It was already late, so Draco went to wash himself in the super mini small world bath, then came to his bed and lay upon it silently.
Eva had gone to check up on Sublime Notion and recruit Loving Aunt, Hikari, as well as Zaine, would remain in Vita City State to speed up their pregnancies, while Roma and Rila had been there since the beginning, leaving Draco all alone.
Well, there was the shameless lion, but he felt he had enough interaction with him for the next week at the least.
The fellow sighed and went to sleep.
In the morning, he went to bathe himself once again, before getting another a breakfast served by the Master Rank Cook of the Rank 7 Castle.
The meal gave out some above-average benefits, but nothing which could impress Draco.
It was the 9th day of his training with Richmond and there were 70 days left until the auction.
Draco went to the courtyard and found Richmond waiting there for him as usual. Without wasting any time, Draco began to double-cast offensive and defensive spells.
Unlike before though, Draco made sure to ask Richmond crucial questions based on his own experience, which the old mage happily answered.
This allowed Draco's efficiency to rise greatly in a short period of time compared to his previous fumbling about.
Although Richmond offered to share some of his own understanding and theories, Draco much preferred to rely on himself for most of it, but since the lessons were about to end anyway, he felt that it wouldn't be a bad idea to use the traditional means.
During the first half of the day, Draco just bombarded the area. He brazenly tried to double-cast rarer element spells in tandem and even tried his hand casting with pinnacle elements.
Richmond almost beat Draco up for the audacity. Just because their training was almost over didn't mean that the fellow should be so arrogant. He was trying to do the impossible, but Richmond held his hand as he remained silent due to shock.
That was because he noticed that Draco's efficiency was increasing rapidly with every failed attempt. In other words, Draco was getting closer and closer to being able to succeed.
This was the fellow's 9th-day training with him, and yet Draco was already reaching this frightening level… Richmond became solemn. Draco's talent significantly surpassed his own back then, which made him look upon him more favorably.
Draco consumed 100% willpower with every attempt casting with a pinnacle element, yet he could only fill the spell up by 58%. This was only a single cast of the most basic spell in the pinnacle element category, yet it cost so much.
However, that wasn't too surprising. After all, the power of those spells would be catastrophic if unleashed, even if they were the simplest ones in their category.
When he tried to double-cast rarer element spells together, he consumed 100% willpower and only filled both spells by 88%. This was shocking progress, meaning that Draco would be able to complete this bit with enough practice in the not so distant future.
That was why Richmond was stunned. Before it hit noon, Draco had managed to improve this to 96% for the double-casting of rarer elements and 63% for the single cast of the pinnacle element.
His progress in such a short period could be described as monstrous.
However, the biggest contributor to this rapid progress was not Draco's talent, but Richmond himself. He was the reason Draco could keep going whenever he reached his limit. This was even true for the whole training, to be honest.
Putting aside the knowledge of the elements which occupied almost 70% of the training time - which had been skipped since Draco already had the full grasp of it thanks to his previous life - just the various theories and practicals he had practiced should have taken months to complete on a regular schedule, even for someone of his great talent.
If he were to drain his willpower, it would take him one hour to completely restore it, assuming he had full concentration. If he wanted to restore concentration, it took 30 minutes, assuming his willpower was full.
If both were drained, it would take three hours. This meant that after every attempt when he initially learned the Cause and Effect process alone, he would have been forced to rest, limiting him to 10 or so attempts per day, instead of the hundreds he had enjoyed.
This was in line with reality too. When a person went to the gym for a workout, they would perform well for about 3 hours before they would feel the fatigue.
No matter how willing they might be, they would have to rest so that their mind and body could recuperate from the strain. After resting well, they would be able to do it all over again the next day as if they were fresh into the cycle.
That was why it could take months for a person to show any real change in their body structure, depending on their starting point.
However, what if one could drink a juice that restored them to their peak self without any side-effects? One that would instantly wash away fatigue, both mental and physical, as well as clear out any lingering damage/issues from the earlier exertion.
Were something like that to exist, a person could continue working out the whole day nonstop, each time when they became exhausted another sip of the miraculous juice would restore them to the same state they were when they woke up in the morning.
In such a case, would it be that surprising for a person to become a hunk in just 20 days or less?
The same logic applied here. Richmond's restoration spell had allowed Draco to cut down the time needed for training through practicals to the highest possible degree, and coupled with Draco's talent as well as the benefits of his reincarnation, he had been able to learn so quickly that it was simply disgusting.
During the second half of the day, Draco switched it up to defensive and support spells. The pressure then fell on his concentration, which had also been honed through his brutal means of development.
He double-cast two defensive spells of the rarer elements, maintaining them under continuous bombardment by Richmond no matter the cost. His eyes become bloodshot and his mouth even leaked blood, but he held on.
Richmond too didn't stand on ceremony. After being subtly bullied by Draco mentally and emotionally, he took this chance to vent his anger with glee.
Draco did not get a second to rest, every single moment his shields were up, they would suffer the endless bombardment of spells of the opposite alignment.
Before, Draco had only been able to last 3 minutes doing this, but now he could go over 20 minutes like this, though the cost was not small. He felt his mind shake and his head became unbearably cloudy.
He was sure that this might even damage his real self outside the game, but he held on. After all, there would be plenty of time to recuperate, especially with his tyrannical body.
Putting aside his Horned Demon Inheritance's ability to drain the blood or negativity out of others to nourish himself, just his Serpent God Inheritance promised him high vitality and regeneration.
As such, Draco did not hesitate to hold his ground until Richmond broke through his shield before he allowed the old mage to restore him, only to begin the hellish process once again.
The pain of the body was scary, but one could largely deal with it. The pain of the mind though, was something that very few could claim to endure for long periods of time.
A nice side effect was that Draco felt his Dark Angel Inheritance activate a little bit more due to the intense stimulation.
If he were to accord percentages to his control and activation of his three Inheritances, the Horned Demon would be at 10% while the Dark Angel would be at 3%.
As for the Serpent God, it was naturally his highest at 50%. Naturally, it was what he normally used or allowed to influence himself most of the time.
By the time the day was over and Draco was done with the sufferance, his Dark Angel Inheritance had been stimulated to 7%.
His mind felt clearer, and his ability to think and grasp the world around him increased. His passive Control expanded crazily, and it even became more versatile.
Before, it would only alert him of various dangers around his body when they were poised to act, but now it could detect danger automatically and relay it to Draco's subconscious.
Draco had to stumble weakly from the courtyard, leaving Richmond who was watching him with a light smile and a thoughtful gaze.
When he reached his bedroom in the Rank 7 Castle, Draco immediately fell into the bed and closed his eyes. Instead of going to sleep though, Draco logged out.
After going through the logout procedures, he slowly removed the Virtua Helmet from his head and smiled bitterly as he watched the ceiling of his posh room.
Draco and Eva couldn't shit, piss or sweat with their rebuilt bodies in the real world, and this also held true in the game world if not for the status effects that came with failing to do so.
Yet, he felt like should he have been able to, he would have excreted enough sweat to soak his bed thoroughly. His head pounded painfully, and he could barely move his body.
Even though his body itself was fine and undamaged, his mind had become too fatigued. He remained in such a state for a few very long-lasting minutes before the pain subsided.
He turned his head to see Eva lying beside him with her Virtua Helmet still strapped on. Wearing only a baggy white t-shirt and some panties, Eva really did look alluring even with more than 90% of her face covered.
Draco didn't touch her though, as the Virtua Helmet had an auto-eject feature when the real body was tampered with. This was to protect the lives of the players, in case someone wanted to harm or kill them while they were logged in.
He got up from the bed and walked up to their fridge that was as large as a cupboard. It was installed into the wall, and its doors could only be opened through a scan of the palm.
Its doors opened like a fancy car, revealing rows of chilled bottles that all had the design of the company that produced the NuSmoothies. There were about 500 bottles here.
Draco had previously sent the Sanguigno Brothers to purchase 100 bottles of them at an increased price of $15,000 per bottle, which had drained his personal funds.
50 bottles had been left over from that time and he had ordered them to buy more whenever an inflow of cash went into his account from Boundless.
Last time he checked there was around 1.972 million dollars in his account, of which the 100 NuSmoothies had taken 1.5 million. Now, it seemed that some more stuff had sold since his account was currently showing 3.42 million dollars.
It was possible that Akainu had put some useless Uncommon items on sale, and those were valued at around the same price as what Draco had paid for the bottles of NuSmoothies.
As such, the Sanguigno Brothers had refreshed their stock during the time Draco and Eva had spent in Boundless.
Draco began to guzzle the bottles, as he had spent 10% bloodline source to i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.e Zaine. It took over 120 bottles to reach his previous 99% but he was not disheartened, as it would bear great rewards when Zaine gave birth.
Draco also had plans to acquire more from a certain source, but he really did not like relying on that person. However, he had no choice. If he wanted to have a lot more stock in a short period of time, they were the only choice.
When he was done refilling himself, Draco quickly checked up on the progress of their property. Akainu and Sanji had done a great job in the construction and expansion task they were given.
Draco was pleased by this. However, he didn't have the luxury to spend too much time in the real world. It was mind-boggling that a mere 3 hours in the real world was worth 12 in the game, meaning Draco 'woke up' in the morning.
He went to wash himself and took a hearty breakfast from the Master Rank Cook once again. With each consumption, he felt it paled compared to his creations, but Draco wasn't willing to waste any more Aether Crystals on mere food.
When he reached the courtyard, he saw Richmond seated on the earth with a gentle smile on his face. Draco also smiled slightly as he sat across the old mage, and neither of them spoke for a while.
While it might have been a short ten days, it felt like years to Draco, probably due to the sheer amount of progress he made in such a short time.
Today was the 10th day, which was the last day of his Mage God training. There were 69 days until the player auction, and his focus on training would shift to his bloodlines and Tradeskills after this.
Draco began by continuing from where he had left off yesterday, double-casting two defensive spells under bombardment. Only this time, he let go of the spell when he reached his limit and allowed Richmond to restore him.
He eventually shifted to support spells, trying to cast a strength buff that exceeded 5%. This naturally drained him very badly since such a spell required a lot of resources, but he was left with 3% willpower afterward, showing his progress.
He could also maintain the buff for almost 2 minutes before he let go due to the inability to supply more resources as it went on. However, there was no doubt that Draco's buff lasted longer than most objective spells of the same category.
So far, Draco had achieved great progress in the fields of offensive spells as well as defensive ones.
For offensive spells, he could single and double-cast more than 20 spells of the normal elements before running out of willpower.
For the rarer elements, he could single cast 5 spells each and double-cast two at once before running out of willpower.
For the pinnacle elements, he could only reach 65% success in single casting them before he ran out of willpower fully. They needed more resources than spells of the defensive category from the same element after all.
For defensive spells, Draco could single and double-cast those of the normal elements for 10 minutes under bombardment now. His earlier crazy style of enduring had paid off greatly, especially since it activated his Dark Angel Inheritance a bit more.
For those of the rarer elements, he could supply them fully and maintain them for 30 seconds under bombardment. This was extremely great, seeing as the spell of this nature had some ability to counterattack.
As for those of the pinnacle elements, he was currently able to cast one spell for 3 seconds before he would be knackered out in terms of both willpower and concentration.
And this wasn't even accounting for the spell's durability during a bombardment.
For support spells, he could mostly maintain buffs of a non-elemental nature for the 2-minute duration. As for elemental buffs, he wasn't quite there yet.
All in all, Draco's foundations were solid given the amount of time he spent. If it were a standardized test, Draco would have achieved 345% of the score.
Still, Richmond remained silent and let Draco continue exerting himself. Draco even tried to double-cast one offensive spell and one defensive spell at the same time, but it was extremely hard.
It drained an equal amount of willpower and concentration for the double-cast, assuming they were of the same rank. Since both types of spells required relative amounts of both willpower and concentration, their consumption multiplied over each other.
In other words, if Draco cast a water mana shield and cast fireballs, it cost a lot more than double-casting fireballs or double-casting water mana shields.
After all, the former required intense willpower while the latter required total concentration. To offer up both in equal amounts drained a lot more, but also yielded the best results.
By the time it reached 3 pm, Draco became able to maintain a shield under bombardment for 5 minutes and cast 10 offensive spells while under its protection.
Draco stopped casting at this point as he gazed at Richmond with resolution. "I'm done."
Richmond nodded and said: "That you are. You have successfully passed the practicals."
｢Congratulations on completing: Richmond's Spell Formation Practicals
Rewards:
Completion of the Sword and Sorcery Legendary Quest.｣
｢Congratulations on completing: Sword and Sorcery Legendary Quest
Time elapsed: 239:03:00
Assessment: SS+
Rewards:
Mage God - Rank 1
Magical Genius passive skill｣
｢Mage God (Rank 1) – Special Rank
Able to use subjective magic without limits. Opens the willpower and concentration stats. Spells cost 10% fewer resources to cast. This Special Rank title is always equipped without occupying a slot.｣
｢Magical Genius – Passive skill
Subjective magic spellcasting speed +50%
Subjective magic spellcasting damage +50%｣
The effects of the Mage God title surprised him, as he predicted that it would give him only the bonus of fewer resources as well as the ability to use subjective magic without penalties.
After all, Draco had only been able to use subjective magic because he was in the midst of the Sword and Sorcery Legendary Quest. Had he failed to acquire the title, how could he be allowed to cast subjective magic?
This was also why Richmond chose him. Otherwise, if everyone could learn subjective magic, wouldn't he have hundreds of students, even if their talent might be shit?
This meant that Draco couldn't teach any player or NPC subjective magic unless he was willing to pass the title over. There could only be two at once, the master and the apprentice.
However, the fact that it would be permanently equipped greatly pleased and surprised him. That meant that he could use his Lightbringer and Richmond's Herald titles alongside this one.
As for the willpower and concentration stats, Draco was puzzled. He understood concentration being there, but where from willpower? It was something that couldn't be easily quantified unless the AI could merge with his soul.
Yet, he saw that it was 100% Willpower and 100% Concentration listed there. Draco decided to take it with a grain of salt, after all, he and the AI had a very strange - yet close? - relationship currently…
As for the Magical Genius passive skill, it was a bonus for going above the base ranking. It would definitely help make Draco's magical abilities stronger, making him even more of a beast in battle.
After looking through his gains, Draco turned to Richmond, who looked like he had something to say.