The first step into Eternum Online was always the same: overwhelming.
Noah stood in the middle of a cobblestone plaza, the sheer immensity of the world pressing down on him. The air smelled faintly of bread from a bakery nearby, mixed with the earthy scent of horses tied at a stable. NPC guards patrolled the streets with realistic clinks of armor, while vendors hawked wares from wooden stalls, their voices rising above the hum of thousands of new players flooding the starting city.
It was chaos.
Everywhere Noah looked, players marveled at the realism. Some laughed, some shouted, some ran around punching the air just to feel their new bodies move.
"Holy crap! Look at this sword!" someone exclaimed, swinging a rusty blade at nothing.
"Dude, I can actually smell the soup from that shop!" another player shouted, eyes wide.
For most, it was awe. For Noah, it was déjà vu.
He walked calmly through the crowds, ignoring the chatter, his eyes fixed ahead. Grayhaven. That was the name of this city. The central hub of the beginner zone. And he knew exactly what he needed to do.
---
The Shadow Reaver was not a class anyone respected. Not yet. In his previous life, guides had dismissed it as useless, its growth too slow and its skills underwhelming. By the time people realized its true potential, the path had already been swallowed up by corporations who monopolized its resources.
But now, Noah was the first.
And that meant opportunity.
He pulled up his interface.
[Character: Noah Graves]
[Level: 1]
[Class: Shadow Reaver]
[HP: 100 | MP: 50]
[Skills: Umbral Step (Active), Hunger of the Void (Passive)]
Noah opened his skill description.
Umbral Step (Active)
— Allows user to merge with their shadow and move instantly within a short range. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
Hunger of the Void (Passive)
— Attacks made from shadows restore a small portion of health.
At first glance, weak. A teleport that barely reached a few meters. A passive that gave only 1–2% healing per strike. To the average player, worthless.
But Noah knew the truth. These abilities scaled. And once certain hidden quests were unlocked, Shadow Reaver became one of the deadliest classes in the game.
He smirked. Step one: find the quest.
---
The crowd of new players surged toward the Adventurers' Guild at the city center, where the main tutorial quests began. Noah went the opposite direction.
Down the side streets. Past the tavern with its drunken NPCs spilling into the street. Past the blacksmith, where players gawked at swords they couldn't afford. His boots carried him with certainty, every turn imprinted into his memory.
Finally, he stopped at a narrow alley tucked between two stone buildings. Most players never even noticed it. To Noah, it was a landmark.
He slipped inside.
The alley reeked of rotting garbage. A broken cart lay abandoned, rats scurrying under it. At the far end, half-buried in shadows, a ragged old man slumped against the wall, muttering to himself. His skin was pale, his eyes sunken, and a darkness clung to him like a shroud.
An NPC.
[Event Triggered: Encounter with the Forsaken Shade]
Noah's pulse quickened. This was it—the start of the Shadow Reaver's true path.
He approached carefully. "You look like you've seen better days, old man."
The NPC's head jerked up. His eyes glowed faintly violet, and his voice rasped like dry leaves. "You… you carry the mark. The shadows stir within you."
A system prompt appeared:
[Quest Available: The Hunger in the Dark]
Difficulty: Unknown
Reward: ???
Accept?
Noah didn't hesitate. Yes.
The old man grinned, his teeth black and broken. "Good… good. Then feed them. Prove you are worthy of the void's blessing. Bring me the essence of ten creatures slain not in light, but in shadow."
[Quest Accepted: The Hunger in the Dark]
Noah's lips curved into a smile. He remembered this quest. In his past life, he had stumbled across it at Level 30—far too late to matter. But now? At launch? This was history being rewritten.
---
The beginner fields stretched just beyond the city gates. Rolling green hills dotted with wolves, boars, and horned rabbits. Hundreds of players swarmed the area already, weapons swinging clumsily, shouting and laughing as they tried to land the killing blow on mobs.
"No kill-stealing, dude!"
"Party up! We'll share the EXP!"
"Damn it, this rabbit's too fast!"
It was a madhouse.
Noah ignored the chaos and slipped along the edges of the field. He found a small grove of trees, shadows pooling thick beneath the branches. Perfect.
A horned rabbit hopped into the clearing, ears twitching.
Noah crouched low, letting the shadows around him stretch unnaturally. He activated Umbral Step.
In an instant, he vanished into the darkness at his feet and reappeared directly behind the rabbit. His rusty starter dagger drove into its neck before it could squeal.
[Critical Hit!]
[Horned Rabbit slain. Essence absorbed.]
A faint wisp of shadow seeped from the rabbit's corpse into Noah's blade, then into his arm. His HP ticked up by 3 points.
[Quest Progress: 1/10]
Noah exhaled slowly, excitement surging through him. It worked. It all worked exactly as he remembered.
He grinned. "This is where it begins."
---
Hours passed.
While most players fumbled in the open fields, fighting each other for kills, Noah hunted in the shadows. Wolves, boars, rabbits—all fell to his blade. His movements grew sharper, more fluid, as Umbral Step became second nature. The shadows whispered to him, feeding him strength with every kill.
By the time the sun dipped low in the simulated sky, he had completed the quest.
[Quest Complete: The Hunger in the Dark]
The ragged old man from the alley appeared again, stepping out of the shadows. His eyes burned brighter now.
"You have fed the hunger. You have taken your first step."
[Reward: Skill Acquired — Devour Essence]
Noah pulled up the description.
Devour Essence (Active)
— Consume the soul of a slain enemy to restore health and mana. Killing blows grant a chance to permanently increase stats.
Noah's breath caught. Permanent stat growth. This was the core of the Shadow Reaver's broken potential. Other classes relied on equipment, potions, and grinding levels. His class could grow stronger simply by killing.
A slow smile spread across his face.
In his past life, he had missed this moment. But not this time. This time, he was the first.
---
As he walked back toward the city gates, players still fought over mobs in the fields, complaining about respawn timers and low EXP rates.
Noah slipped past them unnoticed, his dagger still faintly glowing with absorbed essence. He didn't need their chatter, their confusion, their slow progress.
He had already begun walking a different path.
A darker path.
And as he entered Grayhaven once more, his shadow stretched unnaturally long behind him, writhing as though alive.
Noah Graves was no longer just another poor kid from the slums.
He was the world's first Shadow Reaver.
And this was only the beginning.