Ethan Sorel stared at the translucent interface hovering in his vision, his pulse quickening as the details of his new reality settled in.
[Class: Death Sovereign](Exclusive Mythic)
[Calamity Trait]
1. Doubles the effectiveness of all personal skills.
2. [Locked: Level Insufficient]
3. [Locked: Level Insufficient]
The Calamity Trait wasn’t just a passive bonus; it was a fundamental rewriting of the game’s balance. Even with only the first tier unlocked, the implications were staggering. "Double the effectiveness," Ethan whispered. In a game of marginal gains, that was a god-tier multiplier.
He gripped his Apprentice Bone Staff, the wood cold and rough against his palm. He had the option to use Ascension on his current skills immediately, but he hesitated. He was still at the village entrance, surrounded by hundreds of players. He wasn't invincible yet—far from it. There was no need to show his hand while the prying eyes of the masses were still focused on every "anomaly" in the starting zone.
Better to test this where the only witnesses are the monsters, he thought.
He raised the staff, chanting the command.
[Summon Bone Minion]
A swirl of pale gray mist tore open beside him. From the center of the vortex, two skeletons, each standing five feet tall, stepped onto the grass. Their joints clicked and groaned, "clack-clack," as they took their positions flanking him.
To any observer, they looked like trash. Their bones were a sickly, bleached white, riddled with hairline fractures. The iron swords they gripped were jagged with rust and notched from ages of neglect. They looked like they might collapse if a stiff breeze hit them.
But Ethan didn't care about aesthetics. He opened their stat windows.
"Instant cast," he murmured, his eyes widening.
The Calamity Trait was even more broken than he’d realized. Not only had the number of summons doubled from one to two, but the 50% cooldown reduction had been doubled to 100%. For Ethan, Summon Bone Minion now had zero cooldown.
[Boneling]
▸ STR: 19 | CON: 19 | Dexterity: 19 | SPR: 21
▸ Life Points: 170/200
▸ Power: 21 | P-DEF: 10
▸ Mental Resistance: 25
(A bottom-tier Boneling. After a massive surge of power, it has barely qualified as a Skeleton Fighter.)
Ethan did the math. A normal player with his 10 points in Spirit would summon a Boneling with base stats of 5. But between his Summon Amplification talent and the Calamity Trait, these piles of junk had four times the expected power. They were essentially Level 0 players in their own right, and he could have ten of them.
"Hey, man. That talent of yours... has to be at least A-rank, right?"
Ethan stiffened slightly, turning to see a Warrior leaning on a longsword. The player’s name—NightWalker—floated above his head. He was staring at the two skeletons with a mix of envy and calculation.
"Something like that," Ethan replied with a practiced, neutral smile. "A-rank. Enhanced Summons."
It was a half-truth designed to keep the peace. At this stage, everyone’s ID was visible, and his Bonelings were visibly larger and more imposing than the stunted thralls other Necromancers were summoning. This was exactly why he hadn't used Cataclysm to upgrade his gear yet; being too different was an invitation for trouble.
"Want to party up?" NightWalker offered, hefting his sword. "I'm A-rank too. We’d clear the fields twice as fast."
Around them, the village gates were a chaotic bazaar of players shouting for groups. The Starter Village was supposed to be a safe zone, but the local wildlife didn't play fair.
[Scratchhen]
▸ Rank: 1
▸ Life Points: 100/100 | Power: 11 | P-DEF: 4 | M-DEF: 2
▸ Block Rate: 11%
▸ Charm: 21
(Is there really someone who can’t beat a chicken?)
As if answering the prompt's mockery, a burst of white light erupted nearby—a player being sent back to the respawn point by a frenzied bird. To anyone else, the Scratchhen was a threat. To Ethan, who currently possessed exactly 1 HP, it was a death sentence.
"Thanks, but I work better alone," Ethan said, politely declining the invite.
Before stepping out, he cast [Life Link] on one of the Bonelings.
The Bone Staff pulsed. To Ethan’s surprise, the link didn't just snap to one skeleton—it tethered to both. Two faint red bars appeared beneath his own health display.
[HP: 1/1]
[Life Link 1: 470/400]
[Life Link 1: 340/400]
[Mana Regen: 1.1/sec]
The Calamity Trait had doubled the targets and the health transfer ratio. He now had 800 effective HP. He wasn't a glass cannon anymore; he was a walking fortress.
He marched past the gates. The fields were a mosh pit of desperate players swinging sticks and rusted blades at chickens. He ignored the chatter—the complaints about the "Level 1 chickens" being stronger than the players, and the occasional envious glance at his superior skeletons.
Ethan pushed further, bypassing the Level 1 zone entirely. He hadn't exploited a massive system bug just to farm poultry.
He crossed into the Level 2 territory: the Bloodeye Hare meadows.
[Bloodeye Hare]
▸ Rank: 1
▸ Life Points: 170/150 | Power: 14 | P-DEF: 6 | M-DEF: 2
▸ Threat Level: 1 / 5
▸ Block Rate: 8%
(Careful—it loves to jump for the family jewels.)
The crowd thinned out instantly. Only a few elite squads and high-tier talent holders were here. Ethan winced as he saw a Tank player get headbutted squarely in the groin by a hare, the man collapsing into a fetal position. With 100% pain reception, Myriad Realms Online was a cruel teacher.
"Glad I don't have to do the heavy lifting," Ethan muttered.
He raised his staff again, summoning more minions until his capacity of ten was full. A wall of bone now moved ahead of him. When a Bloodeye Hare hissed and lunged, it didn't find a soft target. It found four rusted swords descending at once.
-13! -15!
The hare screeched, but it was over in seconds.
[Kill confirmed: Level 2 Bloodeye Hare. Over-level Bonus (50%) applied. XP +3.]
His experience bar ticked up to 3%. Thirty-three more, he noted.
He moved like a reaper through the meadow, his legion of ten skeletons carving a path toward the Level 3 zone. He reached Level 1 before he even saw a Lynx.
[Level Up! Whitenox Level 1]
[Quad-Stats +1 | Skill Point +1 | Free Attribute Points +15]
Because of his Death Sovereign growth rates, Ethan received triple the attribute points of a normal player. He didn't hesitate. He dumped 4 points into Agility for mobility and shoved the remaining 11 into Spirit. Strength was useless to a commander, and Constitution? Adding health to a 1 HP build was a joke only a fool would tell.
Now deep in the woods, away from the prying eyes of the player base, Ethan finally opened his inventory. It was time to test the limits of his cheat.
He pulled out twelve copper coins—his total earnings from the hares.
"Let's see if I can turn copper into gold," he whispered. [Cataclysm]!
[Target: 13 Copper Coins. Select Ascension Tier: Tier 1 / Tier 2 / Tier 3]
[Charm: 14]
"Tier 2," he tested.
[Warning: Sublimating 12 Copper Coins to Tier 2 requires 1 Silver, 20 Copper. Resources insufficient.]
"The cost is that low?" Ethan’s brows shot up. If he could jump tiers for a bit of currency, he’d be the richest man in the world within a week. He shifted his focus. "Fine. Tier 1 Ascension. Zero cost."
A faint light shimmered in his palm.
[You have obtained: 12 Antique Copper Coins.]
[Block Rate: 29%]
[Charm: 15]
Ethan’s face fell as he inspected the coins. They were darker, heavier, and looked ancient.
[Antique Copper Coin]: A discontinued currency. Value unknown. Only collectors or specific NPCs may have an interest in these.
"Great. I turned money into a hobbyist's prop," he grumbled, shoving them back into his bag. It wasn't a total loss—these items usually triggered hidden quests—but it wasn't the "Infinite Gold" exploit he’d hoped for.
His eyes then landed on his Novice’s Pack, which was already nearly full.
"Cataclysm. Tier 1. Go."
[Ascension Confirmed. Novice’s Pack has evolved into: Reinforced Adventurer’s Pack (50 Slots).]
"Now we're talking."
Finally, Ethan gripped his Apprentice Bone Staff. The real grind was about to begin, but before he took another step, he intended to refine every single scrap of gear and every spell in his arsenal. The world expected a Necromancer. He was going to give them a Calamity.