In Ethereal, it wasn't as simple as throwing money around to get the gear you wanted. The best equipment was usually hoarded by elite guilds for their own members, rarely making it to the open market.
When something did pop up for sale, it was often low-grade gear with absurd price tags, far beyond what the average player could afford.
That's where the Guild Vault System came into play. It was designed to address these problems perfectly. Players could earn contribution points for completing guild tasks, such as dungeon raids or quest objectives, and use those points to exchange for gear. The system evaluated the gear's attributes and assigned a fair point value, ensuring absolute equity.
Of course, there were limits. Any item withdrawn from the guild vault carried a unique tag, permanently linking it to the guild. If you left the guild, the system would reclaim the item, and the contribution points spent on it would not be refunded.
This system prevented malicious players from exploiting the guild by grabbing cheap gear and flipping it on the market for profit.
For those with legitimate reasons to leave the guild, the higher-ups could approve their departure. In such cases, the system would reclaim their items but compensate them with gold equivalent to their contribution, deducted directly from the guild's coffers.
However, players with strong loyalty to the guild rarely left, though exceptions existed. Rival guilds were always eager to poach skilled members.
After finalizing the vault setup, Ethan reluctantly spent 100 gold coins to upgrade the guild to Level 2. A Level 1 guild could only accommodate 100 members, but at Level 2, the capacity increased to 1,000.
During this early stage of the game, guilds could only upgrade to Level 2. Advancing to Level 3 required establishing a guild base, plus an exorbitant expansion fee of 1,000 gold.
Not that it mattered. Ethan didn't have a base, or anywhere near that kind of amount. A thousand gold? That was $1,800,000 in real-world currency!
With everything set up, Ethan sent a message to Skyblade and Slashblade, telling them they could start recruiting. Given their current fame on the leaderboards, it wouldn't be hard to attract players.
After all, for every 10 copper coins a guild member earned in the field, the guild's vault automatically gained 1 copper. Sure, members received only a negligible boost to their contribution points from this system, but it was a win-win situation. The more members they had, the more funds the guild could collect.
Ethan had no intention of footing the massive guild upgrade costs on his own.
As for vetting recruits? That could wait. It was too early in the game to judge anyone's character. However, Ethan did send a list of player names to Skyblade and Slashblade, warning them to keep these people out of the guild at all costs.
Those names belonged to infamous scammers and cheaters from Ethan's previous life, players who had earned a reputation for being absolute scum.
Topping the list were Zachary (game ID: Overlord) and Ivy (game ID: Nightfall).
With everything settled, Ethan glanced at the timer. Only 40 minutes left until the servers shut down for the day. Chanting a teleportation spell, he prepared to return to the Forest of Nature to complete his Bear Form quest.
His body shimmered and reappeared on the shores of Lunar Lake. The breathtaking view and crisp, fresh air helped clear his mind after hours of grinding monsters.
But time was running out. He didn't linger to admire the scenery, heading straight to the camp to find the NPC who issued the Bear Form transformation quest.
As he searched, Ethan prayed he wouldn't encounter another eccentric NPC like the one from before. That guy, in Owl Form, had started rapping at him with a voice that souded like nails on a chalkboard. If the performance had been remotely decent, Ethan might have let it slide, but it wasn't. It was pure noise pollution.
Thankfully, the Bear Form druid turned out to be more grounded. After asking around, Ethan finally located the NPC, a bear-shaped druid dozing in a cave.
The glowing golden exclamation mark above its head confirmed its identity.
Ethan approached but didn't disturb its sleep. Instead, he waited quietly, stealing nervous glances at the clock. Only 20 minutes remained until the servers went offline.
This quest was something Ethan had overheard about in his previous life, a rare hidden event. If he woke the Bear Druid directly, it would issue the standard transformation quest: gather a few items, complete the task, and unlock Bear Form.
But if he waited patiently for the druid to wake up on its own, he'd unlock a different quest, one that awarded a rare title, Dreamwalker.
As Ethan anxiously watched the seconds tick by, he tried to recall where he'd first heard about this hidden quest. The details eluded him, but a nagging instinct told him this was the right approach.
"Greetings, outsider."
The deep rumble of a voice startled him. With just two minutes left before the servers shut down, the massive bear rolled over and stood up, towering above him.
"Honored Bear Druid," Ethan began, carefully enunciating the quest activation phrase, "I've come to take on the Bear Form quest."
The druid turned to face him, its golden eyes gleaming. "You have waited without disturbing my rest, unlike so many others. Because of this, I have finally seen my dreams clearly. My kin, a distant group of druids have been calling to me, appearing in my dreams. I do not understand why. Will you enter my dreamscape and uncover the truth?"
Ethan nodded without hesitation. "It would be my honor, Druid. How should I proceed?"
The druid scratched at the ground thoughtfully. "Return tomorrow. I will seek out the Elder Tree to craft a Dream Potion for you."
As the server timer ticked down to mere seconds, Ethan grinned wryly. The timing was too perfect to be coincidence, definitely a system design.
He bid the Bear Druid farewell and logged out directly from the same spot, ensuring he could resume the quest as soon as he logged back in.
---
After freshening up, Ethan left his room and noticed that Lyla's door was already open. Then it hit him, it was Monday. School was in session, and she'd mentioned yesterday that she had a class during the second period.
Glancing at the clock, he cursed. 8:05 AM. He bolted downstairs, just in time to see Lyla emerging from the open kitchen, balancing two white porcelain plates.
On each plate: toast, milk, and ham.
"Uh… Miss Silverwood, don't tell me this is the only thing you know how to make. At least throw in a fried egg!" Ethan teased. He wasn't a fan of this kind of breakfast, he much preferred something hearty, like a breakfast burrito.
Hearing his comment, Lyla's cheeks flushed red as she shot him a sharp glare.
Realizing he'd put his foot in his mouth, Ethan gave a sheepish laugh and quickly took the plate from her. For someone as pampered as Lyla, who likely hadn't cooked a day in her life, making breakfast at all was already impressive. He couldn't really complain.
"Hey Ethie, I heard you disappeared from the leaderboard," Lyla said as she sat down across from him. "Don't tell me the system actually booted you?"
Ethan choked slightly, not at the question itself but at how quickly her tone had shifted.
She'd started out calling him Ethan, and now suddenly it was Ethie. The abrupt change made the hair on his arms stand on end.
"What's wrong?" Lyla asked, noticing his discomfort.
"Could you… not call me that?" Ethan said, clearly uneasy.
"Why not? That's what I called you when we were kids! If you hadn't insisted on going back to the orphanage, my parents would've adopted you, and you'd be my brother for real," she said, matter-of-factly.
Ethan was at a loss for words. How was he supposed to argue with that?
"Fine, fine," he relented. "Anyway, I'm not off the leaderboards. I'm just hidden, only the top rankers get that privilege."