160 Aether Conversion

Hikari's tears fell onto Draco's pale face, their glistening color reflective of the emotional turmoil she was going through.  

She knew that Draco was an Immortal Adventurer who could respawn infinitely from death with very little harm done. After all, she had just witnessed this very fact just now.  

Yet, her heart was still torn by having to watch her own Dragobonded mate suffer so much. It didn't matter whether he was immortal or not, he should never have to endure such pain.  

Hikari was clueless as to why this had begun, but her mind told her there was only one reason as to why it had ended in such a manner.  

'My ignorance.' 

Her brothers and sisters had often teased their cute and beautiful youngest sister about this fact, but those playful remarks at that time now felt like whips lashing across her back.  

She was a White Dragon.  

Despite being sheltered and without being trained in how to use many of her skills, she hadn't been alone.  

She had spent most of her life with her family, especially with her mother, so she knew what it meant to be a White Dragon.  

She also knew exactly what a powerful White Dragon - like her mother - could do.  

Yet she had been wasting all this talent by lazing around while everyone around her had made something of themselves. 

The thing was, all of this technically wasn't Hikari's fault. The main party to blame would have to be her parents, who had grown so sure of the power of the 'everlasting Dragon Race' that they had put her training on hold. 

After all, Hikari's mother had many centuries left to live, she was far from old. At best, she was Maria's age in Dragon terms.  

So, her parents had wanted to let her enjoy her youth and feel unburdened by the darkness of reality. 

Hikari had sisters, so why were they trained and allowed to go out while she wasn't? 

It was simply because - as stated before - White Dragons had zero attack capability. It wasn't just that they had no offensive skills and techniques, but rather that they literally had no offensive power.  

It wouldn't even be wrong to claim that they had negative offensive powers. 

A swipe from Hikari in her Dragon form was more likely to heal or give buffs, rather than hurt someone.  

Since she couldn't easily defend herself, and she had not agreed for one of her siblings to permanently babysit her, since it would impede their growth, it was best to keep her somewhere safe until she was perfectly ready. 

However, no one could have predicted the rise of Sigurd and his obscene Dragonlance. Many of the God Rank Dragons had been slain and almost every Dragon under God Rank was either killed by him, or ganged up on by the lesser races in order to harvest their precious parts.  

She was then left in a small world with the explicit instruction not to go out no matter what. Just like how Draco could enter, she could've left at any time.  

But the naive Hikari had decided to wait, hoping that someone would come for her and release her from her self-imposed confines.  

She had spent most of the time sleeping, and many centuries had passed since then. It was so long that she had created one of the biggest Aether Mines on the continent all by herself.  

Then one day, Draco came in and swept her world away. Not only was he extremely attractive, like a handsome hero who came to save the princess, but he was a Black Dragon on top of everything else! 

Despite the strange relationship between Black and White Dragons - or perhaps, because of it - they were inevitably tied together. If a White Dragon was to choose a mate out of all the races, she would choose a Black Dragon without any hesitation.  

The same went for a Black Dragon. They might fool around with other races, but ultimately when it came time to settle down there was only one possible candidate on their minds.  

Otherwise, Draco wouldn't have accepted Hikari so quickly.  

Even when he first met Roma, it was she who had initiated everything. Draco had never made a move to accept her and even when she asserted that she wanted him to take her virginity, he had placed his own test first. 

However, within less than 30 seconds after meeting Hikari, he had performed an irreversible bond of Dragon marriage. He had known nothing about her history, her personality or how she thought.  

The same could be said about her in regards to Draco, yet she had agreed immediately. It was only after that they sat down and began to talk to each other.  

Did they regret any of this? No! 

It was destined to happen. A Black Dragon without a Dragobond meeting a White Dragon without a Dragobond was like putting the opposite end of two magnets the size of buildings next to each other. 

Even if you tried to place something in between, it wouldn't help.  

Apart from her parents, there was also someone else to blame for Hikari's situation... Draco.  

After claiming Hikari, the first thing he should've done was to take her around to level her up quickly so she could unlock her skills and techniques. 

However, he had been too busy dealing with other obligations that had accumulated before meeting her. He naturally planned rectify it, but that was after the Guild War and his own bloodline training.  

Draco, after having listened to Hikari's story, had foolishly made the same mistake as her parents. He had been allowing her immense talent and potential to go to waste by sitting around doing nothing.  

Now, he lay in her arms like a dead dog and she was unable to do anything about it. Instead of blaming others, which was what anyone who understood the situation would do, she blamed herself.  

Did this make her a noble a self-sacrificial soul? White Dragons were born 'good' so she naturally had these traits. 

However, the simple reason she blamed herself was due to her ignorance. And she was aware of it, but knowing one's fault did not automatically mean one knew what to do about it. 

One cannot simply wish 'I want to be street-smart' and then proceed to become the sharpest hustler on the block. 

Her tears, which fell onto Draco's face, did not fall off his skin. In fact, they rather seemed to drill into his body, but Hikari was too bereaved to notice any of this. 

She only gasped when she saw Draco's body glow with a gentle light in her arms, his murky and lifeless eyes regaining color slowly. 

Hikari was so happy and excited when she saw that Draco shook his head lightly, gazing up at her with affection. 

"You truly are a blessing to me."  

His voice was a bit hoarse, but it didn't dull the sweetness that emerged in Hikari's heart.  

Her blue eyes moistened as they gazed at Draco, and her intimate feelings for him strengthened exponentially.  

Hikari had no clue what true love was supposed to feel like. The young Dragoness only knew that she couldn't bear the idea of ever leaving Draco's side, not even if he would want her to.  

This event where she had been forced to watch him go through such a horrible experience had made it perfectly clear for her.  

Draco suddenly frowned though.  

'Shit, I foolishly forgot about our Dragobond's other effect.'  

"Hikari, your health…" 

｢Name: Hikari – Rank 1 Dragonling 

Level: 1 

HP: 987/100,000｣ 

She was way into the red, almost to the point of dying. Hikari had failed to notice this since she was more concerned with the ordeal Draco was going through, and this terrified him.  

Had the process lasted any longer than these endless 10 minutes, he would have woken up to a corpse of Hikari. She was an NPC, which meant her death was final.  

He may have the Dark Resurrection skill, which should be able to bring her back, however, there was no 100% guarantee for this. Despite its description, he would much rather never have to find out. 

Though her health was only 3 times higher than his, and he had died multiple times, Hikari was able to weather through all of it thanks to her insanely high defense.  

Even Earth or Metal Dragons could only kneel down before the absurd defense of a White Dragon.  

The Dark Knight also had 100,000 HP in his humanoid form, but he was level 23. Hikari was only level 1. If her level was matched with his, what would her health and defense be like? 

She barely felt any pain thanks to her defense, which also allowed her health to plummet without her cognition.  

This made Draco turn serious. He would have to spend the next two days before the Guild War training Hikari so her level was at least presentable.  

Aside from that, he would teach her a lot of important knowledge about the world. 

It was his duty as her Dragobonded mate and her Black Dragon, who was supposed to take care of her. 

Draco stood up slowly and brought Hikari to her feet. "Heal yourself." 

Hikari brought her health up to full in one cast, her eyes locked into Draco. Unlike before, she didn't bow her head or look away.  

It was as if all she wanted to do from now on was meet his gaze. Draco smiled gently and kissed Hikari lightly, an action she was initially confused by, but grew to enjoy.  

Just when she felt her body heat up and started to want to feel more of Draco, he broke the kiss and stepped back with a playful smirk. Hikari gazed at him with reluctance and longing.  

"The right time will come." 

Draco checked on the Aether Conversion Orb while Hikari reined in her desire. She was definitely ready now, but it seemed like Draco wasn't, which made her regretful that she had wasted her earlier chance.  

｢Name: Aether Conversion Orb 

Tier: ? 

Efficiency: 99% 

Storage: 81% 

Rate: 99000 WE ~ 87000 AE per hour｣ 

Draco was shocked. It seemed like the hellish ordeal he went through turned out to be quite effective in the end. He had almost perfected the Efficiency rating because of how much he was able to pull in by relying on the Void of Perfection.  

He wasn't really aware of anything during the conversion process though, due to the circumstances. His Aether Production passive skill must have taken over from there automatically. 

Draco was sure that with the quantity that was changed this time, the territory had expanded by a few miles. After all, when the storage reached 100%, the Aetheric Energy would be automatically discharged. 

Since Hikari had managed to fill it by 56% initially with a rate of 100 Worldly Energy to 5 Aetheric Energy per hour over 24 hours, Draco should've made a few rounds with this bout since he had a rate of 99000 Worldly Energy to 87000 Aetheric Energy and spent ten minutes.  

Draco noticed that there were a few new screens that had been hidden due to his status. He chose to open them and see what they were about.  

｢System to Player Announcement 

Your passive skill Aether Production, has evolved into Aether Conversion after going through intense stress during your usage of the Aether Conversion Orb.｣ 

｢Aether Conversion – Passive skill 

Effect: You can convert Worldly Energy to Aetheric Energy at a rate of 1 crystal per quarter-hour. Crystals vary in quality and are always above the low rank.｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Your Dragobonded mate has shed heartfelt tears on your behalf, creating the Divine item 'White Dragon's Tears'. This Divine item was ingested into your body and healed your  status.｣

Draco was stunned by the upgrade of his passive skill. The Aether Production passive skill had already been quite a cheat skill, but the Aether Conversion passive skill was just outright crazy. 

He would be getting four guaranteed Aether Crystals per hour, each of which had a minimum rank if medium. One should note that the reason the majority of his Aether Crystals before had been medium rank was because he was a super mini small world. 

While he had spent more than a whole day negotiating with the hidden powers and the Merchants, he had only gained slightly more than 24 low-grade Aether Crystals.  

Knowing he would get something better made him thrilled. His Aether Crystal deficit was going to come to a definitive end! 

However, his happiness disappeared and was replaced by endless fear when he read the last status screen for two reasons.  

The first was that he had almost become a vegetable. Potions like the Angel's Kiss or Hikari's other healing techniques could fix them under normal circumstances. An tag meant that it was incurable without divine intervention.

These kinds of statuses would be fixed to the player character, which meant getting killed would not be a solution to such a problem.  

Same with the Legendary Tome of Healing.  

If one was unlucky enough to catch something like that, one would need to visit the Church of Light and hope there was a way out, or else... new character creation.  

This was also why Draco was prohibited from using Omega on players by the system. It simply couldn't tell what effect this Destruction Energy would have on the feedback loop between the game world and the players' brains. 

The second reason Draco's happiness had died way was when he realized his dog body had absorbed Divine materials like a goat chewing grass! 

Ahh, what he could've done with those Dragon Tears! He could've made a potion that would make the Dragon's Blessing look like vomit! 

Draco's eyes turned to Hikari and she couldn't help but feel worried.  

"D-Draco… is everything okay…?" 

Draco reined in his greed and calmed down. It wasn't like he could ask Hikari to cry from the bottom of her heart, neither was he interested in fabricating a scenario where she would do just that.  

"Let's go. We have to bring up your level before the upcoming battle, so that you can wield the power you were destined to have," Draco beckoned to Hikari as he began to leave the anomaly realm. 

Hikari was surprised at first, but became incomparably excited.  

"Yes!" 

She followed after Draco with a little flap of her exposed wings, a happy smile on her face.  

.........… 

Three women arrived in Vita Capital City with Sublime Notion in the lead. Even though there were few people in the City State at the moment, all eyes were locked onto these three girls, especially those of the builders and other people here to either inspect the lots or start work.  

This included some princes, princesses and notable descendants of various hidden powers.  

They marveled at the short Sublime Notion who was very cute, with a dangerous smirk that promised instant depression.  

Her bombastic chest was extremely amazing given her size and jiggled tantalizingly with every step she took.  

However, the emblem on her made it perfectly clear that she was someone to be treated with the utmost respect. 

Behind her were the two most beautiful caramel skinned beauties they had ever seen.  

The one on the left was about as tall as Draco with toned muscles. She wore a cotton sports bra and shorts that were similar to what Myrine and Diana wore on a normal day.  

Her hair was short and curly, her eyes a light shade of brown, her lips slightly thick and crimson red. Her chest was just as big as Sublime's, but even perkier. Her waist was thin and her hips were wide.  

Her butt was so thick and full that one's hand wasn't enough to grasp all of it. Her thighs where thick and taut, and one couldn't help but feel intense lust at the sight of her.  

This woman wore a slight smirk on her face, as if the torrent of lustful desire heading her way was to be expected and to be treated by her as a plaything.  

Beside her was another caramel-skinned beauty that was less lewd and more endearing. Her hair was long and silky, being tied into a long ponytail with a metallic band.  

It was also white in color and was extremely plentiful.  

Her eyes were limpid pools of purple and her eyelashes were much more pronounced than the average girl.  

Her face was round and extremely sweet, mixing with her mature outlook and body to create a beautiful sight that would make any fellow's heart thump. 

Her lips weren't thin, but were slightly thick as well as a deep red, and one couldn't take their eyes off them, gulping as they imagined what they would taste like.  

Her neck was thin and her torso was short.  

She had a respectable C-cup chest that looked almost like a D-cup from the way it stood up so firmly. She wore only a blended, semi-transparent, cotton bra pad that covered her nipples and areola, but left the rest free. 

Her stomach wasn't just flat but contained the outline for a six-pack, which made her look fit and healthy. Her waist was narrow as well, making her seem thin.  

However, her hips just burst out from there, as if her sides had been filled with helium. She wasn't as thick as the beauty beside her, but her backside was also marvelous. It was more upturned and protruding compared to the fullness of her companion.   

She wore black harem pants that began at her thighs and went down to her feet. Over her crotch area was a pair of snow-white, thick panties that highlighted the forbidden land. 

She also had a bright green gem in the center of her chest, which was a sign of her Ultima Sunt affiliation.  

There were naturally Zaine and Roma.  

Zaine's eyes sharpened when she glimpsed at Draco's new City State. She had not seen him for a few weeks and he already had progressed this far… 

Truly, he was the man who could subdue her. Zaine couldn't help but lick her lips when she thought about him.  

She had already spoken to Roma and the two had become fast friends. Roma had already revealed that Draco had recovered the ability to impregnate others, so Zaine was looking forward to round 2.  

Putting aside her mission from her father, Zaine herself was eager to bear children with Draco, as such children would be the epitome of talent, beauty, and power.  

Zaine herself had no nefarious goals. Her main goal was to fuck Draco senseless till she became his number 1 concubine, so she could continue to feast on his amazing semen.  

However, Zaine was about to receive the shock of her life. The Draco she had given her true virginity as a succubus to, was a vastly different fellow to the current Draco.  

Putting aside his rebuilt body, his bloodline concentration and release meant that Draco was even more of a devilkin than Mephisto himself.  

This beautiful and ambitious succubus was in for a rough wake-up call if she thought she could manage to seduce Draco till he lost his reason. 

It was more likely that the same would be done to her instead…