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Chapter 234 - Master Rank Alchemist

As such, he would have to generate new potions that were also valuable enough for people to splurge Aether Crystals on. The difficulty of this went without saying, but Draco was hopeful.

While many others would waste precious Epic materials countless times for one success, he could cut costs by relying on his cauldron’s passive skill.

He had wasted the active skill though, and its cooldown was a whooping 21 days. So, if he failed now, he would have to restart.

Even if that was the case, Draco would rather not fail. While he might be able to get a new batch of materials with ease, Update 1 had introduced a concept all players would curse on a daily basis...

Durability.

It was something both combat and Tradeskill players had to watch out for, as their tools would receive damage from failures, whether it be through battle or cauldron explosion etc.

The issue was that until he entered the Master Rank of Blacksmithing, he would be unable to repair the cauldron. An alternative would be to use the Basic Equipment Maintenance Device from Magical Engineering, but its Rank was too low.

It would certainly restore some durability, but that would be in the single-digit range. On a cauldron that had 500,000 durability, this was a pitiful amount that wouldn’t change much.

However, Draco knew he would have to risk it all.

Why? Because he had shot up from level 50, 65% in the Tradeskill to level 52, 30%! This was a jump of about two levels, which was unheard of in his Rank.

It might be due to the fact that he had created a new recipe, but that alone could not be it. After all, he had done this many times with Blacksmithing, but it hadn’t yielded so much in terms of experience, even with the ’Eternal Growth’ items.

Draco, as a reincarnator, was easily able to deduce the reason. It was something he knew and always mentioned, but never truly respected, which was the ratio of difficulty to success.

When using Worldly Energy, he would naturally be able to succeed on potions above his Rank due to his ingenuous use. However, this followed the same logic as using Control or his State of being for the Cause and Effect Theory of Subjective Magic.

It was an external means, an intermediary or middle-man to put it better, in the facilitation of the process. It was different from succeeding in an Epic potion relying on the traditional means of fire and technique.

However, the use of Worldly Energy was not a bad thing. Not only did it increase success rates, but at the former Tradeskill Ranks Draco was at, it would have been impossible to succeed without it.

He was currently in the Expert Rank (level 41-60), which equated Rare potions. If he was in the Elite Rank (level 21-40) which equated Uncommon potions, what he had just tried would have ended up a failure ten times out of ten, regardless of however many times he used Return on Failure.

So, in essence, using it at the earlier stages had been the correct decision. It had allowed him to quickly jump higher and gain amazing rewards for his Rank back then, which helped him lay a great foundation overall.

It could even still be used now, only that the experience yield would be lower. However, if Draco imposed more difficulties by trying to make High-tier Epic potions - bordering on Legendary - relying solely on his traditional skill, his yield would be almost triple.

So, to simplify, he had two choices. The first was to continue crafting using Worldly Energy as a buffer, greatly increasing his success rate - meaning he would have more potions to sell at the auction - while the second would be to forgo Worldly Energy and rely on himself - meaning he would work like any other Alchemist, but in exchange pave his way back to the Master Rank in record time.

Draco silently pondered before going with option 2. This wasn’t because he felt option 1 was bad, but because logic stated that option 2 was smarter.

Option 1 guaranteed more potions to sell for Aether Crystals, but after just thinking about how the human race didn’t have enough good stuff to sell in exchange for his products, why should he do something like this?

Even if he could put them aside for races that would kill to buy them - like the monster races - that was still a matter of the future. Right now, his immediate goal was to complete the auction then rush to Rank 2.

After that, he would partake in the Refinement God’s Treasury and then deal with the matter surrounding his growth items.

(Author’s Note: I know the original plan stated that he would level up the items after the auction BEFORE reaching Rank 2, but as mathematics teachers always say, we are way behind schedule. The Training Arc took far longer than I expected because I wanted it done once and for all, and we have yet to move on. So, some events will be reshuffled to reflect this.)

Option 2 guaranteed more Tradeskill experience, which was what he needed most. Besides, he could only effectively abuse the large Tradeskill experience while he was crafting things above his supposed rank. Once he reached the Master Rank he wouldn’t get any bonus experience, yet his time penalty would be removed and everything would depend on his crafting skill.

With Worldly Energy, his level 5 Refined Star Technique and the amazing Pair Dadeni cauldron, he reckoned that his craft time per potion could be reduced to 3 minutes per attempt instead of the current 10 minutes.

Not only that, but putting more emphasis on his Refined Star technique would push it for another breakthrough. Draco assumed that there were 10 levels in the Technique, so he should have enough of a foundation to reach level 7 currently.

That was why it had taken a final little push to send him from the pinnacle of level 4 to level 5. As for the intricacies of his techniques and how he formed them...

To be honest, Draco wasn’t too sure. He had always had this talent since he began playing Boundless, which was fighting in a life-and-death environment.

It became even more rampant when he unlocked Control. Most of the time, he didn’t even consciously create techniques, his mind would just begin generating them when he tried his hands with something new.

This had nothing to do with his bloodline as it had been tightly sealed at the time, so its release hadn’t strengthened it. It functioned at the same capacity and power as always, meaning that this was something intrinsic to Draco.

He had theorized that it might be something like how Jada had legitimate Clairvoyance in the real world, while Jade’s mind seemed to work like a computer, allowing her to manage electronics with such precision.

As for Sanji, his was just a case of years of practice make perfect, whereas Jade’s was pure talent. It was possible that there was some secret behind it, but Draco had no way of knowing just yet.

As such, he filtered this batch of reagents using the Semi-Epic Alchemy Set Hikari had coalesced for him a while back, which took no time since they were Common materials.

He easily mixed them into a relatively perfect blend before tossing the paste into the cauldron with some water made from Subjective Magic. Draco had used his Control to handle the resource provision, and the water was magically enhanced.

This naturally meant that he had provided a hefty amount of resource to facilitate this, but it wasn’t much of a struggle when he was using Control as a buffer. If he used his State of Being, he could even yawn while doing so.

Draco began the concoction process after preparing all of this. The materials were upgraded to their Epic variant, which drained a good amount of Worldly Energy but at least, this time it didn’t leave it barren.

After all, while the Phoenix race was number 4 on the State of Being Rankings, the disparity between them and the number 3 Dragon race was immense. This was not to say that the Phoenix race were inferior.

In actual fact, with the Gods having receded, the Ultima Sunt had been hunted to extinction and the only actual Dragons alive were only their offspring with various amounts of their bloodline remaining, so pure-blooded Phoenixes could bully those overgrown lizards. That was nothing to say of the large gap between them and the number 5 race.

Draco’s goal for this potion was to function as a hidden card. It was something that harnessed Phoenix Fire and could erupt with untold power when used.

Yes, this wasn’t a ’consumable’ potion, but an ’explosive’ one. It was meant to be tossed at the enemy and watch them being cooked into a sunday barbecue.

If you foolishly drank it, you would be the one frying until you were well done.

Since Draco was working with an extremely volatile potion, it was natural that he had to be extremely careful. If a normal cauldron explosion would result in a loss of 10,000 durability, this one could take away 50,000!

Frankly if an explosion was imminent, Draco would rather swallow the unstable mixture and blink away, letting it blow him to pieces from the inside out rather than damage Pair Dadeni.

After all, he could easily respawn 3 times a day with no losses incurred, but repairing Pair Dadeni’s would cost more than a little bit, not to mention the hassle of finding someone capable of doing that and paying for it.

Draco channeled all of his focus and his Refined Star Technique’s prowess while working on the mixture. Even though the Basic Dragon Transformation Potion was far less volatile, it was still harder to work with than this one.

He used his insights from the previous method to minimize the problems occurring here, and many reference points could be found. Of course, it wasn’t all peaches and roses as he encountered many hiccups.

What saved him was the - relatively - lower difficulty of this concoction compared to the previous one, as well as his powered up Refined Star Technique.

As such, Draco was able to complete process without failure, granting him a new recipe and all its ensuing rewards.

｢Congratulations on creating new weapon: Unnamed (Potion) (Epic)

Rewards:

100% Exp

100% Tradeskill Exp

2,000 gold

100 reputation with the Tradeskill Association｣

Of course, as was normal with this matter, the AI had reduced the reward to 10% of what one received the first time. When you first made a new thing in a certain Rank, you got a great reward.

However, making a new thing at that same Rank would net you 10% of the usual gains. Hence when he had made the Wands, the first one gave him 5,000% exp but the second one gave him 500%.

As this one was Epic, the first was 1,000% and any subsequent ones would be 100%. Draco had received 2,000% exp from the Semi-Legendary Dragon’s Blessing, but a new Semi-Legendary recipe would only give him 200%.

This was an annoying mechanic, but it was perfectly inclined with the saying ’half a loaf is better than none’. After all, the AI could have easily chosen to limit the reward on the very first creation and make the rest just traditional Tradeskill experience.

However, to encourage creativity while maintaining some balance, it had decided it was okay to give 10% of the usual amount at the Rank, which was good enough. After all, the prospect of balance had been calculated before it had encountered the bug-like anomaly known as Draco.

Draco inspected this one as well.

｢Unnamed – Consumable

Rank: Epic (100% effectiveness)

Effect: Explodes upon impact to release Low-Rank Fire Phoenix flames in an area of 1km, dealing 700% fire damage and granting a <Seared> status.｣

Seeing as how this one was actually quite strong with a good range, Draco decided to call it Basic Phoenix Fire Potion. The name might be a little trashy, but it was the best the fellow could come up with.

｢Sturgehaven Kingdom Regional Announcement

Player Draco has created the unique potionmaking recipe, ’Basic Phoenix Fire 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 Phoenix Fire 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 Phoenix Fire Potion’. Players can now purchase the design from player Draco and achieve a 10% extra success rate when brewing the potion.｣

Draco put the potion away and checked the time. It had only been an hour or so, and there was plenty of time left in the day. As such, he got to crafting new but unique potions with the rest of his time.

After making 3 more, two of which gave abilities related to Pandaren and another that copied his Seven Deadly Sins manipulation - which made it a poison - he had successfully hit Level 60, 15%.

Naturally, there was another announcement for this that was for both himself and the world at large.

｢Boundless System-wide Announcement

Player Draco has become the first player to become a Master Rank Alchemist! Player Draco is awarded the Master Craftsman Title! Strive to acquire this accolade as well! ｣

｢System to Player Announcement

You have reached Master Rank ahead of all other players, and have been awarded with a special title called the Master Craftsman. This is a passive title that is always active! Congratulations!｣

Draco smiled and check out his new title. This one was like the Mage God Title that was passive, always working behind the scenes.

｢Master Craftsman – Special Rank

Prices for all Alchemical reagents below Legendary Rank are reduced by 70%. Success rate in Alchemy is increased by 20%.｣

"Eh..." Draco muttered with a difficult expression.

This... wasn’t this useless to him? He had Pair Dadeni, so forget price reduction, he simply paid NOTHING to craft at all. As for the success boost, well...

He had 20% with the Fire of War, 15% with the Inventor Title, 10% from his just acquired Master Rank, 30% with the level 5 Refined Star Technique and - should he include it - 25% with his Worldly Energy manipulation.

That neatly tied everything up to 100%. Adding on another 20% was the equivalent of pouring a bucket of water into an already full basin. It would absolutely have no changes.

Draco sighed. It wasn’t a bad boon. The first player to reach the Master Rank in his past life must have fallen to his knees and kowtowed to the AI 100 times with tears in his eyes.

After all, who could claim to have one of the ten Great Mystic Flames? Who could claim to have done something so great they would earn the Inventor title?

Who back then could discover the Worldly Energy cheat that had taken Draco years of research, testing and practice to achieve, which he had abused in this life?

Most fellows at this Rank would have learned to be content with the traditional 10% along with maybe, an extra 5% due to their technique. Assuming they were great talents, they might also have gained the Pioneer title, which was a weaker version of the Inventor one.

Pioneer would provide them with an extra 5% success rate, so such a Master Rank player would have a 20% success rate in total without external help when entering the Master Rank fresh from the Expert one, blessing them with double the chances compared to their less talented counter parts.

The price reduction would be even more important. Without Pair Dadeni, Draco would have been sobbing with tears of happiness, but it meant nothing to him.

Pair Dadeni would soon be able to allow him to create Legendary reagents by transforming Common ones, so how could he be moved by this?

Draco let the matter go and put Pair Dadeni away. Now that he had successfully reached the Master Rank, he could come back to Alchemy later and sort it out then.

For now, it was more important to bring Blacksmithing up to par. It was lagging far behind Alchemy because it simply took too long to craft one item compared to concocting.

His Blacksmithing level had been left at level 43, 23% after he had made Jada and Jade’s wands, but it had climbed up to level 49, 10% after crafting the subsequent Semi-Legendary items for the Player Auction.

He would need to make a few more to reach level 60, but it was a lot more straightforward than Alchemy. The only problem was that while his success rate was pretty much 100%, the time was too long and the cost was high.

He could skimp on materials thanks to Mjolnir, but there was no dodging the use of Aether Crystals to fuel his Legendary Enchantments. It was 9 am in the morning at the moment, and Draco spent the rest of the day creating armor pieces.

He had largely focused on weapons due to his own preference, but he decided to focus on armor this time.

Since his crafting time penalty was 2 hours at the Expert Rank, he spent the next ten hours making 5 extra items. At 7pm in the evening, the Sun Goddess as well as the White Dragoness had returned.

They informed him of the state of Vita Capital City and advised him to head over there soon. Roma would be giving birth the day after tomorrow and he certainly had to be there for this momentous event.

After all, it would be his first child in the game, which was a new experience for him. Whether boy or girl, they would hold a special place in his heart as his first.

Draco washed up with Eva and Hikari, with the latter making many moves on him. If the gender roles were swapped, Hikari could even be described as s.e.x.u.a.lly harassing Draco.

However, Draco knew that the ’monster’ side of her was acting up, and her heat was re-activated. It was probably due to his ongoing Divine Quest which was to revive the Dragon race.

The only real way to do that was to spawn a LOT of children, hence Hikari’s current behavior. This wasn’t a quest mechanic, but a natural development.

The theory was that when a sentient species found itself on the very of extinction, its reproductive abilities would soar, especially for the crucial females.

Draco could only use a hypnosis spell to put her to sleep as he also joined her with a sigh. There would be time for that later, but he wasn’t ready for it just yet.