Chapter 487 - Settling in

Once Draco commanded for this merge, the villages that had been daintily floating in the air suddenly had their walls shatter, leaving only the buildings within. This surprised Draco, as he thought the command would have them all placed down to merge with his property, but it seemed as if Norma had a different idea for her descendants. 

The buildings and resource zones merged into one big area, re-arranging themselves by matching similar buildings to each other. All the townhalls were by each other, the manors, and the various work areas, residential homes, and marketplaces too. 

Like pieces to a puzzle, they laid themselves down linearly and sequentially over the plot of land Draco had reserved for them. It formed a huge district in this area, spanning a length that the eye would struggle to capture at once. 

Just like that, Vita City-State had gained a portion of land that was larger than any other here. A minimum of 200,000 citizens were added, majority of which possessed – at least – the Master Rank in their chosen Tradeskill! 

This was something that would frighten even the almighty Diad Family, and the effects of it were something Draco knew would bring prosperity to the already rich city-state. 

After the merge of the land had been completed, it was time to help the various descendants of Norma fit into society and merge with the Nshaw tribe as well as the players of Umbra in the truest sense. 

This was something that required a delicate hand and time. He couldn't easily delegate it since he was the main binding force between these two parties. Since he had no other pressing matter at the moment, he spent the next week orc.h.e.s.trating a cultural merge as well as reinforcing his city. 

Draco also took this time to check up on Umbra's progress, and was greatly satisfied. The guild had climbed from tier 2 to tier 4, giving them far more power and leeway than they had before. 

He inspected the core members, the fellows from Supernatural, and the serfs. Many things within the guild ended up shuffled about by him based on their progress while he was away as well as their performance during the Abyss Event. 

Most of the rewards in the form of resources were placed in the Guild Warehouse for various uses, while the items and equipment rewards were placed in the Guild Shop. 

Draco also removed many of the resources Norma had stockpiled but had no use for and placed them there. As a Refinement Goddess, her craft had literally required her to change one thing from a certain state to another. 

In her later stages, she only converted energy from one form to another, but before she had become a goddess, she had largely converted resources and materials of lower grades to the highest grade she could. 

Archetypes of them had been used to form her resource zones for the 99 villages, but since they were being cultivated, she just needed a bit of each, not the whole show. 

As such, the rest were stored in the palace at the core section, forming a pile so large and thick that Draco had almost drowned to death when he had opened the door. 

Which such a huge influx of high-grade resources, Umbra could re-advertise their recruitment and be more active about it. While the third wave of recruitment had been an open-one, the number of people who had managed to pass had just been too low. 

Receiving the order from Draco, Sublime Notion promoted some of their resources and capabilities instantly sending the world into an uproar. Players who had been disheartened by the rumors of Umbra's difficult tests or just didn't like the guild because they were too tyrannical had instantly changed their minds and applied. 

The test difficulty remained the same as always, but the higher number of applicants at least saw that many more could enter through the gaps. Also, Umbra increased the quality of support and benefits it granted its serf players since they were now stuffed with material wealth. 

There was a lot to unpack from this recent trip to the Refinement Goddess' Treasury as well as the Abyss Event, and so many goodies would have to be digested slowly. 

Right now, Draco was undoubtedly the most talented mortal Tradeskills master thanks to his hard work during the quest. Grandmaster in three different Tradeskills, Scrivener and Magical Engineering at the Expert Rank and Privateering was still at the Amateur Rank but Draco had received extensive training in it, not to mention he had access to hired assistant to slave away for him. 

He had already set everything up in the Aether Hall, Pair Dadeni and Mjolnir's endless auto-crafts, the continuous shipbuilding and pre-production of material for Scrivener as well as Magical Engineering. 

Previously, Draco had wanted to experiment with his two new Legendary Tradeskills Dungeon Creation and Skill Fusion, but he had lost interest after completing the quest. He was tired of Tradeskills in general at the moment and didn't even bother to practice with the Divine Refinement Tradeskill. 

He was akin to a student who had been studious all the way up to his exam week, and was finally on his long-awaited vacation. Since the circ.u.mstances had changed, he no longer had the motivation to stuff his face in a book! 

Rather, Draco checked out some of the guild members he had seen in Eva's memories but had yet to meet in person. The chief of this was Essence Stalker, the Void Dragon who was a rarity even in the Lucifer Lineage. 

Essence had also been curious about the elusive Guildmaster of Umbra, so their meeting had come not in the form of a heart-to-heart talk, but a fast-paced duel with special limitations decided on by the duo. 

Firstly, all their stats were equalized, courtesy of the Guild Arena. Secondly, no skills were allowed and only techniques could be used. Thirdly, no potions or any external help was allowed, including switching weapons mid-battle. Finally, they used Common nameless weapons. 

The battle had been an interesting one. Draco had used this chance to refine his Paragon Sword Technique that had grown too fast for its britches since his stats and various side-abilities had become too numerous. 

As for Essence, while he did not have a dedicated Spear Technique, he was currently in the process of forming one. What shocked Draco was the speed at which the fellow grew during their battle. 

Draco had easily been overwhelming him at the start, but towards the end of their almost 5-hour battle, the fellow had been able to defend around 50% of Draco's attacks. 

As for catching up to him, it was a bit too far-fetched, even with Essence's talent. Draco was someone who had been top-tier in terms of techniques in the previous timeline and had acc.u.mulated even more in this one. 

Essence was not a reincarnator, so he would have to accept that Draco was like an insurmountable wall. At least, unlike 99% of others, he was blessed in that he was able to see the zenith instead of remaining at the bottom, unable to comprehend even how large it was. 

Once they were done, Draco found out through talking with Essence that the fellow also appeared to have the innate technique generator of his own, which sent Draco into deep thought. 

What were the criteria for possessing this ability? How come he had it, but Eva did not, despite the two of them arguably being the most special beings in the universe? While Essence was unique, he couldn't compare to Eva, so how come he had it as well? 

'No, I'm looking at it from the wrong angle.' Draco realized. 

Rather, it was more imperative to ask the question: "What do Essence and I share in common that others do not?" When it came down to that, the answer was quite simple. 

The first thing was their bloodline. They were both members of the Lucifer Lineage and had high purity compared to others, but Draco ruled this out. After all, if this was the case, this innate technique generator would not be something undoc.u.mented in the history of the Lineages. Even if it was something special to their Lineage, then his aunt would have told him about it. 

The second thing was their Draconic affiliation. However, this was also a problem because Essence's serpentine affiliation was one stage below that of a dragon, and it was only within Boundless that he enjoyed this status. 

The third thing was their race. They were both humans, so could it be something related to their humanity? In a twisted way, Draco believed this to be more of the case, for his previous theory had been that the innate technique generator was something like Control, something that was unique to the OG human race before they were destroyed. 

And so, Draco had largely theorized that he possessed something in his OG human genes that Eva did not, giving him this ability. It seemed that Essence also possessed this strange gene, but Draco had no idea what it was, how to identify it, and most importantly, how to awaken it in others. 

Whatever the case, he discussed their individual histories and how they planned to go forward in-depth with Essence. Draco was surprised by the other's calmness and willingness to accept direction despite his high talent, while Essence was shocked that the reincarnation of the progenitor was so easy-going and thoughtful. 

Impressed with each other, they became fast friends and left on a good note. What was more interesting was Draco's meeting with Tunder Power, who was also surprised by him. 

Draco had been curious about these Supernatural fellows and how their powers came about. Under his scrutiny, he could vaguely see something special about Tunder Power. 

There was a slight resonance between their genes, but it was not in terms of the lineage, but likely his OG human genetics. This further baffled Draco, because the OG humans, according to Lucifer and Amaterasu, had been just like the current humans, largely normal. 

What had been special about them was their intellect as well as their crazy ability to adapt and develop. There was nothing about them having wood elf, vampire, werewolf or etc genes in them that would mutate over time. 

That was why the previous conclusion was that the Supernatural fellows had awoken leftover bloodlines from stuff that hadn't made it into the Lineages. 

Well, this didn't exactly conflict with Draco's current findings, so he could accept it as it was. Naturally, he shared his findings with Eva, who also concurred with his conclusions. 

When Draco had completed his self-imposed task, allowing his various citizens to merge and avoid xenophobia towards their neighbors, he decided to expand his own house. 

He called Hoover over and told the butler to bring over the various concubines he had seeded during the quest for Eva and the Three NPC beauties to inspect. 

Hoover himself was now the Morningstar Clan's head butler, so he had to spend some time acquainting himself with the rules of the main plane as well as the situation of the clan. 

When he learned the deeper details of the clan, he was shocked then ecstatic! What a powerful bloodline! What powerful potential! No, this clan would definitely rise to the top and rule this entire world. 

He, Goatman Hoover, would rise along with this clan. As such, he had to do his utmost best to manage everything behind the curtains for the clan and make sure that - at least - in this area of expertise, there would be no problems. 

When the girls were brought over, they were largely nervous and worried. However, most of them passed the criteria for Roma and Hikari who were sympathetic and gentle. 

As for Zaine and Eva, they were much stricter and only sought quality. While they wouldn't send the concubines away, the more unremarkable ones were placed in a lower tier than the 28 human concubines, but above the slave girls. 

As for Ophie, the four of them quickly fell in love with her and pampered her. Her status even rose to a level above Verita, leaving the former head maid speechless. 

However, an interesting consequence emerged from this summons. Out of the various concubines Hoover brought over, all of them were sporting large bellies of different kinds except one birdwoman who was out of place. 

Zaine, as usual, was the first to notice this abnormality as her eyes gleamed.