[Cosmic Finality]
[Tier: Unique]
[Authority Activated: Siphon]
[Siphon: After granting a creature its Finality, you may Siphon its essence. Based on the creature's nature, Affixes may be formed.]
[Next Authority Activation: 0/100]
"Siphon?"
Rhys sucked in a sharp breath.
As one of the top 100 players in The Epoch of Endings, he knew very well—
This keyword's power went far beyond what the surface description suggested.
[Affixes]—those four letters might look light and harmless,
But they practically encompassed every system in The Epoch of Endings.
Whether it was monsters, players, weapons, armor, skills, items,
Or even the gods themselves who stood above all—
They all had Affixes.
You could say—Affixes were the very foundation of The Epoch of Endings!
Even the exact same ability,
In the hands of players with the same class,
Would behave entirely differently depending on what Affixes were attached—
Sometimes subtly so, sometimes drastically.
A weapon that could inherit Affixes—
Even if it was a Level 1, Common-grade twig—
Would still fetch sky-high prices on the market.
The reason was simple:
The ability to pass on Affixes was insanely rare and precious!
And now, the Siphon Authority of Cosmic Finality
Had given Rhys the ability to Siphon a creature's essence and form Affixes—
Didn't that mean...
He essentially held an unlimited supply of inheritable Affixes in his own hands?
Thinking that far, Rhys swallowed hard.
Then took a deep breath to suppress the surge of excitement in his chest.
The power of Cosmic Finality... was terrifying beyond words!
And this was only one of its Authorities.
If he could activate the others too—
Rhys couldn't even begin to imagine how powerful he might become.
"Calm down. Calm down."
Rhys patted his cheeks, forcing himself to stay composed.
Cosmic Finality was indeed unimaginably powerful,
But it would still take time to fully develop.
It didn't mean he'd be invincible the moment he entered the game.
If he got arrogant or reckless,
He might end up getting blindsided and dying in some gutter.
Rhys pulled out his phone.
Seeing that it wasn't yet time for The Epoch of Endings to launch,
He put the phone down and fell into thought.
"I remember that thing... should be north of the starter village…"
As a former top-100 player in The Epoch of Endings,
Rhys had a fairly wide network of contacts.
So even though he hadn't been part of the game's first batch of players,
He had still managed to learn a fair amount through hearsay.
One friend had once told him something—
If you completed a certain series of questlines,
You could trigger a hidden boss to the north of the starter village.
And if you managed to defeat that boss early on,
You could obtain an Ancient-tier piece of gear.
In The Epoch of Endings,
All items—gear, skills, consumables, etc.—
Were divided into eleven tiers:
Common, Fine, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Ancient, Mythic, Immortal, Divine.
Those nine ranks covered the vast majority of items and skills in the game.
Beyond those, however, there were two more—
The rarest and most extraordinary of all.
The kind of items most players would never see even once in their entire lives.
"Unique" and "Primordial."
For players still in the early stages of exploring the game,
Ancient-tier gear was no less than divine relics.
Even more so when it happened to be the rarest type—a necklace.
But things didn't go as expected.
That Ancient-tier item became what players often called a "chicken rib"—tasteless to eat, a pity to throw away.
The reason was simple:
It was a cursed item.
In The Epoch of Endings, all items had a chance to come with the keyword "Cursed."
Cursed Affixes came in countless strange forms,
But all of them were negative.
Anyone who wanted to equip a cursed item had to accept the harsh penalty that came with it.
That Ancient-tier cursed necklace had a curse called [Glass Cannon].
Its effect was brutally straightforward—
The wearer's maximum HP would be permanently fixed at 1,
And could not be increased by any means.
This turned what should have been a hotly-contested item
Into a giant liability.
Even the most confident players didn't dare to use it in The Epoch of Endings.
While death in the game didn't equal real-world death,
Every in-game death would cost a player half of their remaining lifespan.
In other words,
If you hadn't gained any lifespan through gameplay,
You only had one death's worth of margin for error.
A second death meant the end—Finality.
That was assuming the player hadn't brought any power from the game into reality.
In truth, for the vast majority of players,
Dying in-game meant dying in real life.
The price of [Glass Cannon] was just too steep.
So steep that not a single person dared to equip it.
Rhys had originally only treated that Ancient-tier necklace as a bit of trivia,
Something to talk about casually during conversation.
Even after realizing he had been reborn,
He hadn't thought about trying to obtain it.
But now—
With the Siphon Authority from Cosmic Finality in hand—
He was starting to have second thoughts.
"Ding-ling-ling~"
In the middle of his thoughts,
A crisp ringtone cut through Rhys's mind.
Rhys picked up his phone.
On the caller ID, two clear characters were displayed:
"Sister."
The call was from Willa.
Rhys didn't even need to answer to know exactly what his sister wanted to say—
But still, he picked up the phone.
"Hello? Why aren't you here yet?"
Willa's voice came from the other end, just as sharp as ever.
"Don't you know the game's about to launch?"
Rhys gave a cold sneer,
But didn't answer her question.
Instead, he turned his gaze toward the head of his bed.
There,
A large holographic VR game helmet was resting quietly on the mattress.
Tearing open the helmet's packaging casually,
Rhys spoke with indifference:
"You want to play so badly—why not buy one yourself?"
Rhys knew perfectly well—
Willa, who had never been into games,
Was only pestering him to buy the Epoch of Endings helmet
Because she wanted to tag along with her so-called Prince Charming.
For that,
She didn't hesitate to ask Rhys to purchase a game helmet
Even after he had just paid off nearly ten thousand in debt from her Huabei credit line.
Back then, Rhys didn't understand.
He simply tried to fulfill his sister's every request,
Just wanting her to be a little happier.
But now—
The current Rhys would never make such a foolish mistake again.
"You—!"
On the other end of the phone, Willa clearly hadn't expected that the brother who had always been obedient to her would actually say something like that.
Unbelievable!
He's completely out of line!
Willa snorted coldly:
"If that's how you want to be, then I'll just never talk to you again!"
She had always acted spoiled, knowing she was the favorite.
No matter how outrageous her demands were,
All she had to do was throw out this ultimate threat,
And her brother would always apologize and compromise.
But Willa never imagined—
This Rhys wasn't the same anymore.
"Oh? Then I really appreciate that," Rhys chuckled lightly,
His tone filled with a calm sort of pleasure.
"And don't forget to pay off that Huabei debt yourself."
Willa tried to say something else,
But the call had already ended.
All that was left was the cold beep—beep—beep of the disconnected line.
She bit her lip lightly,
Her eyes full of fury and dissatisfaction.
On the other side—
Rhys knew perfectly well how angry this would make Willa.
He understood his sister's temperament better than anyone.
But so what?
From this moment on,
Nothing—absolutely nothing—would be more important
Than entering The Epoch of Endings.
The game had launched!
Rhys took a deep breath,
Lifted the VR helmet to his forehead,
And slowly said:
"Begin connection."
Everything before his eyes vanished in an instant.
Streams of flowing data flickered past—
And Rhys's figure appeared in the middle of a colossal temple.
He clenched his fists softly.
Looking at the empty, echoing grand hall before him,
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
This was the Class Temple—
The place every player had to pass through to choose their starting class.
[Welcome to The Epoch of Endings.]
[You are about to enter: The Sundered Realm.
A place abandoned by the gods,
Overflowing with treasures—and crawling with peril.]
[The only thing you can rely on—is yourself.]
[Please choose your basic class!]
[Warning: Once your base class is chosen, it cannot be changed. Choose wisely.]
[Upon choosing your class, you will receive one basic ability tied to it.]
The elegant, dancing black text slowly faded away.
The dark stone pillars around him suddenly flared to life, glowing with mystical energy.
Warrior, Mage, Cleric, Archer, Assassin...
Each pillar represented a base class.
Rhys glanced around,
And without much hesitation at all,
Began walking toward one of the stone pillars on his right...