"Wow, look at all this green gear!" Lily's eyes sparkled like stars, but she didn't reach out to grab anything.
The Uncommon Rotting Grizzly leader had been taken down by Mr. Bones, so naturally, the loot distribution was up to him.
But… why was Mr. Bones staring at that book for so long?
"A… a skill book dropped!"
"No way, that's insane luck!"
Lily's delicate face lit up with excitement, and she looked like she was about to jump for joy.
[Cleave Attack]
Skill Quality: Uncommon
Skill Type: Passive
Skill Overview: When attacking, 5% of the damage will cleave into other enemy targets within a 10-square-foot radius, ignoring both defense and evasion.
"A Cleave Attack skill? This is a game-changer for crowd control," Ethan thought, feeling a surge of excitement.
Even though the skill wasn't high-tier, its effect was incredibly powerful.
The cleave damage ignored both defense and evasion!
For melee classes, this was practically a godsend for farming mobs. With a fast enough attack speed, it could enable highly efficient multi-target kills.
Sure, 5% damage didn't seem like much, but unlike [Pillage], this skill could be upgraded with evolution points.
For regular players, upgrading this skill would require consuming another [Cleave Attack] skill book each time. But since skill books had an abysmally low drop rate, this method was outrageously expensive.
Ethan, however, was different. He could upgrade it directly using evolution points.
Even better, the skill wasn't restricted to any specific class—anyone could learn it.
In the early stages of the game, this skill might seem underwhelming because of how costly it was to upgrade. Most players simply couldn't afford it.
But in the late game? Once leveled up, its power would be absolutely jaw-dropping.
"Still… can I even learn it?" Ethan muttered to himself.
[Learn the skill Cleave Attack?]
"Yes." Ethan's cheek twitched slightly, his voice carrying a hint of anticipation.
[Skill Cleave Attack learned successfully.]
He turned to Lily and motioned for her to pick up all the gear on the ground. Without hesitation, Lily got to work, sweeping up the loot in one go.
Meanwhile, Ethan couldn't wait to open his stats panel:
Name: Ethan
Level: 10 (EXP: 500/10,000)
Race: Bone Vanguard
HP: 630
MP: 330
Attack: 75 (+30 from Boneblade)
Defense: 70
Agility: 30 (Attack speed: 1 hit every 2.5 seconds; Movement speed: 1 step every 1.75 seconds)
Skills:
[Morph Armor] (Level 2)
[Pillage] (Passive)
[Quick Slash] (Level 8)
[Cleave Attack] (Passive, Level 1)
Evolution Points: 1003
Enhancement Points: 100
After reaching level 10, the attribute bonuses from leveling up had increased tenfold: +100 HP, +100 MP, +10 Attack, and +5 Defense per level.
With such a massive boost to his overall stats, Ethan's strength had taken a significant leap forward.
At level 10, players could also start their class advancement quests.
However, Ethan wasn't sure if he could even advance his class.
"Can I even do a class advancement? And if I can, where do I go for it?" he muttered, a trace of doubt flickering in his eyes.
But he quickly brushed the thought aside.
Even if he couldn't advance his class, his evolution abilities were far superior to any standard class advancement.
"Let's upgrade the skill first, then head back to rest for a bit."
He also knew that Lily had reached level 10 and would need to complete her class advancement quest soon.
As a [Spirit Summoner], Lily would gain a powerful class skill upon advancing: [Summon Undead Priest].
The [Undead Priest] was a support summon with skills that boosted the attack and attack speed of undead units, which would be a huge help to Ethan.
Additionally, undead players unlocked [Undead Empowerment] at level 5 and [Summon Skeleton Archer] at level 10, both of which would significantly enhance her combat capabilities.
[Spent 100 Evolution Points: Cleave Attack upgraded successfully to Level 2.]
[Spent 200 Evolution Points…]
In total, Ethan spent 600 evolution points to upgrade [Cleave Attack] to Level 4.
After upgrading [Cleave Attack] to level 4, the improvement was immediately noticeable.
The cleave damage had increased to 9%. While it still didn't seem particularly high, Ethan knew the true potential of this skill could be unlocked over time.
For most players, learning and upgrading skills required gold, level restrictions, and a significant amount of experience points and skill points. Skills like [Cleave Attack], which had no class restrictions, also required an additional skill book for each upgrade.
But Ethan was different. He could upgrade skills using only evolution points. This ability was so overpowered it could only be described as "broken."
After finishing the skill upgrades, Ethan extended his hand, signaling Lily to hand over the gear for inspection.
Lily froze for a moment, clearly reluctant. She had just gotten her hands on the gear and was still basking in the excitement of the loot.
For most players, the allure of good equipment was no less intoxicating than a man's desire for a beautiful woman.
There were countless players who would go to extreme lengths—spending absurd amounts of money or even bankrupting themselves—just to get their hands on a top-tier piece of gear.
But after only a brief hesitation, Lily obediently handed the gear over to Ethan.
Her small face carried a hint of grievance, and her movements were cautious, as if she were afraid Ethan might damage the items.
Seeing her expression, Ethan felt a twinge of guilt. But he steeled himself, took the gear, and began inspecting its stats.
[Bear Gauntlets]
Quality: Uncommon
Level Requirement: 10
Attack: +12
Critical Rate: +1%
[Bear Necklace]
Quality: Uncommon
Level Requirement: 10
Attack: +12
Critical Rate: +1%
[Bear Helmet]
Quality: Uncommon
Level Requirement: 10
Attack: +2
Defense: +10
Set Bonus:
Equipping [Bear Gauntlets], [Bear Necklace], and [Bear Helmet] activates the set effect [Ironhide], increasing defense by +20.
"All three pieces have 'Bear' in their name. It's a set—and a three-piece one at that," Ethan thought, intrigued.
More importantly, the set had no class restrictions.
In the early stages of the game, gear like this was highly sought after.
After level 10, players would start completing their class advancements, and many pieces of equipment would begin to have class-specific requirements.
It wasn't uncommon for players to go through the trouble of defeating a boss, only to finally loot a piece of gear and discover it was for a different class. The frustration of not being able to equip it was enough to drive anyone mad.
But the [Bear Set] didn't have that problem. Anyone could wear it.
However, for Ethan, the set wasn't particularly useful.
Its stat bonuses weren't impressive, and most importantly—he couldn't equip it.
While he could technically "wear" the gear for display purposes, he wouldn't be able to activate its effects. This was a quality-of-life feature in Dark Scrolls, allowing players to showcase items in their inventory. But for Ethan, it was completely pointless.
He handed the gear back to the stunned Lily. When she took it, her face lit up with relief, clearly overjoyed to have the items back in her possession.
Ethan, on the other hand, turned his attention to preparing for enhancements.
The Rotting Grizzly leader had dropped 100 enhancement points, an incredibly valuable resource. Letting them go unused would be a waste.
Enhancement points could be used to upgrade weapons or even specific parts of the body, boosting defense, attack speed, or movement speed.
But Ethan had always believed in one principle: the best defense is a strong offense.
Without hesitation, he decided to enhance his weapon first. Everything else could wait until his weapon was upgraded to a satisfactory level.
[Spend 100 enhancement points to upgrade Boneblade?]
"Enhance!"
Ethan confirmed the choice without a second thought.