NOVEL NEXT Chapter 139: Ethan's Upgrade
When other players throw away weapons or gear they don't need, Lucas doesn't even look.
But Ethan is different. Lucas knows that any weapon or gear on him—if he took one out—would make the other players fight over it.
Right now, Lucas is pretty sure Ethan already has a Purple-quality weapon or piece of gear.
Just then, Shawn walked into the hall with Aurora and Jenny.
As soon as he showed up, he looked at Ethan with deep gratitude, ready to thank him again.
Ethan quickly said: "No need for that. Just give me what we agreed on."
Hearing this, Lucas and Sylvan immediately perked up, curious about what Ethan and City Lord Shawn had agreed to.
Lucas quietly nudged Sylvan and guessed, "Think it could be a piece of Purple-quality gear?"
Sylvan thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Probably not. I haven't even seen a Purple-quality item before."
Right then, Shawn nodded at Ethan and said, "Alright, I won't say more thanks. The three pieces of Purple-quality gear I promised you—I've already sent someone to fetch them."
"Don't worry, what I'm giving you are top-Stage among Purple-quality gear!"
As soon as he finished, Lucas and Sylvan went wide-eyed and drew a sharp breath.
Purple-quality gear?
Three pieces!
They exchanged another look. Lucas suddenly got excited. He remembered what Ethan had said—if he waited a bit, once Ethan had even better gear, maybe he could get a Purple-quality item himself.
Other players' cast-off gear is trash, but Ethan's hand-me-downs are the real deal.
Sylvan looked at Lucas with envy. He wanted one of Ethan's cast-offs too, but he hadn't done much lately, and Ethan had already helped him a lot last time.
People should learn to be content, he told himself with a deep breath. If he helped Ethan well, next time a good thing like this might be his turn.
Soon, a few servants came in carrying three pieces of gear glowing with bright purple light.
[Dragonscale Boots]
[Quality]: Purple-quality
[Equip Requirement]: Level higher than 20
[Equip Effect 1]: +5 Strength, +5 Speed
[Equip Effect 2]: Burst Dash: costs 2 Energy. After you choose a direction, you surge to 1.5x speed and dash. Dash distance depends on the surroundings and your Speed. Cooldown: 15 minutes.
[Equip Effect 3]: Glide: when falling from high places, the Dragonscale Boots let you glide and prevent fall damage.
[Set Effect]: Locked
[Note]: Do a superhero landing—it'll look awesome.
...
[Dragonscale Pants]
[Quality]: Purple-quality
[Equip Requirement]: Level higher than 20
[Equip Effect 1]: +10 Defense
[Equip Effect 2]: Dragon in Water: when you enter water, you can stay under longer and move faster—often even faster than on land.
[Equip Effect 3]: Energy Recovery: the Dragonscale Pants draw in ambient energy to restore your spent Energy. The more you spend, the faster it recovers. When your Energy is fully empty, you recover 1 Energy per minute.
[Set Effect]: Locked
[Note]: Put these on and you're the fastest man underwater.
...
[Dragonscale Helmet]
[Quality]: Purple-quality
[Equip Requirement]: Level higher than 20
[Equip Effect 1]: +8 Max Energy
[Equip Effect 2]: Status Cleanse: when a control skill hits you, the Dragonscale Helmet will automatically spend 3 Energy to remove the status. For the next 3 minutes, your resistance to status effects is increased. Cooldown: 1 hour.
[Equip Effect 3]: Target Lock: spend 5 Energy to lock onto a target. For the next 10 seconds, your attacks deal 200% damage to that target. Cooldown: 1 hour.
[Set Effect]: Locked
[Note]: A rare helmet that's super practical. In a pinch, you could even use it to cook.
...
[Dragonscale Set Effect (Unlocked)]: Dragon's Might: spend 8 Energy to awaken the broken dragon soul in the set. Gain +5 Strength, +5 Speed, and +5 Defense for 3 minutes. All enemies within 50 meters are intimidated: their Defense and Speed are reduced by 30%. If an enemy's level is not higher than yours, there's a chance to stun them for 2 seconds. Cooldown: 12 hours.
Ethan's eyes lit up at the Purple-quality gear in front of him. He hadn't expected Shawn to prepare a whole Purple-quality set for him.
He was still wearing the Wolfskin Set, which was Blue-quality, and because of the set bonus he hadn't switched it out.
Ethan didn't take the [Dragonscale Set] right away. Instead, he said to Shawn, "These three pieces fit me really well. Thank you."
Shawn smiled and shook his head. "Compared to Xiyue's safety, this is nothing. If you'd shown up earlier, I could've given you an Orange-quality weapon. Sadly, to get the Saint Healer's Secret Formula, I had to sell it."
Ethan felt a bit of regret when he heard that—an Orange-quality weapon!
Just then, Aurora spoke up. "[Windchaser], the Demon Blade is with you. Once I've recovered, I can take you to Basalt Crown Main City to see my teacher."
Ethan quickly looked at Aurora, and she went on, "My teacher won't fix it for you directly, but he can guide me."
"Getting that long blade up to Purple-quality is for sure. And if we can find the legendary [Calamity Aura], I'm confident I can restore it to its original Orange-quality and keep its growth trait."
"It's just a pity that [Calamity Aura] is very rare. Even my teacher doesn't have any to spare."
Ethan instinctively glanced back at Lucas and saw him whispering to Sylvan, not hearing Aurora at all.
Lucas muttered to Sylvan, "Relax, you'll get some of the gear Ethan phases out. If you beg me, I'll even let you use it first for a while."
"How about it?"
Sylvan rolled his eyes at Lucas, then suddenly noticed Ethan looking their way. He quickly elbowed Lucas.
Lucas shut up right away and stopped showing off.
Ethan knew that when Jade mentioned [Calamity Aura] earlier, Lucas was there too. He thought Lucas would shout in surprise, but the guy hadn't been paying attention at all.
With that in mind, Ethan walked over to Shawn and started, "City Lord..."
Before he could finish, Shawn patted his shoulder and said, "City Lord is what outsiders call me. From now on, just call me Uncle Gao."
Ethan nodded and asked about [Calamity], but Shawn only sighed and said, "It's a bit too early for you to know about that."
"Once you learn certain things, your fate will change, and you'll get dragged in whether you want to or not."
"When you reach Stage 3, I'll tell you the details."
Ethan was already level 25. Stage 3 was level 30—he could get there soon.
Aurora was a bit tired, so Shawn quickly took her away. Jenny left with them.
Before leaving, Shawn gave special instructions to the guards at the City Lord's Mansion: from now on, whether Ethan came alone or brought others, they weren't to stop him.
Ethan knew this was Shawn's way of showing goodwill.
Holding the [Dragonscale Set], Ethan went into the bathroom, took off the [Wolfskin Set], and put on the [Dragonscale Set].
At this stage, normal players usually have enough Energy, because they don't have many weapons or gear that consume it.
But Ethan is different—he has too many high-quality weapons and pieces of equipment. Right now, except for his underwear, gloves, necklace, and cloak, everything he wore was Purple-quality.
Thinking of the gloves, Ethan quickly took the [Icy Spider Silk Gloves] from his [Inventory] and swapped out the [Ice-Silk Gloves].
He glanced at his wristwatch and was shocked by his stats.
[Name]: Windchaser
[Talents]: Pain Resistance (Blue), Ten-Thousandfold Intelligence Reward (Unknown)
[Level]: Lv25
[Class]: Berserk Blood War God
[Status]: Normal
[Gear]: Cotton Underwear (Gray-quality), Shadow Belt (Purple-quality), Assassin's Sleeve Crossbow (Purple-quality), Ruin Spear (Purple-quality), Flash Mask (Purple-quality), Icy Spider Silk Gloves (Purple-quality), Dragonscale Set (Purple-quality) ...
[Health]: 100%
[Strength]: 45
[Speed]: 34
[Defense]: 38
[Energy]: 19
[Charisma]: 12
[Luck]: 1
[Attribute Points]: 0
[Inventory]: Hellblade Profession Intel (Orange-quality), Master Technique: Draw Slash Intel (Purple-quality) ...
And this was without using any Berserk Blood War God class skills or activating the [Dragonscale Set] effect. If he did, his Strength, Speed, and Defense would go even higher.
Ethan hadn't gone all-out in Dawnfall Online for a while, so he wasn't sure how strong he really was now.
He started craving a real fight.