They both walked up Mount Mordor, keeping their guard up the whole time. Ethan's head kept turning left and right, scanning the area around them.

He vaguely saw traces of a fight inside the forest—tree trunks were scratched, and branches were broken off. Ethan narrowed his eyes, trying to focus.

"What is it?" Nuwa asked.

"Nothing."

"There's nothing," Ethan replied.

They continued climbing toward the mountain peak, but their steps stopped when they noticed thick fog suddenly surrounding the area.

Ethan and Nuwa stood back to back. Their eyes were sharp, scanning around, trying to figure out what kind of monsters were surrounding them.

Suddenly, a tree branch with a sharp tip lunged straight toward Ethan. He reacted fast, slicing it cleanly and cutting it down with precision.

The friction between his sword and the branch caused sparks to fly, flames spreading across the branch's arm until it couldn't move anymore.

In the end, the tree arm broke apart, turned black, and fell to the ground.

A monster's HP panel appeared in front of Ethan's face, showing the monster's name and its total HP.

[Black-Tree Monster (Lv.25) || HP: 1850/2120]

"Level 25? Easier than I thought."

Ethan turned, observing the area carefully. A total of eight Black Tree Monsters surrounded them from all directions—the same kind of monster he had fought before.

With Ethan and Nuwa's power, they shouldn't have much trouble taking them down.

"Can you fight them, Nuwa?"

"They're level 25. I'll give it a try," Nuwa said.

She activated her class skill, moving quickly and striking at every monster that got close. Even so, she found herself struggling.

Her attacks weren't strong enough to beat them, and one of the monsters landed a heavy hit.

Nuwa's body was thrown back, pain shooting through her stomach. Ethan stepped closer to check on her condition.

"I'm fine."

No, you're not. That skill attack didn't even affect them.

Because Ethan was in a party with them, he could see every guild member's HP bar.

Luckily, none of them were dead or failed the mission, though their HP had dropped.

Ethan gripped Nuwa's shoulder firmly, telling her to stay alert.

Nuwa looked confused as she wiped blood from the corner of her lips, still hurt.

"Heal yourself outside of the fight," Ethan ordered.

With one strong pull, Ethan threw Nuwa backward, making her scream.

He didn't throw her to use her as bait, but to get her out of the battle.

"What are you doing?! Even if they're only level 25, there are too many of them!" Nuwa shouted.

"My strength can't be stopped just by numbers."

Ethan gripped his Fire-Pillar sword tightly, then jumped forward straight at the four black tree monsters in front of him.

He landed hard, dealing massive damage to the nearby monsters.

The boost from his ultimate skill, strengthened by the Rage Infinite buff, caused instant death to them.

"Instant kill?" Nuwa said, shocked.

But Ethan wasn't done. He swung his sword sideways, sending a crimson lightning slash toward the black tree monsters rushing at him.

BLAST!

A huge explosion followed, crimson smoke rising to the sky.

Nuwa lifted her arm to block the dust and debris blowing against her face. The air roared as Ethan unleashed his first skill.

With one clean sword motion, Ethan swept away the crimson smoke, letting Nuwa see what had happened to the black tree monsters.

"W-What… happened?" Nuwa asked, stunned.

Ethan saw it too—monster corpses scattered across the ground.

Unlike monsters outside the Event, those inside turned into magic particles when they died.

[DING! Congratulations, you killed a monster]

[Name: Black-Tree Monster (Lv.25) || New Record]

[+7875 EXP] [+7875 Gold]

[Congratulations! You leveled up]

[Level 54 → Level 55]

[EXP: 108523/116550] [AP: 30]

Ethan fell silent. He had reached level 55 inside the Thousand Star Event, which meant the Talent Quest would reopen, and he'd have to complete it no matter what.

[Congratulations! You unlocked your 4th skill slot]

Along with leveling up, the fourth skill slot was now open, though still empty.

Ethan didn't care about that for now—his focus was finishing the event while completing the Talent Quest.

Nuwa approached him, curious about his power. Even though she was high level, there was no way Ethan could do two instant kills like that.

"Did you use some kind of trick?" Nuwa asked.

"Trick?"

"Look! The monsters died instantly after your skill hit them. Isn't that obvious?" Nuwa said, pointing at the fading magic particles.

"No. I just increased my base ATK. That makes the skill's damage percentage go up," Ethan replied.

"Let's say my base ATK is 5000 and the damage percentage for my ultimate skill is 75%. How much would that be?"

Nuwa moved her finger, trying to calculate the percentage in her head. Ethan sighed quietly.

"3750," Ethan said.

"Y-Yeah, that's right," Nuwa said.

A moment later, her eyes widened as she smiled—the numbers finally clicked in her head.

"So that's why you could instant kill them. Your damage was just way higher. Am I right?" Nuwa asked.

"You finally get it."

Nuwa nodded, no longer asking more questions.

The two of them continued climbing the mountain, staying alert. Ethan walked ahead, watching the front, while Nuwa guarded the rear.

Just a few steps after leaving the battle area, Ethan was startled by a red dot appearing in front of him.

He pressed it, opening a familiar red Talent Quest panel.

[Talent Quest has been reactivated]

[Talent Quest:]

[5. Collect 100 weapons above Rare rank from all five classes]

[Duration: 20:00:00:00]

[Reward: Ashura Blood Sword (Legendary)]

"Ashura Blood Sword?!" Ethan exclaimed, shocking Nuwa.

"What's the Ashura Blood Sword?" Nuwa asked.

This is the best reward I could ever get. The Ashura Blood Sword… the one I've wanted for so long.

Not the first version—but the third. Even the first version already had terrifying power.

"Ethan?" Nuwa called, breaking his focus.

Ethan blinked, shrinking the Talent Quest panel until only the red dot remained. Nuwa wouldn't notice.

"Ashura Blood Sword… sounds scary. What kind of sword is it?" she asked.

"It's a Legendary-ranked sword with pure fire element and crazy regeneration. Whoever owns it becomes unbeatable."

"Oh, a Legendary sword. But why is it that strong?" Nuwa asked.

"I'm not sure. The Ashura Blood Sword has three evolution versions. The higher it evolves, the higher its rank," Ethan replied.

"So the last version is Mythic rank, right?" Nuwa asked.

"Right."

"That's insane. With that sword, anyone could challenge the gods."

Ethan nodded. If the Ashura Blood Sword ever fell into another player's hands, it would cause him serious trouble.

No matter what, since the Talent Quest had offered that reward to him, Ethan was determined to finish the quest and claim that sword.

That way, no one could ever defeat him.

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