Chapter 36 - Appraisal

Riveting Night's eyes darkened as she watched Draco and the Dark Knight face off. She performed an identification, but the results were displayed as ???, which baffled her.

It was impossible for the fellow before them to be of a higher level than they were. Hell, the AI was so terrified of their fast progression that it dropped experience consuming items their way just to keep them in line.

Draco himself felt a bit gloomy inside. He was of the opinion that no player should be able to stare at him for too long before shitting their pants. Yet, here was an abnormal freak that defied all logic.

Draco went in for a suicidal attack with one of his swords piercing towards the abdomen of the knight. His other hand was idle as he made this lunge, which left him wide open to a downward slash.

Naturally, his opponent didn't miss out on this opportunity, using both hands to swing his large greatsword down with terrifying force. Draco couldn't help but smirk as he commented 'retard' inwardly.

As soon as the greatsword was about to mash into his skull, a thick buckler appeared on his previously idle hand that moved to cover his weakness. For a normal person, switching momentum like this was impossible, but for someone who mastered Body of Godliness, it was a joke.

The Knight's greatsword mashed into the buckler with crazy force, causing Draco to lose almost 3,000 hp! What a scary amount of damage! Draco's Dragorugio set had immense bonuses to defense as well as a bonus to his HP, so while it wasn't life threatening, it was still shocking.

Draco immediately reversed the remainder of his momentum into his sword that was plunging into the abdomen of the knight. His attack had paused during the split second he switched to defense, but now it was continuing at full throttle!

With Draco's speed, it was impossible for his assailant to dodge. The sword pierced through the Black Knight's armor like it was paper, ripping through his lower body and emerging from the other side.

The Knight grunted with that eerie voice, lowering his greatsword while clutching the wound on his abdomen. He stared at Draco with flickering green eyes that seemed to want to consume him alive.

Draco pulled out his sword unceremoniously, leaping back before switching his blade and shield to two crossbows.

With a filthy smirk that would force one to punch that arrogant face, he fired off a volley of shots onto the wounded Knight. The moment he fired one round on each of the crossbows, he'd swap them with another fully loaded round before firing again.

The poor knight was having difficulty dodging them all with his injury, and damage notifications kept popping up in Draco view. Draco's initial attack dealt over 7,000 damage, while each of his crossbow bolts dealt between 300-500 damage even though they landed on his armor more often than not.

With such a shameless tactic, the knight was eventually defeated, but he didn't die. His body began to blur and twitch like a bad signal on those old tv sets Draco saw in certain shows and movies. It was an eerie sight to see, especially in a digital world.

"Draco… strong…"

The Knight rose to his feet unsteadily as Riveting Night walked to Draco's side with a dagger drawn. She had allowed the two fellows to engage in fisticuffs long enough. She wasn't going to stand aside and watch someone try to kill her man.

"Will fight… very soon… wait for me…"

Draco and Riveting Night shivered intensely. For a second there, they both felt as if the Knight's voice had become more human-like. While this would be preferable, the voice the Dark Knight was developing sounded much too similar to Draco's.

The Knight turned around and began walking away slowly. His every footstep sounded in the ears of the Evil Duo, making them feel slightly relieved.

When the Knight's form finally disappeared, Draco and Riveting Night noticed that they empty street was now filled with the people who were absent before.

The two of them found the uncanny sight to be bizarre.

"Did you feel anything when the people returned?" Draco asked with a serious expression.

"No. It's as if they were always here from the beginning and I failed to notice them." Riveting Night answered with a bleak voice.

The two fell silent for a while, pondering exactly what the hell happened here.

"I don't think that was a player. He may have the characteristics of a player, but it was as if a robot had logged into the game." Draco surmised with a sigh.

"I agree, he seems more like an intelligent AI that has taken the form of a player but…"

Draco understood what she wanted to say. It was highly impossible for such a thing to happen, but the two knew they had no right to claim such a thing, especially with their bizarre and otherworldly origins.

"Well, let's get moving. No point in over thinking matters just yet."

"En."

The two entered the Portal Center and teleported to an area near the Paradise Lands. Once they arrived, Draco blinked the two of them to the area near the Aether mine.

It was a lush meadow with an extremely large clearing in the middle. The air was clean and the breeze was cool. One could hear the sound of a river nearby and those with superhuman senses like the Evil Duo could even sense a waterfall in the distance.

The two were satisfied with the location. It was clear that the area was perfect for building a settlement with easy access to lumber and water as well as excellent soil for farming.

Draco removed his Settlement Building token and played with it a bit before casting his gaze to the center of the clearing. He called up the dialogue box for building selection and chose the central area of the clearing.

｢Would you like to build your settlement here? Y/N｣

Draco naturally chose yes.

｢Settlement has the following factors;

- Level ground: -10%

- Abundant resources: -20%

- Nearby water source: -10%

- Guild land: - 50%

- Conflict heavy zone: +40%

- Hi?/ep [ERROR] M3$e: +5000%

Base construction cost: 10,000 gold

Discount: 9,000 gold

Additions: 504,000 gold

Final cost: 505,000 gold

Build? Y/N｣

Draco was flabbergasted by the result. What dog thing was this? He had predicted the costs since the location was great and he had owned multiple cities and even a few kingdoms back in the day.

But what was that 5000% addition?? Even the addition for the conflict heavy zone was understandable, since all Draco did was wipe out a nearby outpost, not seal the underground path leading to the surface.

To get builders to work in an area where conflict might break out at any moment required increased compensation, anyone could understand that.

However…

Why did the Aether Mine register as an error? Was there some special circ.u.mstances surrounding its existence that made it difficult for the AI to codify? That was impossible, the AI was god of this world.

Draco felt intrigued by this development. While forking over 5000 platinum was a pain inducing amount, Draco felt it would be worth it to see what the end result would be.

However, he didn't have enough on him. Just barely half of that amount was all he could muster at the moment. With that in mind, he turned to Riveting Night and shook his head. After explaining what he saw to her, she was likewise curious.

"We can raise funds by clearing a few dungeons together. Or we could do what you did and ace a survival mode dungeon." Riveting Night suggested.

Draco shook his head at that. "The AI is onto us. To get that kind of result again, we'd need to pull off some sick moves. While that may net us some cash, the AI would be able to slowly discern our true skill level and limit our rewards accordingly."

Draco and Riveting Night swore that they heard a 'tch' sound. The Evil Duo smiled wickedly, clearly speaking out their evil deeds without fear of retaliation, which made the AI feel gloomy.

These fellows were… too much!

Damn, this Robot Daddy just wants to do his job okay?

Draco and Riveting Night blinked away from the area, eventually returning to Cario City.

"Our best bet would be to host an auction and sell your Dragorugio sets as well as the Dragon's Blessing potion." Riveting Night said while walking alongside Draco.

"I agree, but should we do it in our own shop? We could avoid paying any fees, but imagine the fallout…" Draco said with a bleak face.

Riveting Night's expression become solemn. A potion that could grant a permanent Draconic Source Energy to anyone regardless of level or race was similar to discovering the cure for HIV in an AIDS infested world.

No need to go into details, that comparison alone should give one an idea of the kind of repercussion that could happen if it were released to the public.

While Draco had Richmond behind him, it was enough to stop all the hidden powers on the surface. However, with such a miraculous potion in the mix, some might fall into madness and risk it all.

Draco literally couldn't afford to be caught in the crosshairs of the Hidden Powers at this stage of the game.

"We can use the Divine Auction house." Draco stated after some thought.

Riveting Night nodded her head. "The Divine Auction house would be best. Current players would be unable to access it and our safety would be guaranteed regardless of what we put on sale."

The Divine Auction was a special event that occurred every month. It was attended by only the rich and powerful, and the items put on display were only the best of the best.

The Auction was managed by the Church of Light, which was 100% reputable. None of that cliche where churches hid evils like pedophilia, greed or plans to conquer the world subtly.

Draco and Riveting Night were confident of their safety if they utilized the Divine Auction, but such an auction had a steep price. Just because the Church was irrefutably honest and good didn't mean they were stooges.

The fee for appraisal of an item alone was 100 platinum! Then, the fee for advertis.e.m.e.nt and marketing was 20 platinum. The fee for a successful sale was 15%!

Most auction houses took 5%, while even the more popular ones dared to take a maximum of 10%. 15% was a huge fee, looking at the type of items sold and the kind of patronage the Divine Auction received!

The part that made it bearable was that one literally saw their money being put to use as the Church gave out multiple donations and built many relief facilities for the poor or infirm.

Draco and Riveting Night returned to the Portal Center of Cario City, choosing to teleport to the City of Light. This was where the Church of Light was based and it was located on a small island that one couldn't find on any of the modern maps of the world.

Otherwise, wouldn't the forces of darkness hound the Church of Light till they died of exhaustion?

Upon entry into the City of Light, Draco and Riveting Night were met with the sight of a breathtaking city that was built out of the purest white marble. The city looked like the typical ideal that people held of heaven. The citizens all wore bright colors that gave off a vibrant feel and filled one with positive energy. One would expect everyone to dress like a prude, but it wasn't so. The fashion was varied. Some stuck to long and decent robes while some wore slightly revealing attires that were attractive but not overboard.

Draco and Riveting Night looked out of place and received a few curious stares from passersby. They walked along the main boulevard towards a large cathedral at the center of the city. If one felt that Umbra's Guild Hall was huge, then this cathedral would be humongous. It had the style of a roman cathedral, which definitely gave off the aged vibe heavily.

At the foyer of the cathedral, there were some altar boys and girls who were in between their early and late teens. One fact which one would find interesting was that they were very diverse. Some were attractive, ugly, tall, short, fat or very slim. There were a good amount that had a mixture of these characteristics too.

Draco and Riveting Night felt more respect for the Church for this, although they had been here countless times before in their past lives. All the establishments they had visited before tried their hardest to make their aides pleasing to the eye in order to create a positive feeling for visitors while rejecting those who they deemed to be eye sores.

Well, except the Adventurer's Guild. They just didn't give a shit either way.

"Hello good sir and madam, how can I be of help to you today?" A lanky, bespectacled lad came forth with a polite bow.

"We'd like to visit the Divine Auction please." Draco stated with a smile.

The lad didn't even flinch. Not because he wasn't shocked, but because it would be rude to.

"Please follow me."

The young fellow led Draco and Riveting Night to a portal set into an arch that swirled with a bright blue color. He bowed and explained to them that this was the way to the Divine Auction's site and they nodded along, even though they knew that already.

The Evil Duo entered the portal and were whisked to an auditorium that looked like the Roman Colosseum but with a stage in the middle as well as VIP rooms near the top.

Upon entry, Draco was greeted by a stout young girl who had freckles on her face. "Good day, my lord and my lady, are you here to register an item for the auction?"

"Yes, we are. By the way, when is the next auction going to be held?" Riveting Night asked.

"In 3 hours, our next monthly auction will be held. If you'd follow me, I'd like to help you get your items appraised and listed for sale before the auction begins." The lass answered with a gentle bow.

Draco and Riveting Night were surprised. The auction just happened to be in a few hours. How convenient!

"Please lead the way."

The group moved through a few corridors before reaching an office that was decorated minimally, with just a desk, a carpet as well as some scrolls here and there. There was also a large coffee table with two couches on either side. An elderly woman in a pure white robe was seated behind the desk with a parchment in hand. She seemed distracted until Draco and Riveting Night entered the office after the aide.

"Hello there, good sir and madam. Can you please bring out the item you'd like me to appraise for you? The elderly woman asked with a gentle smile that made one feel warm inside.

Draco nodded and took out the Dragorugio sets as well as the Dragon's Blessing potion and placed them on the desk. He didn't wait for the woman to ask before taking out the 120 platinum necessary. Draco's act made her smile at him, similar to how one's own grandmother would when she lamented on the hastiness of youth.

As she took one of the Dragorugio set items, she scrutinized it under a special looking glass. The room was silent for a few seconds as she studied the material used for forging, the forging method, the durability and defensive/offensive value as well as the runes of enchantment. After a whole five minutes of muttering under her breath and the occasional humming, she eventually looked up to Draco with an admiring gaze.

As an appraiser, how could she not see that this was the item that took the world by storm a few hours ago? This young man must be that Draco fellow who was immensely talented. Meeting such a prodigy made the elderly woman a bit happy inside.

"Here's my appraisal."

｢Item has the following features;

- Exemplary forging technique: +50%

- Rare material: +10%

- Unique enchantments: +80%

- Elemental resistance/mastery: +200%

- High defense value/bonuses: +250%

- High offensive value: +250%

- Aesthetical design: +5%

- Unique skills: +400%

- Semi-Epic rarity: +1000%

Base item value (Semi-Epic): 25,000 gold

Additions: 336,250 gold

Final value: 361,250 gold

Accept? Y/N｣

Draco was satisfied with this valuation. It may seem like a lot, but when one looked at the factors that were taken into the appraisal, it was actually average at best. He accepted the appraisal and placed the 12 sets in the care of the Divine Auction.

"Is that all good sir?"

Draco shook his head as he brought out the Dragon's Blessing potion. When the elderly woman grasped the potion and began assessing it, the room fell into a solemn silence once again. However, there was a noticeable difference. There were no mutterings, as the elderly woman's hand began trembling subtly as her appraisal progressed further.

By the time she was done, she was sweating profusely and refused to look Draco in the eyes. Draco sighed internally as he expected such a result. After all, to be able to make such an impossible potion, Draco was quite literally a monster.

"H-Here's my appraisal…"

｢Item has the following features;

- God-tier brewing technique: +100%

- Epic reagents: +30%

- High quality apparatus used: +50%

- Powerful worldly energy container: +150%

- Effect: +100000%

- Semi-Legendary rarity: +5000%

Base item value (Semi-Legendary): 500,000 gold

Additions: 526,650,000 gold

Final value: 527,150,000 gold

Accept? Y/N｣