Ethan suddenly rembered an item—Arcane Inscriptions.
At level 35, he could use the lowest tier of Arcane Inscriptions.
Arcane Inscriptions were products crafted by mages who had taken up the Scribe secondary profession.
After learning the Scribe profession, a mage could use Inscription Paper to imprint their spells onto it.
When casting, they simply needed to tear the inscription paper, allowing the spell to activate instantly, bypassing the need for incantations.
These Arcane Inscriptions weren't restricted to any specific class, aning anyone could use them.
However, crafting them was incredibly difficult.
A novice Scribe might only manage to inscribe one or two basic spells onto the paper in a day, if they were lucky.
For players who lacked patience or focus, becoming a Scribe was nearly impossible. A single mistake in the inscription process would result in imdiate failure.
Even high-level Scribes faced the sa challenges, though they found it easier to inscribe lower-tier spells once their skill level increased.
However, high-level mages rarely had high-level Scribe skills.
Since they had chosen combat as their primary focus, they didn't waste ti on such ticulous tasks.
That said, they still crafted low-level Arcane Inscriptions for ergencies or to sell.
In essence, the Scribe profession was a mage's exclusive secondary profession, a perk for a class that often faced high resource consumption in battle.
If sharpshooters and gunners burned through arrows and bullets, mages burned through Mana Potions.
These potions were incredibly expensive, far more so than health potions, even though they weren't consud as frequently.
In prolonged battles where there was no chance to rest and recover, mages had to rely on Mana Potions to maintain their damage output.
Mages were widely regarded as the class with the highest burst damage in Ethereal, but they were also the poorest.
The Scribe profession, however, required level 35 to learn, and at this point, no player had reached that level.
This didn't faze Ethan, though. He knew of an NPC who sold Arcane Inscriptions.
Moreover, the inscriptions sold by this NPC had fixed damage values, making them far superior to those crafted by players.
They were perfect for taking on higher-level enemies.
If he wanted to level up quickly, he'd have to throw money at the problem.
The daily gold inco from six shops and three auction houses across three cities should be enough to fund his leveling spree… right?
Ethan wasn't entirely sure. He knew Arcane Inscriptions were expensive, and he wasn't certain if his inco would cover the costs.
He'd also need to return to Harmony City because the NPC who sold the inscriptions was located in that region.
First, he stopped by Springhaven to stock up on Antidote Potions. The area he was heading to was the sa village where he'd once been thrown into the Underworld.
There, he'd need to grind Reputation Points with the NPCs before they'd even consider selling to him.
Otherwise, they'd ignore him entirely.
And if he encountered a particularly irritable NPC, even a glance in their direction could get him instantly killed.
If one NPC attacked, others in the vicinity would join in.
Once he was fully prepared, Ethan teleported to the Plaguelands Outpost. The sight of the strange, dilapidated tree houses greeted him, weathered by years of wind and rain.
As always, Ethan kept his head down and hurried toward the outpost's entrance.
He paused at the notice board near the gate. This was where the outpost's quests were posted.
Ethan opened the notice board and selected quests that would increase his reputation with Plaguelands Outpost. After accepting all of them, he quickly left the area.
The monsters around the outpost were all level 35, which posed little challenge for Ethan.
The first creature he encountered was a bear reeking of decay.
[Plague Bear]
Rank: Common
Level: 35
Health: 35,000/35,000
Defense: 700
To Ethan, this defense was as flimsy as paper. In his Panther Form, a basic attack like Claw Strike could deal over a thousand damage.
He opened with Rake, stunning the beast.
Then followed up with Shred.
-4,489!
The Plague Bear's health dropped significantly.
Swish, swish, swish…
A few more attacks, and the bear was dead before it could recover from the stun.
Clink, clink…
It dropped two copper coins.
"Even a mosquito's worth of at is still at," Ethan muttered, picking up the coins.
Using the Tumor Collector provided by the quest, he sliced off the bear's tumor and stored it in his inventory.
Then he moved on to find the next target.
Three hours later, Ethan had completed all the quests. His experience bar was now at 99%.
Killing monsters at his own level was painfully slow for leveling up.
And this was with the bonus from his Divine Growth Talent and his already high attack power.
If other players knew what Ethan was thinking, they'd probably explode in anger, raging along these lines:
"You're level 34, gaining 3% in three hours, and you're still not satisfied? At our level, we're lucky to get 1-2% in the sa ti. You greedy piece of shit, do you think you deserve better than everyone else in the ga?"
In Ethereal, leveling up beca exponentially harder after level 25.
Players had initially thought leveling in Ethereal was slow, but after hitting 25, they realized what true snail-paced progression felt like.
Ethan knew that the first major expansion, Fortress Wars, would significantly reduce the early-level grind, allowing newer players to catch up.
The Fortress Wars expansion was set to launch in about four months. By then, the average player level would be around 45.
Right now, the ga was in its Leveling Phase, designed to help players familiarize themselves with Ethereal's world, their classes, and skill combinations.
Thanks to Ethereal's open-ended design, players could experint and develop their own combat combos.
As soone who had lived through Ethereal's developnt in his past life, Ethan felt a mix of emotions. On one hand, he was eager for Fortress Wars to begin. It would be the perfect opportunity for his guild to shine.
Capturing more fortresses ant more resources and, ultimately, more profit.
On the other hand, he dreaded its arrival.
Delaying the expansion would allow him to monopolize certain lucrative ventures before the ga introduced real-world currency exchange platforms.
Once players realized how profitable fortresses were, large corporations would flood into Ethereal, investing heavily in powerful guilds.
This would lead to a massive reshuffling of power within the ga.
In his previous life, Ethan's guild had been one of the casualties of this reshuffle, losing control to Zachary.
The thought brought back mories of what had happened in Blackridge.
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