Ethan had no reason to make an enemy of Victor’s group. Pragmatism ruled his every move. If he wanted to offload the high-tier gear and skill books he’d inevitably loot while grinding, he needed a reliable pipeline to the authorities. A long-term partnership was worth far more than the pittance of Lifespan he’d get from a single hit.
Besides, who knew how much Lifespan Iris Snow actually carried? If he burned a bridge just to loot a few measly days, the opportunity cost would be staggering.
He gave a curt nod, offering no further words. He shoved Iris back toward her team and vanished into the treeline. A quick glance at his HUD showed his experience bar was two-thirds full.
Less than thirty minutes, Ethan thought. Then I hit Level 10 and bring these powers into the real world.
On the other side of the zone, Evie Quinn had already parted ways with Victor’s squad. She logged out immediately. Thanks to Victor’s carry, she was sitting on nearly 200 days of Tradeable Lifespan. With the current black-market exchange rate sitting at 15,000 credits per day, she was looking at a three-million-credit windfall.
The temptation was too great to ignore.
As soon as her consciousness settled back into her physical body, she reached for her phone and pulled up VLink. The regional chat groups were exploding with news that made her stomach drop.
"Holy shit, Shade just slaughtered Fynn Solo?"
"Not once. Three times in a row! Fynn is getting farmed!"
Evie stared at the screen, her mind racing. Having run with Victor, she knew the terrifying reality of Godsfall: Lifespan was literal life. If that timer hit zero, you died. Period.
"Even if Fynn had a hundred years of Bound Lifespan," she whispered, her heart aching for her idol, "three deaths just gutted him. He’s down to twelve years."
Confusion warred with her fan-girl devotion. Why would Shade hunt Fynn? Usually, she would have condemned the attacker instantly, but the name 'Shade' carried a weight that made her hesitate. He was the first person on Earth to solo a Gold-tier Boss.
The chat logs were clear: Shade had cut through dozens of players to kill Fynn three times over. It wasn't a fight; it was a massacre.
Shade is a monster, she thought, a strange shiver running down her spine. But why was Fynn surrounded by so many girls the second he entered the game?
A pang of resentment flared. She felt like she’d been excluded from a party she was supposed to host. Still, the loyalty she’d cultivated for years didn’t vanish overnight. She was torn between the rising god, Shade, and the falling star, Fynn.
"Forget it. Cash first," she muttered, trying to clear her head.
She initially thought of contacting Marcus, a classmate who had already brokered a deal with the Sovereign Group. But then, a new notification flashed.
"Fynn Solo needs help! Any fans in Rivenhaven City, meet him at Irongate Plaza. He’s buying Tradeable Lifespan at 10,000 per day. It’s your chance to save him and get paid!"
The post was trending. People were calling it a "charity drive" for their fallen idol.
Evie bit her lip. The market rate was 15,000. Selling to Fynn meant losing five grand a day—a million-credit loss for her total stack.
"I can't just watch him fade away," she grumbled, her resolve hardening. She grabbed her jacket. She would take the hit. She was going to Irongate Plaza.
While Evie was planning her "rescue," Ethan was nearing the endgame of his first phase.
He was deep within the high-level monster territory of Ember Hollow. Each Starter Town was an island; the closer you got to the shoreline, the more lethal the inhabitants became. Ethan was currently stalking the coast, carving through Level 10 monstrosities that would have required a full raid party to even distract.
Tidecallers attempted to bind him with elemental shackles. He flickered past them.
Burrowers lunged from the sand. He gutted them before they could breach.
Crimson Carapaces—giant, armored crustaceans—shattered under his blades.
None of them could withstand a single rotation of his skills. He wasn't just gaining experience; he was harvesting Evolution Points and Lifespan at a rate that defied the game’s internal logic.
After thirty minutes of systematic slaughter, Ethan checked his progress. He had 13 Evolution Points banked thanks to the Epic-tier Greedy Grasp.
He opened his skill tree and focused on his core passive.
[You have consumed 13 Evolution Points.]
[Backstab Mastery (Platinum → Jade): Passive damage bonus increased from 40% to 50% when attacking from behind.]
The scaling was becoming lethal. What started as a modest 10% buff was now a massive multiplier.
With a final Phantom Flurry, he tore through a pair of Crimson Carapaces. The golden glow of a level-up washed over him, accompanied by a deafening chime of system notifications.
[Congratulations! You have reached Level 10!]
[All Attributes +2. You have received 5 Free Attribute Points.]
[Class Advancement Unlocked!]
Then, the global announcements began to roll.
[Global Announcement: Shade (Daxia Realm) is the first player worldwide to reach Level 10. Reward: 21 Renown.]
[Regional Announcement: Shade is the first player in the Daxia Realm to reach Level 10. Reward: 14 Renown.]
[Local Announcement: Shade is the first player in Rivenhaven City to reach Level 10. Reward: 7 Renown.]
(Note: Once seven players in Rivenhaven reach Level 10, the portal to 'The Godforsaken Reaches' will activate.)
Ethan’s lips curled into a thin smile. Even with the three-hour detour to the temple, he was still the undisputed apex. He was soloing, one-shotting, and hyper-efficient. Even top-tier teams like Victor’s took thirty seconds to down a single mob, and they had to split that experience five ways.
The next highest player in the world was likely barely scraping Level 8.
"Right on schedule," Ethan mused.
In his past life, the first Level 10 hadn't appeared until evening—a player from North America. This time, the timeline had been shattered.
As the world-wide server message flashed, the forums went into a meltdown.
"Shade is a god! I heard he just turned Fynn Solo into a level-one corpse!"
"Fynn is on Weibo right now begging for Lifespan. What a clown. Does he really think he can catch up?"
In the Sakuran Realm (Japan), players were in disbelief. "A Daxia player? Our top rank is only Level 7. This is impossible!"
In North America, a player with a Hidden Class slammed his fist against a tavern table. "How? I’m Level 8 and I haven't slept! Who the hell is Shade?"
While the world's intelligence agencies scrambled to unmask him, Ethan was looking at his updated sheet.
ID: Shade
Class: Shade (Unique Hidden)
▸ Rank: 11
▸ Mental Resistance: 64
Bound Lifespan: 1,219 Years, 128 Days
Tradeable Lifespan: 7,455 Days
▸ Agility: 130
▸ Threat Level: 3 / 5
▸ Evasion: 23%
Renown: 47
"Seven thousand days of tradeable life... it’s a start, but it’s not enough," Ethan sighed.
He didn't stick around to grind. At Level 10, the experience curve spiked by a factor of ten. To progress further, he needed Class Advancement, which required specific trials and massive experience sinks.
"Time to handle things in the real world."
Ethan closed his eyes. His translucent avatar on the Ember Hollow coast began to dissolve.
Daxia Realm, Rivenhaven City.
Misted Vale Residence, Building 11, Room 1102.
In a sparse, clean bedroom, Ethan’s physical form began to solidify on the bed. As the connection bridged, a system prompt flickered in his vision.
[Do you wish to consume Tradeable Lifespan to extract abilities into reality?]
"Yes."
A menu manifested in the air, glowing with a faint, ethereal light:
1. Extract Class and Level
2. Extract Equipment
3. Extract Skills
4. Extract Bloodline (Locked)
5. Extract Divinity (Locked)
Ethan didn't hesitate. Godsfall charged a flat 1,000 days of Lifespan to extract any Class, whether it was Common or Hidden.
[1,000 Days Consumed. Unique Hidden Class 'Shade' extracted.]
[Class Passives Active. Real-world stats updated: AGI +8, STR +3, CON +3, INT +5.]
Next was Level. Extraction before Level 10 cost 1,000 days per level. Ethan decided to invest.
[2,000 Days Consumed. Level 2 extracted.]
▸ [Real: world Rank: 2. Attributes updated.]
▸ Resistance: Physical 7% / Magic 34%
He had 4,455 days remaining. Now came the exploit that would make him a god among men.
Normally, extracting a high-rank skill was prohibitively expensive. A Platinum-tier skill should have cost tens of thousands of days. But the system calculated the cost based on the initial rank of the skill when the player first acquired it.
Ethan had evolved his skills, but the system still saw them as their base forms.
[900 Days Consumed. Skill 'Shadow Veil' (Platinum) extracted.]
[2,262 Days Consumed. Skill 'Virulent Dart' (Silver) extracted.]
He was down to 1,292 days, but the payoff was staggering. In the real world, Ethan was no longer a civilian. His Agility was now 32—more than triple that of an Olympic sprinter. He could cover a hundred meters in five seconds without breaking a sweat.
"Not enough Lifespan to bring everything," Ethan muttered, testing the weight of his fist. The air whistled as he punched. "But it's enough to kill Fynn Solo."
In his previous life, Ethan had seen enough slaughter to last ten lifetimes. He wasn't going to let Fynn rise again. He wouldn't give him the chance to become a "hero" or a "leader" while people died in the streets.
Shadow Veil, now at Platinum rank and boosted by his class passive, allowed for infinite invisibility. Combined with the 14-meter range of his Virulent Dart, he was the perfect assassin.
The only problem was finding him. In his past life, Fynn was elusive. But now? Fynn was desperate. He was publicly buying Lifespan, which meant he had to be there in person to facilitate the trade.
Fynn Solo had just pinned a target on his own forehead.
Ethan stood up, his body humming with unnatural power. "Let's go."
He moved toward the door, but before he could leave, his phone began to vibrate on the nightstand. He paused, looking at the screen.