Liam paused, a realization dawning on him. No wonder the Hydra-Cypress had possessed only a single skill; it had sacrificed everything else to empower its one true asset.
Even after setting aside Verdant Rebirth, Liam still held twelve Skill Tomes in his inventory, all dropped by the Twisted Treants. For him, these were practically worthless—their direct benefits were negligible.
"Learn Verdant Rebirth."
"Sacrifice Skill Tomes."
Liam fed ten of the Treant tomes into the system, and Verdant Rebirth successfully ascended to 2-Star Rank.
Verdant Rebirth (Passive Skill): 2-Star Rank
Effect: When your Health drops to 10%, you will immediately recover 20% of your maximum Health.
Cooldown: 12 hours.
Cost: None.
Mastery: 0/100 (Mastery is gained by sacrificing skills. Each Skill Tome sacrificed grants 1 point; certain special skills may grant more.)
It was exactly as Liam had suspected. Each Star-Rank increased the healing by 10% and significantly reduced the cooldown.
The improvement was massive. With this passive, his survivability reached a new tier. More importantly, Verdant Rebirth restored a percentage of his total health, making it an absolute powerhouse even in the late game.
Currently, Liam had over thirty thousand health points, making a 20% heal worth six thousand. But what if he had three million? Thirty million? Higher? The scaling was limitless.
He pulled himself back from his thoughts and checked his experience bar. He was halfway to Level 10. If he focused purely on grinding, he could hit the cap in thirty minutes. However, Liam was after more than just levels.
He opened the Level Leaderboard to check the current rankings.
1. Asura Sovereign: Level 11 (25%)
2. Misty Snow: Level 10 (95%)
3. Aurelius Cash: Level 10 (91%)
4. Fenrir Pagoda: Level 10 (90%)
5. Size Matters: Level 10 (88%)
The gap on the leaderboard was razor-thin. Liam recognized most of these names. Three of the top five were high-ranking guild officers. One was a top-tier "rich second generation" heir from The Dragon Empire who had essentially bought his way to the top. The frustrating part was that the guy didn't just have money; he had luck and genuine mechanical skill—a truly unfair combination.
As for the fifth-ranked player, he was similar to Barney. He’d stumbled upon a lucky break early on that allowed him to burst onto the scene, but as the game progressed, he would fail to maintain that lead and eventually fade into obscurity.
Aside from the levels, Twilight of the Gods also featured Gear Rankings.
1. Golden Scepter (Gold Grade)
2. Thunder-Strike Bow (Silver Grade)
3. Hydra Shield (Bronze Grade)
4. Hydra Pauldrons (Bronze Grade)
5. Hydra Cloak (Bronze Grade)
Liam occupied four of the top five slots.
"Just like my last life," Liam mused.
The Golden Scepter belonged to Misty Snow. It was a Summoner’s staff with a single, devastating effect: it could summon six Level 10 Black Iron Bosses. At this stage of the game, it was a literal cheat code. A single Level 10 Black Iron Boss could already dominate most areas; six of them were unstoppable.
Misty Snow had also been the owner of his previous guild, the Dream-Chaser Club. She was capable enough and had the looks, but her fatal flaw was nepotism. She had filled the club's management with her relatives, turning the organization into a toxic, bureaucratic mess.
None of that mattered now. With Beyond God-Tier, Liam was certain he would surpass her.
He took the fifty Attribute Points (AP) rewarded for the First Clear and dumped them all into Attack Velocity. His stat jumped from 2.63 to 3.63. He had briefly considered putting points into Movement Speed, but ultimately decided against it.
His Hand of Heavenly Punishment relied entirely on Attack Velocity. The faster he fired, the faster he could stack his health.
Finally, he pulled out the Quest Scroll.
These scrolls were extraordinarily rare. They weren't issued by standard NPCs, but by the gods themselves. Completing them often granted Divine Blessings—at minimum, a permanent stat boost, and at best, a permanent Unique Trait.
Liam unfurled the scroll, and his eyes widened as the text appeared.
Quest: The Sealed Disaster
Description: Beneath the Novice Village lies the sealed form of Hanba the Drought-Bringer. If Hanba is released, the world will be reduced to ash.
Requirement: Kill every NPC in the Novice Village and destroy the Altar. Force all "Otherworld Adventurers" to spawn in the Capital City, ensuring no one can ever enter this Novice Village again.
Penalty: None.
Reward: Unknown.
Liam’s expression darkened.
This wasn't just a difficult quest; it was sheer, unadulterated insanity. He had seen strange quests in his past life, but this?
Destroy the Novice Village? This felt less like a quest and more like a suicide mission. He remembered players in his previous life trying to provoke NPCs; even Silas, the unassuming tavern keep, could deal thousands of damage with a casual wave of his hand. The Village Chief and the Blacksmith were likely even more terrifying.
Liam rolled the scroll back up. He didn't accept it immediately. Even without a penalty, he needed to weigh his options carefully.
He exited the dungeon. A crowd of players had already gathered at the entrance.
"Looking for a strong Priest! If you’ve got the heals, join up! We have two heavy DPS, damage is guaranteed!"
"It’s been ages since Frost Monarch cleared. Has nobody else beaten this yet? I’m looking to buy gear—money is no object!"
Liam glanced over the crowd but didn't stop. This was Novice Village #10086; true pro-level players were scarce here. Most of the elite clubs huddled in the lower-numbered villages.
He set off in a different direction. According to his calculations, the "Hunt Ten Bosses" quest from the Village Chief would yield better rewards the higher the level of the targets.
There was a very specific boss in this village—one Barney had encountered. On the surface, he was a traveling Bard, but his true form was a Mustelid. Legend had it that he had successfully "asked for a title" and gained human form through a stroke of luck, but his predatory nature remained. He was clearly plotting something within the village. The guides in his past life had been vague, but Liam knew enough to find him.
Suddenly, Liam’s eyes sharpened. He swung his bow in a wide arc behind him. He didn't fire an arrow; instead, he used the Thunder-Strike Bow itself like a blade to parry an incoming threat.
Clang!
A dagger slammed into the bow’s frame, sending a shower of sparks flying.
"You again."
Liam frowned. It was the Assassin who had tried to steal his boss earlier. His name was still hidden, but his face wasn't so easily camouflaged.
The Assassin didn't say a word. He spun his dagger 180 degrees and lunged again. Liam leaned back, simultaneously equipping the Black Iron Treant Set. The moment the gear clicked into place, his resistances and health surged.
He rolled to the side, narrowingly dodging the strike. But the moment he regained his footing, his heart skipped a beat.
The Assassin was gone.
It wasn't Stealth. Liam could feel the man’s presence directly behind him. He spun around instantly, but saw nothing but empty air.
To a bystander, it would look like the Assassin was glued to Liam’s back, staying perfectly within his visual blind spot.
"Shadow-Step?" Liam muttered, his voice cold.
Shadow-Step wasn't a skill—it was a high-level movement technique. It relied on manipulating an opponent's field of vision, making the attacker seem as though they had vanished into the target's own shadow.
The Assassin’s eyes flickered with surprise at Liam’s recognition of the technique. In that split second of hesitation, Liam acted.
Whiz!
An arrow whistled through the air. Liam hadn't turned around; instead, he had dropped into a low crouch, used his leg to brace the bow, and fired a blind shot directly backward over his shoulder.
The Assassin had his techniques, but Liam, as a regressor, had a few tricks of his own.
The move was so unorthodox that the Assassin, already startled, couldn't react in time. The arrow buried itself in his chest.
-1,352!
The Assassin was instantly deleted. Unfortunately, no gear dropped this time.
"This guy is persistent," Liam grumbled. He had thought their previous encounter was just a minor friction, but the man had clearly marked him for death.
Novice Village, Altar of Rebirth
Shadow-Slayer stood at the respawn point, his expression grim. "Fast reactions, insane damage, high-level combat techniques... and he knows Shadow-Step."
"Frost Monarch... I don't care who you are. You've killed me twice. One day, I'll pay you back in full."
If Liam had heard him, he would have scoffed. The first time, the guy tried to steal a boss; the second time, he launched a sneak attack. He was merely reaping what he sowed.
Back in the wilds, Liam had found the Bard. The man was dressed in fine clothes, sporting a handlebar mustache that gave him a somewhat comical appearance.
Bard: Level 15
Health: ???
Attack: ???
Skills: ???
Note: A wandering Bard near the Novice Village. You might find something unexpected if you interact with him.
The note led many players to believe he offered a quest or sold rare items. They were wrong. He was an intelligent, humanoid boss—only Black Iron Grade, but his skill set was incredibly deceptive. In his previous life, it had taken thousands of players to bring him down.
Liam was here to use him as a training dummy to polish his old mechanics. As he had told Bulwark Pagoda: Kiting was just the beginning.
Liam ducked behind a massive tree and drew his bow. As the energy arrow materialized, he twisted the string with his fingers, winding it into a tight, corded braid. He didn't aim at the Bard; he aimed several yards to the left.
Twang!
The arrow tore through the air.
Watching from a distance, hidden in stealth, Shadow-Slayer frowned. He had followed Liam back, guessing he was hunting the Bard, but the trajectory was all wrong.
Then, his jaw dropped.
The arrow Liam fired suddenly curved in mid-air, tracing a sharp arc before slamming into the distant Bard.
-925!
A massive damage number popped up. The Bard stumbled, looking around in confusion. Since Liam was behind the tree, his position hadn't been revealed.
This was one of the pinnacle Archer techniques: Spiral-Draw Archery.
By twisting the string, the archer imparted a high-speed spin on the arrow. With the right power and angle, the projectile could curve around obstacles. Furthermore, the rotation provided massive armor penetration and impact force.
Whiz!
Another arrow flew.
"Found you!" the Bard snarled. He couldn't see Liam, but he had tracked the flight path. He leapt into the air, charging toward the tree.
Whiz!
The arrow caught him while he was still airborne. The sheer force of the Spiral-Draw impact knocked the Bard back nearly two meters in mid-air.
Then came the second arrow. Then the third.
Each projectile hit with punishing force. Shadow-Slayer watched, mesmerized, as the Bard was literally juggled in the sky. Every time the boss began to fall, another arrow would shatter his momentum and drive him back. Liam’s aim was surgical; he was hitting the Bard’s center of gravity in a way that kept him hovering in a state of perpetual knockback.
"This is..."
Shadow-Slayer was a cold, calculated killer, but this display left him speechless. His experience told him that what Liam was doing was incredibly difficult. To maintain a juggle like that, you had to calculate the landing point of the third arrow while the first was still in the air.
In Twilight of the Gods, enemies took increased damage while airborne—a mechanic usually reserved for Warriors with knock-up skills. Yet here was an Archer, achieving a perfect aerial combo through pure mechanical skill.
"ROAR!"
The Bard let out a guttural howl. His body expanded violently, his fine clothes shredding as he grew to over three meters in height. His skin sprouted coarse brown fur.
The Bard was gone. In his place stood a massive Mustelid.
Raging Mustelid (Black Iron): Level 15
Health: 1,012,500 / 1,253,000
Attack: 813
Skills: Mustelid Illusion, Phantom Shift, Unstoppable, Berserk, Soul Siphon, Soul Control.