Though Born of the Wood was powerful, it wasn't invincible. The underground branches weren't just the Withered Colossus Tree's means of attack—they were also its roots, used to draw in nutrients and anchor itself to the earth.
This meant that once it actively launched an attack, the Withered Colossus Tree became a sitting duck. It was unable to use Born of the Wood to relocate and had no choice but to endure all incoming damage. That moment was the perfect opportunity to strike.
But catching that moment wasn't easy. The Withered Colossus Tree attacked swiftly, and Born of the Wood had no cooldown, no cost. The attack window players could seize was incredibly brief.
Rhys had been prepared long ago—and there was no way he'd miss such a golden opportunity.
A Fireball began charging at the tip of his staff. With a flick of his wrist, the searing projectile launched, riding a wave of blistering heat straight toward the Withered Colossus Tree.
The Withered Colossus Tree, an Epic-tier Fiend of Rare quality, naturally possessed high intelligence. The moment it saw the Fireball incoming, it instinctively tried to dodge—but its tree-like body rendered it immobile. All it could do was watch helplessly as the Fireball slammed into it.
"Aaargh!"
[You dealt 42 Fire Damage to Withered Colossus Tree.]
The howl of pain was accompanied by the system prompt. Though the Fireball didn't hit a vital spot, the flame's natural advantage against wood allowed Rhys to deal nearly double damage.
Originally, there should have been additional burn damage from the fire lingering on the target—but the moment Rhys's Fireball landed, the Withered Colossus Tree retracted its branches and activated Born of the Wood.
This time, it didn't manage to avoid the Fireball itself, but it successfully dodged the afterburn effect.
Wracked with pain, the Withered Colossus Tree went into a frenzy. The moment it completed the relocation, it immediately launched another wild attack at Rhys. But Rhys remained calm, expertly sidestepping the assault.
With practiced ease, he repeated the same maneuver—capitalizing on the attack's opening to launch another Fireball.
[You dealt 42 Fire Damage to Withered Colossus Tree.]
Once again, the attack hit with excellent effect.
After this second use of Born of the Wood, the Withered Colossus Tree seemed to realize something. It no longer rushed to attack recklessly. Instead, it relocated far away and simply stared intently at Rhys from a distance.
Rhys saw this and made no move either. He simply stood there calmly, gazing back at the Withered Colossus Tree.
For a moment, the entire forest sank into an eerie silence.
Neither side made the first move—like two old acquaintances locked in a standoff, wordlessly watching each other from afar.
Rhys was in no rush, of course. The Withered Colossus Tree didn't possess any sort of rapid healing ability. That accumulated 84 points of Fire Damage was more than enough to give it a serious beating. Besides, Fiends in The Epoch of Endings were inherently hostile toward players—this Withered Colossus Tree wouldn't be able to hold back for long.
Man and tree stared each other down for quite a while, but in the end, it was the Withered Colossus Tree that couldn't suppress its bloodlust any longer and took the initiative to attack Rhys. That, for Rhys, was the best possible outcome.
[You dealt 42 Fire Damage to Withered Colossus Tree.]
[You dealt 42 Fire Damage to Withered Colossus Tree.]
[Critical hit! Devastating effect! You dealt 105 Fire Damage to Withered Colossus Tree.]
The final Fireball struck a vital point, completely shattering the Withered Colossus Tree's outer shell. From within its body emerged a floating, ghostfire-wreathed head—devoid of a body, glowing with eerie blue flames.
That was the true form of the Withered Colossus Tree.
Rhys's eyes immediately sharpened. He swiftly swung his staff, and after fifteen seconds, three large Fireballs formed in a triangular formation and launched toward the ghostly head.
The reason why the Withered Colossus Tree was so notoriously difficult to kill wasn't just Born of the Wood. Once its shell was destroyed, if the ghostfire head wasn't killed quickly enough, it would recover from its weakened state and flee into another tree—corrupting it and turning it into a new Withered Colossus Tree.
Many players had suffered game-ending losses because of this exact mechanic. But Rhys was prepared, and he wasn't about to fall into that trap.
[You dealt 20 Fire Damage to Withered Colossus Tree.]
Without the plant-type bonus damage, and with the ghostfire head having some magic resistance, each Fireball now only dealt 20 points of damage.
Rhys pressed the assault, patiently waited out the cooldown, and conjured another set of three Fireballs, completely sealing off all possible escape routes for the ghostly head. This time, two of them found their mark.
[You dealt 20 Fire Damage to Withered Colossus Tree.]
[You dealt 20 Fire Damage to Withered Colossus Tree.]
With the final system chime, the ghostfire head let out a shrill, agonized wail—and died completely.
A pitch-black loot orb was drawn into Rhys's body, and the system notification chimed accordingly.
[You have slain Withered Colossus Tree.]
[You have reached Level 3.]
[Authority: Siphon activated.]
[Siphon successful. Trait is being generated...]
[Trait: Wraithflame (Rare)]
[Effect: A portion of your damage is converted into Wraithflame, dealing True Damage.]
"A Rare-tier trait?"
Rhys murmured softly and licked his lips.
This was a jackpot, plain and simple.
Traits of this caliber were something even many Common players couldn't acquire well into the mid-game—and Rhys had already scored one at just Level 3.
This was the terrifying power of the Cosmic Finality system!
No exaggeration—Rhys could slap this trait onto any skillbook and sell it for a fortune. Becoming rich overnight wouldn't even be a question.
After thinking it through, Rhys ultimately chose not to apply the trait to any of his current gear or abilities.
Traits, while technically obtainable by any creature, item, or skill, clearly had optimal applications—and Wraithflame was best suited for gear.
In The Epoch of Endings, damage types were divided into three simple categories: Physical Damage, Magical Damage, and True Damage.
Just as the names suggested, Physical Damage was reduced by physical defense, and Magical Damage by magic defense. Of course, before any damage was applied, resistances were also calculated, and the exact formula could get quite complex—but all of it could, in theory, be mitigated.
True Damage, however, was exactly what it sounded like—pure, unfiltered damage. It couldn't be reduced by any kind of defense or resistance, and it wasn't affected by damage amplification either. Even bosses that were completely immune to standard abilities could still be hurt by True Damage skills.
A trait like Wraithflame, which added bonus True Damage to attacks, had two possible optimization routes: one was to pair it with damage conversion mechanics to deal massive True Damage in a single hit, while the other was to apply it to multi-hit abilities to steadily rack up frequent bursts of unavoidable damage.
Which strategy was better? That was hard to say. But Rhys knew for certain that either approach was more effective than putting it on a standard one-off damage skill.
This valuable True Damage effect elevated Wraithflame to a level comparable even to Epic-tier traits.
But Rhys's current gear wasn't something he intended to use long-term, and he couldn't remove a trait once it was applied. So while he eyed the trait with obvious desire, there wasn't much he could do for now.
With that in mind, Rhys stored the Wraithflame trait away and then pulled out the loot orb from the Withered Colossus Tree. With both hands, he gave it a light squeeze—
—and crushed it.
[You obtained: Chronocoins ×50.]
[You obtained equipment: Bow of Withering.]
[You obtained materials: Withered Colossus Tree Root, Withered Colossus Tree Branch.]
[You obtained Skillbook: Root Bind.]
[You obtained: 1 Free Attribute Point.]
A huge drop—another huge drop.
Though he didn't get the Withered Colossus Tree's core ability Born of the Wood, getting 50 Chronocoins this early on was already a massive amount of wealth.
Not to mention, he also got a piece of equipment, a free attribute point, and a skillbook.
[Bow of Withering (Fine)]
[Stat: +4 Agility]
[Effect: Each attack has a chance to generate a withered root beneath the target, dealing damage.]
[Trait: Arrow Retrieval (Fine)]
Not bad at all.
+4 Agility was a major upgrade for any archer, and the Arrow Retrieval trait would make managing ammo and positioning in battle far more efficient.
[Skillbook: Root Bind]
[Effect: Grants the skill "Root Bind" upon learning]
Rhys opened the detailed info panel.
[Skill: Root Bind]
[Cost: 50 MP]
[Cooldown: 1 minute]
[Effect: Summons withered roots to attack for a limited time]
[Trait: None]
Looking at the small text on the interface, Rhys shook his head. This thing... was a bit underwhelming.