Ethan glanced around, squinting into the impenetrable darkness.
"Where the hell am I now?"
It was pitch black.
"Oh, crap, I’m still in Carnage Faction territory!"
He imdiately shifted into Panther Form. In his human shape, the darkness was absolute, but the panther’s eyes cut through it with ease.
It was only then he got a clear look at his surroundings.
"You’ve got to be kidding . A graveyard?"
The last thing he rembered was his body crossing over from the General’s Tomb to the General’s Hall—a place that existed outside this ga entirely. He was back to the ga now, but it seed his return ticket had dumped him right in the middle of a graveyard.
The mont his vision adjusted, he spotted them: several players from the Carnage Faction. They must have chosen to resurrect here with the debilitating "Weakness" penalty. They were just standing there, staring dumbfounded at the sudden appearance of a fiery, semi-transparent panther, its form shimring with drifting motes of starlight.
"What are you looking at?" Ethan didn’t give them ti to process. He unleashed a Rake.
Shhhkrip!
With his level advantage—this was a level 20 zone, after all—and them weakened to a re 10% of their stats, it was an instant slaughter. These guys had probably been camped so hard they were too scared to even run back to their corpses.
As they died, a system ssage flashed for them:
[Ding... You have been killed by the opposing faction player (NotADruid)!]
The na finally clicked for one of them. "Holy hell! Druid God just killed !" he shrieked into the world chat.
The others, catching on, echoed the sentint.
On the Carnage Faction’s world channel, the night owls were instantly amused.
" You newbs aren’t worthy of being killed by the Druid God."
" Yeah, posting fake news for clout? Pathetic."
" Hasn’t he been MIA? Probably off sowhere living it up."
" My bet’s on him rolling in the sheets with so lucky lady."
The nightly chatter on their server spiraled from there. Ethan, of course, was blissfully unaware. As a Survivor Faction player, he couldn’t see their world chat. Hell, he had his own faction’s world chat permanently muted with a handy ’X’.
After dusting the poor saps, Ethan slipped into Stealth and found a secluded corner to equip the Demonhunter’s Bone Fang Necklace.
Demonhunter’s Bone Fang Necklace
Quality: Common
Level: 35
Dark Vision: 5
Property 1: Activates a gateway to the Light Realm. Only the wielder can perceive this gateway. Duration: 5 minutes. Cooldown: (7 days)
Property 2: Disguises the wielder as a Carnage Faction player. Duration: 30 minutes. Can be dismissed at will. Cooldown: 1 hour
It was Common-grade, but its properties were undeniably epic. He noticed the first property now read "Light Realm" instead of its original "Shadow Realm" description. The skill was a two-way trip.
Without hesitation, he activated it. A portal, radiating a soft, milky light, swirled into existence before him. He stepped through without a second thought.
A sudden worry crossed his mind mid-step. The trip here had been a random drop into Carnage territory. What if the return trip was random too? Ending up in another server region would seriously screw up his plans.
His fears were short-lived. As his vision cleared, he found himself standing in the exact spot he’d left from.
"Whew... Thank god."
Getting dumped in another country would have been a disaster. He had big plans for tomorrow.
He checked the ti. Just past midnight. He had eighteen hours until the Fortress Wars expansion went live.
Getting his bearings, he shifted into Travel Form.
Fwoosh!
His form lted into that of a giant eagle, soaring into the sky. He set a course for Harmony City. It wasn’t far, and frankly, he just felt like flying. There was sothing freeing about cruising through the virtual air.
As he flew, he pulled up his friends list. One na, as always, was permanently online: his forr creditor, Trusty007. Ethan had set up an automatic paynt plan through his shop system ages ago; the debt should be long cleared by now.
NotADruid: Got any gold?
He got a reply in seconds.
Trusty007: Boss? Is that you? You’re like a ghost! If your guild wasn’t still active, I’d have thought you skipped town on your debt!
Ethan blinked at the screen.
NotADruid: It’s not paid off? You’re not getting the daily installnts?
Trusty007: Boss, it’s only been a few days!
A few days? The ssage hit Ethan like a ton of bricks. His sense of ti was completely scrambled. How long had he been gone? He shook his head, deciding not to unravel that particular mystery.
NotADruid: How much is left?
Trusty007: Not much! Just over ten thousand. Wait, you asking about gold... you need another loan?
Ethan had reached Harmony City, landing just outside the main gate and walking in—flying over a city was a surefire way to get smited by the system guards. He clicked the video call button.
Trusty007 picked up instantly. The sa slick-haired, slightly pudgy face filled the screen. "Legend! How much you need this ti?" he asked, a rchant’s grin already in place. He loved these deals; Ethan’s repaynts were locked in at the gold-to-cash rate from the ti of the loan, and the market price had only gone down since.
"How much do you have?" Ethan asked.
The broker’s eyes lit up. "Let check the Northern Frontier ledger..." He glanced down at sothing off-screen, probably a spreadsheet. "536,941 gold. Current exchange is 1 gold to 1,259 Dollars."
"I’ll take it all," Ethan said calmly.
"What?" The guy’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
Simultaneously, a distinct electronic voice ca through the comms from Trusty007’s end:
[Ding... Your account has been credited 676,008,719 Dollars. Please confirm receipt.]
The broker froze, mouth agape.
"Don’t ’what’ . Mail the gold," Ethan said with a faint smile.
"Uh... r-right away..." Trusty007 stamred, moving to comply in a state of stunned automation.
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