332 The Altar of Crafting 1

Draco woke up with a smile on his face. After rising from his luxurious bed in the Evergreen Manor, he proceeded to walk towards the bath. 

Upon entry, he noticed that the water had already been drawn by Ophie, who was nervously waiting for Draco to enter. The reason the halfling was nervous was two-fold. 

Firstly, she wasn't a trained maid like Doris, but merely one of the village belles who had been placed here by Vishad. She had no sexual experience whatsoever and was unsure as to whether she could live up to Vishad's expectations. 

Secondly, everyone in the Evergreen Manor had learned of the outcome of Doris' tryst. The poor human maid had been laid waste to, and the doctors stated that she would be bedridden for a week or two. 

Ironically, despite her condition, Doris had an extremely satisfied expression ever since, as if that price was an acceptable trade for what she had experienced. When Ophie had tried to gossip with her about what it was like, Doris had simply chuckled and advised Ophie to draw his bath today. 

The only reason Ophie had listened to the woman was due to her naivety. It was a well-known fact that naivety birthed ignorance, which in turn birthed curiosity. As such, without even considering the consequences, she had willingly walked into the lion's den. 

As for the bird-woman Natasha, she was much smarter. The moment she had seen Doris' state, she had fled to her room and barricaded the door. She had adopted the mentality of 'if I pretend it's not there, the problem will go away'. 

Draco saw Ophie's nervous appearance and a trace of cruelty flashed in his eyes. However, he naturally suppressed this as he had different plans for this halfling and the birdwoman. 

Draco frowned though. Ever since the activation of his Horned Demon Inheritance, his emotions had become rampant. As seen many times, his greed could spike to unreasonable levels at any moment and the same was true for other emotions, like in this instance, lust. 

However, unlike the old Draco who was at least somewhat gentlemanly and courteous during sex, like he had been with the Dryads, the Wood Elves, or the Human Concubines, he had started copulating just like a Horned Demon… very rough, bestial and brutal. 

Some women may like this kind of thing - like Doris - but not everyone would. To some, it might be a serious turn-on, yet to others, it would be a traumatic experience. Draco could tell that Ophie definitely belonged in the latter category. 

As such, he receded his armor into his body and stood there in the nude for a few seconds, allowing Ophie to glimpse at the goods. Naturally, the halfling took a good and deep look, feeling her body react to the sight. 

However, when she saw the rod of power in its dormant state, she began to panic. Even for normal women, it was a very good size that would stretch them out sufficiently. 

In Western Fantasy media, the Halfling race was pretty common. They were known as the 'pretty' or 'cute' versions of dwarves. Many halflings could even be mistaken for early teens or children. 

Even if Ophie was extremely well-endowed and certainly did not have the assets a child should, her height still rubbed Draco the wrong way. He just wasn't into her type, to be frank, and he normally wouldn't have paid her any heed, but… 

The Horned Demon Inheritance was too unruly. It eagerly eyed any empty womb as a tank to fill with its evil seed, spawning more of the demon race through (un)willing targets. 

However, for this bout, Draco decided to resist those urges and let the halfling go. He would handle her at a later date, when the desire would be strong enough for his inhibitions to be suppressed. 

As such, he entered the bath and soaked freely. He made Ophie wash him thoroughly, and much in the same manner as Doris had done. The halfling's face was red the whole time and her breathing had turned rough. 

Draco did not need the Eyes of Caelo or his bloodline to notice that she had gotten extremely aroused. Her slightly hazy eyes and tightly clamped legs were enough to even enlighten the biggest dunce. 

It was a kind of torture for her to go through this without being granted relief, forced to suffer a woman's equivalent of blue balls. Draco enjoyed every second of her suffering as if it was fine wine thanks to his Dark Angel Inheritance. 

After finishing his bath, Ophie didn't even stay around to wipe Draco down. Hastily muttering an apology, she quickly ran out and bolted towards her room. 

Draco chuckled lightly. It was clear to him that the halfling had never touched herself prior to this day, but that record would likely be broken after receiving such intense stimulus with no outlet. 

Putting this escapade out of his mind, Draco re-equipped his armor. He then called for Hoover the astute butler, asking the goatman to lead him to the Altar of Crafting. 

"With all haste, Sir. Please follow me." Hoover replied professionally, quickly walking out of the manor with Draco in tow. 

Draco himself was quite excited as he passed through the picturesque pathway. The Altar of Crafting was a pretty apt name for it, given the kind of functions it had. 

If this existed in the outside world, every single Tradeskill Master in the world would make pilgrimages to kowtow 100 times to it in awe and reverence. 

Heh, if this actually existed outside, it would be the start of a war so horrendous that even the demons would cancel the millennial Great War due to shock and fear. 

They would probably ask themselves 'damn, those retarded humans are FIERCE! Was bullying them really a good idea?'. 

Draco and Hoover re-entered the populated areas of Evergreen Village. Since the Altar of Crafting was located in the village's church, they headed over to that location. 

Interestingly, it was in the same sector as the Evergreen Manor, requiring Draco and Hoover to cross only 3 blocks to get there from the pathway to the manor. 

The church itself wasn't fancy. It was a typical medieval fare, polished stone walls, and the size of a moderate house. More than a church, it was like a chapel. 

Inside were rows of polished wooden pews as well as kaleidoscopic glass behind the altar. As for the altar itself, it possessed the motif of a wisp-like entity that was carved into the effigy. 

When Draco walked up to it, he noticed that it looked less like a wisp and more like a strange ball of energy that was carved into the form of stone. 

A screen appeared before Draco as he inspected the effigy. 

｢System to Player Announcement 

You are in the presence of the Altar of Crafting. Would you like to activate its interface? 

Y/N ｣ 

Draco naturally selected yes. After doing so, another menu appeared before him, this one slightly similar in design to what he had seen when he had tried to Rank up in the Training Hall. 

Just like at that moment, he was presented with two options. The first was to expand Tradeskill slots and the second was to remove learned Tradeskills. 

Draco decided to investigate the first option, and so he opened the menu for that. He had to wait for the system to assess his current Tradeskills. 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Analyzing player Tradeskill slots… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Tradeskills: 9 

Used Slots: 9 

Free Slots: 1 

Upgradeable Slots: 20｣ 

Draco was stunned by this. He naturally knew that he had only 10 slots in default, as - after all - no one needed more than this in reality. Only a reincarnated freak like him could juggle so many Tradeskills like they were tennis balls. 

However, he thought that the altar would only give about 5-10 extra slots. However, he had underestimated it too much, as it added on a whole 20 extra slots! 

While it sounded like just 10 more, one should know that each extra slot was an exponential addition. Well, that was natural when dealing with a limited resource, as even the slightest bit more was a windfall. 

Draco quickly chose to expand his Tradeskill slots by one point in order to assess the cost. What came back made his face go black as he realized that he had underestimated this evil AI. 

｢System to Player Announcement 

You will add one more available Tradeskill slot to your list. The first addition costs 20 top-grade Aether Crystals or 100,000 platinum. Would you like to do so? 

Y/N ｣ 

Draco looked left and right, making sure that the church was empty before swearing loudly. His expletives were combinations he had learned from Jada, so even deities and devils would go purple with their ears bleeding after hearing them. 

Draco truly wanted to break things by going on a rampage. This was definitely targeted abuse! 

After all, he had no money on him at the moment. He had given it all to Eva before he left in case she needed to add it to the funds required for her own Divine Class Up. 

After all, he was entering this Unique Quest to loot this treasury and make money. Since when did one need money to loot someone else's money?! 

Truly, he hadn't needed it up till now because all the things he took were rich resources that were priceless in the outside world. Not to mention that this was largely a Tradeskill quest, so he should have only had to focus on crafting. 

He even had the foresight to fill his inventory as well as some Bags of Holding with raw materials for his various Tradeskills as preparation, so that he would never get caught in a tight spot. 

Yet how could he have known that something like this altar would exist back then? 

20 top-grade Crystals were enough for the Church of Light and War Maniac Pavilion to fall out with Draco easily. Well, maybe not the Church as they had a very good reputation, but the War Maniac Pavilion definitely would not hold back. 

Yet, this dog altar wanted that just for the first slot? Was this a joke? Sure, Draco had lots of them thanks to his Aether Conversion passive, but it still hurt to part with them so easily. 

What bothered Draco was that the fee could have alternatively been paid with 100,000 platinum! Nowadays, this was an amount he looked down upon, something that if he sneezed in the outside world, he could acquire with unparalleled ease. 

However, it was this precise amount he looked down upon that was now sneering back at him, ridiculing him for being a broke bitch. 

Why was the price disparity so great? In what world did 100,000 platinum equal 20 top-grade Aether Crystals?! 

Unfortunately, in the old era. As shown by the World Merchant, the value of a top-grade Aether Crystal back then was quite low, at 5,000 platinum per piece. When multiplied by 20, well… the maths did add up. 

As a relic of the old era, it was obvious that this altar - and possible everything in this Treasury - would use the old era standard. As such, this great farce had occurred. 

No wonder Vishad had claimed that the price was prohibitive. If even the main plane was suffering from an Aether Crystal drought due to the absence of Dragons, how could this hidden small world fare any better? 

As such, they would have to pay with money. But everyone knew that money paid to the system was money lost. So, in a closed society like the inner section, the currency would be scarce, and people would be unwilling to sacrifice 100,000 platinum of the total pool of funds to the system for just 1 slot. 

Honestly, this altar was only patronized by outsiders like Draco, who sold even their left testicles for a chance to use it when they visited the Treasury during its millennial opening. 

Gritting his teeth in pain, Draco paid the wicked price.