｢Congratulations on defeating the Legendary Demon Ratchet, Third son of Mephisto.
Rewards:
775% Exp
Special rank: Lightbringer
3000 gold
1 Legendary treasure chest
200 reputation with the Church of Light
1000 reputation with all human, elf and dwarven kingdoms and empires.｣
Draco was utterly shocked. Putting aside the experience he gained, even the gold was unbelievable. At this stage of the game, even the most affluent player had at best, 20 bronze coins to his name. Draco had received a whole 3000 gold coins! The money system was rather unremarkable, following the same trend as MMOs of old. 100 bronze made 1 silver, 100 silver made 1 gold, 100 gold made 1 platinum.
Average players would only have a single gold coin to their name by the time the first update comes in and yet…
Draco gulped and regained his composure. Then his eyes scrolled down and he lost it again. Reputation points? A whole 1000 with every human, elf and dwarven kingdom and empire?
The rankings in Boundless were simple with regards to reputation, 100 reputation points made you eligible to become a Lord. 300 reputation points made you a minor noble. 500 reputation points made you a proper noble. 700 brought you to the level of a High Noble. 1000 made you a minor duke.
At this tier, Draco was eligible to own a portion of land in the Kingdom in which the reputation was awarded, as well as a myriad of other powers. The main one that most players craved for was the one which was the most evil: the ability to stand above the law.
One thing about humans will always be that, apart from other humans – and even sometimes including other humans – our kind looked down on everything else. Be it flora and fauna or even uncategorized life forms, humankind would always take the higher position innately and attempt to dominate and sometimes abuse.
This especially held true for NPCs which majority of people felt were just computer programs and not real. Even Draco believed same in his past life, but it all ended after the second update. At that point, NPCs were given rights by the World Council.
The points with the Church of Light were even more precious, because it opened a plethora of paths and classes for Draco. The Church of Light was bigger than any kingdom or empire, in fact spanning across each of them. Picture it like every kingdom was ancient Rome, where the Vatican as well as the Pope had equal powers to the King. With the Church of Light having such power in every kingdom, it was easy to see where the true power lied.
The reason the countries allow this was because the Church doesn't follow the stereotypical script of being greedy or overzealous to the point of evil, but act like a true median between the Gods and mortals. They possessed items, inheritances and legacies that could not be obtained anywhere else in Boundless. In the 13th year of Boundless in Draco's past life, a player who had accrued 70 reputation points with the Church after painstakingly working for over five years was able to access the Church's armory to receive a divine weapon. With that divine weapon, he became a one man army in Boundless who no one could afford offend. If Draco was number 3 in the rankings, then that player was number 2.
Draco had almost triple that player's points, so he surmised that he could gain a lot more than a divine weapon from the Church, which excited him. However, Draco decided not to rush and rather complete more hidden quests to gain such rewards. Who knew, if he raised his reputation with the Church to 500 points, they just might give him a divine emblem to become a Lesser God and build his own Pantheon.
Finally, he eyed they legendary treasure chest with palpable l.u.s.t. Draco had never looked at any woman the way he looked at this chest. If he could copulate with it, he would long be thrusting away. To a professional player in this genre of gaming, loot was everything. His final war with Darkrow in which he captured his old lover Riveting Night was all for the Orb of Worlds, which was just a Semi-Legendary item. Neither of their guilds had possessed a legendary item, even 15 years after the game was released. His old weapon, the mana sword was the closest to one there was, a pseudo-legendary item.
Only the players in ranking 2 and 1 had Divine items, which were the ultimate weapons. He didn't even know what exactly they were, other than the fact that they were overpowered beyond belief.
And yet, at a measly level 7, Draco had more than he ever gained in 15 years of play. Arguably, the reason could be said that he spent far too much time waging war instead of exploring. Now, with no need to follow the path of hate, he could properly enjoy Boundless as he should have before.
One thing he had no inkling of an idea of was this special rank. He had only heard of the nobility rankings and nothing else. Hellscape's information gathering was on par with the US government within Boundless. So if such a thing had been acquired before, he would have long known. After all, more than 95% of the player base would boast about discovering hidden quests and rewards in order to gain recognition. Only about 5% had the sense to keep their cards hidden as they climbed to the top.
｢Lightbringer- Special Rank
500% damage against evil aligned beings
500% defense against evil aligned beings｣
To say that Draco was shocked would be a gross understatement. This special rank granted him boons he never thought he'd ever get. The damage and defense boost against evil aligned beings was at the level of a berserk aura from a divine weapon… and this was passive!
If it weren't for the fact that there were few evil aligned beings, he would steamroll over the world and dominate everyone. Still, this boon had once again greatly shortened his estimates. Evil aligned beings were split into two categories: monsters and players. Players who were evil aligned chose either dark races or were enrolled in a dark guild. So that meant that Draco was effectively assassin proof.
He laughed bitterly at that notion. If he had such an ability in real life, he wouldn't have died and had to be reincarnated. He shoved his rising regret and melancholy, focusing on what was before him.
He was at a turning point with all this. Suddenly, Draco eyes lit up as he remembered a nugget of information from his past life. There was a quest where this particular rank would make him breeze through and serve as a solid foundation for his future empire.
Draco however, knew better than to open or even take out his legendary treasure chest in a player populated town. That would be the same as placing a nude magazine of Scarlett Johansson in front of a gaggle of pubescent teen boys.
Looking left and right, he cackled evilly while planning to head out to the location of his next quest. The moment he took a step however, the clouds darkened and a pressure that transcended everything caught him and every living being within a thousand kilometers of Stagnant Moss Town. Some weaker and already unwell NPCs passed away at that moment.
Coupled with this tyrannical pressure, was a powerful voice filled with rage. "WHO DARES??"
The earth shook and the sky churned. A face appeared in the clouds that was arguably handsome, but contained all the world's arrogance. Looking up to that face really made one feel like an insignificant ant before its might and importance.
"WHO KILLED MY SWEET RATCHY BOY?"
Draco coughed blood and fell to his knees. This wasn't from the mental and spiritual pressure, but from the absurdity of this being's claim. Ratchet being sweet? Much less calling him 'Ratchy boy'. That boy had laid waste, pillaged, slaughtered and r.a.p.ed like there was nothing to stop him. Draco had spent close to a month in the bowels of fear, having to hide and occasionally fight to survive during the calamity in his past life. His memories of Ratchet's true nature was engraved on his soul. That was why he could mercilessly stab a young boy without remorse.
Suddenly, his eyes brightened as his mind churned irrespective of the pressure on it. Draco put two and two together and gulped warily. Obviously, the being in the sky was Mephisto, loving father and the fount of evil. Draco cursed his luck, but understood why this happened. After all, in his past life, Ratchet wasn't killed by a measly level 1 player but the hidden powers of the Kingdom that could give Mephisto a headache. Not only that, they had the justification since Ratchet escaped the devil world and wreaked havoc in the human world.
In fact, the Mephisto in his past life was lucky that no dimensional war had occurred from Ratchet's actions, so everything was buried with Ratchet's death.
However, in this timeline Ratchet had been recuperating after suffering from the Heaven's Wrath for crossing into the human world before he was killed. Of course Mephisto would come to seek revenge and use this as justification to start a war.
"WHERE IS HE?? BRING HIM OUT TO MEET YOUR GREATEST GRANDFATHER MEPHISTO AND I'll STOP KILLING YOUR DESCENDANTS AFTER THE 200th GENERATION."
Some players outright passed out due to a mixture of intense pressure and indignation from the Devil King's words. Players wouldn't unlock the childrearing ability until the 5th update, so they had nothing to worry about yet, but they didn't know that.
Also, the sheer tyrannical nature of his words shocked most of them. Draco climbed back to his feet after shrugging off the intense mental pressure. While Mephisto certainly was something, Draco had faced situations just as bad or even worse in his past life and his mental strength had a reached a level no one in this timeline could match.
He grimaced as his mind roiled with means and ways to escape his current predicament without having his account crippled. He could care less if he was killed once or twice with what he had earned so far, but with the Omega Blast, he absolutely couldn't afford to be caught.
He swore internally. If he had the actual avenger class and some more passive skills, he could barely escape using sheer speed. After all, the same way Ratchet suffered brutally for leaving the demon realm, Mephisto couldn't leave. He could just barely broadcast his killing intent from the demon realm and all this was the result.
If the main body were here, he wouldn't even need to bother searching for Draco. With a wave of his hand, Stagnant Moss town would become a thing of the past.
At the current level, no player could resist Mephisto's slight killing intent. If Draco were to assign it a level and rank based on the pressure alone, it would be a level 75 Major. Apart from NPC's in the cities, no one could stand up to him, certainly not in this outlying town.
With a sigh, Draco realized that there was no way out of this. Right now, what he needed to do was stall for time until the powerful NPCs arrived. There was no way they would miss the sudden appearance of the Devil King's astral form. It was even possible that they come here solely to verify the death of Ratchet. If the Devil king could feel it from a whole different realm, the hidden powers here could too.
"Mephisto! Your ugly and illiterate son was killed by Daddy Draco! The question I have for you is: what are you gonna do about it?!?" Draco roared to the heavens.
Almost immediately, the killing intent focused solely on Draco, forcing him to grit his teeth to remain standing.
"Oh? This… Interesting. As a mere germ, you can remain standing in my heavenly presence. From now on, you have been promoted from bacteria to an ant. This is probably the highest you'll ever reach," Mephisto commented with mild surprise.
Draco almost fainted from his words. Not because of the sheer arrogance or the meaning behind them, but because he could sense that this was done in total honesty! Mephisto's arrogance was so strong it had been carved into his very being. In his mind, Draco should be on his knees shedding tears of joy from this promotion.
But how could anyone accept this!?
"Listen here Fork-tail! Grandpa Draco challenges you to a mental battle! Flash your strongest killing intent onto my sacred mind and if I can withstand it for five minutes, you must leave until I'm strong enough to put up a fight before seeking revenge!"
Draco's words made Mephisto ponder. As for the rudeness, he couldn't care less. Would a fully grow a.d.u.l.t go on a tantrum because an ant climbed in his boot? At worst, he'd just kick it away and move on.
Mephisto's reaction was similar. As the Devil King, he was subtly surprised by this human's words and actions so far. And to kill his third son, the wildest of them all at such a level…
This human was interesting. Mephisto sensed that he could get a good brawl from this fellow when he became strong enough in the future. His battle intent soared at the notion and he felt a sliver of excitement.
But first, a test!
"Alright, ant. Your Greatest Grandfather's Greatest Grandpa had decided to humor you. If you can survive for a minute, I'll let you go and wait until you can manage to reach one million kilometers around my real body without dying before fighting you." Mephisto answered with a cryptic smile.
Before Draco could fire a cheeky retort, a wave of insurmountable mental pressure crashed down on him, forcing him to stoop slightly. His face was a mask of pain as he fought to remain standing in the face of such power.
Each second seemed to last a millennium to Draco as he felt the weight on his mind grow until he started coughing blood and fell to his knees. At this time, barely 10 seconds out of the one minute had gone by. Clearly, Draco's bold challenge to last 5 whole minutes was made in excess.
After 30 seconds, he was on all fours and had run out of blood to cough. Anymore and his innards would mix in with the release. Draco felt like he was in Atlas' shoes, having to carry the whole sky on his shoulders. With a bitter smile, he released his own killing intent and aura that he had carefully hidden since reincarnating.
He had kept it bottled up as a last resort and a trump card in case a situation out of his expectations occurred. Clearly, now was such a time. Killing intent was not something of the body. The idea that people would smell of blood if they killed a lot was absurd and unrealistic. What most people assumed was killing intent was in fact, special energy waves emitted from the brain as signals which can only be interpreted by a person's subconscious. This energy wave served as a warning, hence people would feel like those with intense killing intent were 'creepy'.
This kind of thing transcended the corporeal realm and was a thing of the mind. As such, even though Draco's current body had yet to take a life, his killing intent from 15 years of in-game and out of game killing was present in full force.
At this point, he could barely push himself off the ground and stare at Mephisto with a grimace. Although Mephisto's face was neutral, his mind was reeling. A mere human possessed such intense killing intent? Just who was he? What had he seen and done to possess such a demonic aura? Even the current Demon King might grimace in the face of this mortal.
Mephisto's battle intent soared and he was looking forward to the day he could battle this mortal. He felt that he could gain some basic amus.e.m.e.nt from such a brawl.
With that in mind, he increased the pressure to the max, forcing Draco back to his knees. But no matter how much pressure he emitted, he never went back to all fours. There was a trace of unshakeable determination in Draco's eyes as he stared at Mephisto's avatar with utmost defiance.
"Good lad! This boy will give me a good battle in a few years. I'd better send a few challenges his way to make his path more difficult. After all, only in the face of adversity can one blossom." Mephisto thought.
Just as Mephisto was about to end the whole charade, his face changed sharply into an expression of fear as a rickety voice of an old man resounded through the skies.
"Mephisto old buddy! Stand there and die for your greatest grandfather's greatest grandfather's greatest grandpa Lord Nakiu!"