406 Barely Becoming A Grandmaster Blacksmith

Draco put the crown aside as he considered what gems to use for his masterpiece. There were few adornments that could fit his criteria, so he brought them out from his inventory. 

He would have to smelt and purify them intensely, because they were not to be used as ingots. As such, he compressed and purified them repeatedly until they turned into beautifully shining crystals small enough to fit the grooves he had cut. 

The central gem in the front of the crown, which would be right above Eva's forehead, was a red Alexandrite Cat's Eye Jewel. This was the perfect gem to use for the crown, as the Cat's Eye Jewel in Boundless had the effects of magnifying mystic and psychic properties. 

Even better was the fact that the jewel would rest exactly where a person's third eye would be if the legends were to be believed, which should double the effect when Eva wore it thanks to her Celestial Maiden Inheritance. 

The supporting gems were different shades of red rubies, green emeralds, blue sapphires, brown quartzes, and yellow topazes. Each one had a specific effect and boosted a different attribute, but altogether would assist Eva's mental abilities first and foremost. 

This crown was designed to help her in that regard. The Light Dragon set would obviously complement her Goddess of Light Inheritance, but for her Abyssal Eye, Draco was still stumped about how to help her improve on that at the moment. 

Of course, in the future, after Draco would learn the truth of Eva's bloodline, he would scheme with her to create her heavenly realm from scratch by performing unspeakable evils, but that was for later. 

Right now, he raised the crown and nodded. So far, so good. The jewels were set and were glowing brightly, as the Aetheric Energy locked in the crystals that were used to make the crown flowed through them. 

Even without the aesthetic touch-up, it was magnificent. Draco felt giddy when he thought about his celestial beauty wearing this, but he had to calm himself down as now was not the time to play games. 

He couldn't edit the aesthetics for the crown since he was not yet a Grandmaster, so he had to save that stage for later. Since he was done, it was time to inspect the crown's base stats. 

｢Unnamed – Ornamental Item 

Rank: Legendary 

Effect: Psychic Mastery +80, Psychic damage +80%｣ 

Draco's eyebrows rose. These were some damn good stats for the crown that hadn't even been enchanted yet. One should remember, Enchantment was a separate Tradeskill from Blacksmithing, so one didn't need to add enchantments when becoming a Grandmaster to complete the requirements. 

Another thing to remember was that not every Blacksmith was an Enchanter, and not every Enchanter was a Blacksmith. Usually, the two worked separately, the Blacksmith would create the item and the Enchanter would enchant it. 

Pre-Enchantment - at least for Epic and above items - the equipment or items would display their stats in the typical manner of most RPGs, just like how items below the Rare Rank did. 

However, once they were enchanted, these would all be hidden and magnified endlessly, leaving only the 1 passive and 1 active behind (assuming its Epic). 

If that was so, then what role did these base stats play? Well, it was simple really. Depending on the base stats and effects, it would decide the upper limit of the weapon as well as its receptiveness to the Enchantments. 

Enchantments made that encompass the base effects would magnify both, while those made without including them would make the resulting effect weaker as well as the Enchanting process harder. 

It was the same as training a pet. If you taught a dog how to dig holes and catch frisbees, you would more than likely succeed after a certain amount of time depending on the intelligence of your dog. However, if you tried to teach a dog how to catch rats and meow, it would just resist as such actions went against its base instincts. Even if it managed to learn, it would never be as good as a cat. 

So now that the Legendary crown boosted psychic effects so strongly, the psychic Enchantments Draco planned to make for the crown would obviously stick on better and would become stronger. 

Draco decided to name the crown 'Celestial Coronet'. 

｢Celestial Coronet – Ornamental Item 

Rank: Legendary 

Effect: Psychic Mastery +80, Psychic damage +80%｣ 

｢Congratulations on creating new item: Celestial Coronet (Ornamental Item) (Legendary) 

Rewards: 

10,000% Exp 

10,000% Tradeskill Exp 

200,000,000 gold 

700,000 reputation with the Tradeskill Association｣ 

Draco nodded with happiness. His estimations had been right, he would earn 10,000% class and Tradeskill experience for the first craft of a Legendary item! This was a crazy amount he had not earned in ages, since the early stages of the game where his actions were so heaven-shaking that the AI had to legally bathe him in absurd rewards. 

The 10,000% class exp was quickly split between Pair Dadeni and Mjolnir 40-60, bringing both of them to 24,000% of 100,000% each. The journey was long, but there was no rush and by all means, one day he would reach the end. 

As for the Tradeskill experience, Draco stored it away with the rest. He had plans to stockpile it endlessly because he had picked up an important clue while he was in this Treasury that made it imperative for him to keep that experience in store. 

When the time came, he felt like his decision would bring him endless benefits and joy, whereas if he spent it now on his Epic and Legendary Tradeskills, his guts would turn green with regret later on. 

As for the gold and the reputation, Draco tossed them to one side. He had seen such amounts over and over again to the point where he was tired. Even though 20 million platinum as a reward was great, it was a pittance to a Grandmaster. 

Boss, the cost of materials and reagents went from 200k platinum to about 500k. Putting aside any discounts or special titles, that meant one could only buy about 100 different Legendary materials. 

Not everyone had a taboo and cheat-like tool like Pair Dadeni or Mjolnir to negate their costs. They would have to use the actual materials of the actual grade, and then there was the fact that their craft could fail. 

Out of the 100 materials he bought, he could only succeed in about 5-10 of them. This was of course referring to external Grandmasters, as the ones in the Treasury had much better quality and success rates compared to those outside. 

As such, 20 million platinum was just like giving a housewife $200 to buy groceries for the whole family. 

Draco though, had no more time to ponder this as the familiar prompts came before him. 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Checking player Tradeskill level… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Analyzing player Grandmaster Technique… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Analyzing player Grandmaster Design… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Verifying player's approval from Tradeskill Primogenitor… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Authenticating player Tradeskill Association reputation… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Analyzing player Grandmaster Creation… ｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

All the above have passed the requisite criteria for the promotion. Assessing the available Grandmaster slots for the Blacksmithing Tradeskill…｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Warning! Detected that player is staying inside a pocket realm from the old era! No limitations on Tradeskill Rank increase below Primogenitor! 

The player is able to ascend to Grandmaster Rank at this time, but choosing so will forego his benefits from the worldwide system announcement as well as make him lose out on all special system rewards aside from the basic ones for the achievement. 

Continue? 

Y/N｣ 

Draco once again scowled, but selected yes. He understood that there was no free lunch, to become Grandmaster as smoothly as this required him to give up something in exchange. 

As such, he quietly paid the price and felt the familiar sensation of his mind being pulled away to an 'upper realm' if it could even be called that. Once he entered the modest courtyard and saw the Origin Gods calmly seated in meditative poses with their eyes closed, Draco shook his head. 

This time, he was brought before a burly dwarf that had long brown hair that was tied into warrior locks. He wore armor that looked like a mix between ancient Roman and Greek style. 

At his waist were two hammers that looked similar to Mjolnir, but were far larger and looked much heavier. Also, they emitted the aura of fire and ice respectively, instead of lightning like Mjolnir. 

He too slowly opened his eyes, revealing majestic red orbs that looked like it could refine Draco's soul into a piece of equipment just with a single glance. 

"Boy, you are a beast, do you know that?" The Origin God of Blacksmithing said in a voice that sounded almost perfectly like Gimli, the dwarf from old movie franchise about an old wizard who always outsourced his problems to tiny people 

Still, Draco was tongue-tied. What a truly unique way to break the ice with someone… calling them a beast… 

"You have such overpowered bloodlines, such scary equipment even I cannot see through, possess an Immortal Spirit, and you were just here a day or two ago in your time to receive the blessing of ugly Kopernico over there." The Dwarf pointed at the gnome who was the Primogenitor of Alchemy. 

The gnome opened his eyes and glared at the dwarf sullenly before gazing at Draco boredly, then looked away. Then, he opened his eyes again, and hurriedly glanced at Draco with shock. 

"Dammit boy, you again?! You are now a Grandmaster of Alchemy and Blacksmithing? Just what are you?" 

Draco scratched his metaphysical chin and didn't know how to respond. The gnome and the dwarf shared a look before the gnome asked. "Old codger Dimitri, how do you propose to bless the boy, hm?" 

Dimitri scoffed. "Why must I bless him?" 

It seemed like Kopernico was expecting this as he sneered with disdain. "Such a lunkhead, I knew you couldn't see the obvious potential of this boy. Not to mention that even I blessed him, yet you this old undead refuse to be kind." 

Draco was sure that if Dimitri were a mortal, he would have coughed blood in anger from Kopernico's words as they seemed to hit a sore spot of sorts. Maybe Origin Gods had different ideas of what was offensive and what was not? 

"Gutter face Kopernico, no need to goad me. I was already planning to do what I needed to do, what thing are you to comment on my matters?" Dimitri asked coldly. 

Kopernico's face contorted in anger, as it was clear he was also damaged by Dimitri's words. Then again, no matter whether girl or boy, strong-willed or weak-willed, one would naturally feel rage at being called a gutter face. 

He simply hmph-ed coldly and continued stabilizing the universe. After all, this was just a small break from the endless work for him, which was why he chose to play with Dimitri, but they both couldn't skip work for too long. 

Dimitri also flicked his finger and sent a small wisp of Origin Energy towards Draco, but this one entered his heart, where his Heart of the Woods lay. Draco felt it begin to manifest changes, but Dimitri had no interest in that. 

He simply sent Draco away, closing his eyes to focus on a much more important task than 'blessing' a mere mortal from the main plane. He didn't even comment about the Refinement God's Treasury like Kopernico had done, which registered in Draco's mind. 

Soon enough, he landed in his body with a loud thump, though nothing actually changed since only the metaphysical aspect of him had been pulled away. When he did, Draco saw a few new screens popping up before him.