Experience gain had slightly decreased, but their efficiency had skyrocketed.
As soon as the monsters entered Ethan's attack range, they were instantly scorched by Sunburn. Most didn't even make it halfway before they were reduced to ashes by his devastating damage output.
With the massive over-level experience bonuses, the three of them hit Level 5 in just two minutes. The jump from Level 4 to 5 only required 2,720 experience points, after all.
The monsters never got close enough to harm Ethan, and Slashblade, who was originally supposed to play a key role, ended up being mostly useless.
Seeing that he wasn't needed, Slashblade began clearing the battlefield and collecting loot. Eventually, he even started helping to lure monsters, but his slower speed as a healer made it a risky endeavor.
At Ethan's suggestion, Slashblade reluctantly returned to cleanup duty, occasionally venturing out to lure monsters when it was safe.
Half an hour later, the group had reached Level 7. Their progress was nothing short of remarkable, and even Ethan felt a twinge of envy. If only someone could power-level him this quickly.
But at Level 7, their speed began to slow. The over-level bonus had dropped to 400%, giving only 216 experience points per monster, while the experience needed for the next level had risen to 11,200 points.
Still, it wasn't too bad, just about fifty more monsters to go. However, Ethan noticed the number of monsters they were pulling had started to dwindle. It seemed they had nearly cleared the area.
He proposed they switch locations and start pushing toward a higher-level zone. With his overwhelming damage output, not taking on higher-level monsters felt like a waste.
Skyblade and the others had no objections. After experiencing the thrill of rapid leveling, they were more than willing to follow Ethan's lead.
After confirming their direction, the group advanced cautiously. Skyblade and SeraphWarrior moved ahead to lure monsters back to Ethan, who would obliterate them. Once an area was cleared, they pushed forward toward the next wave of enemies.
By the time they reached the Level 13 monster zone, the entire group had hit Level 8, while Ethan's experience bar was 80% of the way to Level 13.
It was then that the in-game global chat exploded.
Three Level 8 players had taken the top three spots on the leaderboard, sparking widespread attention.
MadMarksman (Archer - Male): "Check the leaderboard! These three are leveling like crazy!"
SunnyPiglet (Paladin - Female): "I know, right? I was partying with them earlier, they were only Level 4 then!"
ChillMage (Warlock - Male): "Is this another bug? Someone, please tell me the trick!"
SharpVantage (Rogue - Male): "They're probably getting banned any second now."
—
Ethan and his party ignored the chatter entirely. By now, they had moved into the Level 14 Corrupted Spider zone.
The spiders here were highly social, clustering in dense groups, making them perfect for their grinding strategy. The group decided to settle down and focus their efforts in the area.
Ethan still benefited from the over-level bonuses, and with his Divine Abilities doubling his experience gains, his leveling speed surged further.
Finally, Slashblade found a role for himself, occasionally healing Ethan when needed and continuing his battlefield cleanup.
Four hours later…
"My inventory's full again," Slashblade complained.
"Same here," Skyblade added.
"Don't look at me," SeraphWarrior chimed in over the party chat. "I maxed out my bag during our first run back in town!"
"I'm running out of inventory space too. How about we call it a day? The servers are shutting down in less than an hour anyway," Ethan said, glancing at the clock. It was already past 7 PM.
"Aw, come on. Let's grind until the very last second!" Skyblade protested, clearly addicted to the fast-paced leveling.
By now, all three of them had hit Level 10, while Ethan had just reached Level 14.
On the Zone 1314 leaderboard, the trio was dominating, four levels ahead of the fourth-place player.
Ethan chuckled. "Keep dreaming. Everyone back to town!"
Despite Skyblade's reluctance to use his free teleport stone, Slashblade and SeraphWarrior cheerfully bid Ethan farewell and teleported back to town.
Before they logged off, Ethan reminded them in the party chat, "Sort out the valuable loot in your inventory. Keep what you need and sell or trade the rest. Also, buy large-slot backpacks! Tomorrow, I'll grind with you for one more day. After that, I'm leaving the Starter Zone."
Ethan glanced at his freshly filled experience bar. Reaching Level 15 would require a hefty 65,520 experience points, but he felt confident.
Taking out his once-per-day free teleport stone, Ethan activated it. The red name above his character, due to hours of monster grinding, had already disappeared.
Back in the safety of Evercrest Town, the real-world sun had risen, but within Ethereal, it was sunset. The dim glow of streetlights reflected off the cement walls of the town's buildings, casting long shadows.
The streets were bustling as always.
"Top-tier Level 1 Common Iron weapons! Perfect for all classes! 2 copper coins each, better than starter gear!" a Level 3 rogue shouted near the spawn area, drawing a crowd of new players to his makeshift stall.
Newcomers, who started with 2 copper coins in seed money, often bought these weapons to get a slight advantage early on. They didn't realize that the same Level 1 weapons were sold at the blacksmith shop on the north side of town for just 1 copper coin, a quick five-minute jog away.
Ethan smirked as he passed by. People like this rogue existed everywhere, not exactly scammers, but opportunists. At least they saved you the trip.
Pushing through the bustling streets, Ethan made his way to the Guild Hall. Earlier, when he met up with Skyblade and the others, they had sent him an invite to the newly created guild, and Slashblade had transferred the Guild Leader position to him.
Since starter guilds didn't have permanent bases, all administrative tasks had to be handled at the Guild Hall.
The first thing Ethan did was painfully shell out 10 gold to unlock the first page of the guild's shared vault.
He deposited his unused equipment into the vault. The system automatically assessed the items' attributes and assigned a contribution cost for guild members to claim them.
Next, Ethan set up a dynamic contribution system for currency donations. The Ethereal AI would adjust the exchange rate based on the fluctuating market value of gold coins. Though Ethan didn't know exactly how the system calculated it, it was impressively accurate.
Finally, he configured the guild vault to allow item donations in exchange for contribution points. The system would automatically evaluate the gear's attributes and assign appropriate rewards to encourage members to participate.