CHAPTER 50: CHAPTER 50: INVINCIBLE MAGIC BARRIER AND VINES OF FATE, THE FIRST EVENT IS HERE!

A few days passed after Stark’s logoff.

He had only taken a short break to clear the [Tired] status.

Just a few hours of rest in the real world, and then he was already diving back into [Eternal Soul].

Being stuck at full level didn’t matter to him, he refused to waste time.

All he did during those days was simple: kill everything that moved and sell anything he didn’t need.

Every monster he crossed paths with, every bit of loot that fell to the ground, he cleaned it all up.

The gear and items he didn’t need went straight to the trading stalls for Lives.

He only conserved the stronger items for himself as he didn’t feel like selling them yet.

He wasn’t planning to use them immediately, but he also wasn’t stupid enough to throw away future leverage.

While Stark grinded endlessly, the city around him changed.

The number of players inside the [Ruined Cities] had multiplied by nearly ten.

The once half-empty streets, broken plazas, and ruined squares were now filled with parties forming.

Even then, the gap in strength was massive.

Only a small fraction of players had reached level 20.

Even fewer had reached the true peak, level 25.

Ghost was one of them, hitting 25 a full day after Stark.

Her leveling speed was still absurd compared to normal players, but next to Stark’s insane pace, she was behind.

Grace trailed further. She had pushed herself to level 24 and told Stark she had gained another support-type skill.

She seemed proud of it.

But Stark didn’t have the time to meet either of them.

His focus was split elsewhere.

He had searched high and low for the [Church Sanctuary].

He was certain he’d combed through every part of the ruined city, side alleys, collapsed districts.

But no matter how carefully he searched, he found nothing.

That only left him with two options.

Either it was hidden by some trigger he hadn’t found yet, or it wasn’t open at all.

There were places in [Eternal Soul] known as "special zones."

And much like "special bosses", they only appeared for short periods before vanishing again.

Stark wasn’t sure if the [Church Sanctuary] fell into that category, but if it did, then he’d simply have to wait until the right time came.

In the end, nothing big happened in those days.

But the results were worth it.

Ding!

[You have gained 89 Evolution Points!]

[You have gained 2528 Lives!]

All that killing, all that trading, and the steady five daily Evolution Points stacked up to a solid reward.

[Lives: 6166]

[Current Evolution Points: 121]

"Damn."

Stark let out a low breath. The numbers were impressive.

With this, he could evolve at least two of his legendary-ranked skills into mythical.

On top of that, he could afford to extract multiple skills into the real world if he wanted to.

He had also already spent the fifty attribute points he’d been saving.

"Thirty into spirit, twenty into agility."

There was no hesitation. He wasn’t spreading his stats out.

Constitution and strength weren’t much use for him anyway.

For now, spirit and agility were everything.

Spirit gave him overwhelming firepower, while agility kept him fast enough to dodge and reposition.

That was his style, and he doubled down on it.

Today was the day the very first event of [Eternal Soul] would begin.

Stark knew the timing exactly.

Based on his memories, the countdown was over.

The trigger could happen any moment now.

But before that, there was one thing he had to do.

[Do you wish to consume 50 Evolution Points to evolve "Powerful Magic Barrier"?]

"Yes."

Ding!

[You have evolved "Powerful Magic Barrier" (Legendary) to "Invincible Magic Barrier" (Mythical).]

He didn’t waste time admiring it. Instead, he immediately moved on to the second.

[Do you wish to consume 50 Evolution Points to evolve "Sovereign Vines"?]

"Yes."

Ding!

[You have evolved "Sovereign Vines" (Legendary) to "Vines of Fate" (Mythical).]

[Current Evolution Points: 21.]

"Perfect," Stark muttered with a grin.

Then he opened the skill descriptions.

---

[Invincible Magic Barrier (Mythical): Summon a barrier around the user that can endure many attacks, it has 20,000 → 40,000 HP. 30 (15)-seconds cooldown.]

---

[Vines of Fate (Mythical): Summons several powerful vines from the ground that will hit with immense force at several targets, it will deal 1000 → 2500 damage + 500% → 800% of spirit. 20 → 18 (9)-seconds cooldown.]

---

Stark could feel it surging inside him as he read the upgrades.

The barrier’s strength had doubled.

The vines had become monsters on their own, hitting harder than most players could even comprehend.

Slowly, one after another, all of his skills would become mythical-rank.

But just as he was riding the high of his new power—

Ding! Ding! Ding!

A sharp global announcement rang out in every player’s ears.

Stark’s eyes narrowed. ’Here it is. The first event.’

Across the ruined city, countless players stopped what they were doing. Confusion spread instantly.

"Is it gonna be another announcement of [Oblivion] doesn’t something crazy?"

"No, no, that sound was different, maybe it’s another one of those at the top?"

"Did you notice how the top guys are all stuck at level 25?"

The city buzzed with speculation.

Thousands of players talking at once, all guessing what the sudden chime meant.

But the system didn’t keep them waiting long.

---

[The First Event will now start!]

[Event: Ghost Hunt — Normal Difficulty]

[Duration: 12 hours]

---

The squares erupted.

"Huh?"

"What the hell’s an event?"

"Bro... too much stuff keeps happening in this game!"

It had been one week since [Eternal Soul] launched, and even the ones who barely logged out, looked baffled.

Nobody had been expecting something like this.

Stark, however, wasn’t surprised in the slightest.

’The deeper you go in [Eternal Soul], the more mechanics reveal themselves,’ he thought, eyes glinting.

This was only the start.

After events would come zones, then new bosses, NPCs, bloodlines, and more...

[Eternal Soul] always kept peeling back layers, one after another.

Many players immediately noticed the keywords.

The name "Ghost Hunt." The duration of twelve hours.

And, most importantly, the word "Normal" stamped next to the difficulty.

Events like these came in five difficulty tiers: Normal, Hard, Nightmare, Hell, and Eternal.

This one was only Normal. The lowest.

But Stark knew better than to underestimate it.

Even a "basic" event was brutal enough to wipe out unprepared players by the thousands.

And as the difficulties rose, the gap between the living and the dead only grew wider.

Ding!

[Player "Starfall" has sent you a private message!]

Stark glanced at the notification.

He had half-expected her to message him the second the announcement came.

[Starfall: Wow! (๑òᆺó๑)]

[Oblivion: Is that... all?]

[Starfall: Yeah, I just wanted to show you my reaction, Ghost is always... herself, so she didn’t react much to that either (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞]

[Oblivion: Expected.]

Of course neither Ghost nor Starfall would panic.

The high-leveled players weren’t so easily shaken.

They were already sitting at the top of the ruined city.

To them, a "normal" event couldn’t possibly be threatening.

But Stark knew the truth. Many of them were about to learn the hard way what [Eternal Soul] actually was.

The system let the players chatter and speculate for another minute.

Then, when the timing was right, more panels appeared.

Ding!

---

[The rules of the "Ghost Hunt" will now be explained!]

[Description: The "Ruined Cities" have been overtaken by ghosts and spirits that wish to do nothing but haunt and kill. It is your job to eliminate them.]

[There are many types of ghosts, and their levels vary depending on how deep into the city you go.]

---

That meant the weaker monsters that would roam the main land would be level 15 or so.

But the farther one pushed into the city, the more dangerous the enemies became.

Level 20, level 23, and at the very edge, level 25.

Those were the ones Stark was aiming for.

---

[The "Event Leaderboard" will showcase your ranking in the event. Those at the top will be rewarded.]

[Good luck!]

---

And with that, the first event of [Eternal Soul] began.