Draco's breathing stilled at this point. An event… to kill a Dragon? Not even a low rank one, but a Supreme-Ranked Dragon?
Was the AI trying to play a joke? Even if the Supreme Ranked Dragon was of the same Rank as players, it was something that surpassed the level of a World Boss.
Qiong Qi was a Lion, and he was able to reach Rank 7 and become a World Boss tier monster. Imagine how powerful the species that was ranked third in the State of Being Rankings would be.
Ultima Sunt were number 2 and Gods were number 1. As the number 3 species, Dragons were unbeatable within their Rank and could fight above their Rank a little.
Just like Draco.
So to expect the playerbase of Cario Continent to be able to fight off this entity was simply ludicrous. Many people had just barely entered into Rank 1, with some still at Rank 0.
Participating in this event would be giving up their levels for free in order to restart the game without losing their accounts.
The only people who could fight it were…
"Us. We are the only ones who could fight such a powerful being that is within our Rank. Even with all our acc.u.mulations so far, we would still need to make some preparations and plans in order to achieve a 100% chance of success."
Draco mused this thoughtfully.
"But we can. Even if we have to make preparations, we definitely can. Even more so now that you're here with your bloodline unlocked. Draco, the things I can do with my bloodline are not something I display a lot because it would invoke fear in the common man."
Eva's voice was a bit disgruntled here.
"Because of the foolish conflict between our lineages, their rate of breeding was not able to match the rate of killing. Our numbers greatly dwindled during that period and many powerful heirs were killed. The quality and quantity diminished overall, and our Progenitors had long left the world, leaving us with no source for the bloodline except ourselves."
"Even now, we simply cannot afford war. That was why the Pangu Alliance only made aggressive threats but did not initiate conflict. One we start a war, it would be the equivalent to the countries of the world starting a nuclear war against each other. There would be no winner."
"The normal humans now outnumber us greatly, so we had to go into hiding and become myths to them. We managed to take over the developing countries that emerged near our locales, affording us some power in the shadows."
Eva paused here before caressing Draco's chin lightly with a somber tone.
"However, no Lineage was based in the country of America and no one had ties with them. They were left on their own, a country of free principles that developed rapidly and finally showed their hand during the Second World War, with the first nuclear bomb."
"Forget the common lineage members, even us two who are so close to our Progenitors would be vaporized by these weapons. Even those superhumans in various media would die, despite what their creators think. Science is the law of the world, and atomic bombs work along those theories to destroy at the most fundamental level."
"As such… we've become like turtles in their shell, unable to even show our faces. We have to hide our power and prowess from the public eye because we fear their response. They would strike us down using righteous reasons that they would bullshit up, which is normal in their history."
Eva spoke bitterly here about how she felt and Draco understood that his soul mate never truly regarded herself as a 'human' in the way other humans did.
In a way, Draco hadn't also come to terms with the fact. Even if he superficially knew that he was something more, he still classified himself as a human.
Eva didn't look down on normal humans, she just didn't feel like she was one of them.
"Interesting. Thank you for telling me this Eva, I will strive to find my place among our kind, as well as a place for you, me and our child among theirs."
Draco swore this solemnly, making it one of his main goals. He had mostly wanted power so that he could live as he wanted, but that was for himself. He had wanted some form of revenge on Local Lord after finding out the truth from Eva, but that was for the two of them. He wanted a child with Eva, but that was also for the two of them.
Now, Draco wanted to carve out a spot in the world where he, his soulmate and his children could live in peace, free from oppression and artificial difficulties.
Eva also had a goal but hers was more simple. Her goal was to help Draco realize his own goals. Every other want or ambition she had bled into that one main goal in some way.
"I'll leave the guild to you then. I have to go and pack so that I can meet with you. It'll be easy to escape my family with all the skills I acc.u.mulated in our old life, something my non-reincarnated self could never manage."
Eva said this as she began the log-out procedure. She knew that of she continued to talk, she would end up hanging around Draco to the point where she'd be unable to let go.
Right now, she would only need slightly more than a day to get out from Japan. The flight time was 17 hours and she would have to spent the rest of the time withdrawing money, packing belongings, sneaking out of her ancestral home as well as acquire a ticket to the Central Country.
Every second was important, since taking from Draco's example, spending a day outside the game would be about half a week in the game. A lot could happen in that time and she didn't want to be away for too long.
She would be able to come online during her flight though, so there was that.
Draco watched his beautiful soulmate turn into pixels with a satisfied smile. He looked to the ceiling of her room with eyes that were filled with contentment.
Reincarnation was a horror story for some people, as they met with dangers and new scenarios that put them into utmost peril.
For others, it was just plain fun because they'd end up in worlds where they were the 'chosen one' and a harem of beautiful women of various personalities would magically fall in love with them.
For Draco, it had mostly been pleasant. In fact, the key characteristic of his reincarnation was not the aspect of fixing his mistakes, but of a chance to live the life he was supposed to, but was denied from birth, whether it was his bloodline or his destiny with Eva.
If he had achieved this in his past life, he wouldn't treasure it as much as he did in this life. That was the lesson life taught us through different means, varying from person to person.
Draco stood up and picked Rila into his arms. The sweet little girl had slept through the whole thing. Now that her Origin Energy was gone, she was exactly like a normal child.
Draco cradled her carefully and made sure she was comfortable, before blinking to his own room. There he saw Qiong Qi and Roma together, marveling at the modern technology within.
Since they were both technically his property, they were allowed to enter this zone that was barred to NPCs.
"Do you guys like what you see?" Draco asked with a slight smile.
"It's amazing! So many contraptions and styles that are totally unique. It's amazing!"
Roma exclaimed this with utter wonderment and excitement. Her melancholy had been pushed to the back of her mind due to her shock, which was a good thing for now.
As a lover of the arts and crafts, as well as a philosopher of sorts, Roma was taken by the aesthetics of modern architectural and interior design. It wasn't debatable, modern styling was thousands of times better than what existed during the medieval era.
Draco laughed. "Enjoy yourself, this is the Guild Hall of my guild. What's mine is yours, Roma. Explore all you want and no one will dare to stop you."
Roma was touched by this and bowed to Draco lightly, an action which he didn't like, but didn't want to argue over. "Thank you, Draco!"
Draco smiled and turned to Qiong Qi. "What about you?"
Qiong Qi ignored Draco, rather opting to pick his nose.
"Whew, why do I hear the sounds of a traitor in the area? My ears should be immune to such - AOWW!!"
Draco directly whacked Qiong Qi on the head with all his strength, sending the fellow's big head smashing against the floor.
Qiong grabbed his red forehead and screamed like a little baby while rolling around, but Draco was non-plussed.
The contract with Qiong Qi put him in the same condition as Rila. He had the defense and health of a Rank 7 entity, but his attack power and offensive abilities were reduced to Draco's level.
As such, Draco's attack did nothing more than -1 damage, but Qiong Qi could feel the pain associated with the attack due to his reduced Rank.
This pampered and shameless Lion had never even been hit by his own father, how could he tolerate such pain?
"F.U.C.K!! DRACO, FIGHT ME TO THE DEATH!!"
Qiong Qi felt anger rise in him as he swiped at Draco with his most vicious attack.
However, he stopped midway.
"Ah! Please let me put the little one in a safe place."
Qiong Qi took Rila and placed her on a nice bed in Draco's super mini small world room with a gentle smile.
"ROAR!!"
With a bellow, he became feral again and swiped at Draco with malicious intent.
Draco couldn't help but smile as he allowed the hit to connect with him.
BANG!
Qiong Qi smiled viciously. That thwack felt so good and refreshing that he felt like he was being licked all over by lionesses that were purring with pleasure.
However, his face changed when he saw the damage indicator.
-100!
What a joke!
Qiong Qi did not understand what it meant to have his attack power nerfed, but he was hit by it in the face just now. He would need more than a few attacks to lay waste to Draco, since the fellow's HP was almost over 25,000.
Qiong Qi lowered his paw from Draco's chest slowly, his head sinking lower and lower as he lost energy. The depression and defeat weighed on his ego and superiority complex like a ten ton boulder, making him feel stifled.
Draco too, did not help by patting Qiong Qi on the shoulder gently with a caring expression.
"Don't worry Brother Qiong. I'll make sure to lower my defense rating in the future so that you can actually do damage to me."
…
BLERGH!
Qiong Qi spat out a thick mouthful of blood as his eyes rolled into the back of his head, leaving Draco amused to no end.
Draco left the Lion behind as he blinked to the Assembly Room. There, he saw the members of Umbra who had been waiting around patiently, not even daring to fart in displeasure.
Draco once again felt the magnificence of Eva's ability to lead a guild. She had used about what, - a week? - to turn these arrogant and talented individuals into loyal members of the guild who were well disciplined.
What was even more amazing was that they were all gamers, the most impatient fellows who would skip through boring stuff to get to the fun quickly!
Draco appeared on the stage to everyone's surprise, though they calmed down almost immediately. After seeing their fabled Guildmaster in the flesh, they had reconciled their assumptions and the legends with reality.
Just from his aura, composure and demeanor, they could tell he was extraordinary. How extraordinary was the question, and Draco planned to show it to them.
Before that, he spoke to them levelly.
"I know Eva has already drilled you on what it means to be part of Umbra. It is a guild I created to allow me to gather talents like you and climb to the peak! We will become the greatest force in this world, one that does whatever it wants!"
"You should first understand one thing. Eva has put in a lot of time and effort into managing Umbra while I was away, so she will be taking a short break. She might be back to join us for the battle against the Dragon, but might not be able to stick around till the end, depending on how it pans out."
Draco paused here and let his words sink in. This was the first time their Guildmaster was speaking and they were listening raptly for any clues on his personality and train of thought.
The members of Umbra weren't brainless stand-ins, they were geniuses of gaming with their own personalities, goals and beliefs. They wanted to get a handle on their mostly absent Guildmaster and see who they should accord more importance to, him or Riveting Night.
Draco had a bit of difficulty seeing their train of thought like this. It wasn't due to a weakness on the part of the Divine Eyes, but due to the limitations of the Virtua Helmet.
It delivered signals to the mind and took the responses/commands from the brain away to implement in the game character. Trying to perfectly emulate the exact thoughts of the players was hard to do, and there was no way the World Council would tolerate such a thing.
They could reluctantly accept other negative aspects of the game due to its sheer value and profit potential (but mostly how hard it was track or attack GloryGore), however it would be impossible to let it slide that the game could read the minds of people.
The thing was, the game could do that anyway. The Dragon Soul had done so to Draco when he had first acquired it, but the key point was that the player would feel pain. Once they felt pain, they would be alerted to the truth.
It happened to Draco because he got a Legendary item with divine origins. Soul mergers were usually limited to Divine items only, like the Eyes of Caelo.
So far, the members of Umbra had been able to glean a few things from their leader. He was extremely caring towards the Vice Guildmaster since most of his speech concerned her, and he was extremely confident. He could stare them all in the eye without looking away.
This made them respect him more, whether male or female.
"My name is Draco, but you should already know that. I am not going to change anything Eva did while I was away, because she is a born leader. You have all probably recognized that." Draco continued charismatically.
The members of Umbra found themselves nodding in agreement. The Vice Guildmaster… no, the Lady Boss… was far too good. They had learned a lot from her and had been impressed by her prowess as well as her maturity.
"What I specialize in is battle and crafting. That too, you must be aware of."
The members of Umbra nodded again. Draco's announcements had been of exemplary achievements in combat and crafting. It was one of the main reasons why they all flocked here, because he was at the helm.
Discovering the Lady Boss was like digging for coal and finding gold. She was a pleasant surprise.
"As such, I will make you all the best fighters and crafters respectively. You are now my people, bound to Umbra's fate with me. God knows that I'll either turn the lot of you into lesser gods of your respective fields, or die trying."
Draco words were forceful, but it impacted the members of Umbra heavily.
Why did people join guilds in games? Was it to meet new gamers? Was it to access better loot? Was it to utilize the manpower of their guild?
All of these were factors of it.
Deep down, every gamer joined a guild because they wanted guidance from their peers. They were either new to the game or old dogs who were tired of playing solo. Being with fellow players was definitely a large reason but it was the guidance aspect that was most important.
A lot of people didn't mind making their guilds a better place, as long as the guild members, as well as the leaders, made them feel welcomed and strived to help them.
Draco's promise directly told them that he prioritized their growth over their utility. They weren't tools to him that would farm equipment, reputation, loot or gold, but people he wanted to ride with him through the tumultuous waves of climbing to the top.
Just this one introductory speech won their hearts over to him, making him seem a lot more pleasant in their eyes.
This was a thing most people didn't understand about others. If you treat people with respect and honesty, there was a 75% chance they would treat you the same way, depending on their character.
"As such, I have a few tasks I'll send out. I don't know if Eva has put up some Guild Quests, but the Adventurer's Guild aren't the only ones who can commission you all. I, and the Vice Guildmasters can give you quests too."
"I will be frank with you all, I have discovered some locations and areas that will reward you more than others for your level. I will issue quests to do things in those areas and provide you rewards, but use that time to search through those areas well and conquer them. The gain would be tremendous for each of you individually."
Draco stopped here and smiled at everyone.
"What do you all think?"
The members of Umbra shared a look before the expressed their truest feelings at this moment.
"ALL HAIL THE GUILD LEADER!"
