Even though Ethan didn't manage to loot a skill this time using his Pillage ability, the 20 extra health points and 1-point defense boost he gained still left him feeling ecstatic.
This kind of reward was practically game-breaking!
In this world, players could only improve their stats through leveling up or by acquiring the extremely rare Sacred Relics.
And those Sacred Relics? Their prices were absolutely insane.
Take the Ironbark Fruit, for example—it only adds 1 point of defense, but its market price was a staggering $20,000. And even at that price, it was almost impossible to find. For the average player, these items were completely out of reach.
But Ethan was different. He had Pillage.
This ability allowed him to steal talents and skills directly from specific monsters by killing them.
It was a game-changer, letting him cover his weaknesses and amplify his strengths.
"Looks like I need to start picking my targets more carefully," Ethan muttered, gripping his Boneblade tightly as a fiery determination lit up his eyes. "I'll hunt monsters that can fill in my gaps and steal their talents and skills."
Slash!
The sharp Boneblade struck cleanly across the neck of a Rotting Grizzly.
"-183!"
A system notification popped up:
Congratulations! You've killed a Rotting Grizzly. You've gained 22 Evolution Points and 22 Experience Points.
Ethan's movements were fluid and precise, wasting no energy. His skill and awareness completely outclassed these ordinary Rotting Grizzlies, and he barely took any damage in the process.
Instead of luring them out one by one, he decided to charge straight into the pack, letting the Rotting Grizzlies swarm him. Their attacks couldn't even scratch his defense, and all he had to do was swing his Boneblade, cutting them down like weeds.
Deep in the Silverpine Forest, Ethan unleashed a massacre.
One hour later.
Congratulations! You've killed a Rotting Grizzly. You've gained 16 Evolution Points and 16 Experience Points.
Congratulations! You've leveled up. Health +10, Attack +1, Defense +1.
After leveling up twice in a row, Ethan had reached Level 9. But despite his progress, he wasn't entirely satisfied.
While his efficiency had improved, the experience and Evolution Points he earned from killing Rotting Grizzlies had dropped significantly as his level increased.
Now, each kill only gave him 16 Evolution Points, but his next evolution required a whopping 10,000 points.
"I've been grinding for an hour and only managed to save up 4,000 points. This is way too slow," Ethan muttered, frowning as his gaze shifted toward the distant mountaintop, where an Uncommon-tier Rotting Grizzly Leader loomed.
[Rotting Grizzly Leader]
Level: 10 (Uncommon)
Health: 3000
Attack: 60–100
Defense: 30
Skills: Bear Roar, Shockwave
Description: The Uncommon-tier leader of the Silverpine Forest. Its attacks are extremely powerful.
Hiding behind a large boulder, Ethan carefully observed the Uncommon-tier monster, planning his next move.
He knew that by using Morph Armor to transform his weapon into a bow, combined with precise movement and his exceptional awareness, he could slowly whittle down the Rotting Grizzly Leader to death.
But that wasn't his plan.
"The server just launched. Time is everything. I need to move fast—domination is the only way forward!"
Ethan opened his system interface and began allocating his Evolution Points.
Spent 1,000 Evolution Points to upgrade Morph Armor. Morph Armor has been upgraded to Level 2.
Spent 300 Evolution Points to upgrade Quick Slash. Quick Slash has been upgraded to Level 4.
Spent 500 Evolution Points to upgrade Quick Slash. Quick Slash has been upgraded to Level 5.
Spent 600 Evolution Points to upgrade Quick Slash. Quick Slash has been upgraded to Level 6.
Spent 800 Evolution Points to upgrade Quick Slash. Quick Slash has been upgraded to Level 8.
Ethan had spent a total of 3,900 Evolution Points, upgrading his Quick Slash skill to Level 8. While the cost of evolving a Rare-tier skill was painfully high, he knew it was worth it.
When he checked the upgraded skill's effects, all his regret vanished in an instant.
[Morph Armor]
Skill Tier: Rare
Current Level: 2
Skill Effect: For 30 minutes, transform your weapon into either Bone Armor or a Bow.
Damage Output: 60% of weapon attack power.
Requirement: Bone Powder.
[Quick Slash]
Skill Tier: Basic
Current Level: 8
Skill Effect: For 80 minutes, increases attack speed by 240%.
A 240% attack speed boost meant Ethan could now attack once every 0.8 seconds. The duration had also increased from 30 minutes to a whopping 80 minutes.
In the world of Dark Scrolls, attack speed wasn't just a number on the stats screen—it also depended on the player's skill and reaction time.
Even if the system theoretically allowed for 0.1-second attacks (ten strikes per second), most players could only manage two strikes per second due to their lack of precision and control.
But Ethan? That limitation didn't apply to him.
He was the same player who had set a world record in Everfall: 13 strikes per second.
That record still stood unbroken.
"With the bow-blade weapon and this insane attack speed, I can finally pull off the Instant-Switch Technique again," Ethan muttered, his lips curling into a confident smirk.
The Instant-Switch Technique was a combat strategy Ethan had invented in the past. It wasn't a skill granted by the game but rather a high-level mechanical technique based on precise timing and execution.
Over time, this technique had been adopted by countless top-tier players and had even become a staple for many professional gamers.
The core of the technique was simple: during the casting animation of a spell, you forcefully cancel the cast, switch to a melee weapon, and unleash a burst of high-damage attacks in an instant.
For the Unyielding Blade class, this technique was nothing short of revolutionary.
The class's skills were known for their powerful crowd-control effects, but to balance this, the developers had intentionally given them long casting times—around two seconds per spell.
This design frustrated most players.
Two seconds was enough time to land four or five melee strikes. Who would willingly waste that time casting a spell?
But Ethan's Instant-Switch Technique completely bypassed this limitation.
By canceling the spell at the exact moment its effect triggered, he could still apply the crowd-control effect while skipping the damage portion of the spell.
This single technique multiplied the combat potential of the Unyielding Blade class several times over.
"First, I need to gather some Bone Powder," Ethan said to himself as he dragged the skeleton of a Rotting Grizzly to a nearby boulder. He began carefully shaving the bones into powder using his Boneblade.
The biggest limitation of Morph Armor was its reliance on Bone Powder as a consumable. Without it, the skill couldn't even be activated.
Standing nearby, Lily watched Ethan's actions with a puzzled expression.
"Hey, Mr. Bones, what are you doing?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Why are you suddenly carving up bones?"
Ever since she had witnessed Ethan's terrifying combat skills and absurd damage output, Lily had started calling him "Mr. Bones." The nickname had stuck.
But she still didn't fully understand his plans. All she knew was that Ethan had his sights set on the Uncommon-tier Rotting Grizzly Leader at the mountaintop.
"Mr. Bones, I know you're crazy skilled and can one-shot anything, but don't you think you're getting a little overconfident here?"
Lily's voice carried a mix of concern and exasperation as she watched Ethan's burning determination. His gaze was locked onto the Uncommon-tier boss, the fire in his eyes practically tangible.
"How about this," she suggested, trying to reason with him. "I'm Level 9 now too. If I level up one more time, I can go back to town and learn my Level 5 and Level 10 skills—Undead Empowerment and Summon Skeleton Archer."
"With those, I can boost all your stats by 30%, and the Skeleton Archers will follow your commands. Then we can take on the Uncommon boss together. How does that sound?"
Her tone was hopeful, but she knew Ethan well enough to suspect he wouldn't listen.