Return as a God-level Assassin

"To continue evolving the Shadow Step skill, 3 evolution points are required."

"I only have 2 points left..."

Riven had no choice but to evolve the Backstab Enhancement skill.

[You've consumed 1 evolution point, remaining 1 point.]

[Initial Skill: Backstab Enhancement (Low → Normal). Passive Effect: Attack from behind the target increases damage by 10% → 15%.]

Riven was satisfied with the evolution effect of "Backstab Enhancement."

Though the damage only increased by 5%, he could foresee how powerful this skill would become as it continued to evolve.

"With the profession's passive doubling damage…"

"If I evolve Backstab Enhancement's damage increase to 100%..."

"That would stack up to four times the damage!"

Having spent nine years navigating the harsh world of Eclipse of Eternity and still ranking among the global top 100, Riven was well-versed in understanding the effects of skill numbers.

Now, Riven was curious.

Would these skills eventually surpass the highest Immortal-level abilities if they kept evolving?

"Take the Shadow Step skill, for example. If it keeps evolving, the duration keeps increasing and the cooldown keeps decreasing..."

"Would it eventually have no cooldown?"

"As for Backstab Enhancement, could its damage boost evolve beyond 100%?"

Riven eagerly awaited the results.

In his past life, he had never heard of skills being able to evolve like this.

Whether it was equipment or skill books, the items dropped by monsters were always fixed in quality, and nothing ever changed.

But now...

Riven's primal talent had completely shattered all conventional limits!

Infinite Evolution.

From now on, his skills would surpass everyone else's.

"That's enough for now. Time to enter the game..."

Riven glanced at the screen.

He had 1 evolution point remaining.

But evolving Shadow Step required 3 points, and evolving Backstab Enhancement needed 2, so for now, there were no skills left to evolve.

As he decided to enter the game, a grayish-white input box popped up in front of him:

[Please enter your game alias]

In Eclipse of Eternity, each player needed to create an alias, similar to a nickname in online games.

The alias must be unique; if it was already taken, a string of numbers would be added to distinguish it.

"I'll go with 'Shadow,'" Riven typed into the gray-white box.

Once he finished typing, the box vanished like smoke.

[Your alias is: Shadow]

[Entering the Land of the Abandoned Gods...]

The darkness before Riven's eyes slowly faded away like smoke.

He gradually began to feel the ground beneath his feet.

As the darkness receded, he found himself in a decaying town. It was nighttime, and the moonlight shone like a silver veil, casting a cold and desolate atmosphere over the town.

Riven stood in the middle of the town's central square.

A few players in black robes were nearby, looking around in confusion.

As for NPCs...

In Eclipse of Eternity, NPCs were not scripted characters but intelligent beings from other civilizations.

Interactions with them required utmost caution!

Otherwise, one wrong move could result in losing all your remaining life, leaving you with nothing but regret.

Of course, in a new player town like this, there were no NPCs to be found.

Newcomers to the Land of the Abandoned Gods had no life points to trade, making them of little value to NPCs...

[Welcome to the Land of the Abandoned Gods.]

[This is a ruined land where countless monsters wreak havoc. Be careful—they are always ready to tear you apart and take your life.]

[Leave the town and defeat monsters to earn tradeable life.]

[However, if you die in the game, half of your remaining life will be deducted (including both tradeable and non-tradeable life).]

The familiar system notifications filled Riven's mind.

For new players entering Eclipse of Eternity, the message would have been a surprise.

But Riven felt no emotional reaction anymore.

He simply checked the map.

[Shell Town: Safe Area (No monsters in this area, players cannot attack each other)]

[In this region, the loss of life happens at a rate of 1x]

"Seems like we've switched locations," Riven muttered.

"Shell Town..."

He murmured to himself.

Since players entered the game at different times, they ended up in different locations.

There were over a hundred million starting towns in the Land of the Abandoned Gods.

These starting towns were commonly referred to as "Safe Zones!"

Each town could hold up to 1,000 players.

Once the town was full, new players would be sent to other initial towns.

"However, initial towns are divided by region and entry time."

"So, players in Shell Town must be from the Great Empire of Ross, Riverbay City."

Riven glanced around.

There were already 127 players in Shell Town.

Riven was the 128th.

"Time to check my stats."

Riven, after scanning the map, checked his personal stats.

In Eclipse of Eternity...

Attributes were everything!

[Alias: Shadow]

[Profession: Shadow]

[Level: 1]

[Non-tradeable life: 75 years]

[Tradeable life: 0]

[Strength: 10 (+3)]

[Constitution: 10 (+3)]

[Agility: 10 (+8)]

[Spirit: 10 (+5)]

[Free Attribute Points: 5]

All players start with base attributes of 10 points each.

The numbers in parentheses represent the profession bonuses.

"Shadow... This hidden profession is no joke!"

"These initial bonuses are insane!"

Riven was astonished.

In his previous life, his Warrior profession only provided 3 additional points to Strength and 3 to Constitution.

But the Shadow profession...

It gave him 3 points to both Constitution and Strength, plus 8 to Agility and 5 to Spirit!

"Strength affects physical attack power."

"Constitution affects physical defense and health."

"Agility affects movement speed, attack speed, and skill casting speed."

"Spirit affects elemental attack and resistance."

Riven was well aware of what each stat did.

In his last life, many players chose to increase Strength or Spirit to boost physical or magic attack power.

But the truth was...

Agility was the most important stat!

"The monsters in Eclipse of Eternity are incredibly strong!"

"Even the weakest mobs can easily crush new players."

"To survive early on, you need to boost Agility, no matter your profession. Only with speed can you avoid damage and kill monsters without taking hits!"

Many players had a natural misconception that damage was the most important factor.

But in Eclipse of Eternity, death meant losing years of life.

Just how important life was, was self-explanatory.

Without speed, many players would end up hopelessly dying.

"As long as my speed is high enough, I can attack or retreat at will."

"Compared to adding a bit of extra damage through Strength, speed is what truly matters."

"Especially for me."

"The Bronze-level Shadow Step skill already grants 90 additional points of damage for breaking stealth—essentially like having 90 points of Strength!"

"In the early stages, I don't need more damage, I need speed."