Return as a God-level Assassin

At this stage, the only anti-stealth skills players could acquire were at the first level.

But Riven...

As a Shadow-class profession, he naturally had a +1 stealth level bonus.

So, these players had no way of detecting him!

Riven wasn't in a hurry to pick up the loot on the ground. Since he had ownership protection, no one else could take it anyway.

When he saw the players summoning their "Phantom Skyhawks," he immediately understood their plan.

"Trying to kill me and steal my loot? Wishful thinking..."

Riven smirked coldly.

Like an invisible specter, he roamed the area, unseen.

The opposing group consisted of about a dozen players, all clustered together as they cautiously approached the remains of the Golden Ghost Ship.

They assumed Riven had already fled.

Otherwise, there was no reason they couldn't find him even after summoning their Phantom Skyhawks.

"At least he knows when to run…"

A tall, lanky young man sneered and raised his hand. "But don't let your guard down. Stay ready for battle. The loot protection lasts five minutes. Once that time's up, the boss drops are ours."

The Phantom Skyhawks hovered overhead, releasing waves of anti-stealth energy, giving the players a false sense of security.

But then—

A shadow flickered through their vision.

A storm of blades erupted among them, slashing through their ranks in an instant!

All they saw were flashing damage numbers filling their screens before their vision went black.

Dead.

Shadow Slash!

If they had spread out, killing them would have been a hassle.

But since they grouped up, they had only themselves to blame.

No mercy—wipe them all out!

In a blink, near the shattered remains of the Golden Ghost Ship, twelve grayish-white Life Orbs floated in the air…

The swamp fell into silence.

"By the way… where the hell did Lina run off to?"

Riven scanned the area but saw no sign of her.

Instead of using Greedy Hand on the Golden Ghost Ship's corpse right away, he opened his skill panel first.

"I had six Evolution Points before this, and this boss just gave me seven—perfect. That makes thirteen in total."

"Time to evolve Greedy Hand!"

[Greedy Hand (Diamond → Epic)]: Assassin-class skill. Grants a 220% → 300% chance to obtain an extra loot drop. The additional loot is guaranteed to be one tier higher.

Epic-tier Greedy Hand!

A complete transformation!

"Guaranteed one-tier upgrade?"

"That's… absolutely broken!"

Riven's breathing grew rapid.

Even after nine years of grinding in Eclipse of Eternity, he had never heard of such an absurd ability!

No hesitation—time to loot!

[You have used the skill 'Greedy Hand.']

[You have gained 7 Evolution Points!]

[You have gained 7 Evolution Points!]

[You have gained 7 Evolution Points!]

[You have obtained 216 days of tradable lifespan.]

[You have obtained 216 days of tradable lifespan.]

[You have obtained 216 days of tradable lifespan.]

A flood of system notifications bombarded him, making Riven's heartbeat accelerate.

In one go, he had just gained 21 Evolution Points and 648 days of tradable lifespan!

He picked up all the tradable lifespan left behind in the swamp, including over 1,000 days that had dropped from himself…

Then, he glanced at his total tradable lifespan: 3,115 days!

"Another 21 Evolution Points..."

"Let's keep evolving Greedy Hand!"

Riven opened his skill panel.

But just as he was about to upgrade the skill again, the system issued a new notification.

[The skill 'Greedy Hand' has reached Epic-tier. Further evolution requires ten times the Evolution Points.]

[Would you like to spend 210 Evolution Points to evolve this skill?]

Riven chose no.

Where the hell was he supposed to get 210 Evolution Points?

"So evolving from Epic to Legendary requires ten times the points…"

"Which means it'll only get worse from here."

Riven let out a sigh.

The upside was that his Evolution Point acquisition speed had dramatically increased.

With Epic-tier Greedy Hand, a single Gold-tier boss now yielded 28 Evolution Points.

"Looks like I should evolve my other skills first."

Shaking his head, he put the thought aside for now.

Instead, he began collecting the loot from the Golden Ghost Ship, inspecting them one by one.

Among them was the item he had been after the most—

[Ghostfire Bell (Special Item)]: While carrying this item, you will not lose lifespan upon death. Cooldown: 1,800 (1,565) seconds.

[Soul Absorption (Passive)]: Killing monsters increases lifespan drops by 20%.

[Soul Shock (Active)]: Shaking the Ghostfire Bell immobilizes all enemies within 100 meters for 3 seconds. Cooldown: 600 (521) seconds.

This special item was something that, even in the later stages of Eclipse of Eternity, players wouldn't be able to buy—not even with a thousand years' worth of lifespan!

Its most critical feature was the Soul Absorption effect.

A 20% increase in lifespan drops from kills!

In Eclipse of Eternity, tradable lifespan was everything.

Not only was it needed to extract abilities into the real world, but it was also vital for many mid-to-late-game mechanics.

Simply put—the more tradable lifespan you had, the stronger you became!

"And it doesn't count as equipment, just an item."

"It doesn't take up an equipment slot—just a backpack space. That's insanely convenient."

With the Ghostfire Bell, he now had a safety net—once every half an hour, he could die without losing any lifespan.

That alone was already huge for someone like him—he could stay in stealth all the time, but his defenses were still weak.

But there was something else that surprised him even more.

"Even killing the Golden Ghost Ship doesn't guarantee a Ghostfire Bell drop."

"Based on statistics, the drop rate is only 30%."

"But thanks to Greedy Hand, I actually got two of them?!"

In his past life, no one had ever obtained two Ghostfire Bells at once!

So Riven had no idea if their effects would stack.

He checked his detailed attributes.

Under the 'Lifespan Gain Bonus' stat, the number had changed to 40%!

"Holy crap. This is broken."

Riven was stunned.

Two Ghostfire Bells—their passive effects actually stacked!

From now on, every monster he killed would grant 40% more tradable lifespan!

"Too bad Eclipse of Eternity has shared cooldowns for identical items…"

"The death-protection effect will go on cooldown for both if one triggers."

"The Soul Shock active skill also shares a cooldown. Use it once, and both bells go on cooldown together."

This was just how the game worked. After nine years, Riven knew the mechanics inside out. But even so, the fact that the Soul Absorption passive stacked was beyond overpowered.

His power was already growing at an insane speed. Now? It would only accelerate further! With that, he continued sorting through his loot.

Thanks to Greedy Hand, the rewards from the Golden Ghost Ship were incredible.

He had acquired over a dozen items in total, including eleven Gold-tier weapons and skill books, two Platinum-tier pieces of equipment and a Platinum-tier skill book!