LThe Rend skill was shared by both Druids and Rogues. Targets hit by Rend suffered continuous bleeding damage. The more energy points used, the longer the duration.
One energy point dealt 200% of the user's attack power as damage over eight seconds. Each additional point extended the duration by four seconds and added another 100% of attack power in damage. The total output was also influenced by how well the skill was executed.
Rogues could accumulate up to five energy points. Applied to Ethan, the Rend effect lasted a full twenty-four seconds.
The Rogue alt followed up with a precise Backstab. Upon hitting a player, Backstab triggered a five-second Weakness Detection effect.
As the na implied, it detected vulnerabilities in the opponent's defenses, increasing the chance of landing critical hits. It also applied Armor Penetration, reducing the target's defense by twenty percent.
Next, the Rogue alt unleashed its full burst. Just as the five seconds of Weakness Detection were about to expire—and as the stun effect was wearing off—it landed a finishing move: a full-point Kidney Shot, stunning Ethan for another five seconds.
Ambush and Kidney Shot were classified as different skills, so there was no diminishing return on the stun.
With every cooldown available, the Rogue alt launched into a relentless combo. Ethan was caught off guard by how many new abilities it had acquired.
After forty-five seconds of sustained assault, Ethan's Human Form health had dropped to half. Then, the Rogue alt finally stopped.
"I'm done... that was damn exhausting!"
The alt actually spoke. Ethan wasn't surprised—he'd known all along that Morzan was the one controlling it. He had simply stood still and let him attack.
The level difference was too vast, and Ethan was equipped with legendary-tier gear. Without true damage gear, how could a Rogue ever hope to take him down?
Even with forty-five seconds of crowd control, Ethan—unable to dodge, parry, or reduce damage in Human Form—had only lost half his health. And that was largely thanks to Morzan's impressive equipnt.
Where had Morzan even gotten such solid gear?
The alt was clad entirely in Gold-tier equipnt. Overall, it looked even better than the gear on Ethan's main character. He was still wearing a mix of mismatched sets, with so Silver-tier items still hanging on. Still, he did have a few Gold-tier pieces with perfect stats—plus several Dark Gold items, all reinforced to level thirty.
Most importantly, he wielded a Druid-exclusive Legendary weapon that surpassed even Divine-tier.
In Ethereal, Divine-tier equipnt wasn't unique. Multiple players could possess the sa item. But Legendary weapons? They were truly one-of-a-kind. If you had one, no one else could get it.
"Keep attacking!" Ethan said with a grin. "It's the perfect chance to drop the Wishbound Relic. Then you can pick it up."
It was his first real conversation with Morzan, face to face. Although it was technically just an alt, Morzan's soul inhabited it.
"Take off your equipnt!" Morzan said, clearly exasperated.
"Sure!" Ethan agreed, unequipping everything.
Without the support of his gear, he beca far more vulnerable. The Morzan-controlled alt executed a clean combo and brought him down.
[Ding... System notification: You have been killed by [NotARogue], dropped item: Wishbound Relic x1.]
[Ding... System notification: Your alt has picked up [Wishbound Relic].]
[Ding... System notification: Your alt has acquired an extraordinary item, alt leveled up!]
[Ding... System notification: Your alt has received Master Blacksmith's legacy, automatically changing profession to [Divine Forger], gained skill [Divine Forging (Novice)].]
The mont Ethan fell, Morzan quickly snatched up the Wishbound Relic that dropped.
They were standing in a remote graveyard Ethan had intentionally chosen—one where few players' souls were sent upon death. In Ethereal, when players died, their souls were transported to the nearest graveyard. So Ethan could resurrect right there, saving himself the ti of running back to his body.
"Kid, sothing's off—the Wishbound Relic vanished. And my weapon... it automatically went back into my bag?"
Morzan seed just as confused. He rummaged through his inventory for a while but ca up empty.
Ethan's heart sank. It was gone...
He ignored the second part of Morzan's sentence and imdiately opened his alt's inventory. There were only a few basic items. No relic.
Eventually, he had to accept it. The two of them—identical in appearance—stood at the respawn point, staring at each other in disbelief.
"You have GM privileges—spawn a relic for !" Ethan suddenly blurted.
"GM privileges? Seriously? You still think Ethereal is just a regular ga written by so developers?" Morzan rolled his eyes.
"Besides, if I could spawn items, I'd give you full max-level gear on the spot."
"That would be great!" Ethan replied with a straight face, nodding.
Morzan stared at him, stunned. "I wasn't joking."
"Neither was I," Ethan said, smirking.
But deep down, he was feeling the weight of it. The shadow of losing the Wishbound Relic—again—pressed on him like a curse from his past life.
Despite his pleading, Morzan eventually confessed that he genuinely couldn't help. He was powerless.
In his frustration, Ethan suddenly rembered the system notification. The alt had changed professions to Divine Forger and gained a skill: Divine Forging. He opened the alt's character panel to check its attributes.
Morzan seed to be checking his side too.
When Ethan opened the profession tab, he realized sothing he'd never thought about before—his alt could actually learn professions. In Ethereal, players were allowed to learn up to three. Normally, you'd pick one and leave two slots empty until later.
But the alt's panel looked nothing like that.
At first, Ethan assud Morzan had just trained so crafting skills. But then he saw it—three nearly identical icons, each beginning with Divine Forge.
First: [Divine Forge Exclusive] Forging (Novice)
Second: [Divine Forge Exclusive] Slting (Novice)
Third: [Divine Forge Exclusive] Mining (Novice)
He had traded the Wishbound Relic for these three novice-level skills. Ethan felt like his head was about to explode.
But it was too late for regrets. Morzan—the supposedly all-powerful creator of Ethereal—turned out to be helpless.
He admitted that while he had created the ga, he couldn't control anything within it. The process of resurrecting and reincarnating Ethan had required powers beyond his own.
So Ethan asked him directly, "What exactly is Ethereal?"
Morzan hesitated. "...Later. You'll understand in ti."
Ethan scowled. 'Later my ass.'
With no other options, he decided to examine the skills. Maybe this mysterious profession could make up for what he'd lost.
Morzan offered a casual reassurance. "Divine Forger is actually superior to Master Blacksmith."
"Oh?" Ethan's eyes lit up.
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