In this world, everything had its natural predator. A small fish feared a shark. The deer feared the lion. Draco feared this woman.
In his past life, he didn't have it easy taking over this organization, even with his skill back then. It was through the help of the woman approaching him right now that he was able to succeed finally.
But everything had a cost. For her, it was Draco himself.
Her name was Maria and she was a cougar of sorts. Her strike zone was Draco's age and he ticked all her boxes as well as the ones she didn't even know she had. Naturally, she had repeatedly devoured young Draco until he felt fear.
Now, the strange part was that if Maria went into a room full of celibate billionaires announcing that she'd take their fortune just for one round of s.e.x, they'd agree without hesitation. That was how s.e.xy Maria was.
Her bust was unrealistically perky for its considerable size and her peach was like two watermelons smashed together. Her waist was thin and her arms were soft as well as luminescent. She wore a dress that was similar to Chloe's, a long one that barely covered her underwear and showed a considerable amount of peach.
So the question was, why did Draco seem to disdain her and even felt fear? The answer was pretty simple.
Draco was an evil bloke and as malevolent fellows go, he had quite a bit of an ego as well as an alpha male complex – as seen by his unbridled narcissism. The fact that he was the bottom in the relationship gnawed at his heart and shattered his self-confidence.
Even though he was penetrating her body, her dominance and superiority penetrated his will to live.
Of course, the Maria of this timeline had no idea who Draco was, but it was clear she was willing to find out. Draco didn't want that at all cost.
Draco fled.
"Oh dear, why did he run?" Maria blinked with surprise, shocked by Draco's sudden escape.
But then, her beautiful and full lips curled into a smile as her bright green eyes shines with interest. "But no matter. No one who I want to devour can run from me."
...…
Draco returned to his ramshackle apartment while breathing heavily, clutching his knees as he gasped for breath. The him right now couldn't handle the stamina expenditure for running from the cartel area to his apartment so easily.
Draco felt incomparably uncomfortable at the moment. Who was he? The third most powerful expert in Boundless and one of the most powerful men in the world. Even though he wasn't at that peak yet in this life, he still regarded himself as such simply because that was who he was – what he had forged for himself with his own hands.
He would reach the same peak in this life and surpass it, that was a destined fact. It was only a matter of when in reality. But here he was, fleeing from a woman who made him feel a primal terror.
Feeling depressed and incomparably stifled, Draco lay down on his bed and fell asleep instantly. The ability to do so was a form of mental conditioning he had to go through in order to unlock Control.
After all, if he couldn't control his own mind, how could he control his surroundings in the Void of Perfection mode?
....
In the morning, Draco woke up almost the same way, no visible fatigue on his face. It wasn't that he had a perfect sleep, it was just that he didn't actually need to sleep per se. It was an already established fact that the act of sleeping was a mysterious facet of human biology, where sleep wasn't absolutely necessary, but still ordained by nature.
Draco was simply obeying nature to avoid the fatigue of lack of sleep, rather than to rest in actual fact.
After doing a few sets of exercises, Draco took a shower and ate instant noodles. If Rina could see Draco like this, she'd be flabbergasted as to how a Control master would be living so drearily. Draco had the potential to be rich and enter bigger circles, yet he chose to live like this.
In fact, it was the equivalent of seeing Lionel Messi or Usain Bolt living as janitor when they had the potential to be stars. Anyone would find it bizarre.
But it was precisely because of this state of mind that Draco could do what he did. That was why the big fighters out there remained unable to fully master or even achieve Control, leaving it for a select few. It all started from how the mind was conditioned.
Draco strapped on the gaming helmet and aligned himself properly, logging into Boundless. After going through the same animation he had seen countless times over two lives, he finally spawned outside the town hall of Stagnant Moss town.
Draco checked the time. He estimated that it would be about an hour for his generals to get all the necessary equipment and enter Boundless. Seeing as that was so, Draco had a few things to do then.
Draco walked to the Portal Center of Stagnant Moss town. He planned to enter the cities and set up various things needed for the second part of his early phase plans. His target was Cario City. Most would love to set up in the capital city, Sturgehaven City, so Draco's choice might seem weird from a general standpoint.
However, Draco knew things others had no right knowing. In fact, this knowledge stemmed from his own intelligence in his past life. When Darkrow unlocked the cities, Draco was still a harveey. He had been beside Riveting Night by chance, his level also reaching 10 despite his low status. That was when they finally noticed Draco's combat talent.
The Draco at that time had made an idle speculation. Why did one of the main cities have the same name as the continent? This question had made many look at him like a simpleton. After all, it wasn't surprising for people to name things grandly, overestimating themselves. Hell, there were people naming their children Mercedes and Jewel.
However, Riveting Night pondered over Draco's words because she knew a bit more about the situation. The continent should have a ruling body that governs all the kingdoms and empires. Such a body wouldn't just allow any city to name itself after the continent. It was the same as hearing that the European Union tolerated France naming one of its most popular cities as Europe.
Riveting Night naturally wasn't going to bank everything on the words of some random harveey, but she did decided to let a branch be set up in Cario city. She also moved Draco to that branch and promoted him to a normal member.
That was the beginning of Draco's rise to power.
Draco shook himself and cast away those memories. They were quite literally things of the past that no longer existed and neither would they ever occur.
He walked over to the city's Lands Commission, equipping his Battle Maniac title. The title gave a three quarters discount on items and a quarter discount on immovable property as well as resources.
Right now, Draco was here precisely for the latter. He entered the building and met with a reasonably pretty young lady in uniform who guided him to the booths.
"Good day, My Lord. What can we do for you?" The commissioner asked with a pleasant smile.
"I'd like to purchase three plots of land in different locations and of different sizes." Draco replied while observing the aesthetical design of the chamber.
"Not a problem my lord, may I know the sizes and locations of each plot so I may draw up a quote?"
Draco rubbed his chin as if he were in thought, when he actually already decided what to buy before he even began Boundless in this life. "One 50 Acre plot in the noble district, one 100 acre plot in the Central Boulevard and one 1000 acre plot in the Guilds Area."
The Commissioner behind the counter was startled for a second but hid his surprise quickly. Draco chuckled internally, not really blaming the fellow. His orders were exceptionally heavy.
"The plot in the noble district will come to 500 gold, due to being a prime plot in the reserved noble district. Thankfully, my lord is a Minor Duke, so the cost is discounted by 50%. My Lord is a Battle Maniac as well, meaning we shall also give a 25% discount over all, making a 75% discount on the price."
Draco nodded in agreement. It was as he expected for this one.
"The second plot is located in the Central Boulevard which is the main commercial street of our humble city. In fact, land there is not easily sold to anyone, but my Lord has sufficient reputation. We shall grant it at 300 gold. Here too, a discount of 25% is applicable."
Huh… that was much cheaper than Draco expected. Then again, it's not the same as him trying to buy land for a shop 7 years into the game in his old life. Naturally, the value of land always appreciates and when a horde of immortal adventurers entered your world, land became all the more precious. This was the undisputed advantage of unlocking the cities earlier.
In a month's time, Draco might not even be able to afford it even with a discount. Only powerful guilds with deep roots can shoulder the cost.
"The final plot is in the guilds area and such land was pre-allocated for the coming of immortal adventurers. The cost of a 1000 acres of land is 50 gold, but my Lands Commission would like to gift it to His Lordship as a token of friendship," The Commissioner stated with an amicable smile.
Draco was naturally stunned. What a good guild, being able to gift such a large plot of land to curry friendship. Draco was also surprised by the fact that his titles played more than a technical role. It seemed as if NPCs could naturally understand the weight of different titles and give priority to those with rarer or more politically powerful titles.
Draco was unaware just how powerful his Battle Maniac title was. While he may complain about the exposure it gave him, that same exposure would grant him endless benefits. Everyone in the world of Boundless knew of his name, the immortal adventurer who was highly regarded by the universal superpower, the War Maniac Pavilion.
Who would dare to not give him face?? In fact, the act of gifting him a measly 1000 acres of land for friendship would be seen as insulting to those in the know, but Draco had no idea of that and rather felt gratitude.
Truly, the ignorant knew no better!
"The total cost of everything would come to about 350 gold after discounts. Would you like us to put in a follow up application for the Tradeskill Association?"
"Yes please. I hope to construct a private residence on my noble property, a commercial shop in the central boulevard and a guild hall on my guild property. All at the highest possible levels too."
Draco's request could be seen as outrageous. Most would buy the simplest version of a building and grind for designs to upgrade it as they leveled up. But Draco outright wanted the most expensive available. Simply madness.
The prices would climb from being a few hundred gold to a few thousand platinum. Even Draco knew he didn't have the money for that yet, not by a long shot.
But he did know where to get it.
Draco paid the Commissioner and traded a few pleasant words before leaving the Lands Commission. Next, Draco sauntered over to the Adventurer's Guild.
In there, the design was more minimalistic than the lavish Lands Commission as well as the Merchants Guild, but it was still pleasing to the eye. The counters here were numerous in number and had a larger patronage for obvious reasons.
To the sides were screens that contained a variety of available quests in different categories.
Draco walked over to a board that had no one standing before it, not because the jobs were unattractive, but because of the opposite. The rewards listed could allow a man to build a whole kingdom of his own, but naturally, the difficulty was scaled accordingly.
The title of the board was 'death quests' because no one who accepted it could come back alive. Naturally, the name would change soon as more immortal adventurers tried their luck. After all, they couldn't truly die like NPCs.
Draco selected the most difficult of the quests available, which was to subjugate an outpost in the Paradise Lands. This was the name given to the resource heavy area that the War of Attrition was currently being fought.
Naturally, Draco was already a participant of this war, but he didn't see why he couldn't get some hefty rewards for it. Zaine's outpost had taken a massive loss and it wouldn't be much for Draco to wipe them out.
In fact, this made the quest sound easy.
Why wouldn't a Rank 2 fellow simply accept the quest and wipeout an outpost full of Rank 1 natives? The reason it became a death quest was because there was a proper military outpost under the surface that was mobilized when the outpost was about to fall.
These troops were obviously the reason the Adventurer's Guild had been stuck in a stalemate all this while.
Naturally, Draco wouldn't accept something he couldn't handle. He had a few ways to wipe out the outpost and escape with his life, respawning not included.
It seemed that this time around, Zaine had drawn the short end of the stick. After going through the acceptance process, Draco exited the Adventurer's Guild with a smile on his face.
Suddenly, Draco got a message in his inbox. It was from Rina.
"Hey s.e.xy boss, we're here in this game thingy. We followed your lovely instructions and spawned in a dreary town called Stagnant Moss, terrible name in my opinion. We're waiting on you to make a dashing appearance, xoxo <3 – Rina"
Draco facepalmed. He just remembered how annoying Rina's texting habits were and her infuriating tendency to flirt as well as use emoticons. With a sigh, he archived the message and prepared to head to the Portal Center when he suddenly remembered something important.
Draco turned to face the City Hall with a serious look on his face, something he rarely displayed. This was simply because he finally had to do something symbolic that he had been putting off for reasons he himself did not understand.
It was finally time to create a guild.