Draco felt the reality surrounding the cauldron freeze for a split second before everything reversed like someone had pressed the rewind button on a remote. Immediately, the almost ruined concoction returned to the moment it had just been transformed by the Worldly Energy.
Draco would have missed it before, but after learning subjective magic, he easily recognized that this was the result of a time enchantment.
His heart froze when he pondered over the cost the person who had crafted this cauldron must have paid to fuel this enchantment in Soul Stones. After all, time and space were part of the pinnacle elements.
Making enchantments for them cost more than an arm and a leg. Draco would naturally know, since he had made the Chaotic Blades set for Eva. He had designed Void Blade in a way it gained an active skill related to space whereas the Chrono Blade had an active skill related to time.
It was even the very fact that he had doubted his ability to provide enough Soul Stones for the enchantments that led him to try out an Aether Crystal, which had opened his eyes to the magic of Aether Crystals.
He then skyrocketed to become the first Grandmaster in Enchanting in this age and became able to cut his costs on Aether Crystals greatly. However, before that it had still cost him around 10 medium-grade Aether Crystals back then before he hit Grandmaster Rank.
So, imagining the cost in Soul Stones, which were a greatly inferior source of energy… an Enchantment like this might have required the creator to annex many clan treasuries.
However, all of these were just speculative thoughts. Right now, he began the crafting process once again. To his satisfaction, the Worldly Energy concentration had already started to fill up again.
Unfortunately, it was not even close to normal, only about 30% of the usual amount, but it was enough to buffer the process slightly. Not only that, but Draco noticed that his Refined Star Technique was showing signs of breaking through to level 5.
In his past life, level 3 of his Refined Star Technique had been his limit, and it had allowed him to gain a stable success rate when crafting Epic potions.
Even when the system had evaluated the technique through Madam Carrie carrying out the appraisal on the Dragon's Blessing potion, the concoction technique had been rated as God-tier.
Level 4 had allowed him to merge his knowledge from his past life with his Control to create a more efficient process that guaranteed a higher success rate.
He had achieved that a few weeks ago, while he was still busy in the Flora and Fauna quest. Now, under the stress of these circ.u.mstances, he was on the cusp of yet another breakthrough.
What baffled Draco was that he had crafted so many times before, with some even under worse conditions than this, yet he had never felt the 'barrier' to the next level present itself.
However, he was swiftly able to derive the answer. Once again, the most obvious difference between the timelines was his bloodline activation.
Both his Body of Godliness and his Void of Perfection had been greatly buffed, so it was natural that the techniques that used them as a foundation would evolve with it.
It was like play a world building game. The edge of the map entered into infinite darkness, and it was the limit of where any character on that map was supposed to access before hitting a wall.
However, if that border was increased and more territory was added to the map, it was natural that the characters within would be able to step further.
As such, Draco clenched his teeth and let go of the small Worldly Energy he had gathered. He went back to relying solely on the fire and his Control-based Refined Star Technique.
Using his insights from his previous failure, Draco was able to step further this time. He lasted 6 minutes before it started to become unstable, and it swiftly reached the breaking point after another 3 minutes.
Return on Failure!
The active skill had three charges, and he had already used one up. This marked the second one, so he had only one retry left after this.
However, Draco felt that he was 70% on the way to the next level of the Refined Star Technique, so he wouldn't stop. He immediately went on with the concoctions after the whole cauldron reset.
This time, he found that he was able to go for a whopping 9 minutes before it finally went unstable… for another 6 minutes before it reached the cusp of explosion!
This was a crazy growth process. Most people would use the Return on Failure and fail three times in the same manner, but Draco had been able to push further with every attempt.
As long as he could maintain the concoction's stability for a total of 10 minutes, which was his current time penalty, he would be solid!
Since he had just reached 9 minutes and was able to maneuver the unstable material for 6 extra minutes, he felt like his knowledge of the process had grown greatly.
He was now 99% of the way to level 5 of the Refined Star Technique. After activating the final charge of the Return on Failure active skill, Draco felt like he would succeed this time.
He immediately began working on every problem he had noticed during his previous attempts, perfectly curbing them before they could sprout.
This included temperature changes, reagent compatibility, timing, fusion, and concentration. All of these minute details required a very sharp mind and a steady hand to manage, but this was the very essence of the Refined Star Technique.
As such, Draco reached the place where he had lost control in his previous attempt with relative ease. He also maneuvered around the issue that appeared at this segment and moved into the final sixty seconds.
Every subsequent second was new ground for him, but he was able to push through and finish the concoction through careful management.
The moment it was completed, he felt himself enter the next level of the Refined Star Technique smoothly. It was almost as if his success was timed with his upgrade, meaning that Draco got double the dose of satisfaction.
On the fifth level of the Refined Star technique, Draco's success rate for Epic potions increased from 20% to 30%. It was a very significant jump this time around, and when it was added to his bonus from using Worldly Energy, the Inventor title etc, his total success rate would now be above 80%!
Whew!
80% success rate on Epic potions without even reaching in the Master Rank. If the other Alchemists of the world would learn this, would they just die from shame? Comparisons were truly odious.
｢Congratulations on creating new potion: Unnamed (consumable) (Epic)
Rewards:
1,000% Tradeskill Exp
1,000% Exp
20,000 gold
1,000 reputation with the Tradeskill Association｣
Unlike what had happened when he had created the Angel's Kiss and All-Sight potions, Draco actually received a reward for his first craft of the potion. Angel's Kiss and All-Sight were chanced upon, being recipes that someone else had already discovered.
As such, aside from the basic Tradeskill experience he would receive, he would gain nothing else but the finished product. However, by taking some steps outside his comfort zone to come up with something new, so he would naturally be rewarded.
The only other time this had happened was with the Semi-Legendary Dragon's Blessing potion, so it was quite the achievement. Draco knew that it was far easier to create unique weapons than potions/poisons.
This was because as long as he styled an ingot reasonably differently while hammering, and then used variant enchantments based on his own discretion, he could naturally create a unique weapon.
However, Alchemy was only one Tradeskill, and even then, it was heavily dependent on established recipes. If everyone could just throw in random materials and create something new, many people would be Grandmasters.
Draco decided to place the 1,000% combat experience into Pair Dadeni, bringing the cauldron to 21,100% from 20,100%. As for the Tradeskill experience, he had suffered intense trauma just earlier.
He would rather stockpile it en masse until it could make a great difference… otherwise his poor heart wouldn't be able to take it.
Draco realized that he had spent almost an hour on this one potion, but he hadn't named it yet. First, he decided to inspect it and see what it was about.
｢Unnamed – Consumable
Rank: Epic (100% effectiveness)
Effect: Transform an upper limb into that of a Low-Rank Fire Dragon for 1 minute.｣
While it might sound unimpressive, such a potion had many uses. For example, someone could transform their arms and then shave the scales off - ignoring the horror and excruciating pain - acquiring genuine Dragon Scales!
Or - if they used their brains - they could capture an innocent third party or buy a slave and use them as their proxy. It really depended on the moral compass of the user, but then again, that argument could be used for any item.
A person could - wastefully - use it for a power boost in combat. The claw of a Low-Rank Fire Dragon would possess no aura or fire, but its sturdiness would rip through any species easily.
In essence, this potion was extremely valuable. It wasn't on the level of the Dragon's Blessing, but it was relatively close.
It was certainly much, much more valuable than any of his 'Eternal Growth' items he planned to sell. The best part was that the potion needed no Aether Crystals, so he could skimp on them while working!
Draco thought about it and named it 'Basic Dragon Transformation Potion'.
｢Sturgehaven Kingdom Regional Announcement
Player Draco has created the unique potionmaking recipe, 'Basic Dragon Transformation Potion'. Players can now purchase the design from player Draco and achieve a 10% extra success rate when brewing the potion.｣
｢Cario Continent International Announcement
Player Draco has created the unique potionmaking recipe, 'Basic Dragon Transformation Potion'. Players can now purchase the design from player Draco and achieve a 10% extra success rate when brewing the potion.｣
｢Boundless System-wide Announcement
Player Draco has created the unique potionmaking recipe, 'Basic Dragon Transformation Potion'. Players can now purchase the design from player Draco and achieve a 10% extra success rate when brewing the potion.｣
Players of the world saw this and smiled knowingly. Old boy Draco was at it again? It had certainly been a while since he had done something. Some were even feeling worried that he had gotten bored of flaunting his talent.
Most players didn't care about the fact that he created another recipe. What they cared about was what the potion could do. The name 'Basic Dragon Transformation Potion' certainly caught their attention.
Everyone had seen the fellow summon a Dragon's head during the Emergency Quest and those players who were wiped out from the game back in the Dragon Slaying event had seen him summon a Black Dragon.
Since Draco had made something with such a name, could it have something to do with that elusive race? While the mainstream players were still largely noobs, Draco and Eva's meddling of the timeline had forcibly matured them.
Now, just about 2 or so months into the game, they were more knowledgeable compared to their counterparts in Draco's original timeline after 5 months of play… maybe even by 1 in-game year.
As such, they could infer a bit about his newest creation. What they saw had them interested, so many parties quickly sent him PMs inquiring about the stats of the potion.
Draco had never been one for keeping a low-profile. Apart from obvious things that should not be shared because that would be pure stupidity, he had no fear of anything else of his being known.
So, he sent the details to all the inquiring players in a mass PM. When the various players saw the stats of this Epic potion, they were stunned, then excited.
If an Elite player who had played this game for 2 months - without Draco and Eva's meddling of the timeline - had seen this, he would have shaken his head. What was the use of changing one limb?
If it was to transform the whole body, then it would be worth an Epic potion. Until then, this was half-baked at best.
Naturally, his future self who had played the game would beat his past self to an inch of his life in this scenario.
In this timeline, these players realized the value of this. If they could get it, they could rake it in big! All of them immediately thought about the scales-scraping idea, and they were willing to go through it at all costs!
As such, many quickly inquired about the price and quantity of the potion Draco could make within a certain period of time.
Draco silently pondered before inputting a price. When the excited players saw the price, their happiness fled and was replaced by endless despair.
Draco's asking price was 500 gold. Naturally, they could not afford that at all! The AI had used the First Guild War's betting side event to steal all their money and rendered them paupers… except the guilds that had bet on Draco.
It was an ingenuous way to lower the available funds of players, forcing them to become like ravenous wolves as they quested, dungeoneered or crafted crazily.
Most of the players shook their heads and let the matter go. They simply did not have the money to even think about acquiring such an item yet.
As for the members of Kamisuo, Desecrators and Meiren, they weren't bothered. As close affiliates of Umbra, they would naturally get their share when the time came, probably after Umbra's members got first share.
The more important thing was to grow stronger and expand so that they could expand their alliance's influence.
Draco sighed on behalf of the players. The base price of an Epic item was 50,000 gold, which meant that finding one below this price was almost impossible.
He had reduced it to 1% and they still couldn't even fork out the cash needed for one potion. If the NPCs knew Draco was selling to players so cheaply, they might besmirch his name for such open favoritism.
A basic Epic item might only start at 50,000 gold, but one shouldn't forget that this one belonged to the Draconic category, thus it was natural that its price would be measured in the thousands of platinum. Even the Dragon's Blessing had been valued at 5 million platinum per potion back then, so this one should reach just below a million platinum.
However, Draco was struck with a very serious problem right now. As he toyed with the Basic Dragon Transformation Potion in his hands, he was frowning heavily.
In truth, it was probably something anyone would have at the back of their minds when they looked at the value of Draco's creations.
The economy couldn't handle what he made!
Using the real world as an example, if someone made a plethora of items that could sell for billions of dollars, how many times could he sell it before the world 'ran out' of money.
Even then, that was incorrect. Economies relied on the constant flow of money to survive. If too much of it remained in the hands of one person, the economy would quickly be stifled to death.
There was also no such thing as 'infinite money'. The more bills there were in circulation, the more purchasing power people would have. As such, inflation would rise to stay afloat, and soon reach insane levels.
At that point, the economy would commit suicide on its own.
In the world of Boundless, the monetary system and economy wasn't as developed as the real world, making things much worse.
There were next to no supply lines, or if they existed, there was extreme peril due to monsters or bandits. More than 90% of the world was untamed and unclaimed land.
Even on the Cario Continent, Field Zones like the Paradise Lands weren't rare. Whole swathes of land were left to monsters and whatnot, leaving only a few key areas for human habitation.
Of course, knowing humankind, they would have expanded and cleared out such monsters over the years. Even if Boundless was vast, as long as humanity had a few millenia they'd take everything down.
However, was humanity given millenia to expand? No. Every 1,000 years a Great War would occur, Demons barging in and slaughtering trillions of humans, leaving a pitiful few with the arduous task of rebuilding.
This might be why NPCs were so open with s.e.x.u.a.l matters. They simply had to keep birthing as fast as they could to make up the losses, otherwise the human race would be wiped out.
This also affected the economy because it would crumble every 1,000 years, forced to rebuild itself when the population restarted. All conquered land would return to the wild, leaving everyone at a bottom level position to start from.
In essence, the human world didn't have enough money to buy his stuff. This was fine if they also had Aether Crystals, because that would be an acceptable barter, but given his capabilities he would eventually have more than they did.
After the Player Auction, it was unlikely that any Hidden Power would have a single Aether Crystal to their name. What was he supposed to trade with them for then?
Draco sighed when he reached here. He had thought about this problem for the longest time, and there was only one real solution to it.
However, it was something he wanted to avoid because it would be harming himself indirectly.
'That's right, if humans were too broke to afford my stuff, I'd have to sell to other races!'
Dwarves, Elves, Naga, Merfolk, Cloud Race, etc. All the other races were sure to have some useful items to barter with Draco, some specialty products only they produced.
An example would be the engineering masterpieces of the Goblins and Gnomes, or the unparalleled works of the Dwarves.
Something like the Heart of the Woods from the Elves could exist, and depending on what he had to offer, he might get them to part with it.
Draco had played Boundless for 15 years, but even he didn't dare to claim that the billions of players had uncovered all the content of the game.
After all, what were 7 billion extra people in a world with trillions of just humans alone? Apart from being able to respawn, players were nothing but a drop in the ocean.