Chapter 365 - Setting Up Departments
Bella was not as sensuous as she was in the outside world, probably because she wore full leather armor that didn't allow her skin to be exposed in meaningful areas.
She was slightly taller than Cobra, which meant that she was around the same height as Zaine, but taller than Eva by a little. Her form was not lanky, but refined and extremely well taken care of.
She had lush and creamy skin - nowhere near Eva or Hikari's level - and rosy red lips - once again, not even close to Eva - as well as dark blue eyes. Her hair was the same as outside, set into a crown braid with a reddish-gold color suffusing its pigmentation.
(Author's Note: A crown braid is essentially Saber's hair from the Fate series.)
She had large D-cup b.r.e.a.s.ts that struggled to stay obedient in her tight-fitting leather armor, as well as a flat abdomen due to her strenuous workout routine and her shapely backside, which Draco and RamButt would rate as A-.
That meant it was around the level of an international gravure or AV model whose main selling point was her butt. After all, A+ was the highest level a normal woman on the outside should reach.
Anything at S- and above could only be emulated by women with unrealistic proportions like the NPCs in this world. So, one could say that Bella was truly almost at the pinnacle of sensuality in the real world.
Right now though, this s.e.xy woman was on one knee before Eva, waiting to receive her orders. She had seen Eva's face in the past, when Eva had been with her band of little sisters, and Bella's worship of her had soared.
"Bella. I want to appoint you as the department head of this entire Field Zone. It will be up to you to build a branch of my intelligence network and manage it." Eva said slowly.
Bella nodded. "I shall devote myself to your cause, Big Sister. Just teach me what to do."
Eva smiled and told Bella the same things she told Sanji, as well as added her to the list of candidates for the department in Sector-0002. This was done in the Personal Office, and Bella's eyes quickly unfocused as she was made to see her evaluation. At that moment, the voice of Steven spoke up.
"Assessing candidate for department head… Detected to be Immortal Adventurer; given priority… Detected espionage class; priority greatly increased… detected Espionage related Tradeskills… 1… 2… 3... 4…; priority greatly increased."
"Detecting Tradeskill Ranks… all Amateur; no priority changes. Final assessment… the candidate is agreeable; B grade."
Eva saw Bella's name appear beside Sector-0002 as it became green. Now, the rest was up to the other madwoman to fill in the blanks and make this department great again.
Eva left the River's Dwell Field Zone with the four beauties. Right now, she checked out the amount of experience they had earned after clearing a Field Zone of Rank 2 monsters… and it was different for sure.
Their total experience gain was 3,450% experience, which was split between the four of them equally. Compared to when they had killed a single Rank 2 monster, the Aqua Bear, at Rank 1, there was a gulf.
Back then, they got more than 10,000% experience for killing a single monster, and this was split between them. Now though, after killing many Specialists and higher-ranking monsters, with some being on Fruity and Rexxy's level, they got less than half the total amount.
Rank 2 Field Zones were not around like cabbage. About 80% of all Field Zones worldwide were Rank 1, while 15% were Rank 2, 4.9% were Rank 3 and only 0.1% were Rank 4.
As for Rank 5 and above? Only dungeons would have those, and that was even specific dungeons like Continental ones. Also, there were Legendary and Divine Dungeons which had enemies of all Ranks.
Looking at the exp gain decline most players and NPCs faced, as well as the exp gain source - monsters in general - also being scarce as the Ranks increased, it would suffocate any discerning person, as they could tell that their future would be bleak.
Eva also sighed. If they wanted to earn enough experience to hit Rank 3, they would have to fight Rank 3 monsters. However, there was no need to go that far until Eva herself could acquire her Divine Class and Rank up.
It would be too much of a waste otherwise.
From here, Eva and the girls boarded Luxia and began clearing Field Zones around Vita City-State singlehandedly. Since Rank 2 zones were scarce, most of these new ones were Rank 1.
As for the clearing, it just took a sweep of the hand from Zaine and Roma to empty the area of all life. Well, a sweep of the hand was a bit of a stretch, but it was truly too easy.
Eva made them stop when they had cleared up to Sector-0010. She had already appointed various players that had rogue classes in the guild as department heads except for Cobra, because his job was too important and he couldn't be easily replaced.
Besides, Cobra's path as an assassin wasn't of the stalker/watcher type, but the blood bathing/sudden-kill type. He wouldn't be suitable for this kind of occupation given the way his class had developed.
After clearing out 9 whole Field Zones at Rank 1 for 4 days, the group had gained another 234% experience.
Yep, that's right, they might have slaughtered thousands of monsters at Rank 1, so many that it was hard to count, yet they collectively gained enough experience to go up only two levels.
When one remembered that this 234% experience had to be split four ways, one could only be left speechless. The AI of Boundless was an evil fiend of Epic proportions.
It hamstrung their ability to gain experience as they grew and fought enemies at their level, reduced the number of enemies above their level for easier exp gain, and gave them about 1% experience gain for conquests below their Rank.
How was a player supposed to progress in today's world if they weren't heaven-defying cheaters like Draco, Eva, or these three beauties?! Did the AI expect every player here to magically possess unlimited skill and kill monsters above their Ranks with ease.
Sigh…
Roma went to level 59, 21% from level 50, 0%, giving her 27 stat points.
Zaine went to level 59, 21% from level 50, 0%, giving her 27 stat points as well.
Hikari went to level 59, 21% from level 50, 0%, giving her 27 stat points also.
At Rank 2, NPCs gained 3 stat points per level. Since players gained this much at Rank 1, the stat point gap between NPCs and players was clear. Players were given their own benefits and NPCs their own.
Eva placed all 27 points into Zaine's Charisma stat, bringing it from 65 to 92, almost reaching the second threshold. Since she and Roma already had 200 points in their Intelligence, Eva was increasing their secondary main attribute category in order to give them more growth potential.
As such, Roma's 27 points were placed into Spirit, bringing it from 65 to 92 as well. With this, Zaine and Roma's ability to utilize their man attribute - Intelligence - was strengthened without having to perform the ultimate taboo of min-maxing after Rank 0.
As for Hikari, she… was part of this taboo in question since she only had one stat she could use as a White Dragon. Well, not that it was all she could use, just that the others weren't practical compared to her Spirit stat.
This stat was brought from 345 points to 372, bringing her closer to the next threshold of 400. Of course, she had crossed the seventh-threshold at 350 points, meaning her current boost was 3.5x of her base stat when in combat.
The eighth threshold would yield a 4x boost, which would truly bring Hikari new wings as she soared forth. However, it was doubtful if she could reach 500 even at Rank 7, because the stat gain ratio greatly fell after that point.
As for their loot gains, the number was too many to count, though the quality of them was mostly Common Rank. Still, they were good enough for selling, so once the Four Beauties reached Vita City-State, they handed everything over to Akainu.
After that, they went to settle in and make sure their kids were okay. After spending so much time with them outside, they were certainly exhausted. While Hikari, Zaine, and Roma rested, Eva checked up on the 28 concubines and their children.
The head of these former human maids was Verita, a beautiful young woman with a lightly tanned skin. She also held her daughter for Draco, while the other concubines held Draco's other sons and daughters.
"How are you all?" Eva asked gently.
They all smiled happily and bowed to Eva. "We are fine, Madam Eva."
All of the women here respected Eva deeply, for her magnanimity in allowing them to bear Draco's children and for her gentle treatment of them. Anyone who looked at this would think it was Eva who rather i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.ed them, not Draco.
"That's grand. Let me see my step-sons and daughters." Eva requested with a grin.
The maids naturally complied and presented their children to Eva one by one, telling her of their names, their personalities - as shown so far since they're babies - as well as their bloodline traits.
While Eva listened, she nodded and gently infused each child with some of her Light Energy, cleansing their bodies of any impurities and improving their bloodline concentration slightly.
This was something only she could do as the reincarnation of Amaterasu. It was a mixture of the Goddess of Light Inheritance's abilities and her upgraded bloodline from merging with Draco.
These mothers were happy and extremely grateful to see Eva helping their children out like this. In any clan in this kind of world, the clan master would have countless concubines so that he could expand his clan.
But in any family or settlement with people, not everyone could receive the same attention or benefits. Human bias and other factors would come in, making one person obtain preferential treatment compared to another.
Draco had told them plainly that in this lineage, it wasn't their looks or personalities that would define them or even their bloodline. It was simply the quality of the children they birthed for him, so this put pressure on them.
After all, to some extent, they could control or improve their own qualities if they put in enough effort and used some means, but how could they do so for their children after they were born?
So, if Eva was increasing their quality, it was akin to giving these mothers a stronger backing in this ever-growing clan that would soon tower over the world.
After doing this and chatting with the mothers here for a bit, Eva then went to the section of the Aether Hall where the breeding slaves were kept. They were living quite well, with premium food and anything they wanted being brought to them.
In fact, they were called 'breeding slaves', but shit, they lived even better than some Empresses and Queens in the world! While being bathed in the pure Aether Energy of the Aether Hall, how could they be at a disadvantage?
In fact, for many of them like those of the beast races, their bloodlines were slowly purified and impurities were slowly cast out of them the longer they bathed in this energy, which so far, had been since they had been bought!
Damn!
Some Hidden Powers had paid in blood to get land at the outskirts of Vita City-State just for the normal benefits, yet these ladies had rather been paid for and got to live in the heart of it, where the benefits were uncountable…
If the Hidden Powers knew that breeding slaves were living better than them, how would they feel?