The runes began to coalesce in the air, bringing with an intense movement of Worldly Energy.
Since Draco appeared to be done with the self-destructive part of his crafting, Hikari allowed Rila to see Draco's work. Both females were slightly astounded but mostly extremely… unimpressed.
Rila even hid her face in Hikari's chest and Hikari herself looked away with shame.
As an Origin Goddess and a White Dragon, they were both able to tell that Draco was doing something profound. However, the way he manipulated Worldly Energy was far too crass, to the point they couldn't afford to look.
It couldn't be helped, as the two were heaven blessed entities, with Worldly Energy behaving like their trained pet. They also had never seen anyone else mobilize Worldly Energy, otherwise, they might directly vomit.
Compared to the normal playerbase, Draco was like a master of Worldly Energy manipulation, but compared to his two onlookers he was no different than a grade-schooler trying to impress a university student with his maths knowledge.
The runes transformed into 6 symbols that were arranged in a row of 3x3. The symbols on top were slightly similar to the ones below, but they were actually different and most importantly, they were separate.
The top runes were Sin, Heian, Rera Fukai - Sword, Darkness, Strike Deep.
The bottom runes were Sin, Kong, Rera Toi - Sword, Void, Strike Far.
Draco concentrated as these runes were developed. He directly removed an Aether Crystal from his inventory, or rather two of them. These two were medium grade Aether Crystals that had been produced by his passive skill over the past few hours.
Since he passively created one every hour, he already had almost 10 of them. Removing these two for an experiment that he was eager to test would be worth it.
In his past life, Aether Crystals were too rare to be used foolishly, but in this life, Draco could make them just by living. Of course he was eager to discover all the hidden uses of the item this time around.
Draco was however anxious. Using Aether Crystals as a substitute for Soul Stones could either work perfectly, or be a disaster of unknown proportions. He really had no precedent to draw upon here, so he could only grit his teeth and begin the process.
He started merging both enchantments with the High Iron shortsword at the same time, as once an enchantment was applied, a new one could not be added. As such, this was where the difficulty with enchanting Epic and above items lay.
Merging one enchantment with the Epic weapon was hard enough, much less having to do two at once, while simultaneously providing ample power for it at the end.
The resistance Draco met when he tried to merge the two made his mind quake. It felt like he was speeding down a highway and had suddenly crashed into a wall.
Blood leaked from his nose, but Hikari's autocast was still on, so he was instantly healed. The moment he was healed though, he trembled as the second attempt at merging brought him pain.
This was not only a test of willpower, but a test of mental fortitude. If Draco didn't have his rebuilt body with the Dark Angel Inheritance's effects, he would have failed immediately.
Draco continued to attempt a merger with the Epic weapon, repeating the harming and healing process once again multiple times.
Since his back was facing Rila and Hikari, only Hikari could tell that Draco was being hurt through their connection.
Rila had no idea.
The more times Draco attempted it, the more progress he made. The Epic weapon's resistance began to weaken slowly, and each push by Draco brought the enchantments closer to the surface of the blade.
After an hour of this grueling battle, the Epic weapon finally faltered as the dual enchantments landed on its surface, trying to take a proper hold and merge fully.
Draco took a deep breath and began infusing the enchantments with energy. The Aetheric Energy emerged from the crystals and entered the enchantments slowly.
At first, Draco prepared for worst, assuming the Aetheric Energy could either explode the enchantment or outright erase it, but his eyes brightened when he saw the enchantment light up greatly.
The moment the Aetheric Energy went in, the Epic weapon's resistance died out and the merger was complete. Now, Draco kept infusing it with power in order to make sure the effects would be great.
For the first time since Draco had discovered enchanting, he had to cut off the flow of Aetheric Energy to the enchantment after using almost 10 Crystals, which was everything he had acc.u.mulated.
Although they were medium-grade and were even weaker than the top-grade ones he also had in his possession, medium-grade Aether Crystals were still extremely valuable.
It was the low-grade Aether Crystals that were valued at 1,000 platinum apiece mind you, so one could imagine the price for the higher quality crystals.
Even when Draco had been enchanting the Mana Sword, he had burned almost 30 top-grade Soul Stones and had barely managed to activate the enchantments. For scale, 1 top-grade Soul Stone was 1 platinum.
Yet with 10 medium grade Aether Crystals, he had nearly overfilled the enchantment to the point where it could take no more.
Draco eagerly waited as the last stages of assimilation were on-going. The enchantment's glow darkened slowly before it fully activated itself and integrated with the spirit of the short sword.
Just as Draco was about to collect the weapon, he froze as he saw a black mist emerge from the short sword. This black mist instantly filled his super mini small world room with darkness, and only the weapon and the residents could be seen.
Above the short sword, the form of a female appeared, though it was not like Flora that was s.e.xy. This one looked average, with her most prominent feature being that its dark body contrasted with its glowing red eyes.
It had claws for hands and two wings on its back.
The female energy lifeform screeched in a heart chilling manner before swallowing all the mist back into its body and returning to the weapon after glaring at Draco coldly.
Draco took a deep breath when all this was over, and he gazed at the now pitch-black short sword that had its crossguard resemble the claws of that beast. At the pommel was a visage of the female lifeform, with a black head and glowing red eyes.
Before he could pick up the weapon, the system alerts cascaded into view.
｢Boundless System-wide Announcement
Player Draco has performed a Legendary contribution to the human race by creating a new set of practices for the Enchantment Tradeskill! Player Draco will become the first Grandmaster of Enchanting in this age!｣
｢System to Player Announcement
You have developed a new field of practice for a Tradeskill, as such, you have been directly promoted to Grandmaster of that field. For every Tradeskill, there are 10 Grandmasters, 5 Gods, and 1 Primogenitor.
You are currently the only Grandmaster of Enchanting in this era, and are the 7th Grandmaster of Enchanting of all time. Congratulations!｣
｢Congratulations on creating new weapon: Unnamed (Shortsword) (Epic)
Rewards:
1,000% Exp
1,000% Tradeskill Exp
100,000 gold
1,000 reputation with the Tradeskill Association｣
Draco looked through the announcements with a blank expression. His mind quite literally paused and took a few seconds to reboot, just in case there was a system malfunction making him see things.
Draco had been capped at Master Rank in all Tradeskills during his past life, just like the majority of players back then. It was the same on the combat side, that the talented players had been trapped at Rank 6.
This was because their foundations were too weak. They had spent their early stages wasting resources and doing things improperly. By the time they had figured out the right way to go, they were already too high up.
However, reincarnating had allowed Draco to build his foundation from scratch and with his knowledge, he was able to do everything to utter perfection. In fact, he went above and beyond what was expected.
Now, he had finally shattered the limits that had shackled him and achieved something no player in his past life had, even with hundreds of thousands of people with unlimited talent and skill.
Draco naturally knew about what lay above Master Rank, but it was like Legendary items to the old him. A thing that existed, but would be impossible to acquire in the foreseeable future.
While Draco was confident he would reach Grandmaster Rank in any Tradeskill this time, he figured it would be when he reached Rank 7, not this early. At this stage when he was Rank 1, reaching Grandmaster Rank was unprecedented and eye-catching.
....
"Heh heh heh…"
Richmond drooled lewdly as he rubbed his face against the peachy and soft skin of a woman who wore mage robes. Her face was averagely pretty but she had a look of extreme discomfort on her face.
However, she closed her eyes and bore with it, allowing this old sc.u.mbag to abuse her soft thighs for a few minutes. She knew he would never go too far or do things without consent, so she just remained silent trying to imagine herself anywhere but here.
After Richmond finally felt he had enjoyed his fill, he got up and sighed with happiness. He nodded to the woman and took out a skill book, tossing it to her with light praise.
"These soft thighs were heavenly. You should live life without suffering! Take this!"
She caught the skill book and inspected it immediately. When she saw the contents, her excitement rose and she bowed to Richmond.
That earlier discomfort and slight shame? Long forgotten. She even planned to visit again after a few days to see if she could get anything more out of him.
Right after her, a fellow came over with a light smile. He planned to praise Richmond a bit, but the fellow wasn't even listening.
"Hop about and croak like a frog," Richmond demanded boredly, returning to his rocking chair while lighting his pipe.
The fellow swallowed his words and made sure no one was looking, though he knew that such a thing was impossible. No one could look into Richmond's glade without his permission, otherwise, how could he harass girls freely?
The fellow got to the job and began croaking as well as hopping around like a frog. The moment he began, Richmond pointed at him while laughing hysterically.
The player felt his cheeks burn and wondered how and why he was even doing this. However, he could only swallow his embarrassment under Richmond's painfully loud and mocking laughter.
Eventually, Richmond gestured for him to stop and tossed a potion over to him. When the player saw the details of the potion, he too stopped feeling bad, opting to bury what he had done in the depths of his subconsciousness.
By the time he stepped out of the glade, he had already scheduled his next session with Richmond.
Before the next person could come in, Richmond saw a notification pop up.
｢Congratulations to Mage God Richmond for having a herald achieve a world-class honor! Mage God Richmond has been granted an Icarus Heart!｣
Richmond jumped up into the sky, his hat falling sideways and his beard almost shaving itself.
His whole face was twitching as he read the announcement once again and when his eyes fell on the 'Icarus Heart', he looked over it as if it was not part of the statement.
You could beat Richmond to death with a slipper, but he would never believe that he had actually gained an Icarus Heart. Nothing could convince him, even if the item was now being shown to be in his inventory.
Before he could head over to wherever Draco was and find out exactly what he had done this time, a peal of loud laughter resonated in his glade, making Richmond's teeth clench and his face turn green.
"Hahaha! I am here!"
From a hole in the void came Nakiu, dressed in his white Daoist robes as always. He looked like the picture-perfect Sect Master from some Xianxia story, especially with his well-built structure and his long beard.
"Brother Richmond, how are you today? Have you eaten? Have you gone to the toilet? Take my advice, one must shit four times a day to remain healthy and achieve long life!"
Nakiu commented this with a concerned and friendly tone, which made Richmond so angry that he wanted to curse out loud.
"Cough… Nakiu. W-What do you want?" Richmond asked weakly, fear filling his heart.
"Haha, I just heard the news about Brother Richmond receiving an Icarus Heart. In the Immortal World, we call that the Pure Yang Essence, possessing the strongest powers of the fire element and the sun." Nakiu explained nonchalantly.
Then, he sighed with pleasure. "Such a great item. Thank the Gods that it is in the capable hands of my good and trusty Brother, haha!"
Richmond couldn't take it anymore as he shouted. "Nakiu, leave me alone you freak! I despise you!"
Richmond was normally cool and playful, and he was even overbearing towards Nakiu.
However… the young will eventually surpass the old. The last time Nakiu had come over to pester Richmond for Draco, they had fought and this time, Richmond had eaten a slight loss.
As such, his fear of Nakiu had begun to grow. He had secretly mocked the other Hidden Powers for fearing this fellow like he was some Grim R.a.p.er and had enjoyed beating him about whenever he came over.
Now, he understood why the others lived in fear, as he was now on his way to find himself on the weaker side. As such, Nakiu visiting him when he had gotten a great boon made him worried.
He might still be above that undying bastard for now, but given the other party's tenacity, it was just a question before this was seemingly bound to change.
"Now, now, don't worry Brother Richmond. I have already maxed out my Five Element Spirit Qi Internal Array, so that item isn't useful to me. I just came to ask how your disciple is doing. Have you been teaching him well?"
Nakiu asked this with squinted eyes and a dangerous smirk.
Richmond initially felt relief when he heard Nakiu claim he had no interest in the Icarus Heart, but his heart clenched when he heard him asking about whether he was teaching Draco well.
Teaching Draco? What a joke!
He and Draco were mutually using each other. There was no love or teaching going on between them, not to mention that heraldry didn't work like that. In fact, Draco didn't even respect him, much less let himself be taught.
However, Nakiu asking this made Richmond feel a sense of crisis. Before, Nakiu wasn't an enviable backer because he was suppressed by Richmond and his reputation was bad, so his heraldry benefits wouldn't be as high as Richmond's.
Now that he was starting to become slightly stronger than Richmond, the things he could offer Draco would be greater. Protection, training and unique skills and techniques from the Xianxia world.
Would Draco say no in front of such benefits? Especially when Richmond himself only offered mere protection?
Richmond tidied himself and wore a calm expression. "How I care for my herald is my business. I shall be visiting him soon to congratulate him on his progress so far. I suppose you can come tag along if you want."
Nakiu frowned when he saw Richmond's sudden change and felt that something was wrong. As such, he smiled thinly and said: "No worries, I shall not disturb the meeting of master and disciple. I shall pay you another visit for some…'sparring'… soon, heh heh."
With that snicker, Nakiu faded away into the world, leaving Richmond alone with his thoughts.
The old mage's eyes flickered with seriousness as he made a decision. He directly used a long-distance teleportation spell and disappeared from his glade, leaving the serene area to linger in the peacefulness of nature.
...….
The various players of Boundless saw the announcements and felt flabbergasted. Yeah, we're used to Draco's nonsense by now, but what the hell is this? How could the fellow reach such levels so early in the game?
While the players still wallowed in their shock, a certain clanking sound echoed in a land filled with Destruction Energy.
That's right, it was the Plains of Deriam. The clanking sound repeated itself and one couldn't help but feel their heartbeat erratically as they heard it.
It was like every sound that entered the ears directly stepped on the heart and soul, making it hard to move or breathe.
Some players who had come to surround the Plains of Deriam in order to monitor the situation for their guilds or groups were frightened by this sound, as it directly suppressed them.
They were unable to logout or open their inventories to use the City Portal Scroll. They could only send messages out informing their superiors of this change in the situation.
Eventually, the clanking sound became louder and louder, directly tearing away their HP with each resonance. These players' eyes bulged greatly as they felt their lives waning due to just a sound!
One player could only shout: "Whoever that is, please stop! You're killing us for f.u.c.k's sake!"
Before the player could say another word, a beam of black light pierced through his forehead, turning his body into pixels immediately. The other players went deathly silent when they felt that energy, because it was the same type as the one surrounding the whole area.
That was Destruction Energy!
It was even purer than the leftover amount that prevented players from exploring the Plains of Deriam easily!
In other words, that player's account was as good as crippled!
This made the other players here take a deep breath and refrain from moving. The clanking sound eventually reached a crescendo, as a silhouette began to appear.
Due to the miasma of Destruction Energy, it was hard to see the form clearly, but in a few seconds, everyone was able to see and identify who it was that stood before them.
It was a player called Dark Knight!
｢Name: Dark Knight – Rank 1 Dragon Knight
Level: 22
HP: 100,000/100,000｣
The Dark Knight simply ignored these players as he continued to walk from the depths of the Plains of Deriam into the outside world. His eyes gleamed with a bright green color and his form was compact.
However, as he passed them, the players could hear him muttering something under his breath. When they heard what it was, their minds trembled from shock.
"Draco, kill. Draco, kill. Draco, kill. Draco, kill. Draco, kill. Draco, kill."
Like that, the Dark Knight's form disappeared into the forests nearby, freeing the players from their entrapment. Immediately, they sent this news out as fast as they could, which generated a wildfire among the current players of Boundless.