Ethan opened his friend list, frowning as he saw that every single na was grayed out. What was going on? Skyblade, Slashblade, SeraphWarrior… all of them were offline.
He tried adding LittleHorn as a friend.
Ding…
[System Alert: Current map is a restricted zone. System functions unavailable!]
Ah, so that was the issue. The map restrictions explained why no one had sent him any ssages over the past few days.
"Use external communication to call Victor!" Ethan commanded the Ethereal system.
Ding…
[System Alert: Current map is a restricted zone. System functions unavailable!]
"Ugh…"
Even external communication was blocked. Fine, he'd just grind so monsters.
He led his Second Avatar to the spawn point of the Scorchbeast Titans. Positioning the avatar in a safe spot, Ethan set the system to allocate all experience from kills to the avatar. He started by casting Owl Form to apply debuffs, then activated Spirit Embodint, unleashing a barrage of sixteen rapid attacks that flew out like bullets from a Gatling gun.
Rat-tat-tat!
The Scorchbeast Titan's health bar dropped significantly. Ethan took down the first one before the cooldown on Spirit Embodint had even reset. This was much faster than his previous kill tis.
Ding…
[Kill Confird: Scorchbeast Titan. Overleveled kill bonus: 1500%. Experience gained: 176,000 (Base experience: 5,500. Overleveled bonus: 82,500. Divine Ability bonus: 88,000).]
Ding…
[System Alert: 100% of experience from this kill has been shared with your avatar, [NotARogue].]
Ding…
[System Alert: Congratulations! Your avatar [NotARogue] has leveled up to Level 2!]
Ding…
[System Alert: Congratulations! Your avatar [NotARogue] has leveled up to Level 3!]
…
Golden light flashed repeatedly as the avatar shot up 10 levels in seconds. Ethan couldn't help but feel a pang of envy. Back when he'd leveled his main character to 10, it had taken him days. Now, thanks to the Divine Ability experience bonus, all that extra experience was being funneled directly into his avatar.
One…
Two…
Three…
Ethan kept taking down Scorchbeast Titans, and the avatar kept leveling up. By the ti he killed the tenth one:
Ding…
[System Alert: Your rampant killing of [Zovaal's] minions in the Soulforge Abyss has drawn his attention.]
Huh? Who or what was Zovaal?
Ethan froze, imdiately activating Stealth. He scanned his surroundings carefully, but after a few monts, nothing seed out of the ordinary. Still, he knew the system wouldn't give a aningless alert. This Zovaal was likely a high-tier NPC or monster—sothing formidable. In Ethereal, any NPC with a unique na was a force to be reckoned with.
After a while, when nothing happened, Ethan cautiously resud grinding. He took down a few more Scorchbeast Titans, but everything seed normal. He'd gotten into a rhythm, his movents almost automatic as he mastered the monsters' patterns.
Then, out of nowhere, a massive white orb appeared in the sky. Ethan's heart skipped a beat. The orb materialized instantly and hurtled toward him at an alarming speed. Even if he activated the Swift Stride skill on his boots, there was no way he could escape its radius in ti.
Gritting his teeth, Ethan activated Bear Form. As a Druid, transforming into a bear increased his agility, boosting his dodge chance, while his defense skyrocketed by 300% and his stamina by 350%. The transformation also made him immune to polymorph effects and granted access to a suite of bear-specific abilities. Best of all, it removed all movent-impairing effects.
After equipping the Blazing Necklace, all his stats increased by 50 points. His health pool now maxed out at 10,010. In Bear Form, the 350% health boost sent his HP soaring to 35,035. His defense, previously ranging from 1,858 to 2,034, now jumped to a staggering 5,574 to 6,102.
Boom!
The magical orb slamd into him.
-35,033!
Ethan's mind reeled as the damage number flashed. He quickly tried to move, but before he could, chains erupted from the ground, wrapping around him and locking him in place. With 475 agility, his movent speed was normally 195%—and that was without Panther Form. But the chains reduced his speed to a pitiful 25%.
His massive bear form lumbered awkwardly, slowed to a crawl. With only 2 HP left, even the simple act of pulling out a potion felt like it took an eternity. Though the initial orb attack had ended, the Scorchbeast Titan he'd been fighting wasn't done. It swung its massive arms, chains whipping through the air as it prepared to unleash a Cleaving Tempest.
Ethan shifted into Panther Form and activated the Swift Stride skill on his boots. Whoosh! His speed surged, and he darted out of the attack range just in ti.
"Phew…" Ethan exhaled in relief. Thank the gods Druid transformations could remove movent-impairing effects. Unfortunately, the attack speed debuff remained.
He sprinted away, but the chains seed to stretch infinitely. He tossed a dium Instant Health Potion into his mouth.
8,000!
His health bar shot back up. Realizing the chains couldn't be broken by distance, Ethan circled back to their source. He noticed the shackles had health bars. Swiping with his claws, he destroyed them one by one, finally freeing himself.
The Scorchbeast Titan was almost dead. Ethan didn't want to let it reset—that would an all his effort was wasted. He shifted into Owl Form and unleashed Spirit Embodint, firing off a barrage of sixteen attacks. Skills like Solar Flare, Lunar Beam, Stellar Surge, and Full Moon Descent erupted from him. The goofy-looking owl beca a machine gun, spewing blue flas.
-7,895!
-5,942!
-15,897!
-2,564!
-3,564!
A flurry of damage numbers filled the air.
Ding…
[Kill Confird: Scorchbeast Titan…]
Ethan rushed forward to loot the corpse, then imdiately shifted back into Panther Form and bolted, his avatar following close behind. Above him, the swirling vortex in the sky flickered, and another faint orb began to form. If he didn't get out of there now, he might not get another chance.
He'd checked the combat log earlier. The attack was called Soul Surge, and the description was chilling: You have drawn the attention of Zovaal. He has ordered periodic, map-wide AOE attacks using [Soul Surge].
"What the hell is this Zovaal guy?" Ethan muttered under his breath.
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