The sensation of the chronos forge's power flowing through him was not a painful experience. Ronan felt only the enticing allure of future power as his four skills were being fused into one.

Overcharge, impact leech, and sacrificial strike grew nearer to double strike within his consciousness. Ronan took the time to feel the sensation of each skill, growing more familiar with them as a whole, so that he knew what to search for in future. It was a far-flung dream, but one day he felt he might be able to do what the forge did all on his own.

For now, he was reliant on the ingenuity of his clan, and the wondrous creations they had left behind. Ronan kept the image of his desired skill firmly in mind as the three skills began bumping up against one another.

The alloying process had truly begun.

At first, the three secondary skills simply jostled against each other, like people in a crowd at a concert attempting to get the best view. Then, as they drew nearer to double strike, Ronan felt them beginning to overlap with one another.

The skills were merging, feeling each other out. All this happened while the searing stream of energy from the chronos forge continued to bathe Ronan's consciousness, and the skills within.

The forge let out a sudden whining screech. Ronan panicked, thinking something had gone wrong. He should have trusted his ancestors.

A flare of purple energy blossomed inside him, and the four skills were forcibly drawn together. They resisted, the energy burning as it forged them into something greater.

Under the burning flames of the chronos forge, the skills could not hold out. The boundaries between them grew blurry, and were then incinerated. The stream of energy continued to flood Ronan for a few moments longer, and then as startlingly as the process had begun, it was over.

Only a single skill remained inside Ronan's consciousness, floating there unbothered. Compared to the fleeting, floaty sensation he'd received from the four skills before, this one was more solid, emanating raw power.

As the whining of the forge subsided, the purple glow retreated into the four twisting spires. His new skill had been alloyed, and he was excited for the results. As if listening to his thoughts, a gold-rimmed purple message appeared, and he began to read.

[Double Strike (Common)], [Sacrificial Strike (Uncommon)], [Impact Leech (Common)], and [Overcharge (Common)] have been alloyed to produce a new skill: [Surging Strikes (Rare)]!

Surging Strikes (Rare): By consuming health points and stamina, multiply a single strike into a barrage of unrelenting force. For each consecutive strike added to the chain beyond 2, the base cost is multiplied by 1.5. Every strike that successfully lands on your opponent will leech 40% of the damage done as stamina. The user can choose to increase the health point cost of each strike, gaining 20% increased damage for every (2x * Base Health Cost) increment reached. (Cost: 250 Stamina + 20 Health Points)

Minor Blessing of the Chronos Forge has activated! [Surging Strikes (Rare)] has gained an extra random effect!

Surging Strikes (Rare): By consuming health points and stamina, multiply a single strike into a barrage of unrelenting force. For each consecutive strike added to the chain beyond 2, the base cost is multiplied by 1.5. Every strike that successfully lands on your opponent will leech 40% of the damage done as stamina. The user can choose to increase the health point cost of each strike, gaining 20% increased damage for every (2x * Base Health Cost) increment reached. Every consecutive strike that successfully hits in a single chain multiplies the damage of the following strike in the chain by 1.2. (Cost: 250 Stamina + 20 Health Points)

Minor Blessing of the Chronos Forge has activated! [Surging Strikes (Rare)] has evolved into [Surging Strikes (Epic)]!

Surging Strikes (Epic): By consuming health points and stamina, multiply a single strike into a barrage of unrelenting force. For each consecutive strike added to the chain beyond 2, the base cost is multiplied by 1.45. Every strike that successfully lands on your opponent will leech 50% of the damage done as stamina. The user can choose to increase the health point cost of each strike, gaining 30% increased damage for every (2x * Base Health Cost) increment reached. Every consecutive strike that successfully hits in a single chain multiplies the damage of the following strike in the chain by 1.25. (Cost: 240 Stamina + 20 Health Points)

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Ronan reeled as the wall of text appeared in his consciousness. He'd barely had time to read the initial description of surging strikes before his blessing activated and brought it to another level.

Even the original skill had been exactly what he'd hoped to create, but the blessing made it absurdly strong. Actually, the extra random effect had worried Ronan. Whether he'd simply gotten lucky this time, or the effect was aligned with the skill when it was added, was a mystery. He hoped it was the latter, as that would mean if he ever gained the blessing again in future he would know how to best utilise it.

The extra effect took surging strikes from a powerful ace up his sleeve, to a skill that could end a battle in a single, decisive move. By pouring all of his stamina and a chunk of health points into surging strikes, no enemy would be safe from Ronan's fists—or whatever weapon he was wielding.

That almost every part of the skill then gained another upgrade when the blessing increased its rarity was just icing on the cake. Ronan couldn't be more satisfied with the outcome.

He left the forge feeling optimistic about his next attempt at the hard difficulty tutorial. Armed not only with the knowledge of where Tharaxes' phylactery was, but also an epic-rarity combat skill, the boss stood no chance at surviving Ronan.

Alongside that, he'd also acquired two new chronos enhancements which would continue to empower his future iterations. Slowly, but surely, Ronan was growing closer to the strength he needed to complete his goals.

Beginning a new iteration, please stand by…

When Ronan found himself back at the beginning, he could barely contain his excitement. He was assigned normal difficulty again, and was forced to lodge a complaint.

A small part of him worried the administrator might 'remember' his previous complaint and make good on its threat, but it never happened. In fact, Shneevol repeated his ominous words from the previous iteration. Ronan had a brief chuckle at that.

When his status appeared, he received a shock, but quickly realised what had happened. His stats were much higher across the board than they'd ever been in the past, despite him being level 0 still. It was the effect of mineral skeleton.

Now, thanks to hard work bears fruit, he was about to increase his starting stats even more with every passing iteration. He hoped that the endless treasury token this time would give him some more fortified fruits to get a headstart on those numbers.

He steamrolled the first and second stages. With his greater stats, and newly created surging strikes, the goblins stood no chance against him.

Functionally, surging strikes was similar to double strike. He put stamina—and now health—in, and got damage out. He kept the number of strikes to just two for now, as more would be overkill against such weak opponents.

[Myriad Skills Tome (Uncommon)] has been consumed!

You have received the skill [Dispel (Uncommon)]!

Dispel (Uncommon): By targeting the weak points of an opponent's spell, you are able to break it apart before it ever reaches its target. The mana cost to dispel an opponent's skill or spell varies based on the user's knowledge of the dispel target, and the mana control of the enemy caster. (Cost: 30 Mana + 5% Max Mana).

The skill he received from this iteration's tome was a powerful one. Ronan had, until now, only been able to either dodge enemy spells or take them head on and attempt to block their effects. No more.

With dispel in his arsenal, Ronan would be able to truly unravel the skills of his enemies. Against a trigger-happy opponent such as Tharaxes the Hobgoblin Lich-Lord, it would come in handy.

Also, now that he had sorcerer locked in as a permanent sub-class, Ronan hoped he might be able to figure out how to recreate dispel under his own power. Doing so might allow him to stretch the skill beyond its intended limits.

[Endless Treasury Token (Uncommon)] has been consumed x2!

You have received [Fortified Kiwi of Quickness (Uncommon)]!

Fortified Kiwi of Quickness (Uncommon)

Kiwis with vibrant red flesh which grant the consumer increased speed and reflexes. This variant received more energy while growing, and provides the consumer with explosive acceleration.

+5 Agility

You have received [Silent Slicer (Uncommon)]!

Silent Slicer (Uncommon)

A sword forged with an uncommon steel alloy which has near-perfect aerodynamics. No matter how powerfully one swings this blade, it will not make a sound.

+3 Agility

A sword was actually a less than ideal weapon against skeletons. Despite that, it was excellent for carving up the goblins. Ronan didn't need a perfect weapon to win fights, anyway.

Tharaxes was going to die this iteration, no matter what.

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