Chapter 197: 197
Draco noticed Richmond being more thoughtful than usual. He wondered what the old mage was thinking about, but didn't press the matter. He simply sat down before Richmond and began attempting the Spell Formation process again.
In two seconds, Draco was able to create a fireball and cast it out. This time, he wasn't nearly as exhausted as he had been yesterday after the resource gathering stage.
As such, he created another fireball and sent that one out right after the first. It was only then that he felt tapped out and had to take a moment to rest.
Richmond was surprised that Draco was able to improve so much in terms of willpower after just one night, yet the mage had seen the strange phenomenon yesternight.
He knew Draco was an Enchanting Grandmaster, so it was likely he had created some Legendary Enchantments. Working with such tough enchantments was a sure-fire way to increase his willpower, thus Richmond was pleased.
Richmond restored Draco once again, allowing him to send out the two fireballs one after the other. Both of them hit Richmond's water shield and exploded before dissipating.
Draco repeated this continually for over 4 hours. He felt like he was making a certain breakthrough in his understanding of the magic system of Boundless the more he cast through subjective magic.
His Spell Formation speed increased with every attempt, and eventually, he was able to create it in under a second! He also became able to fire out three fireballs, before being spent!
Suddenly, Draco paused and took some moments to ponder. He then partitioned his mind and summoned two Spheres next to each other. After putting them through the processes, Draco provided them both with resources and closed them off.
He then fired them out at the same time. The two fireballs hurtled at strange angles to attack Richmond. The old mage was caught off-guard by this sudden development, but he didn't even flinch.
His water shield enveloped the flames like they were choco balls, the fireballs disappearing into the ether.
Richmond stared at Draco with an expression that showed how impressed he was. The fellow was already double-casting using the trick Richmond had taught him.
Partitioning one's mind was the only way to pass the previous test, and doing so laid the foundation for double casting. Otherwise, why would Richmond make Draco hold both shapes for as long as he could?
Richmond just didn't expect that Draco would catch on so quickly. The fellow was certainly quite the catch as an apprentice. Not only was he already able to fire three spells back to back, he could even double cast in a matter of 3 seconds.
A wind blade and an ice lance were fired out at the same time. Draco found that he could easily control the direction of the wind blade, but the ice lance was harder to move.
It might be due to their shapes or their elements, but he wasn't sure yet. He could ask Richmond, but he preferred coming to his own conclusions after testing it out some more.
Draco spent the next 5 hours double-casting non-stop. He also made sure to mix up the variety of elements he used in his spells, from water to earth.
Draco even tried lightning and poison, but both required a lot more resources and providing those really pushed Draco to his limits. Since he was double-casting too, he easily failed.
As such, Draco went back to normal casting and worked with the rarer and more powerful elements. He sent out lightning bolts, poison sludges, and shadow tendrils.
These spells required 400% more Worldly Energy than their normal element compatriots, thus Draco felt like he was pushing his will to new limits. Casting simple spells with the normal elements had become easy enough for him now, and he could even double-cast them.
However, casting simple spells of the rare elements quickly tapped him out. He, therefore, spent the rest of his day working on them. Even though this was diverting from Richmond's plan, the old mage allowed Draco to follow his hunch.
Personally, Richmond continued to be surprised that the fellow could succeed, so why stop him? It would bring endless benefits if Draco could master the simple spells of the rarer elements.
As for the highest-grade elements like space, time, gravity and healing, Richmond had no confidence that Draco could master it so soon. He might be able to cast one or two spells before the training ended, but to cast it easily - or double-cast - would be stretching it.
By the time evening came, Draco was tired but overall pleased with the results. Not only had his willpower increased greatly, but he could now barely double-cast spells of the 'easier' rarer elements.
This was astounding progress, and Richmond was glad he had made Draco his herald. He watched Draco leave the courtyard and returned to his room with a thoughtful expression.
The Mage God even began suspecting that Draco might be some child of a God of Magic, or the incarnation of one, yet he had checked him thoroughly. There was not a hint of Divine Energy in the fellow, not to mention the fact that he was an Immortal Adventurer.
Given the future greatness Draco was guaranteed to achieve, it seemed as if the old man would have to shift about some of his plans.
............…
Draco returned to the Rank 7 Castle with a light smile on his face. He knew that his progress so far was great and that he would only get better as time went on.
Draco frowned when he realized that the maids were still missing. He had not encountered a single one of them on his way back. Stumped, he had used his Void of Perfection, but the only NPCs he found where the Tradeskill trainers, and he felt like that was a very bad thing.
Riveting Night and Hikari had noticed this long before, yet they were aware that something sinister was brewing in the dark. They had discussed it while Draco was fully focused on his training with Richmond, and had made their decision.
...more like Riveting Night had spoken and Hikari acquiesced. Both Hikari and Roma deferred to Riveting Night and took her as their leader for various reasons.
When they reached their bedroom, Riveting Night informed Draco that she had to perform some checks on her body, so she left the game after lying down on the bed.
Hikari sat down and thought for a bit. She didn't say anything, but when she saw Draco bring out his Semi-Epic Blacksmithing set, she understood that he planned to do some more work.
Draco took out an Uncommon ice ore called Frost Crystal. Verita had brought this to him early in the morning, and she had refused to comment as to why his maids were missing.
She had just given cryptic answers and fled. Draco had been too bored to read into her mind at the time, thinking it wasn't a big deal, and even now he wasn't too worried.
Draco smelted the ore and refined it, bringing it to Perfect grade with ease. Now that he was in the Expert Rank of Blacksmithing, Uncommon ores were mastered.
After the ore was smelted and refined to perfection, he only had to place it in the forge for a little while before placing the malleable ingot on the anvil.
Once he reached here, Draco raised Mjolnir over his head and brought it down without hesitation. When the hammer collided with the ingot, it transformed with the help of Worldly Energy.
Underneath the hammer, a new ingot was born.
「Frostwater Ingot – Material
Rank: Epic
Use: Blacksmithing」
The Frostwater ingot was a light-blue metal that gleamed with purity. It was almost at the level of a crystal, which made it a beautiful item. Such a metal would be the best for making ornaments.
Draco brought the hammer down on the ingot, and the backlash occurred. His hand froze into an ice sculpture, but that was it. Instead of consuming his whole arm, now it only swallowed up his entire palm up to his wrist.
Nevertheless, it still hurt like hell, but it couldn't be compared to before when his whole arm from palm to elbow would shatter, or had been burnt to a crisp. As such, Hikari's healing restored him and he was able to forge without screaming in pain.
He continued to shape the metal with the hammer, all the while relying on Hikari's healing to save time. Once again, a certain menu popped up before Draco.
「System to Player Announcement
Your Ice Resistance is increasing. The total increment will be tabulated after the tempering process is completed.」
Last time, he had gained over 5,000 Fire Resistance from forging in those hellish conditions. This was 1/3rd of the former Semi-Epic Dragorugio set that had been sold at the Divine Auction.
Today it was his Ice Resistance which was climbing, but Draco knew it would be a lot less. After all, the system upheld its golden rule. Unfortunately for Draco, this meant no pain, no gain.
Draco eventually completed the forging process by shaping the ingot into a spike with a halo. The spike was a bright blue color while the halo was a dark blue, surrounding it like they were Saturn and its rings.
(Author's Note: Like this, but smaller and more minimalistic https://i.imgur.com/PnK87cn.jpg)
Draco wiped the sweat off his brow and began working on the enchantments. Despite its strange aesthetic, this item was still classified as a wand.
The first set of runes were Enka, Bing, Reva Rowa, which was the 'Wand, Ice, Eternal Growth'.
The second set of runes were Enka, Bing, Reva Forto, which was 'Wand, Ice, Eternal Defense'.
The third set of runes were Enka, Bing, Iko Ture, which was 'Wand, Ice, Trap All'.
Draco nodded and began filling the enchantments with medium grade Aether Crystals. Again, it took just about 15 of them to fill it up, which resulted in Draco feeling his mind going blank.
He was certain that Aether Crystals had a use in Magical Engineering, so he had postponed activating the skill until he had more than enough.
He didn't want to end up in a similar situation where he could only covet the goods but have to go away because he was a broke loser, as had been the case in Shuro's shop.
After the enchantments were filled, Draco began the battle of merging. His willpower had been strengthened by his attempt yesternight and today's repeated training, so he was able to push this one onto the wand within 2 hours.
He was still tapped out at the end though, but he was no longer semi-conscious. This time he was able to witness the phenomenon that occurred over the whole of Cario City.
Everyone wrapped themselves tight due to the emerging cold and those in the poor district were able to experience what it was like to have an A/C for a few seconds before the phenomenon returned to the wand.
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