Draco was shocked to find that the Green Orcs were still locked in battle with parasitic monsters. He had been certain that King's death should've ended the main storyline for this Unique Quest, but it was clear that he had been wrong.
Draco assumed that King had shown that flash of hatred due to him mentioning that he would kill all parasites but…
It was obvious that this was not the reason.
After all, the real reason was that Draco's aura had put pressure on King, making him feel fear. As such, King's pride made him feel hatred for Draco because he had created such feelings of fear in him.
King hadn't cared about the comment about the parasitic monsters, but the timing had been too good, between the display of his hatred and Draco's surmising. As such, it had created this false assumption.
Roma and Qiong Qi noticed this as well and their faces became heavy. Qiong Qi knew all about the Ultima Sunt race, and Roma had some bloodline knowledge due to the Race Share passive skill.
They had both assumed that King was responsible for all of this as well. Seeing the monsters still up and about made them realize that there was more to the bizarre occurrence going on in the Four Point Valley.
Roma stepped forth and waved her hands as a sickly green hue coated her arms. A group of Witch Slaves burst out from the earth, though these ones were not new.
They were the same old Witch Slaves from before, and their health had maintained its progress from dessicated corpse to sickly patient.
The lifeforce they stole from their targets clearly did not disappear into the abyss, and was rather actively absorbed by them.
What was even more terrifying was that after being spawned, they didn't rush about like feral zombies, which was how they behaved previously.
They now moved like living and thinking beings, although with a slight stutter in their steps occasionally. What was troubling was that they - whether male or female - all had expression of mocking on their faces as they cast Mystic Arts abilities.
Their hands glowed green as they cast out various attacks and hexes that hindered or outright killed the various monsters in very unattractive ways.
Most of these mobs were between level 10-15, which meant that they were within Roma's level range. She was currently at level 13, 14% but had gone up to level 13, 65%.
Every gamer who had played an RPG game, achieving extremely high levels within that game, would puff out a cloud of cigarette smoke and say, 'similar experience point gain when killing similarly leveled enemies at higher ranks? Haven't heard that name in years…'
Boundless used percentages to simplify things, because numerical experience bars were hard to follow for those who were not good with numbers.
(Author's Note: numbers suck.)
But whether percentile or numerical, experience functioned the same way in every RPG game.
If you were level 1 and killed a level 1 enemy, you would gain say, 40% experience. If you reached level 10 and killed a level 10 enemy, you would gain 20% experience. If you were level 50 and killed a level 50 enemy, you would gain 5% experience.
The higher you rose, the lesser amount of experience you would gain from killing same level enemies, not to mention lower level enemies.
Otherwise, in a world that was called Boundless, with almost limitless resources and races - assuming one could kill them all - why would various hidden powers be stuck at a point so close to the top yet unable to reach it?
Why had talented freaks like Draco, Eva, Gentle Flower and co been trapped at Rank 6?
Hence, Roma was unable to level up with the amount of monsters she had killed this time, unlike before where her level rose like a rocket.
This was also led to another topic that was extremely annoying to every gamer under the sun.
Grinding!
Every RPG game required one to kill more and more of the same level monsters to grow. If you could kill higher leveled ones, well… then good for you, you'll get something significant.
Apart from that, the only way forward was to kill, kill and kill more. Do the same missions, the same quests, the same dungeons over and over until you out leveled it then rinse and repeat.
Of course, every RPG game had more than just endless grinding so that players don't get bored by the tediousness of it and Boundless was no exception. We have already seen the myriad Tradeskills one could practice, which were… well… boundless.
As such, if Draco and Roma wanted to climb higher, they would need to vanquish stronger enemies at every turn.
After clearing out the monsters here, the Party of Three walked up to the Orc Encampment which was a hive of activity. They had spent the past few hours fighting non-stop, while Draco was battling King as well as 'filling up' the various Dryad girls.
Each and every one of them was battered and beaten in different ways. The parasitic monsters were not like fighting Wood Elves or Gypsies, or even the normal monsters of the Four Point Valley.
These monsters were far stronger than those of their same species, making one have to expend more effort to kill them. Of course, the rewards were also great.
Roknar had unanimously been appointed as the representative of the Green Orcs to Draco, which was a task he had taken pride in before, but now dreaded. He still shuddered whenever he thought of the punishments Draco had inflicted upon them.
"My Lord Drake, how can I help you?" Roknar asked in a simpering tone.
"My name is not Drake, it is Draco. This is my true form."
Draco removed the guise of Drake and revealed his true self, shocking Roknar and all the Green Orcs around. This was the true form of the Duke's Representative?
Why was it that… he was even more attractive like this?
Of course, the guys had this thought flit through their minds idly, but the female Orcs began to pant like dogs as drool dribbled down their chins. They were like starving wolves that had seen a fat sheep.
Despite their rising l.u.s.t, they dared not press Draco down and fill themselves up with his stuff. After all, they would definitely not survive making such a foolish motion.
"Lead me to your Chieftain."
Draco spoke this with narrowed eyes.
When he mention the Green Orc Chieftain, the various Green Orcs froze, before taking out their weapons with grim expressions. Roma and Qiong Qi just watched this boredly, as if their shabby resistance was nothing more than thin toilet paper.
Draco smiled though. After all, he guessed that the Chieftain of the Green Orc tribe was like the HearthTree or the Chaim to the Wood Elves or Dryads respectively.
He was their true leader that was hidden in the shadows, manipulating everything going on while the Green Orcs put up a front of comical idiocy and barbarism.
Not even Dorian Purple was aware of the Chieftain, which was why they were willing to silence Draco to keep this secret.
Before they could move though, a loud blaring of a horn echoed out in the area. The suicidal Green Orcs were startled by this sound, but eventually sheathed their weapons and trudged back to the encampment silently.
"Let's go."
Draco motioned for his party to follow and they did, just as silently as the ones before them.
As they entered the encampment, The Party of Three were presented with the sight of the Green Orcs lined up in orderly rows on both sides of the footpath, leading all the way to the center of their camp.
They all stared at the trio quietly as they went forward, their eyeballs the only part of their bodies that moved. This naturally created an intimidating and daunting sight for most, but Draco and Qiong Qi were supremely unbothered.
Roma was a little unsettled though, but she did not want to disgrace Draco. She retained that outward demeanor - that regal bearing - which came from the Ultima Sunt merger.
They walked on like this until they came to a rather large tipi house that was covered with the skins of various monsters that were of impressive breeds.
Draco parted the flap without decorum, barging into the place like he was the landlord and whoever resided within was the tenant. Qiong Qi and Roma entered much in the same manner as he did.
Inside the tipi house was a large and thick Orc Male that had battle scars all over his body. His face was arguably handsome in the eyes of any Orc, but to Draco and Roma, he looked a bit ugly.
He had a long mane of white hair that reached his shoulders, the back of which was tied into a ponytail while the sides fell down naturally. His eyes were obsidian black, being extremely sharp and piercing.
He wore heavy plate mail that was made out of Mithril, a rather precious ore that ranked on the same level as Orichalc.u.m. Orichalc.u.m was tilted towards the magical end of the scale while Mithril was tilted toward the physical end, both within the same spectrum.
There was a large broadsword placed against a table in the center of the tipi house, of which the Chieftain was seated. The table was broad and high, looking more like a work desk than anything else. Underneath it was a rug that was made from the skin of a rather large bear.
Draco saw that there was only one seat on the other side of the table, so he naturally took it.
Qiong Qi lay flat on his belly and crossed his two front legs over each other as he rested his head on them. He looked like he might just doze off at any time.
Roma stood behind Draco with her hands clasped together before her thighs, the classic pose of any servant who was a female.
Draco didn't have time to play mind games with this Chieftain like he did with Parkins. He simply spoke out his wishes directly.
"Good day, Chieftain. My name is Draco and I am the Representative of the Duke of Farst. I would like to inquire as to any problems the Green Orc tribe faces. I'm sure I can help out in one way or another."
The Chieftain grunted and spoke in a deep and guttural voice that contained traces of extreme intelligence.
"Problems? Every tribe has problems, Warrior Draco. It is finding ones to solve the issue that is the bigger problem."
Draco smiled deeply. "I am the one to solve those very problems."
The Chieftain paused for a bit before nodding.
"I see that you have some skill with blacksmithing. Good. I need you to forge 1 unique heavy armor set for me with Mithril, 30 normal sets with steel and a hundred of iron armor sets with weapon pieces."
The Chieftain's outrageous request made Roma and Qiong Qi almost fall over themselves. He might as well go ahead and ask all the Dryads to become nuns!
However, Draco did not seem too bothered. In fact, this was a challenge he found rather interesting.
"Do you have the materials and equipment available?"
"We do. Roknar will show you the way."
The Chieftain, who had not given his name, spoke with finality in his voice.
Roma bristled at the notion of her Draco being dismissed like this, but Draco rubbed her shoulders gently as he stood up, calming her down.
"I'll begin immediately."
After dropping that line, Draco left with his party, the eyes of the Chieftain locked onto them as they went. He tapped on his table lightly as he became lost in thought, pondering the innate apprehension he felt from being near Draco.
｢Name: Chieftain Lokthar – Rank 7 Warrior God
Level: 368
HP: 340,000,000,000,000/340,000,000,000,000｣
One could see why Draco humbled himself in his presence after seeing Lokthar's level and Rank.
......
"Here we are, the forge of our encampment."
Roknar gestured to the open-area pavilion which had various blacksmithing tools and equipment within. There was a smelter, a furnace, an anvil and a workbench with various tools.
Draco smiled as he saw this, his passion suddenly igniting.
"Bring me the materials and make sure no one disturbs me."
Draco spoke this sharply and Roknar acknowledged it, moving to get it done. In the meantime, Draco prepared the equipment, cleaned them and heated up both the furnace as well as the smelter.
He spent his time visualizing exactly what he wanted to do, especially in regards to the unique set. The other sets were not a problem, as they were more common.
When Roknar eventually brought the various materials and left them with Draco, he finally had a slight roadmap in mind. He began to work.
First came the preparation stage. Draco had already prepared the tools and heated the various refineries, so now he had to refine the ores into a more malleable shape.
He started with the iron ores. As he threw each one in, it took only a brief moment for it to turn into a perfectly refined iron ingot.
After all, Draco's Blacksmithing level was level 33, 39%! It meant that he was in the middle Elite ranks! An Elite faced no difficulty with Common ores like iron!
Their refinement rate was 100% and the higher your level or rank, the higher the efficiency of your refinement. Level 20 was the benchmark for achieving 100% success rate with an ore like iron, so any level higher just increased your efficiency.
Draco's was high enough that only one handful of iron ore could turn into a flawless iron ingot. Not to mention that he had the Fire of War's Forging Efficiency passive skill increased his forging success rate by 20% regardless of Rank.
He also had the Inventor title which increased his crafting success rate by 15% for everything he worked on.
This meant that should Draco try to even craft a divine item, he had a default 35% or 1/3rd chance to be successful!
Wow!
But of course, apart from that, his chances were a solid 0. Not to mention that where was he supposed to find any goddamn Divine crafting materials?
Even Legendary ones popped up at high-tier auctions like the Divine Auction at expensive prices. Even if Draco knew about the sheer absurd income the Rank 7 Shop brought Umbra, he wouldn't dare practice with Legendary materials with only a 35% chance.
He had Pair Dadeni for Alchemy, so he was hoping that the Green Orcs could give him something like that for Blacksmithing.
Draco refined 300 iron ingots in less than 20 minutes. His Blacksmithing level didn't rise in the least though, which was understandable.
If this was combat, it would be like being level 33 and killing a level 20 Private Rank monster. Even if you killed 300 of them, the exp gain was so mediocre that your experience percentage wouldn't rise. Boundless also didn't bother to display decimals at this early stage.
Draco put those aside and took up the steel ores. These were Uncommon ores, meaning that they were perfect for his level. He tossed 5 of them in and controlled the fire carefully.
After 3 minutes, he managed to turn this ore into an ingot that was exquisite in quality. This was one step away from perfect, but it was understandable.
With his level alone his success rate for refinement of Uncommon ores was 82.5%. If one added his other boons in, that was a 100% success rate!
However, his efficiency was standard, which meant he couldn't use as little as he could for the best possible results.
Still, it was an impressive result that would have any other player become so shocked that they would give up on crafting.
While we were in 2065, this fellow was in 2080!
After refining this batch, Draco began preparing all the others with a quick movement. He continually refined steel ores into exquisite steel ingots for more than 3 hours, turning over 600 ores into 120 ingots.
After making a deep exhalation, Draco put these ingots aside as his brows furrowed greatly.
Now, he had the troublesome task of refining the Mithril ore. Mithril was like Orichalc.u.m, which was a Rare ore. Draco's success rate for that on his own was barely 15%.
With his various boons, the total came to 50%. This was much better than when he was refining the Orichalc.u.m for the Dragorugio set, in which he had a success rate of 25%. He was almost two times better now!
But still, the difference from before and now, was that Draco did not have access to more Mithril. With the Orichalc.u.m, he could waste as many as he wanted because it was he who bought it with his own money.
But now, there was obviously no ore vendor around and this Mithril was provided to him by another. It was finite and he had to be extremely careful with it.
Thankfully, the current Draco was physically and mentally incomparable to his past self. His control over Worldly Energy too was something no other crafter in the world could hope to match.
Draco carefully placed 10 Mithril ores into the smelter and then flooded it with the purest Worldly Energy. He used the Worldly Energy not on the ore, but on the fire within. He purified it, like using a sieve to filter out dirty water.
This made the flames much more potent yet easier to control, allowing the Mithril to begin melting properly. Draco put all his effort into this, making sure that the ores were slowly transformed to ingots with utter perfection.
Draco spent a whole 4 hours turning one batch of 100 Mithril ore into 7 ingots. He had a success rate of 70%!
Despite not achieving 100%, the upside was that the ingots were of a superb quality, which was just two levels below perfect and one level below exquisite.
Draco wiped his forehead and turned his eyes to the anvil and furnace.
"Time to begin the action phase."