Guild Wars

After the Tradeskill masters were sent away, Draco smirked derisively. To think that such trash were occupying his Castle while he had been away…

If it weren't for the fact that he could have them teach the skilled members of Umbra the ways of their craft, he would've fired them right there right then. In fact, Draco's long-term plan was to fire them and house the best member of each Tradeskill in their place.

They were Master Rank crafters, fine, but who else but he would have cheat items like Pair Dadeni and Mjolnir? It meant that for them to craft Epic stuff, they would require Epic materials. No wonder the upkeep for this place was so goddamn expensive.

Why on earth would Draco waste Epic materials on them when he was on the cusp of becoming a Master Rank himself? He would rather hold onto those items and use them for himself or the members of Umbra when they got to the same stage.

Draco moved into the super mini small world bath and cleaned himself up in the hot springs with Eva. She floated faceup in the pool with her n.a.k.e.d body, like a plank floating in the sea.

Her cute and tasty lips being squeezed while she was thoughtful made Draco laugh. She was definitely thinking about something important, but her pose and expression were just too sweet to take her seriously.

Eva noticed Draco's amus.e.m.e.nt and scratched the back of her head. Could it be that Draco saw through her, realizing that she was thinking about the possibility of 'training' Camilla for him and found the image funny?

Maybe Camilla wasn't his taste. Hm…

Draco dragged Eva's floating body over to him and gently washed her down. He didn't do anything s.e.x.u.a.l, rather opting to simply clean her up. Eva happily accepted his pampering while forgetting the evils she was thinking about earlier.

Camilla could thank the Gods for divine intervention on her behalf.

After cleaning themselves up, both exited the bathroom. Eva moved to lie in the double bed and logged out to deal with her pregnancy.

Draco took out Pair Dadeni and observed it quietly. He wished he could summon Hikari here to make him a Semi-Epic alchemy set, but that was unwise for now.

He didn't want either Hikari or Roma to move about while they were pregnant. As such, he simply stuck to his old items and let the matter go.

Before he began to experiment with new recipes for Alchemy, he would first use the three free days to craft as many Angel's Kiss potions as possible. He would need to spend a lot of time with those, but his Tradeskill level had fortunately risen.

He was now in the Expert Rank of Alchemy, at level 45, 89%. He had a higher success rate than when he had last attempt to mass-produce the potion. That meant that the time consumption would be far lower for him.

Draco took out a slew of Darike Plants, which was a Common reagent for making health potions at that Rank. He then filtered them extensively, taking a much shorter time than the last.

He filtered almost 1500 Darike Plants in 3 hours due to his high level, and then ground them into paste. Once all that paste was made, he then mixed them in batches of three, obtaining the optimal mix of raw materials he had discovered from his previous work.

After all of this was done, he had roughly 500 batches of paste which would be made into potions.

Draco heated up Pair Dadeni with the Fire of War and equipped his Inventor title. With that out of the way, he placed one batch of the paste into the Cauldron.

The moment he did, the Darike Plant transformed into the Viva La Vida Epic variation, and he began to sweat.

That was because the strain was even greater on him than last time. Why?

His State of Being had been weakened! He was still a Black Dragon with admin rights, but he was now Low-Rank! The amount of Worldly Energy he could move wasn't as great as before.

Draco tried to rely on his Ultima Sunt bloodline to manipulate Worldly Energy, but it didn't help. Not only was his bloodline concentration poor, at only 50%, but the Ultima Sunt didn't even rely on Worldly Energy.

They were already overpowered by just existing. Even Dragons didn't really rely on Worldly Energy, except to nourish themselves.

So, Draco had a hard time at this stage, but he was able to pull through because he had been buffed by the Dragorugio set in terms of Stamina.

As such, he completed the process of transforming the paste into a liquid with Worldly Energy and the heat of the Fire of War.

When it came to the collection phase, a gleam of madness shone in Draco's eye. He removed a medium-grade Aether Crystal that had formed from his Aether Conversion passive skill.

He had a healthy amount of them thanks to the Guild War. He even dedicated some space in his inventory for them, so it just stacked up in numbers of 4 every hour.

He crushed the Aether Crystal and manipulated the energy to collect the potions. Because this Aether Energy was formed as a by-product of himself - or because of the intimate and unbreakable relationship between Dragons and Aetheric Energy - Draco had a much easier time controlling it.

It might also be that the quantity of Aetheric Energy was much lower compared to the amount of Worldly Energy he had to use.

Whatever the case, Draco completed the capture process with Aetheric Energy and held the bottle of golden liquid in his hand. He inspected it carefully to see what was so special about it.

｢Angel's Kiss - Consumable (Enhanced)

Rank: Epic (100% effectiveness)

Effect: Restore 100% Health, Mana, Stamina, and Focus and create a buffer shield consisting of 50% maximum Health. Increase Health, Mana, Stamina and Focus regeneration by 100% for 3 hours.｣

The new variant was more than two times better than the old one. Now, one would benefit from a shield of 50% of their health and the regeneration had increased to 100% from 50%. The effective time also went from 1 hour to 3 hours.

Draco couldn't help but wonder. If Aetheric Energy could strengthen items during crafting by this much, then what would be the effect with Divine Energy do? Or even… Origin Energy?

It took him 10 minutes to make that potion, so he didn't want to waste any more time. Draco moved onto the next batch and repeated the same process once again.

This time, he didn't use an Aether Crystal, so the Angel's Kiss potion was normal.

Draco continued to craft like crazy. Even though his success rate was over 60% now, he still failed occasionally.

With 3 days, Draco would be able to craft a total of 425 bottles of the Angel's Kiss in case he managed to be successful every time, without taking any breaks in between.

However, dreams were lofty, yet the reality was cruel. He only got 290 bottles done, of which just about 20 had become the enhanced variety.

Over the course of three whole days, Draco had crafted non-stop and he felt the aura of death leak from him.

He was tired, exhausted, weak and fragile.

After putting away the last bottle, he shakily went to the bed and fell down on it with his armor receded into his skin. The moment he did, he went right to sleep.

Riveting Night logged back in after handling some managerial tasks in the real world, as well as taking care of her body by visiting the doctor.

Akainu had promptly offered to use some money to build a small clinic on the grounds of their castle, hiring some expert doctors he had some contacts with to work there and monitor her pregnancy.

It happened that she had logged in for a short while after Draco was done. She smiled looking at the innocent and defenseless him, but she did not want to wake him.

Instead, she cradled his tired body as he slept. Riveting Night pulled back her hood, revealing the face of Eva.

Eva gently caressed Draco's scalp. Her gentle and soothing touch, as well as her familiar warmth, reached Draco's sub-conscious. As such, the usually calm and serious fellow smiled happily.

Eva's heart quivered when she saw this smile. This was the same way the old silly and shameless Draco had used to smile when they were together... when everything had been all right between the two.

He had been a young and perhaps foolish boy who was head over heels for his first love.

It was such a pure and heartfelt smile that Eva began to cry silently. She held Draco tightly, wishing he would always be this happy. She had watched him live in utmost hate and feral anger for 7 years in Boundless time.

She had seen this through her own lens of depression, anguish and self-loathing, but Eva only cared about the pain he had been forced to go through. All she had suffered - to her - was a just punishment for making a silly choice.

For the first time in a while, Eva truly felt happy. If Draco could smile like this, then as long as they stayed strong, no one could take away their joy.

Eva's eyes glinted with madness.

On this day, she swore that she would take any actions no matter how dark or vile, to protect Draco and her future family's happiness.

................

Draco soon woke up after around 10 hours of sleep. Despite the length of it, he felt extremely refreshed and energized. He noticed that Eva was cradling him with a gentle smile on her face.

Draco smiled and kissed her gently. "No wonder I feel so refreshed. The Goddess of Beauty herself held me in her delicate arms."

Eva chuckled. "How could I resist? You looked so cute the way you slept."

Draco blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Cute? Aren't I very manly?"

Eva kissed Draco on the cheek. "You are the manliest man."

Draco nodded his head, as if saying 'ah, you are a woman of culture as well'.

After some…'questionable'… romantic words being flung back and forth between the duo, they entered the courtyard.

Richmond stood there with a smile on his face. He hadn't looked at Riveting Night once since three days ago. Riveting Night had told Draco about the price he would extract, so his deliberate acting didn't scare or worry them.

Riveting Night moved to the side and sat down on a bench near a fountain. Draco and Richmond moved to a clear patch of manicured grass in the courtyard.

"First, to master the Laws of Magic in our world, you must know the fundamentals of magic itself. What is magic to you?" Richmond asked.

Draco pondered for a bit before answering. "To me, Draco, magic is a tool to assist my swordsmanship and combative ability."

Richmond nodded. "Perfect! I expected no less from you. You understood the core meaning of my question and answered accordingly."

He continued. "There are two flows of magic. The objective and the subjective. The objective is the factual meaning of magic, and it has a set and a unified meaning. The subjective is what magic means to you as an individual, or your derived understanding."

"How do these two relate? Objective magic is what people understand magic to be, or the general utilization of magic. For example, an objective spell is the fireball spell every Pyromancer uses."

"That means that this type of magic is fixed and cannot be modified. No matter if it is the acolyte or the master casting the spell, the fireballs will be generated and fired as described. It contains no less power and consumes no less mana than what is described."

Richmond fired a fireball, which looked the same as what Rina or any other Elite and above Pyromancers used. Its size was no bigger than half the height of a human.

"That was objective magic."

Richmond summoned the same fireball he did yesterday and Draco could feel the Worldly Energy being pulled towards his creation. It was unlike before where the Worldly Energy hadn't moved even a little.

"Subjective magic is your interpretation of magic, and as such, your own manifestation of it. This form of magic doesn't consume mana, but requires manual control, knowledge, and resources."

"With enough control, you can decide how strong you want the spell to be, who you want it to hit, and how you want it to move in order to hit your target."

"With the right knowledge, you can decide what kind of spell you want to conjure, as well as the complexity of it. Anything from a simple fireball to summoning a real fire elemental is possible."

"With enough resources - which are either Worldly Energy, Aetheric Energy or Divine Energy - you can decide what kind of output the spell can have. A spell powered by Worldly Energy would easily overcome a spell powered by mana. Likewise, a spell powered by Aetheric Energy would be incomparable to the former two."

Richmond demonstrated this by expanding the spell by increasing the amount of Worldly Energy pulled into it drastically. Then he reduced the size to a tiny peanut.

"Control."

Richmond waved his hand and the fireball turned into a small pixie made of fire. It was a true elemental being, and it hovered around Richmond lovingly.

"Knowledge."

Richmond created another fireball in his hand and transformed it into another pixie. However, Draco saw - with the Eyes of Caelo - that he used Divine Energy for the task. Draco recognized this special sort of Divine Energy since it looked the same as what he saw in the Divine Chamber.

(Author's Note: The special room in the Church of Light where Divine Energy acc.u.mulates naturally. Draco first used the Eyes of Caelo to 'see' there.)

The second pixie didn't grow in size, but its eyes became brighter. It hovered around Richmond, then stood on his shoulder. What shocked Draco was that it also spoke.

"Being created as a demonstration, huh? What a way to come to life."

It spoke sarcastically and folded its arms, while the pixie created with Worldly Energy still flew around Richmond happily… and almost mindlessly.

"Resources."

Richmond de-summoned the pixies and crossed his arms behind his back. "We'll discuss a bit of theory before we delve into the practicals."

Richmond began to walk across the wide and clean courtyard, prompting Draco to follow him. They went to the fountain near Riveting Night's resting spot, and the madwoman watched them with interest.

"What do you think about objective and subjective magic so far?" Richmond asked while he stirred the water in the fountain gently.

"Objective magic boasts convenience and stability. One would not have to learn the theories behind the magic, but would be able to use it. One would not have to generate their own resources, but would have it generated automatically through the conversion of Worldly Energy to mana due to their Spirit stat."

"In essence, everything is streamlined for the user. They would only have to monitor their resource consumption as well as their timing."

"However, objective magic is extremely limited due to its inherent power. If it's supposed to be a meager fireball spell, it will be limited to being a meager fireball spell unless the user can acquire an external item to strengthen it, or grow in power."

"It is also very inflexible. It cannot be manipulated to attack or strike differently and more efficiently apart from what is stated. It can easily be countered once one learns its specifications."

"The resource it uses though, is easily replenished over time or through potions."

"Subjective magic boasts versatility and adaptability. One's attacks can become unique and unpredictable. One can create everything or anything they want in a heartbeat, with no cast time and no cooldown. One would easily be able to double cast with subjective magic."

"In essence, the magic can fit any circ.u.mstances and possess the exact specifications the user wants."

"However, subjective magic is problematic because of its intense requirements."

"One is required to have extremely good mental faculties to handle the control of the spell, to gather and retain knowledge pertaining to the functions of the spell and obtain resources to fuel to spell manually. Not to mention that one will have to recall it amid an intense battle making it much harder."

Draco stopped there and waited for Richmond's response. The old fart nodded with satisfaction and gazed at Draco with admiration. It was truly amazing how he was able to bring out so much after being fed so little.

However, Draco was a reincarnator who had learned a lot of the fundamentals of the game.

From the onset, he had understood that the field of magic was like the field of combat, in that the relationship between skills and techniques was the same as objective and subjective magic.

In fact, one could say objective and subjective magic were just different terms for skills and techniques. So, it would be easy for Draco to give a very clear distinction between them based on that alone, especially given what Richmond had shown so far.

"Which of the two do you think is more powerful? Objective magic or subjective magic?"

"Neither. Both have their pros and cons that balance each other out. At the end of the day, it depends on how well the magician in question can mix the two of them to achieve the best results."

Draco's answer pleased Richmond, as it drastically shortened the amount of time he thought he would have to 'tune' Draco's mind.

After all, some would definitely feel that subjective magic was better, while others would think that the objective was better.

Getting people to change these deep-rooted notions was not a simple task. It required time and effort. Draco already understanding this by default was a blessing to Richmond.

｢System to Player Announcement

The time frame for the 'Sword and Sorcery' Legendary Quest has been reduced to 45 days.｣

That meant that Richmond had originally dedicated a quarter of their time together just for reconditioning Draco's mind… crazy!

This was why most teachers or trainers loved talented pupils or apprentices. They significantly reduced the amount of time wasted on miscellaneous teaching, allowing them to delve into the core of the matter directly.

Richmond nodded and moved onto the next section. "Do you know about the Energy Rankings?"

Draco pondered for a bit. "Partially. I know that there is Origin Energy at number one, Divine Energy below that, Aetheric Energy is number three and the various energies of the elements and the world after that."

Richmond gestured to the area around them. "That is very general, but mostly true. There are many forms of energy in this world, and to rank them all would be tiresome."

"However, one must be cognizant of the top five at all times, because they are the foundation of this world."

"First, Origin Energy."

"Second, Divine Energy."

"Third, Creation Energy."

"Fourth, Destruction Energy."

"Fifth, Aetheric Energy."