Ding!
[Congratulations, you have obtained the Unique Class: Mage of Oblivion!]
[Mage of Oblivion (Unique Hidden Class): Your spells and will are ultimate, none of those standing in your way will survive your power, show them what is oblivion.]
[Class Passive #1: All your magic damage is multipled by 10.]
[Class Passive #2: Your MP recovery is multiplied by 10.]
[Class Passive #3: All your spells' cooldowns are reduced by half.]
[All of these passives may evolve along with the user.]
---
Seeing that, Stark was overjoyed.
Mages weren't considered that strong in his previous life, not only because often, getting into a big fight would mean having to strategize and manage way too much.
And if a mage's mana fell too low, or if their skills had cooldowns, they basically couldn't win.
Of course, there were several powerful mages, after all, all initial classes are equal, but even then, the majority of players assumed them to be bad.
And yet, seeing that new class in front of him, Stark couldn't help but grin.
"This class is incredibly strong, no wonder it's the strongest."
Not only was his magic damage and MP recovery increased, but his cooldowns were also cut.
This pretty much solved all of the mage's class' problems, essentially making Stark a god.
Plus, these passives could still evolve as Stark did in the game.
It was absolutely perfect!
With these passives, his chances of dying were low, and he could quickly grow to be the strongest as long as he managed everything right.
Stark was satisfied, it was definitely stronger his warrior class in his previous life.
After that, Stark decided to check the skills he received along with his new class, and there were two of them.
---
[Fireball (Common): Conjure a small fireball that deals 100% of Spirit. 30 (15)-seconds cooldown.]
[Magic Shield (Common): Summon a small shield that can endure a few attacks, if damage is too strong, it will break, 60 (30)-seconds cooldown.]
---
The first skill was one that he could use to deal damage to monsters and players.
It had a 30 seconds cooldown, but the parenthesis right afterward showed Stark that the third passive of his class was already in effect.
Reducing a cooldown by half was godly, no matter how much he looked at it.
On the other hand, his second skill was a defensive one, that allowed him to defend himself.
He was already off to a good start, and as he acquired more equipment and skills, he would evolve to become the strongest.
But after that... Stark knew it was finally time, and he took a deep breath.
Because...
Ding!
[The "Eyes of Oblivion" passive has activated.]
[You will be granted the strongest talent possible.]
After your class came your talent, and though Stark received an A-Rank one in his past life as a warrior, he was eager what he would get now.
Ding!
---
[Congratulations, you have obtained the SSS-Talent: Infinite Evolution!]
[Infinite Evolution: Upon killing strong monsters, there is a chance to obtain "Evolution Points", allowing you evolve your skills.]
[Passive: You gain 5 Evolution Points every 24 hours, it may increase with time.]
[Current Evolution Points: 5.]
---
'SSS-Talent?!' Stark's eyes widened in shock, 'Holy shit...!'
In his previous life, he had only heard a very few amount of individuals having an SS-Rank talent, but now, his was SSS, a whole level higher.
"This is insane!"
He understood how it worked on his first read, but he still wanted to try it out if he could.
He opened up the skill panel containing his initials skills, and clicked on [Fireball].
When he did that, a small prompt appeared.
[Do you wish to consume 1 Evolution Point to evolve "Fireball"?]
"Yes!"
He didn't hesitate for a single second, and instantly allowed it.
Aura began to surround him and the skill panel before he felt a burst of power go through him.
Ding!
[You have evolved "Fireball" (Common) to "Big Fireball" (Uncommon)]
[4 Evolution Points remaining.]
He immediately went to check the new panel as well.
[Big Fireball (Uncommon): Conjure a big fireball that deals 100% → 200% of Spirit. 30 → 25 (12.5)-seconds cooldown.]
Stark grinned, "Perfect!"
Not only had the damage of his fireball doubled, since it now dealt 200% of his spirit attribute, but its cooldown went down by a full five second.
But seeing that, Stark couldn't help but wonder... what if he did it once more?
He checked the skill's panel, and as expected, he could do it again.
[Do you wish to consume 3 Evolution Point to evolve "Big Fireball"?]
It now needed 3 Evolution Points since he had evolved it, but Stark didn't even hesitate.
"Yes!"
Ding!
[You have evolved "Big Fireball" (Uncommon) to "Great Fireball" (Rare)]
[1 Evolution Point remaining.]
[Great Fireball (Rare): Conjure a great fireball that deals 200% → 300% of Spirit. 25 → 20 (10)-seconds cooldown.]
"Even better," Stark laughed to himself.
His damage with the skill had again increased, while his cooldown decreased, making it already incredibly strong before he even entered.
The monsters of [Eternal Soul] were immensely strong and dangerous, so having this from the start would allow him to overwhelm them.
Since Stark only had one evolution point remaining, he decided to evolve his [Magic Shield] this time.
[Do you wish to consume 1 Evolution Point to evolve "Magic Shield"?]
He confirmed it.
Ding!
[You have evolved "Magic Shield" (Common) to "Magic Shield" (Uncommon)]
Of course, Stark already knew that not all skills changed names every time they ranked up, so it didn't bother him.
[Magic Shield (Uncommon): Summon a shield that can endure a few attacks, if damage is too strong, it will break, 60 → 50 (25)-seconds cooldown.]
He noticed that the "small" before shield disappeared, as well as the fact his cooldown was reduced.
Now that he had evolved his two skills though, Stark had no more evolution points.
He would need to wait to regain them by waiting, or, as the talent said, kill strong monsters to gain some.
Either way, he was extremely satisfied.
His two common-rank skills had evolved to rare-rank and uncommon-rank respectively.
Items, skills and even monster ranks were spread across several categories, more precisely twelve of them: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Elite, Epic, Legendary, Mythical, Ancient, Ascendant, Divine, Immortal, Eternal.
It was quite a lot, but Stark knew that it would become useful in the future.
He was done with everything that needed to be done related to his first entry in [Eternal Soul] now.
Or so he thought, because...
Ding!
[Player "Stark Darksouls" identified.]
[Please enter your game ID.]
In [Eternal Soul], every player needed to choose an ID, which would be their nickname from there.
This process was permanent, with no way of changing it, so people who chose names like "EpicGamer69" or "DogHater" probably regreted it.
But for Stark, his name in his past life had been "Berserker", only taking it because of his class.
And in this life...
"I'll call myself Oblivion."
It was extremely unoriginal, since it was simply his class' name, but Stark didn't mind.
Ding!
[You have selected "Oblivion" as your ID.]
[You have finished the process of initiation to "Eternal Soul", you will be transported inside of this new realm now.]
Ding!
[Entering "Eternal Soul"...]
The darkness surrounding Stark rippled and twisted before gradually dissolving.
A strange weightless sensation swept over him, as if reality itself was shifting.
Moments later, he met solid ground.
The black void peeled away, replaced by the world before him.
"Here we go again," Stark muttered, a faint grin tugging at his lips.
He stood in the heart of a small town.
Above, a clear blue sky stretched endlessly, the sun casting its warm glow, yet the air still carried a feeling of desolation.
It was the same central square he had materialized in during his previous life.
He noticed several players around him, looking around them in confusion.
"What the fuck is this place?"
"I'm sure I went to sleep, and now I'm here?"
"I went to sleep after that weird panel, looks like it's the real deal..."
"Yahoo! Time to be the main character of one of those mangas!"
Some were confused, others excited.
But as Stark and the other players appeared, so did a new panel right in front of them.
---
[Welcome to "Eternal Soul".]
[This is a dangerous realm, where countless monsters and dangers await.]
[Be careful, or you may just lose all of your lives and be forgotten forever.]
[Leave this town and explore this realm to gain "Lives", but every time you die, you will lose some of them depending on the loss rate of your location.]
---
Stark already knew about all of this, so it wasn't new, but the players around him were surprised.
"What do they mean by lives? Don't we just respawn?"
"We'll see soon anyway."
---
[You have entered "Novice Town #783"]
[It is a peaceful zone with no monsters allowed in the area, as well as player protection, meaning you cannot attack each other.]
[Lives loss rate: 1]