Draco took off his Virtua Helmet and stared at his ceiling with roiling emotions. He had yet to come down from the highs and lows of that tumultuous battle, as well as what it meant for him and his growth in the world.
Boundless was really proving to be a different experience in this timeline. Just when he thought he would be able to walk over everything, he was forcefully put back in his place by a life-scarring event.
He had successfully completed the Legendary rank Flora and Fauna quest and gained a plethora of items that were mind-boggling. That one quest was honestly the main reason he managed to defeat this Metal Dragon.
Thinking about the Dark Knight made him sigh again.
The story between them was a bit too bizarre to believe. One was real and the other seemed to be a bug in the system which was forced to mimic the original, but in more agonizing ways.
They were both considered players, yet the Dark Knight had been able to emulate 100% of a Supreme-Rank Dragon's prowess at their level and Rank, while Draco could only summon appendages at the most.
The key difference was physical form. Draco was limited to the form he had in the real world, that of a sub-human while the Dark Knight only existed in the world of Boundless. Therefore he somehow managed to handle the form of a true Dragon. If Draco could find a way to transform himself, he could literally become as unstoppable as the Dark Knight.
Draco rose from his luxurious four poster bed and gazed at his lavish room. It was huge, about this size of a small car park, with a desk, flowers, a small meeting area consisting of two opposing couches and one coffee table, as well as A/Cs everywhere.
The floor was carpeted with black from beginning to end, a design choice Draco quite liked. He mussed his hair and walked into what seemed to be the bathroom, which was even more stylish than he had expected.
Three showers and two bathtubs as well as one jacuzzi. Draco marveled at the sight before deciding to bathe, though he technically did not need to anymore. It was more of a force of habit.
Once done with that, Draco opened the wardrobe and found… lingerie and women's clothing.
Draco frowned. "This must be Cherry and Ferdinand's room."
He also found some men's clothes, but most of them were formal wear and tailored to fit Ferdinand. He wouldn't be able to wear them nor did he want to, as his fashion preferences have already been proven to be… troublesome.
Draco chose to remain n.a.k.e.d and went to the door.
With his passive Void of Perfection, he could tell that there were two Sanguigno Brothers guarding his door, so he planned to speak to them. When they saw Draco's head pop out, they were initially startled by his silent approach before they greeted him with amity.
"Draco Bro!"
"Yo, Brother Draco!"
They didn't call him boss nor pretended to fall over his feet. They just treated him as their brother, albeit one who was slightly special. This was why Draco would never lose faith in the Sanguigno Brothers. They were just too real.
"I need your help. I find that I have very little clothing in here and would like one of you guys to get someone to purchase some for me."
Draco paused for a bit and changed his words. "Actually, just call over Jada and Jade."
"No problemo."
Draco returned to his room and wiped himself down thoroughly with the towel. Another action which, given his reforged body, was technically unnecessary, but one purely out of habit built up over the years.
Draco took a clean towel and wrapped it around his waist, covering his privates but leaving everything else bare. He sat down on one of the couches and took out his old phone, occupying himself by playing some games on it.
"I really should upgrade my whole get up." Draco murmured with a bitter smile.
He had very little clothes, very little personal belongings, had an old brick of a phone and no modern tech. He was really behind, but that was due to his previous circ.u.mstances in this life.
Now that he had a foothold, he could begin his global takeover. The first steps were always the most important, and for Draco, this was in the form of getting his act together.
Soon enough, the pretty twins barged into Draco's room - well it was more like Jada barged in while Jade followed - and froze in place when they chanced upon a half-n.a.k.e.d Draco.
Their eyes trailed the contours of his rebuilt body, hungrily devouring the sight of his chiseled and toned muscles as well as his l.u.s.trous skin.
Jada panted a bit as her face reddened and Jade squirmed a little as she did her best to suppress her raging hormones.
Draco smiled at the effect he caused them, and gestured to the seat across him. "Please sit, Jada, Jade."
The twins shared a look and came to sit opposite Draco, doing everything but looking directly at him.
To compare, it was no different from a man entering a room and seeing a beautiful and devilish woman wearing nothing but an apron… it might as well have been a gift wrapper.
This was the real world, not a fantasy world where just the concept of s.e.x had to be limited to procreation or as a way to increase cultivation speed. Here people were normal and were often led by their s.e.x.u.a.l preferences and wants.
Not everyone was a cold jade beauty and not everyone was able to look at someone based on arbitrary characteristics like power or objectivity.
If someone attractive popped up before them, there would be a reaction. The difference was simply in how well different types of people hid those reactions or acted upon them.
Jada and Jade were special girls, but they were human. They were young and a little naive. They had never done anything s.e.x.u.a.l due to their own sheltered upbringing and Parkin's overprotection.
Draco, who was a beacon of l.u.s.t with his looks and his bloodline, was a fatal lure to them.
"I need you two to handle a few things for me. The first is to look for the official title of this property and have it placed under my name. Secondly, I want the whole castle refurbished and a full inventory made. The third is to buy me a wardrobe full of clothes that are my size, mostly casual wear. You should know my preferences by now."
"I also want you to take stock of the area around the castle. What is being done with it and plan on how we can most effectively utilize it. Next, I want you to buy me a Holo-Screen and a Holo-Tab. Finally, I want you to create an offshore bank account, which will be the source of my personal funds as well as another one which will be the source of our group funds."
Draco finished his commands and Jade immediately began working on it by switching on her Holo-Screen. Jada bounced to her feet with excitement, as she rushed out to handle the shopping.
When she crossed the door, her smile became lecherous. "Hehe, trusting me to buy you clothes? Don't blame me for buying revealing items, heh heh."
If Draco had paid attention to her face, he would have called her back, but his Control was on passive mode, which meant that he would only detect negative emotions targeting him within a 3km range. If he switched to active mode, that would be when he could see everything within his Void of Perfection.
Jade typed furiously on her pad and Draco sat across her while thinking to himself.
'Eva should be arriving in the airport soon, I want to be there to pick her up personally.'
That had been Draco's original plan anyway. To dress up and head to the airport to wait for her, but this clothes issue had slowed him down.
He didn't like the idea of sending someone to pick her up, as he wanted to be there himself. This would be their first time meeting in real life in both timelines and he wished to accelerate it, even if by just seconds.
Draco wondered about his plans going forward. He was of the opinion that he should begin his conquest of the human world from the shadows and then through the light.
That way, he could build enough power to tackle the World Council.
However, a new issue had been pressing on his mind ever since he had learned of the Lineages from Eva… only he wasn't sure about how to handle it.
If the lineages could exist, 9 families of beings who could do many 'impossible' things, wasn't it probable that other mystical, mythological beasts and monsters existed too?
Were there vampires, werewolves, oni, undead and other races? Were there wizards, cultivators, superhumans and superpowered people he might simply not know about?
Unfortunately, it appeared to make more sense if they did exist, since it was unrealistic to expect the Lineages to be the only hidden aspect of this wide world, even if this meant it would throw a wrench in his plans.
Namely because Draco lacked any real information on these peoples, so he would struggle to take them down with ease. This was the real world after all, not Boundless. If he died here, that was it, no Seal of Camelot to make things okay.
He could run around with impunity within Boundless, but in the real world, he would have to move with caution when dealing with things outside his knowledge. His own fate in the previous timeline ensured that he would never forget that.
Parkins, the mafia, the GloryGore labs and the Cartel were things he knew about in his past life, so he was able to judge that he could handle them, which was why he did what he wanted before.
Now, he would have to move a bit slower but with more certainty.
Jade interrupted Draco's reverie as she listed her findings. "The Castle occupies a land of 10 square kilometers and the title is owned by the World Council. It was only leased to Baron D'our due to his heritage that linked him as a descendant of the owners of this castle."
"In order to not just rent it, but purchase it officially, it would require upwards of $5,000,000 to claim it."
Draco wasn't worried about that. With the arrival of Update 1, he could finally make money in the real world from what he had built in Boundless, which was why he asked for an account to be opened for him.
Jade continued. "The Castle has 30 rooms, with 18 being guest rooms and the remainder being a parlor, a large dining hall, a kitchen, a pantry, a playroom for children, a large store room, a treasury room that was empty when we took over, one hot springs area, one sauna, a public bath and finally, a conference room."
"Naturally, you know of the master bedroom, since you're there."
"As for the area around the castle, most of it is bare. Since Baron D'our did not own the land, he only installed some defensive measures that are easily dismantled in a situation where he had to move away quickly."
"Of the 10 square kilometers, the castle occupies 3/5ths of it, leaving 4 square kilometers free. The external sections of the castle consist of walls with battlements, and a large courtyard paved with marble."
Draco rubbed his chin idly as he parsed this information. Truthfully, he was thankful that Baron D'our did so little with the land, as it allowed him to expand on it in ways he felt were important.
"We'll focus on the interior for now. The exterior can be handled at a later time, when we fully decide on the scope of our operation. Hire any trustworthy craftsmen you know to refurbish the whole place with the latest technology." Draco stated with a slight smile.
"I want control rooms, I want servers and mainframes, I want supercomputers and I want pulse and laser technology everywhere. You and Sanji will organize this operation."
Jade nodded and put a memo down. She then continued.
"I have contacted The Foljeslagare Bank, who have begun to put in the process for the opening of both accounts. I will link your personal account and the group account to your new Holo-tab and Holo-Screen when they arrive."
"This should take a few hours. Normally, it would take between 2 weeks to a month in order to open a typical offshore account, but The Foljeslagare Bank have intricate business dealings with my brother, so they decided to make exemptions for Jada and I."
Draco nodded and clapped lightly. "Good! Having you and Jada by my side is a real blessing!"
Jade smiled happily, though her smile contrasted with her emotionless eyes and created an effect that was two parts cute and one part eerie. She was happy to be appreciated by Draco, who she came to respect and idolize.
Draco and Jade chatted for half an hour as they further got down into details concerning the account, his sources of income and how he would be able to transfer money in and out. He told her that his main source of income for that account would be Boundless and because of the huge sums that should be passing through, a normal bank was out of the question.
Putting aside tax issues, a normal bank was heavily regulated by the finance department and such huge sums would paint Draco as a target for investigation by the bank and the country.
Earning money from Boundless wasn't a crime and would not lead him to any trouble, but he had decided to walk in the shadows during this life and build a power base on the evil side of the world.
Naturally, he couldn't let those of the 'light side' poke their noses into his business.
Jada soon returned by unceremoniously kicking the door in, walking like a queen as she raised her nose high into the air. Ten Sanguigno Brothers followed behind her with sweaty faces, weak knees and spaghetti like arms as they carried bags of items on each hand, tied to the waists and one wrapped around their necks. Some of them even used their teeth to carry the load without having to make a second trip.
Draco and Jade could only stare with bulging eyes as they watched this line-up. Jada stood there like a proud empress leading her posse along, appearing with the best presents for her emperor.
Jada raised a hand and then brought it down with characteristic flair. "Drop it, boys!"
The Sanguigno Brothers who were used as porters dropped the bags down - which created a tremor - and stumbled out of the master bedroom like drunk men who were one step away from passing out.
Jada laughed as she took one of the bags and ripped it open, bringing out some clothes and two packages. The packages contained the Holo-Screen and the Holo-Watch, instead of the Holo-tab. Both of them were the latest versions that had come out on the day Boundless was released, just slightly over a week ago.
She brought them over and placed them on the coffee table as she sat down beside Jade like she had done absolutely nothing wrong. Jade just stared at her twin sister with a mixture of exasperation and amus.e.m.e.nt.
Draco's lips couldn't stop twitching when he saw the type of clothes Jada had brought, directly ignoring the tech as he left that for Jade to set up.
Draco held up the shirt Jada bought, which was so small that it would outline every bit of his torso for any onlooker to ogle as they wanted. Then he took the shorts which were his favorite type actually, summer shorts.
However, unlike his normal preference, these ones were soft and elastic, which wasn't bad at all on its own. However, when he saw the underwear Jada bought, he wanted to knock the girl on the head!
These loose briefs would hide nothing… and why were they also half transparent for Christ's sake?! If he wore these while wearing the summer shorts, the shape of his thing would be visible to all! At that point he might as well go around wearing the emperor's new clothes!!!
When merged with the shirt, he would look like some male p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.e! He would be lucky if women didn't start catcalling him, or directly ask him for his price list.
Worst case scenario, some wild girls might directly park their car beside him while he walked on the pavement, abducting him in broad daylight and locking him in their bas.e.m.e.nt to become their plaything!
Draco sighed.
He stood up and began to dress, only putting on the loose briefs with his towel on. After all, he had two girls here with him, one lecher and one shy observer.
He then put on the summer shorts and the tight t-shirt with a collar, which were both grayish in color. Since he already had his black slides, he didn't need to wear any new shoes just yet.
When he turned back to the two, Jade was looking at him with red cheeks and shameful fascination.
Jada though, was drooling with a 'hue hue hue' expression, her eyes locked onto his erogenous areas. Despite all his manliness, Draco couldn't help but feel like he was taken advantage of.
"Prepare a car for me, if there is one on the lot. If there isn't rent one." Draco commanded with folded arms. If he had more time he would set out and go shop for at least one decent outfit, unfortunately they were already cutting it short.
"The Sanguigno Brothers have a convoy of cars available, I shall get one ready for you." Jade informed him.
Draco nodded. "Jada, get some help to clean up my room. I'll be bringing a very important person over soon."
Jada beat back her perversion and nodded as well. "On it."
Soon, Draco was seated in the back seat of a high-end sedan that was also painted black. One of the Sanguigno Brothers was his driver and he was going alone to pick up Eva since he had delegated the others with different tasks to perform while he was away.
When Draco got to the airport, he got down and walked into the arrival area of the building to see if Eva had arrived or if she had yet to land. On the way, Draco had to endure the burning gazes of many women as they undressed him with their eyes.
His attire was the male equivalent of what Rina or Maria wore on the daily, something that would turn eyes no matter where they went and left very little to imagination.
His Horned Demon and Dark Angel Inheritances enjoyed the attention, but his Serpent God Inheritance, namely the Black Dragon, grumbled with dissatisfaction.
He should be looked at with reverence and fear in their eyes…Why was he always being ogled like some piece of tasty meat?
Draco seated himself in the waiting area and began tapping on his Holo-Watch as he got used to the model from this timeline. The one he had acquired when he finally made a name for himself had been slightly more advanced.
After waiting for a half an hour, Draco felt his mind tingle and his eyes directly landed on a person who was coming with two large suitcases behind her.
When he saw that slender and eye-catching form, he immediately knew…
Eva had arrived.