped up from nowhere was a hidden gem that could bring Umbra great benefits.
When it was Draco and Sublime Notion alone, he smiled at her gently and gestured to the seat opposite him. "Please sit down, Sublime."
Sublime was curious about Draco's gentleness and amity towards her. Even if she was very close to Eva, Draco acted like she was someone close to him all his life.
Sublime didn't mind as she really felt like Draco was someone she would like to be close with, but it just felt a bit…
"What does the Guildmaster want from me?"
Sublime Notion asked this warily.
Draco simply laughed and waved his hands in a throwaway manner. "Call me Draco. Guildmaster is a bit too formal for my liking."
"Haa… right…" Sublime Notion assented with narrowed eyes and a skeptical frown.
"Update me on the situation of the Guild. I want to know everything about Umbra currently."
Draco decided to stop being creepy and get to the matter at hand.
Sublime Notion lost her wariness and began speaking with a slightly more mature demeanor.
"Well, first we recruited a total of 2,500 Combat players. The number is even because we cut off recruitment when we reached this amount. We also recruited 500 Tradeskill players and cut them off by this amount as well."
"This is so that we can manage, as well as train our current batch of elites to perfection. Once they become paragons of their respective fields, we will recruit more players and they can take the lead in training the new batch."
Draco nodded. The logic was sound.
In order to create a self-sustaining and long-lasting system, it was best to start small and work out the kinks before taking in more. Raising these 3000 players to the pinnacle of their fields would be an arduous task, but doing so will show both the upper echelon and the players themselves the flaws of such methods.
By the time they reached the pinnacle, the system would be perfected and they could easily handle training the next generation.
Sublime Notion continued when she saw Draco's approval.
"Currently, our income is much higher than our expenditure, by an almost terrifying amount. This is also related to our limited membership, since we do not have to train as many with the same income earnings."
"This is also considering the fact that the Rank 7 Shop isn't even fully populated and that the location is was built in is a limiter to its progress."
Draco had to take a deep breath here. He was aware of this, the fact that the Rank 7 Shop was wasted by being built in a mere Kingdom instead of an Empire. Even then, he would have to build it in an Empire that was near the top of the hierarchy in Cario Continent.
However, he had no real idea of the situations in such places. Oh, he knew the general layout and power distributions there, but he had spent all of his past life in Sturgehaven Kingdom.
The kind of knowledge and control he had when in Sturgehaven was incomparable to any other country, which was why despite building his own Kingdom in the Paradise Lands, he still wasted money building the three Rank 7 buildings in Cario City.
Still…
"Do not worry about that. I have a special plan concerning the Guild Hall and the Shop for Cario City. There is a great secret buried in this city that would greatly benefit us sooner or later."
Draco's reply made Sublime Notion burn with curiosity, but she buried it deep down.
"There have been some drafts for the plan to recruit miscellaneous players for the guild, but we haven't been able to come up with something concrete enough to publish to the public."
"Oh? Show me the plans so far."
Draco was intrigued by this conundrum. Eva was someone who knew almost everything he knew, and was even better than him when it came to such matters in running a guild.
How could she be stumped by something like this? Both Darkrow and Hellscape had millions of serf players back in their prime.
Sublime Notion nodded and displayed the outline of their plans to Draco. When the fellow read them, his expression became weirder and weirder until he had to stop.
Sublime Notion blushed and looked away. To make this evil loli blush, it meant that whatever was in that outline was extremely embarrassing to even think about.
Draco could only sigh lightly.
Eva was… really crazy.
Draco surmised that it was less the fact that they hadn't been able to come up with something concrete, rather than Eva having already decided something from the get go and the core members doing everything in their power to prevent it from being finalized.
Draco rewrote the requirements, terms of their servitude as well as the contents of their tests. When he was done, he passed them over to Sublime Notion, who read through it with interest.
When she saw what Draco put forth, she was extremely impressed and felt like this couldn't be any fairer to the serf players while still being lucrative to the guild.
Service Recruitment:
- Players must have a minimum level of 5 to qualify for the basic test.
- Players must have a minimum level of 5 and be able to multitask perfectly in order to qualify for the advanced test.
- Players must have a minimum level of 5, be able to multitask perfectly and possess technical knowledge in order to qualify for the expert test.
- Players must have a minimum level of 5, be able to multitask perfectly, possess technical knowledge and have professional knowledge for the core test.
Even in the serf players, there was a hierarchy. Their highest members were as high as the lowest member in the Combat or Tradeskill groups in terms of power, which showed the class gap in player guilds of Boundless.
Still, Combat and Tradeskill players did not have the time to manage serf players and neither did Draco, Eva or Sublime Notion. As such, it would be better to split them into a hierarchy and let them manage themselves - within reason.
"Anything else, Draco?"
Sublime Notion was in a hurry to leave so she could post this recruitment criteria out there and let the true influx of players rush into the guild. Umbra were well off in terms of finances, but resource acquisition was just not impressive.
With plenty of serfs, combined with the quests Draco laid out, Umbra would be able to develop like a rocket entering the atmosphere.
"Nothing for now. I'll be spending my time preparing for the event later on. I leave the preparations on the guild's side to you." Draco replied languidly.
"Yep, Eva and I have already discussed our plans for that battle. Would you like me to share them with you?" Sublime Notion asked courteously.
"Not now, I can see you're in a hurry to begin recruitment again. Just send me the summarized version later." Draco replied with amus.e.m.e.nt. Sublime Notion didn't even acknowledge his words, she directly got up and walked out briskly.
Draco stood up from his chair and sighed.
"Roma is out exploring the building, Qiong Qi has passed out due to shock, Eva is offline because she's traveling, Sublime is gone because she has to manage the guild."
He shook his head with lament.
"Must I really be cast aside to loneliness? Not that I want to be around people per se, but it just feels so… dull being alone. Oh well, I can finally put down some time and practice with Pair Dadeni and Mjolnir, allowing me to raise my Tradeskill level."
Draco rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"I can also use the Training Hall to develop the Start Shot Technique properly, allowing me to master the first level. When the inevitable battle against the Supreme-Ranked Dragon erupts, I'll be able to deal obscene amounts of damage."
Draco felt like his current plans were good, so he moved forward to begin crafting with Pair Dadeni. Since his room was a super mini small world, he could do everything he wanted right here.
However, as if fate had pre-planned it, Draco saw a name on the member roster for Umbra that he hadn't noticed before. He had opened the guild interface to see who was online and who wasn't when he saw that name.
"It cannot be. That legendary fellow cannot be in my guild… is this fate?"
Draco pondered this aloud with a shocked expression, but it soon turned into a smile of filthiness.
"Hehe, Brother Rambunctious, since you are here, we must explore all the asses of the world together again!"