A quick comment. This bit of code is redundant:

return wantarray ? ( $end_points[ 0 ] ) : $end_points[ 0 ];

A list is made by context, whether or not there are parentheses. Parentheses just provide precedence, as in print join('|', @cols), "\n". Either of these will work just as well, whichever context the function is called in:

return $end_points[0];
return ( $end_points[0] );
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[There are a couple odd exceptions, such as the left hand side of the x operator. ($var x 3 returns a string, while ($x) x 3 returns a list.) But in general, parentheses are unnecessary around a list except for precedence.]