If Celia was willing to help, Ethan was more than happy to have her on board.
"I think we should let Celia handle logistics for the guild too," Lyla, who had just co in suggested, as she walked over with a serious expression.
"Oh?" Ethan raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
"Celia's a life-skills player in the ga—already a mid-tier alchemist. She spends way more ti in the city than we do. Don't you think she'd be perfect for managing the guild's logistics?"
Ethan considered it for a mont. Lyla had a point. He had been aning to find soone reliable to help run the guild.
"Alright, then. Tonight, Celia, you're logging in and joining the guild. I'm giving you the title of Honorary Guild Leader!" Ethan said enthusiastically.
Celia chuckled. "I've been in Renegade Alliance for a while now. But if I have to work for you both in-ga and in real life, how much are you paying ?"
"Uh… talking about money hurts friendships," Ethan said, feigning a pained expression. "Besides, you and Victor are already making plenty off !"
Celia laughed. "Relax, I'm just ssing with you. I'm happy to help."
With that, she grabbed the ledger and playfully shooed Ethan away from the bar.
Ethan, finally freed from paperwork, wasted no ti escaping, making sure not to bring up salaries again.
Of course, in his mind, he already had it figured out. There was no way he was letting Celia work for free.
---
That night, after logging into Ethereal, the first thing Ethan did was open the guild managent panel.
With a few clicks, he promoted Celia's character, Tears of the Fallen, to Honorary Guild Leader—a position granting nearly the sa authority as the actual guild leader, except for the ability to disband the guild.
His second task was checking his Bloodline Attributes.
That afternoon, he had suddenly rembered sothing, the night before, right before the ga's scheduled maintenance, he had completed the Tree Form quest.
At the ti, there had been a system notification ntioning that his bloodline had officially awakened.
—
Bloodline:
[King of Elves (Divine) - Unique] Lv1
Special Trait: In human form, you can use certain Druid-form abilities at 20% effectiveness. (Not yet activated.)
Passive Bonus: 10 Star Growth to all attributes.
Abilities:
Focus (Divine): 50% skill effectiveness
Prophecy (Divine): 10 stat points per
level
Growth (Divine): Double XP from quests/kills
Description: The peace-loving Elven race has left an indelible mark on every recorded Holy War. Though they cherish tranquility, their valor in battle is unparalleled.
---
His bloodline was now upgradable, and a new special trait had appeared. But for so reason, it remained inactive.
"Using certain Druid-form abilities in human form… What does that even an?"
Curious, Ethan switched to his human form and attempted to cast a skill.
Nothing.
All of his abilities were grayed out, completely unusable.
And sure enough, the new trait still showed inactive while in human form.
Frustrated, he called out in his mind, "Morzan, care to explain what this nonsense is?!"
Silence. No response.
Ethan scowled, staring at the useless trait. Even if it worked, what good would 20% effectiveness be?
Annoyed, he ntally ranted at Morzan for a while before eventually giving up.
His frustration only grew.
Sure, his real life had drastically improved since his rebirth. But in the ga? It felt like things were only getting more irritating.
And for so reason, once the thought of quitting Ethereal popped into his head, he couldn't quite shake it away.
Lyla had gone off with Heaven's Dawn and her classmates for so dungeon runs, leaving Ethan alone.
Trying to shake off his lingering frustration, he focused on upgrading the ring he had acquired the night before, reinforcing it to 30.
---
[Blazing Ring 30]
Tier: Gold (Upgradeable)
Level Requirent: 20
Attack Power: 216-308 (Base: 54-77, Reinforcent: 162-231)
Agility: 20
Strength: 20
Intelligence: 20
Effect: Increases both physical and magical attack power by 10%.
Reinforcent Bonuses:
Mastery 3 (at 10)
Haste 3 (at 20)
Critical Hit 3 (at 30)
Set Bonus (2/3, Inactive): When equipped with Blazing Bracelet and Blazing Necklace, unlocks the skill Blazing Defense.
Skill Description (Blazing Defense): Grants immunity to death once, reduces damage by 20% for 8 seconds, and fully restores health. (Cooldown: 3 days)
---
This ring alone boosted Ethan's attack power to 1,700—a solid improvent.
But compared to Lyla? He was still 2,000 points behind. If he wanted to craft his own personalized artifact, he needed Prismatic Stones.
The problem? The drop rate in the Iron Mountains was atrocious. He wasn't about to waste hours farming there.
Besides, that area was a death trap for solo players.
'Wait… wasn't there a quest related to nurturing that Prismatic Stone?'
Rembering this, he pulled out the odd little floating stone from his inventory. Next, he grabbed so ore he had purchased earlier.
"How am I even supposed to feed this thing?"
As soon as he took out the ore, the Prismatic Stone darted from his left hand to his right, its tiny body suddenly splitting open into a comically oversized mouth—easily several tis bigger than itself.
Then, without hesitation, it chomped down on the basketball-sized ore in Ethan's hand.
Crunch. Crunch.
The solid mineral shattered like popcorn. In just three bites, the entire chunk was gone. And yet, the stone's size hadn't changed at all.
Ethan blinked. Then, still in shock, he pulled out another ore.
Crunch. Crunch.
Then another.
Crunch. Crunch.
And another.
Crunch. Crunch.
Ten ores later, Ethan finally stopped.
The Prismatic Stone, now floating in front of his face, started bouncing up and down, almost as if urging him to keep going.
Its movents practically scread: "Co on! More! Keep 'em coming!"
Ethan's already foul mood soured even further.
"Oh, so now even a rock is acting smug around ?"
Fine. He'd show it.
With a sinister grin, he emptied his entire ore stockpile into his hands, every single chunk of rock he had spent two gold on.
A single low-grade ore barely cost a few copper coins, and even the better-quality ones were only worth a few dozen.
Most mining players still had low skill levels, and the higher-tier mines were practically inaccessible without a cleared-out dungeon. The undead monsters inside made solo mining nearly impossible.
Ethan had assud this pile of ore would last a while. But the Prismatic Stone had other ideas.
As soon as he dumped the pile out, it opened its mouth wide, and with a massive suction force, the entire mini-mountain of ore vanished in an instant.
"...What the hell?! A second ago, you were taking tiny bites, were you just ssing with ?!"
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