Night Owl’s Abilities
Ethan stared at the system notification, his expression devoid of any excitement.
[Congratulations! You've slain the clone of Anzu, Crowling God (Pseudo-Divine Lv. 200) that was growing followers in Ethereal. Anzu now holds a grudge against you and may appear at random intervals to hunt you down. Brave warrior, grow stronger quickly! Good luck!]
"Congratulations, my ass," Ethan muttered, his tone dripping with bitterness. "Level 200? A pseudo-divine boss hunting me? What kind of chance do I have against that?"
He sighed, a mix of frustration and disbelief clouding his thoughts. In his last life, people had hunted him relentlessly. Now, in this life, he was cursed to be chased by monsters too. What had he done to deserve this?
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Somewhere in an unknown expanse of Ethereal, an area that seemed devoid of any life, a familiar old man lounged in midair, one leg lazily crossed over the other. The scruffy man who had once appeared before Ethan chuckled to himself. "Heh, serves you right, kid. You got too cocky. No use regretting now. Just pray Anzu only shows up inside Ethereal… and not—" His laugh turned into a wheeze of delight. "Oh, this is going to be fun."
---
Ethan dragged his sour mood to the druid camp. From a distance, he spotted the Night Owl. This plump, ridiculous creature was still at it, swaying its hips while single its own offbeat rap.
"...."
Ethan's eyebrow twitched as he fought the urge to vent his anger by delivering it a sharp kick.
"Yo, yo… Thanks, traveler from another world," the Night Owl crooned. "You brought me my feather, oh-so-pretty. May Mother Earth guide—err, bless you! Here's your well-deserved reward!"
Ding…
[Congratulations! You've completed the 'Druid Transformation' quest. You can now shift into Night Owl Form!]
Ethan checked his skill tab, noticing three forms unlocked: Human Form, Panther Form, and now Night Owl Form.
Human Form: Cannot use any skills. Removes movement restrictions upon transformation.
Panther Form: Transforms into a panther, increasing attack speed by 20% and converting attacks to Physical (Wild) damage. Boosts physical crit chance for allies within a 100-meter radius by 5%. Panther-exclusive skills only. Immune to polymorph effects. Removes all movement restrictions upon transformation.
Night Owl Form: Transforms into a Night Owl, increasing defense by 36% and converting attacks to Magical damage. Boosts magical crit chance for allies within a 100-meter radius by 5%. Owl-exclusive skills only. Immune to polymorph effects. Removes all movement restrictions upon transformation.
Switching into the Night Owl form, Ethan gave himself a quick glance. Only one description came to mind: A fluffy, feathered meatball…
Before him hovered a balance bar, its center marked by a symbol of pale blue and yellow. On the left was a moon icon, and on the right, a sun icon.
Ethan glanced at his newly unlocked skills, all five neatly categorized:
Moonfire and Sunburn: Instant-cast debuff spells.
Lunar Beam and Solar Flare: Direct damage spells.
Wingbeat: A utility skill.
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Solar Strike: Summons a sunbeam to deal astral damage in a 3x3 meter area. Damage ranges from 1%-150%-80% depending on the balance bar's position. Cast time: 2 seconds. The closer the bar is to the sun icon, the higher the damage. Centering the bar deals maximum damage.
Lunar Beam: Channels moon energy to deal astral damage. Damage ranges from 80%-200%-1%. Cast time: 1 second. The closer the bar is to the moon icon, the higher the damage. Centering the bar deals maximum damage.
Ethan sighed, staring at his unwieldy new form. Balancing between moon and sun energies was going to be a nightmare.
Wingbeat: Despite your pudgy form preventing you from actual flight, this skill allows you to slow your descent, gliding through the air. However, you cannot change direction mid-glide, and any attack will interrupt the skill. If used while stationary, it can also trigger an adorable animation!
"The fuck…"
Ethan almost choked when he read the description. Gliding with zero control? Interrupted by the faintest touch? This was less a skill and more of a glorified cuteness mode, perfectly in line with his current chubby and mock-inducing appearance.
The thought of being gawked at by other players made his skin crawl.
Still, the Night Owl form had one standout feature: despite being a ranged magic class, it didn't consume mana. Instead, everything revolved around managing the balance bar. For Ethan, this was a huge advantage, especially since he planned to exploit bugs and level up faster than anyone else.
No other class had the same sustainability. Even archers needed to spend money on arrows, but a Druid's Night Owls skills required no consumables at all. Sure, the base damage of his skills was lower, but when exploiting high-level monsters, raw damage hardly mattered, every attack was forced to chip away at their health bit by bit.
With a chant, Ethan activated the teleportation spell and returned to Evercrest Town.
Once there, he oriented himself, shifted into Panther Form, and used Stealth to navigate the bustling town streets. He moved swiftly, eventually reaching the bank.
His target: depositing the Wraithbinder's Staff.
This staff had cost him dearly, earning the wrath of a pseudo-divine boss was no joke. Losing such a rare weapon due to carelessness was simply not an option.
Moreover, now wasn't the time to sell it. The market wasn't ready. Most players had barely scratched the surface of Ethereal's mechanics. If he sold it now, he'd only get a fraction of its true value. Only Ethan knew how absurdly rare Dark Gold gear drops were, especially one with three exceptional skills.
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Life Drain: Drastically improves Warlocks' sustainability. Many Warlock skills require health sacrifices to cast, including powerful Multi-target abilities like Hellfire, which burns their own health to unleash devastating area damage.
Necromantic Revival: A summoning skill of immense power.
Cataclysm: A skill so overpowered it bordered on ridiculous. Without fire resistance, being hit at the center of this skill caused a 3-second stun and inflicted 15% burn damage over time. By the time you recovered and managed to run 50 meters away, chances were you'd already died.
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This weapon was a game-changer. Selling it wasn't just unthinkable, it could also fall into the hands of rival players, turning it into a liability. Ethan wasn't about to hand his enemies that kind of advantage.
After securing the Wraithbinder's Staff in the bank, Ethan organized his inventory. That's when he noticed something: a treasure chest he'd completely forgotten about. After a moment's thought, he recalled where it had come from, the Level 5 Boss he'd killed earlier. With all the first-kill rewards flooding his system at the time, he must have overlooked it.
Pulling it out, Ethan's eyes lit up. It was a Silver Chest, and it was locked. Locked chests often contained high-quality loot, and this one being Silver-tier only increased his anticipation.
In Ethereal, treasure chests were as rare as they were valuable. Like gear, they came in tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Dark Gold. Dark Gold chests had a chance of containing divine abilities or legendary equipment.
Ethan wasted no time. He sprinted to a nearby NPC vendor to purchase a key. Back in his previous life, he'd opened a few chests like this while playing as a rogue, lockpicking had been second nature back then.
Now? He just needed a key and a bit of luck.