CHAPTER 100: RETURN HOME

Ethan stepped up to the cashier’s desk, where the red-haired woman showed him the list of items they sold.

Among the items, Ethan’s attention fixed on Soul and Pet Essence.

Both items were not sold individually, but in bundles. One bundle of Soul Essence contained 100 soul fragments, and each bundle cost 15,000 gold.

One bundle of Pet Essence contained 100 pet souls, and each bundle cost 25,000 gold.

By comparing the two items, Ethan could see the difference clearly. Pet Essence was much more expensive than Soul Essence.

Ethan clicked both items and set the exact quantities. He bought five bundles of Pet Essence and five bundles of Soul Essence.

The total price came to 200,000 gold.

He did not worry about that. He had earned a lot of gold from the event yesterday.

Two hundred thousand gold was not a large price for him right now.

[Transaction Successful]

[Items: 5 Bundle Pet Essence || 5 Bundle Soul Essence]

[Total Price: 200,000 Gold]

After the transaction panel appeared, the two item bundles showed up and became Ethan’s property.

Before making another purchase, Ethan chose to use the items right away.

The soul servant panel opened, with chibi Neryss and Lyodra flying in front of it. To level up, a servant needed 100 SE per level.

The amount of SE required did not change based on the servant’s rank.

Even though Neryss was an SR servant, she still needed 100 Soul Essence to reach level 2. Lyodra needed the same.

Ethan tapped the five bundles, and the soul essence count in the soul servant panel filled by 500.

In total, Ethan now had 2,450 Soul Essence. The rest he had gained from item drops or hidden chests in events and the game world.

Both of his soul servants had been at level 1 for a long time, so Ethan allocated the soul essence fairly between them.

To raise one servant to level 10 required about 1,000 Soul Essence.

For two soul servants, Ethan clearly needed 2,000 Soul Essence, and now he had more than enough.

He allocated everything at once. The Soul Essence in the system panel floated into the two chibi figures in front of Ethan, Neryss and Lyodra.

[Congratulations, your Soul Servants have leveled up]

[Neryss Abyssborn || Lv. 1 → Lv. 10]

[Lyodra Vulkanis || Lv. 1 → Lv. 10]

Ethan smiled. The base ATK increase was not huge, but it was real. The power of Neryss and Lyodra had also risen.

Their higher levels lengthened the duration of aggressive mode and lowered cooldown times.

The higher the level, the longer aggressive mode lasted and the shorter the cooldown.

With the soul servants done, Ethan moved on to Hissy. He closed the soul servant system panel and put Neryss and Lyodra back behind him.

Now Hissy flew in front of him, ready to be leveled up. Ethan used the Pet Essence bundles the same way he had used the Soul Essence bundles.

To raise a pet by one level requires 100 Pet Essence per level. When Ethan opened the pet panel, he was surprised by how many Pet Essence he had.

He had 1,780, and with the 500 Pet Essence he just bought, the total became 2,280.

Ethan did not know exactly what level Hissy would reach with all that Pet Essence, but it was better to try than not.

He turned on the automatic level-up feature whenever the Pet Essence reached a certain amount.

Hissy began to receive Pet Essence into her body. Little by little, Hissy’s body grew larger.

Level 10 passed, but Pet Essence still remained. When a pet reached above level 10, each level required 150 Pet Essence.

That made Hissy stall at level 18 with 80 Pet Essence left. Still, Ethan could see Hissy’s status had improved, and that affected Ethan’s base ATK and DEF.

[PET]

[Name: Venomfang Queen]

[Race: Twin-Fang Viper (Epic)]

[Level: 18] [HP: 2850/2850 || ATK: 1750 || DEF: 1650]

[Pet Essence: 0/100]

Ethan smiled. Hissy’s level increase was impressive. The soul servants had leveled up, and so had Hissy.

Their level-ups raised Ethan’s base ATK.

Finished with Hissy and the two soul servants, he moved on to other things he wanted from the seller. He wanted a skill set for the warrior class.

"Skill set? May I know your level, sir?" the red-haired woman asked.

"Level 60."

"Oh, I suggest you do a class advancement first. If you buy a warrior skill set and then do a class advancement, your current skills will become useless," the woman replied.

Ethan fell silent. He admitted she was right. If he bought the warrior class skill set and then advanced class, the old skill set would disappear and could not be used.

To perform Class Advancement, Ethan had to do it in a large city with a cathedral. The red-haired woman told him that.

"You can do class advancement in Mavelard. The distance from here to Mavelard is not very far."

Ethan agreed. He knew where Mavelard was. It seemed he had to return to Mavelard to perform class advancement.

He dropped the idea of buying anything from the shop. Ethan said goodbye to the owner. He clearly said he would leave the city and go to Mavelard.

Still wearing his mask and black cloak, he walked south toward the road to Mavelard.

Along the way, Ethan glanced to the side. He noticed other players walking between towns.

Ethan walked alone on that road, though he could feel hostile stares from people around him.

But Ethan did not fully care. Let them do whatever as long as they did not harm him.

Ahead, he saw a group of players walking and talking together. They glanced at Ethan from time to time, watching him closely.

Besides his obvious PK status, they also noticed his clothes, which looked odd and suspicious, not like usual.

Day turned into night. He had five hours left of travel to reach Mavelard, and it was already 9 p.m. that night.

If Ethan pushed on, he would arrive at Mavelard around 2 a.m.

He could not risk that. It was better to rest than to force the trip.

In front of him, he saw a small village that was fairly lively. Bright lamps lit the area, making everything feel alive.

Some players rested at the inns in the village, crowded together because rooms were limited.

Ethan was last; three inns were full and occupied by players.

He was a bit disappointed, but there was nothing he could do. He walked to the tavern to rest there.

Ethan’s steps stopped when he reached the tavern. He noticed many players who could not get inn rooms resting in the tavern.

"PK."

"Who is he? Do you know his name?" one man asked.

"No. But don’t fight him. You could die because of him."

Ethan listened but did not care. He ordered a drink and went up to the second floor.

Although the upper floor cost more, fewer players were there.

It was suitable for Ethan to relax that night, and tomorrow he would go to Mavelard.