Ronan's act of pumping his fist in the air in victory caused the single mote of mana he'd managed to produce from his heart to dissipate. However, he wasn't dismayed in the slightest.

Now that he'd experienced that sensation, he could replicate it. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, as a great eastern philosopher once said.

Ronan's journey to the pinnacle of magic was likely one measured in light years, rather than miles, but taking the first step still brought him a great deal of satisfaction. There wasn't enough time left to try again by the time he'd settled himself, and so he instead prepared to venture into the darkness of stage 4 once again. Slowly but surely, he was getting closer to his goal of punching—or perhaps magicking—the system in the face.

When he landed in the dimly lit corridor, only the flickering flames in the brazier lighting the start of his journey into the darkness, Ronan immediately attempted to replicate his feat of producing mana. He continued to do so as he walked down the corridor.

From the time he arrived to the time he reached the impenetrable wall of shadows and darkness, Ronan only managed to produce the spark of mana a single time. However, he maintained it for far longer than before, managing to push it along the energy channels for about three seconds before he lost focus and it burst into nothing.

You have gained insight!

+1 [Mana I] Mastery

Neat. Shame I'm about to die and lose it, but good to know I can earn mastery from this practice, Ronan thought to himself.

A spear wasn't as effective as a club when fighting unseen enemies, especially multiple assassins. That didn't mean Ronan wasn't going to do his best to take one of the little green bastards down with him.

He stepped into the darkness, counted his steps, and when he reached the step just before the first rogue always attempted its kill, he struck out with the spear, thrusting it in the direction he expected the goblin to strike from.

A jolt ran down his arm as the tip of the spear pierced something soft. He yanked his arm back, and heard a soft squelch and then the patter of blood against the stone.

The next instant, he felt an icy sting in the back of his neck. The second rogue had gone for the spinal stab, and a single glance at the damage notification told Ronan he had a little over a second to live.

He activated vital surge, magic strike, and double strike in a single instant, before launching the spear. It flew in the direction he'd stabbed the unseen rogue. Right before the darkness claimed him, Ronan spotted a last notification flash into view.

He died with a blood-stained grin on his face.

You have killed [Elite Goblin Rogue Lv.25]!

+248 Copper Credits

…

You have reached the mastery cap for [Perception]!

Perception has evolved to Perception I!

Perception is increased infinitesimally. Nerve signals between perceptive organs and the brain travel infinitesimally faster. Gain mastery over perception infinitesimally faster. Vision range and clarity of vision at range are increased infinitesimally. Field of view is increased infinitesimally. Race-specific senses are increased in efficacy by an infinitesimal amount.

Over the course of the next three iterations, Ronan continued to hone his control over the production of mana in his heart. By the third iteration, he was able to produce a single mote of mana and send it flowing through his entire body before it returned to the heart.

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He'd just managed to do so while meditating in the valley of stage 3. And once he finished the full cycle, he heard the chime of the system.

You have gained insight!

+3 [Mana I] Mastery

You have reached the mastery cap for [Mana]!

Mana I has evolved to Mana II!

Mana costs for skills are minutely reduced. Activation and channeling times for skills which cost mana are minutely reduced. Wisdom potency +3%. Wisdom efficacy +5%.

The increase in mana mastery was a welcome boon for Ronan. The fact it specifically mentioned skills which cost mana was disheartening—it suggested that any spell he was able to cast via sorcery wouldn't receive the gains. However, the extra wisdom potency and efficacy would help him in all pursuits involving mana and magic.

There were about forty seconds left before he had to take on stage 4 once again. He'd begun to consistently kill at least one of the goblin rogues, but winning the battle was still out of reach.

He needed a spell to drive away the darkness and flip the playing field to his advantage. Before Ronan could even consider that, he needed to have full control over his own mana. He needed to produce a consistent flow through his energy channels, and not just a single mote.

When the timer reached three seconds, Ronan was able to cycle a single mote around his channels twice before it began to hurt, and he returned the mana to his heart. When the motes burst, he lost a point of mana, but when he was able to complete the cycle in his heart, his mana didn't drop at all.

It was interesting to observe, and gave him a lot of information about the way mana was stored, and behaved. Ronan didn't think that the physical organ was where the mana originated from, but rather some sort of… magic heart within his body.

Seven iterations later, Ronan made another breakthrough. He realised that he could build up the cycles. Starting from a single point of mana, he could complete one cycle, and if he focused, he could force the second cycle to draw out another point of his mana.

In this way, he was able to build them up until he was cycling his entire mana pool through the energy channels in his body. The sensation was one of complete relaxation, as though he was bathing in a cool lake on a hot summer's day.

Stray thoughts seemed to be pushed out of his mind while he cycled his mana, and his focus was entirely on maintaining the flow of mana, and what he could do with it. Now that he'd figured out how to cycle his mana properly, without losing any, he could begin working on controlling it. And soon, hopefully, Ronan would be able to cast his first spell.

Ideally, it would be one that produced light, but he would settle for a copy of mana bolt. He could always work his way up to the spell he needed.

It was a little frustrating that none of the ten or so skills he'd gained from the myriad skills tome created light. Two of them were mana-based, and he hoped to copy their effects eventually, but they wouldn't be much help with the current obstacle.

With the timer running out, Ronan prepared himself once more for stage 4, and cleared his mind so that he could approach his next task without any distracting thoughts.

Ronan had spent a while in the Shrine of Chronos after his most recent death. Considering his current predicament, and how he might leverage his heritage in order to make the most of his circumstances were the two main lines of thought he'd pursued.

He had earned 2 more chronos merits during the last dozen or so iterations. The first had been for accumulating a total of 10,000 stat points across all of his lives. That was an incredible accomplishment.

When the message had appeared, Ronan had baulked, realising just how many times he'd lived and died through this integration. His old life, working in an office, occasionally going to the gym, reading novels, and relaxing in his apartment, seemed so far away. Like a distant dream.

Despite earning more merits, the Temporal Obelisk still only gave him the option to purchase the first three enhancements. Having achieved so much and still been denied further choices, Ronan had narrowed down what he might need to do in order to unlock the next set of enhancements.

His best guess, at the current moment in time, was that he would need to reach the first realm of soul cultivation, and thus have achieved at least the first realm in all four aspects of cultivation.

As for why he believed that, it was because in practically all other areas of the system, Ronan had achieved at least the first milestone of improvement. Well, most of them, anyway.

His second theory, the one which perhaps held more merit, was that he would need to improve his race before the Temporal Obelisk granted him more chronos enhancement options to purchase. Ever since his first life, his race had been 'Human (G),' and clearly there was room for improvement.

Unfortunately Ronan had little to no idea how he might go about improving his race. For now, he wasn't going to worry himself with excessive thoughts about the future, and simply return to the task at hand.

It was time to recreate mana bolt using freeform magic, without the assistance of the system.

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