Even though Seraphelis had become his soul servant card, Ethan could only use her power when he activated the servant's aggressive mode.

There was a big level gap between his other soul servants and Seraphelis, one that was hard to ignore.

Ethan wanted to know if that difference also affected the duration of the aggressive mode and its cooldown.

But trying it out right now would be pointless if he was just doing it out of curiosity. The best option was to wait for an actual combat moment, then activate Seraphelis alone in aggressive mode.

By making Sera—who was technically a fragment of a soul—his soul servant, it was Ethan's way of protecting her completely.

A soul servant only died or became inactive if their master died.

In this case, Seraphelis would die or deactivate if Ethan died.

That made things easier for him. He didn't need to protect both himself and Sera separately—if he stayed alive, she would be fine.

A side quest with an unexpected reward. After meeting the others, I'll look for information about the other goddesses.

Maybe I can get something out of Seraphelis about them too.

Ethan stayed quiet for a while, exhaling softly. There was just too much new information for a single day.

He also needed to prepare for tomorrow—to head east and meet up with his teammates.

The green dots on his map were still active, which meant they were alive.

That made him happy. With the Sword Liberation team complete again, it would be much easier to collect Star Essence.

***

The next day.

A village in the middle of the forest.

Ethan and Nuwa said goodbye to Jared and the other villagers. Ethan thanked them for treating the two of them so well during their stay.

Jared nodded and thanked Ethan in return, grateful that Ethan and Nuwa had saved his daughter from the Red-Eyed Spider Monster.

Jared still thought Sera was his daughter, even though Sera's true nature was far beyond human.

Ethan turned and saw Cersei with her guild teammates. Her priest friend had gotten her weapon back in exchange for the information Cersei had given him.

Judging from how prepared they looked, it seemed like they were also about to head out for exploration.

Ethan didn't know where they were going, but for him, the goal was clear—he and Nuwa had to go east to meet Lara and the others.

Once their business in the village was done, Ethan and Nuwa left. They entered the forest, with Ethan keeping his digital map active.

The green dots marking his teammates were still glowing and blinking, moving west from their position.

That made Ethan think they might have already noticed his presence and were moving toward him.

Ethan and Nuwa were still quite far apart from Lara and the others.

They had to cross the fog-covered map and the thick forest ahead. Nuwa knew they needed to be cautious—the forest was the perfect place for monsters to roam.

Every now and then, Ethan looked back to make sure no one was following them. Cersei and her team were nowhere to be seen.

Looks like they went somewhere else.

"Ethan," Nuwa called softly.

He shifted his attention forward and crouched behind a bush like she did.

Nuwa lifted the leaves in front of her so Ethan could get a clear view ahead.

Through his eyes, Ethan saw two red-furred centaur monsters roaming around in the clearing.

And under his targeting cursor, he noticed something strange—words glowing faintly: "Star Essence."

That was new. Neither he nor Nuwa had seen anything like that on previous monsters.

"Could those be monsters that have Star Essence?" Nuwa asked.

"Possibly," Ethan replied.

"Are we going to fight them?"

Ethan went silent, running through every possible scenario in his head.

His power had increased, but centaurs were known for going berserk when their HP dropped too low.

When they entered berserk mode, their ATK and AGI rose sharply, and their HP regeneration spiked.

The only real strategy was to deal heavy damage before that critical point.

"You stay here. I'll take care of them," Ethan said firmly.

Nuwa nodded. The level of those centaurs was much higher than hers.

Forcing her into that fight would only make things harder for Ethan. It was better for her to stay put and watch the surroundings.

Ethan drew his sword and stepped out of the bush. He sprinted forward, gripping his weapon tightly in his right hand.

With a swift sideways motion, he unleashed a slash toward them.

A crimson blade wave shot forward, striking one of the centaurs before it even noticed him. The monster was killed instantly by a single Skill 1 attack.

[Black-Horn Centaur (Lv. 49) || HP: 0/9500]

Nuwa stared wide-eyed. She had just watched Ethan take down a high-level centaur with one attack.

The other centaur swung its spiked club toward Ethan, but he dodged sideways easily.

His improved strength made the monster's movements look slow in his eyes—a clear advantage.

Without using a skill, Ethan slashed diagonally, then horizontally, and again upward in quick, fluid motions. The centaur couldn't keep up.

[Black-Horn Centaur (Lv. 49) || HP: 3850/9500]

The moment its HP dropped close to the critical point, Ethan leaped back and swung his sword sideways again, launching another crimson slash.

BLAST!

The attack hit dead-on, triggering a violent explosion that tore the centaur apart.

[Black-Horn Centaur (Lv. 49) || HP: 0/9500]

Ethan raised his hand to shield his eyes from the dust. Within seconds, both monsters vanished, their bodies dissolving into glowing magic particles drifting into the sky.

[Congratulations, you killed a monster]

[Name: Black-Horn Centaur (Lv. 49) || New Record]

[+1800 EXP || +1800 Gold]

[You obtained the following items:]

[50x Star Essence] [1x Centaur Skull Helmet (Epic)] [1x Black-Horn Gauntlet (Epic)] [10 Silver Key] [2 Golden Key]

Besides the items, Ethan saw the Star Essence floating above his palm. The amount was smaller than he had expected, but that didn't matter.

Star Essence was still Star Essence. It was a valuable item in this event, no matter how little or much he got.

Nuwa walked closer after seeing that Ethan was unharmed. She looked at the glowing blue Star Essence hovering above his hand.

"Should we start looking for other monsters with Star Essence?" she asked.

"That's a good idea," Ethan said. "But we still need to focus on regrouping with the others first."

"Once we're all together, hunting Star Essence monsters will be much easier."

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