"That's it?"
Ethan glanced at his barely-dented HP bar, shaking his head in disappointment.
5 damage per second was nothing more than a mosquito bite to him.Even if he took the full duration of the poison, the HP he lost would be less than what a single Heal could restore.
Meanwhile, the two brute goblins charged at Ethan from the front and back, clubs swinging wildly.
"Too slow,"Ethan didn't even bother turning around.
He spun his staff in a circle and casually stabbed backward.
CRACK!
A sickening sound of bones breaking echoed out.
The brute goblin behind him went flying, slamming into two trees before finally grinding to a halt.
The brute charging from the front fared even worse.Ethan delivered an upward jab to its chin, and its entire head exploded in a gory mess.
White and green fluids splattered all over the surrounding leaves and branches.
[Weak point hit! Critical strike triggered! 310 damage dealt!]
"Whoa, so fragile. Guess I need to hold back a little,"Ethan plucked a leaf from a nearby tree and wiped the blood off his staff.
The goblin shaman, seeing the tide turn, turned tail and tried to flee.
Ethan picked up a discarded club from the ground and threw it with lightning speed, shattering the shaman's right leg.
"Where do you think you're going? Stay and let me grind some stats,"Ethan sauntered over and cast Heal on the two wailing goblins.
Goblin Brute
Level: 3
Attack: 20
Speed: 20
Defense: 10
Skill: Club Swing (Passive) – Chance to stun target if hit on the head.
Talent: Fixed Damage Reduction (E-rank) – Reduces damage taken by 10 points.(Ain't my club awesome?)
Goblin Shaman
Level: 3
Attack: 5
Spell Power: 30
Speed: 10
Defense: 0
Skill: Poison Spread – Applies a debuff on hit that deals 5 damage per second for a duration equal to Spell Power.
Talent: Spell Cost Reduction (E-rank) – Reduces spell MP cost by 1 point.(Die screaming!)
"Two talents!"Ethan's eyes lit up as he read the goblins' stats.Both were E-rank, with little practical use in the long run,but they were far better than the Arrow Enhancement he'd gotten earlier.
Besides, the shaman's talent reduced spell cost by 1 point.To anyone else, this would be next to useless—but for Ethan?
With this talent, his spells were now completely free of cost!
"No matter what, I have to grind this talent!"
Soft holy light bathed the goblins repeatedly, healing their wounds—only for Ethan to beat them up and create new ones.
This cycle repeated over fifty times, until finally:
[Trait 2 activated successfully! You have obtained the talent: Fixed Damage Reduction (E-rank)!]
[Trait 2 activated successfully! You have obtained the talent: Spell Cost Reduction (E-rank)!]
"Looks like my luck's holding up. Didn't waste too much time,"Ethan cast Heal once more—and sure enough, there was zero MP cost.
Truly a game-changing talent!With a flick of his wrist, he finished off the two goblins.
At the mountain peak,two white-clad figures burst out of the dense forest, gasping for fresh air.
"We're alive! Finally!"
"This is disgusting! Who even designed this dungeon? I'm definitely reporting it when we get out!"
The two young, beautiful girls collapsed onto a boulder, wrinkling their noses in disgust as they brushed green slime off their clothes.
The girl with a high ponytail suddenly tensed and looked up.
"Ella, do you hear that?"
Ella's body went rigid instantly.
The two held their breath, listening intently.
From deep within the forest came the sound of goblins howling—dozens of them.
"At least thirty goblins!"
Amy's expression turned grim.
Forty goblins in the outer dungeon had already pushed them to their limits.Although the number was smaller this time,the goblins in the inner dungeon were higher level and far more dangerous.
To make matters worse, they'd burned through a lot of HP and MP fighting their way out of the forest.
This battle would be an uphill climb.
"Ah!"
"Sis, something's not right… do those goblins sound like they're crying?"
Amy and Ella exchanged confused glances.
"Let's check it out!"
Amy gripped her longsword tightly and carefully pushed aside the bushes.
The sight that greeted them left both girls gaping in shock.
A young man in a priest's robe was waving his staff, chasing a horde of goblins all over the mountainside.
The goblins were screaming and fleeing in terror—several had even dropped to their knees, kowtowing and begging for mercy.
"Ethan?"
Amy and Ella stared at the bizarre scene, their minds completely blown.
Wasn't Ethan the guy who traded his Paladin Medal for a Priest Medal?
How could a priest with no offensive skills be beating thirty-something goblins into whimpering messes?
"Class President, Academic Rep—fancy seeing you two here,"Ethan heard someone call his name and paused mid-swing, turning to look at them.
"Ethan, what in the world are you doing?"
Amy held her sword at the ready, eyeing the trembling goblins warily.
Her voice was filled with disbelief.
She couldn't wrap her head around how a priest had managed to subdue over thirty goblins.
Had he actually awakened a hidden class instead of a priest—something utterly overpowered?
Ethan smiled but didn't explain.
He simply raised his hand and cast Heal on a goblin nearby that was trying to crawl away unnoticed.
Soft white light descended, healing the goblin's wounds instantly.
But instead of looking relieved, the goblin let out an even more terrified shriek and scrambled back into the huddle of its companions.
Amy & Ella: "???"
Was this how Heal was supposed to be used?Healing monsters?
Before they could ask, Ethan moved—so fast he seemed to teleport—and appeared beside the goblin he'd just healed.
He raised his staff and brought it crashing down with a loud whoosh.
"Ouch!"
The goblin let out a scream as it went flying, its HP bar plummeting drastically once again.
Amy's mouth twitched.She finally understood why the goblins were so terrified of Ethan.This wasn't a battle—it was one-sided torture.
But why was he doing this?
Could it be that getting dumped by Lilian had driven him insane?
The thought made Amy shrink back slightly.
"Ethan, are you taming these goblins?"Ella, on the other hand, didn't overthink it.
She leaned forward, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
Ethan's antics were right up her alley—these disgusting goblins deserved nothing less than to be tortured!
"Something like that,"Ethan replied, not looking up as he chased another goblin.
Taming goblins was for boosting combat power;
torturing them was for boosting his own stats.Close enough, right?
After finishing off the remaining goblins, Ethan turned to the Jones sisters and cast Heal on both of them.
"Ahh! Don't hit me!"Amy's sudden shriek caught Ethan and Ella off guard.Under their curious gazes, Amy blushed furiously.
When she'd seen the holy light from Ethan's staff flying toward her, she'd panicked, thinking he'd grown tired of torturing goblins and was going to use her and her sister as new targets.Thankfully, it was just a harmless Heal.
"This Heal is incredible! My HP is full instantly!"Ella's exclamation snapped Amy out of her embarrassment.She quickly checked her status panel.
Amy
Class: Swift Swordswoman
Talent: Clear Sword Heart (S-rank) – Attack Speed +50%, Movement Speed +100%, Critical Strike Rate +15%, Critical Strike Damage +100%.
Each attack grants a Sword Heart Mark.
Targets with Sword Heart Marks take additional damage equal to (Number of Marks × 15).
After 10 stacks, the next attack is guaranteed to be a true damage critical strike.
Skills: Gale Slash (Slash forward quickly, dealing 200% Attack as linear true damage to all enemies within 3 meters.
Cost: 10 MP. Cooldown: 8s), Parry (Parry the next incoming attack, reducing damage taken by 100% if successful. Cooldown: 5s)
HP: 300
Spell Power: 10
Attack: 30
Speed: 30
Defense: 0
Ella
Class: Bloodthirsty Berserker
Talent: Blood Burn (S-rank) – Burn a fixed amount of HP to increase the damage of your next attack by 5 × HP burned.
When HP is below 50%, Attack +100%.
When HP is below 10%, reduce damage taken by 90% and gain immunity to one fatal blow.
Skills: Bloodthirst (Passive: All attacks heal you for 2% of damage dealt), Blood Rage (Consume 50% HP and 50% MP to make all attacks heal you for 50% of damage dealt. Duration: 100s)
HP: 300
Spell Power: 10
Attack: 30
Speed: 10
Defense: 0
Ella stared at Ethan in disbelief.
Thanks to her talent, she usually kept her HP at around 30 points to maximize her damage output.
Yet Ethan's single Heal had restored her HP to full—nearly 300 points!To heal that much, a priest would need to be at least Level 5.
But only Level 1 newbies were allowed in the newbie dungeon.
Could Ethan—a Level 1 priest—already match the healing power of a Level 5 priest?
That was absurd!What kind of hidden class had he awakened?
While Ella was busy being shocked, Ethan's eyes were also lighting up as he studied the sisters' talents.
Those two S-rank talents—he had to get them!
"Want to form a party?"
"Form a party? Well…"
Amy hesitated.Ethan was undeniably strong, but there was something off about him.
She wasn't sure she wanted to get too close.
But before she could decline, Ella cheered and agreed enthusiastically.
"Yes! Perfect! We've been needing a powerful priest!"
Ella bounced over to Ethan, her eyes shining like she'd just found a rare treasure.
She didn't overthink it—Ethan's style of fighting was exactly her type.
What's more, his arrival solved her biggest problem:
her lack of HP.Although she had a passive lifesteal skill, it was too inefficient.
Blood Rage, on the other hand, cost far too much HP and MP to use casually—she only reserved it for bosses or life-or-death situations.
This meant she couldn't use Blood Burn with every attack, drastically reducing her grinding efficiency.
With a powerful priest backing her up, she could unleash her full damage potential with every strike—even taking down bosses in one hit!
Amy opened her mouth to object, but then she saw her sister's excited expression and sighed.Oh well, having a powerful priest on their side would at least guarantee their safety.
"It's a deal then!"Ella hopped beside Ethan."As long as your healing is this good, I promise no monster will ever lay a finger on you!"
No sooner had Ella finished speaking than the remaining goblins suddenly stirred, turning their heads in unison toward the north.
Then—
ROOOOOAR!
A deep, ear-splitting roar echoed from the depths of the northern forest, shattering the brief silence.
The goblins, which had been trembling in fear under Ethan's torment just moments ago, perked up at the sound.The terror in their eyes was instantly replaced by fanatical bloodlust!
They stopped whimpering and let out low, menacing snarls.
Scrambling to their feet, they grabbed their crude weapons from the ground and charged northward.