Ethan left his room and knocked on the door next to his. After a moment, the door cracked open, revealing Lyla in a pink tank top and shorts.
"Ethan?" she asked, blinking sleepily.
Ethan cleared his throat, trying not to notice how casual her attire was.
"Uh, yeah. Listen, are you playing Ethereal too? If so, make sure you stay in the Starter Village. If you're already outside, get back immediately. Whatever happens, don't log out."
Ethan remembered how she had confided in him months after they became friends, saying she had been assigned to the Carnage Faction. She hated the constant gloom of that side and rarely logged in. She'd never shared her in-game ID, due to communication restrictions between factions. That was why Ethan had come to warn her directly.
"Oh? Why is that?" Lyla asked, opening the door fully, curiosity lighting up her face.
"Just trust me, okay? It's important. By the way, what's your in-game ID?"
"Alright… It's Moonbeam," she said with a shrug.
"Got it. I'll send you a friend request soon."
With a quick wave, Ethan turned to leave. But as he took a step toward his apartment, something clicked in his mind.
"Wait—'Moonbeam'?!"
He spun around, but Lyla had already shut her door.
Could it really be her?
Even as Ethan slipped on his VR headset to log back into the game, he couldn't shake the thought. Was Lyla truly Moonbeam?
In his previous life, he'd encountered a player named Moonbeam while hunting monsters in the wilderness. She had been assigned the same quest as him, and her archer skills far outpaced his rogue abilities. Frustrated, he'd considered attacking her to steal the kills, but before he could act, she had sent him a party invite.
That moment had led to a friendship that turned into an unforgettable story.
But why had she hidden her identity from him back then?
His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden notification.
---
Ding!
[System Alert: The Cataclysm is imminent. Seek shelter immediately. Countdown: 1 minute.]
[System Alert: Starter Experience ending. All levels will reset to 0 as the official expansion begins. Countdown: 1 minute.]
[System Alert: Experience multiplier during Starter Experience is 15x. The multiplier will return to normal in the official expansion.]
---
Ethan shook his head, jolted from his thoughts by the constant stream of system notifications.
Ding, ding, ding… The World Chat exploded with messages:
"What's going on?"
"They're dropping an expansion just an hour after launch?!"
"Are you kidding me? I'm already Level 4, and now you're resetting me?!"
"Didn't you morons read? It's called the
Starter Experience!"
"Hah, serves you right! Thank goodness I haven't even started farming yet!"
The chat devolved into chaos, filled with complaints, laughter, and taunts. Ethan muted the World Chat and took a deep breath.
---
The countdown hit zero, and the world went dark.
When the screen brightened again, a deafening alarm blared in Ethan's ears.
"Warning! Warning! Aircraft crash imminent. Parachute deployment required in 1 minute…"
All around him, other players rushed toward the rear hatch of the aircraft, jumping one by one. Ethan shook his head. "Yeah, not falling for that again."
In his past life, he'd learned the truth about this spawn point. The "imminent crash" never actually happened. The plane would just keep flying on an endless loop. In fact, a famous post from the forums told the story of a player who had fallen asleep on autopilot and woken up hours later, still onboard.
Ignoring the frantic crowd, Ethan pushed his way forward to the cockpit. There, he found the dead pilot slumped over the controls.
"Just an NPC," Ethan muttered, pulling the pilot out of the seat. He rummaged through the corpse's belongings, taking anything useful. If the system had allowed it, he'd have stripped him down to his boxers.
This was another rare discovery Ethan had learned about in his previous life: looting the pilot's gear. The equipment was on par with Level 5 items, but that wasn't the real prize. The pilot's wristwatch was a key item for unlocking a critical hidden quest later on.
Satisfied with his haul, Ethan grabbed a parachute and headed for the hatch.
He calculated the plane's trajectory carefully before leaping into the sky. His target was the true Starter Safe Zone: Evercrest Town.
The last time, Ethan had panicked during the alarm and jumped at random, only to land miles away. It had taken him three hours of running to reach the town.
This time, he was determined not to waste time. The town was essential to activating key systems in the game: quest hubs, monster spawns, and even level progression.
As the silhouette of Evercrest Town grew larger below, Ethan timed his descent. When he was 100 meters from the ground, he deployed his parachute, gliding smoothly toward his destination.
"Ever seen a panther skydive? You're about to."
Ethan shifted into his panther form mid-air causing the parachute to deactivate.
With a resounding thud, he hit the ground, the passive skill Feline Grace activating to reduce fall damage by 80%. Even so, his health bar plummeted, leaving him with barely 10% remaining.
If he'd been any other class, falling 100 meters without parachute would've resulted in instant death.
---
System Announcement:
[Player "NotADruid" is the first to arrive at the Safe Zone: Evercrest Town.]
System Announcement:
[The 1314 Starter Region Bounty Board is now active. Players can pick up quests from the Task Hall in Evercrest Town.]
---
Ethan's destination was clear: the Task Hall. Unlike old-school games with linear quest chains, Ethereal centralized all NPC bounty tasks on a shared board in the town.
But there was a catch—bounty tasks had a daily limit. If you were late, you'd have to settle for scraps, like farming monster drops for resource collection. Worse, by the time you returned with the materials, the NPC might've already met their quota, making all your efforts worthless.
---
Ding!
[System Notification: Achievement Unlocked – "Discoverer of Evercrest Town." As the first player to reach Evercrest Town, you gain +200 NPC Affinity within the town and +200 Reputation with Humanity.]
---
This was the reward Ethan had been aiming for. NPC affinity was one of the hardest stats to grind. Without high affinity, even knowing how to trigger hidden quests was useless—NPCs wouldn't even give you the option.
After accepting 20 high-priority tasks from the bounty board—the maximum his quest log could hold, Ethan was ready to head out.
---
He sprinted out of the gate toward his first destination: the abandoned power plant.
This location was key. It allowed him to complete four tasks at once. All the quests he'd selected were clustered in nearby areas, maximizing efficiency.
As he approached the plant, two Level 2 guard dogs prowled the entrance. With a quick flick, Ethan cast Basic Appraisal.
---
[Corrupted Hound]
Type: Common
Level: 2
Physical Attack: 10
Physical Defense: 2
Magic Defense: 2
Health: 30
Abilities:
Rend: Slashes the target with claws, causing a bleeding effect that deals 10% of attack damage per second for 8 seconds.
Description: A hound corrupted by dark energy, wild and aggressive. It attacks any living being within its sight.
---
There was no getting past these dogs without taking them down.
Ethan glanced at his own stats. With the pilot's gear equipped, his physical defense was now at an impressive 12. The hounds' attacks wouldn't even scratch him—they'd only deal the minimum damage of 1 HP per hit.
Confident, Ethan lunged at the first hound.
---
Shred! Shred!
-16! -14!
The first hound let out a dying howl, collapsing into a puff of digital smoke.
---
Ding!
[You've killed "Corrupted Hound." Gained 4 EXP (including +2 EXP from Divine Ability).]
---
Ethan paused, momentarily stunned by the damage he'd dealt.
"Wait… why is my attack so high?"
The second hound lunged at him, breaking his train of thought. Ethan rolled to the side, dodging its claws with practiced ease.
---
Shred!
-16!
Shred!
System Notification: [Insufficient Energy. Skill use unavailable.]
---
Ethan cursed under his breath. The Shred ability cost 40 energy per use, and his energy had dropped to 5, slowly regenerating at a rate of 10 per second.
Forced to rely on basic attacks, Ethan swiped at the hound with his claws.
-4!
Ducking and weaving, he avoided the hound's attacks while chipping away at its health with regular strikes. Years of experience as a rogue in his past life had honed his reflexes, making dodging second nature.
After a few more claw swipes, the second hound collapsed with a faint whimper, awarding another 4 EXP.
Ethan scooped up the loot: 2 copper coins and a chunk of raw meat.
He opened his skill menu to review Shred.
---
[Shred]
Effect: Deals 200% physical damage.
---
Combined with his Divine Ability, Focus, which increased skill effectiveness by 50%, the total damage skyrocketed to 300%.
"That explains why I one-shot a Level 2 monster," Ethan muttered, a faint smirk playing on his lips.
The power of his Divine Ability was already becoming evident. Excitement stirred in his chest as he imagined how much further he could grow.