Ronan knew he was going to be late to the party with how long he'd spent practicing his sorcery. He grew worried as he wandered through the corridors of the dungeon. The first room, where he usually met the others, had been empty. That was expected.

When he walked all the way to the first crossroads in the dungeon, past empty tunnels with signs of fighting, he felt pride swell in his chest. His three temporary teammates were doing a great job.

Unfortunately the further he went the more worried he became. All he found were signs of battle. Blood stains appeared on the walls and ground. They could only be from the three humans, as blood from monsters would fade along with the corpses.

He made his way down the corridor on the right. He found that the trap had been triggered once more, meaning they were down in the chamber fighting the miniboss. Without hesitation, he leapt down the hole, jumping from wall to wall to slow himself.

Emerging at the bottom, he had hoped to arrive in the nick of time to save them once more, but all he found was a solitary Tharaxes lounging on a broken throne, resting its skull on one bony palm.

Upon seeing Ronan leap from the ceiling and smash into the stone, eyes darting around the room for signs of life, the hobgoblin lich lifted its jaw and watched with faint amusement dancing in its eyes. "Another one? Aren't you late to the party…"

"What did you do to them?" Ronan's accusation was delivered with ice, offering no chance for the sardonic mini-boss to banter.

"The other adventurers? Oh, they were so brave. So much fight in them. I must admit, they almost defeated me," Tharaxes said, waving one arm down his torso, revealing broken ribs and a cracked pelvis. "You can see them again, if that's what you want."

Ronan's face twisted in rage. "Oh, I'll see them again, just not on your terms, bonehead."

He could have simply used charge of the juggernaut to obliterate the mini-boss, but that would be letting Tharaxes off easy. Not to mention he wanted to practice his mana bolt. Learning to dispel without the skill would be beneficial, too.

Without taking his eyes off the skeletal fiend, Ronan formed a mana bolt in his hand, before flicking it right at Tharaxes. The mini-boss seemed surprised at the sudden spell, but it reacted in a timely manner.

Raising its staff, Tharaxes cast a rapid fireball that crashed into the mana bolt before it reached the lich. "A fellow mage? That other girl was fairly handy with a lightning bolt, but that didn't help her. I wonder if you'll fare better." As the explosion of flame and mana cleared, Ronan saw the crackle of lightning.

If the arrogant undead wanted a battle of spells, he was more than happy to oblige. Staff held in two bony hands, a lightning bolt erupted from the crystal at its tip. Ronan simply waved an arm, dispelling it.

Having dispelled so many lightning bolts already, the action was almost effortless. Waving his arm was only for theatrical effect. It certainly had an impact on Tharaxes, who snarled and unleashed a storm of fireballs.

Stepping forwards through the volley, Ronan sidestepped the fireballs he could, and dispelled those that were on a collision course with him. As he walked, he sought an opening in the salvo to exploit.

There was a brief moment when Tharaxes realised it was losing ground. The lich slammed its staff into the ground, cancelling the firestorm. Ronan launched a mana bolt right at its jaw.

Swiping its staff kept its skeleton protected, but the mana bolt burst against the crystal at its tip. Ronan heard a glass-like crack through the cloud of sparkling mana.

Even though he hadn't dealt damage to the mini-boss itself, taking its weapon out of the picture would weaken its ability to cast spells. He heard a clattering sound from the edges of the room, looking around to check his back and flanks.

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What he saw chilled him to the core. Three regular skeleton soldiers approached, ambling out of the shadows to attack. It wasn't the fact the lich had summoned thralls that threw him, but the weapons the skeletons held.

One held a familiar shortsword, another wielded a dagger formed of mana, and the third, while not bearing any familiar markings, was identifiable simply by being alongside the other two. His former teammates had been turned into mindless undead skeleton soldiers.

Clenching his fist, Ronan threw a venomous glare at Tharaxes. The mini-boss was unbothered, more interested in the damage to its staff. When it saw Ronan's expression, however, it cackled. "Isn't this a joyful reunion?"

Ronan said nothing. He formed one mana bolt after another in his hand, exploding the skeletons into dust and shards of bone. It was brutal, but unfortunately they had been turned against him. Better to put them to rest than allow the lich to twist their corpses to its own foul agenda.

He had wanted to draw the battle out to test and refine his new spell, but his boiling rage threatened that plan. Turning back to Tharaxes, the boss had the broken staff held overhead, standing in front of its broken throne.

A dozen bolts of lightning shot out of the staff, arcing towards Ronan. He dispelled each and every one as he advanced towards the lich once more. He waited until he was just five metres away from the mini-boss. It didn't seem so arrogant this close, its most powerful weapons having proven ineffective.

"How are you doing that!?" it screeched.

Ronan said nothing. A mana bolt hovered in his palm. The half-formed spell was complete, rejecting any extra mana. He didn't care.

Pushing himself and his construct to the limits, Ronan shoved another two points of mana inside, compressing the bullet-shaped bolt until it was its original size again. The deadliest mana bolt he'd ever cast floated in his hand, crackling with power that emanated into the air around it.

In a last-ditch effort to kill him, Tharaxes unleashed an arcane flamethrower directly at his face. Ronan lifted his left hand into the air, opening his fingers and catching the flames directly in it.

As the flames struck his skin, they seemed to simply vanish without leaving so much as a mark. Ronan had actually intended to cancel the stream of flames, but it was his first time dispelling a constantly channeled spell and he hadn't quite used his skill correctly. Still, this was almost more impactful, turning desperation into fear as the mini-boss realised it wasn't the predator in this situation.

"See you soon, you bony midget," Ronan sneered, unleashing the mana bolt into the lich's face.

"Midg—" The lich's screech was silenced as its skull exploded into a thousand pieces. The cyan flames that burned in its skull snuffed out and Ronan heard the victory chime in his mind.

It did little to assuage his anger.

Defeating the actual boss was anti-climactic after his vengeful slaughter of the mini-boss. Ronan dispatched Tharaxes with ease. Once its phylactery was destroyed the raging lich-lord posed little threat.

While he didn't particularly want to stay in this place any longer than necessary, completing the tutorial earned him another shot at an epic item that he could potentially abuse with a branch path.

Delaying his step-up in tutorial difficulty would be annoying, but he would be a fool to pass up the opportunity to do so if he was presented with a good enough item. With four treasury tokens in his inventory, there was a high possibility of doing so.

Just to help out, he invested all the stat points he'd earned from defeating Tharaxes and completing the tutorial into luck. First up there was the skills tome and the uncommon tokens.

He was hoping for a useful skill but he'd take anything at this point. Bad skills could become fuel for better ones, now that he had access to the chronos forge.

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

You have received the skill [Intuitive Intelligence (Uncommon)]!

Intuitive Intelligence (Uncommon): Gain +1 to intelligence for every 10 points of intelligence you possess. Does not include stat bonuses.

Alright, that's more like it. Celebrating the acquisition of another stat skill, Ronan was optimistic about the treasury tokens.

Unfortunately the first two proved less useful. Not because the items were bad—they were actually great—but because at the end of this run, they wouldn't see any use. A powerful battleaxe and some mana potions. However, the third uncommon token was the saving grace.

He received 3 uncommon skill upgrade shards for completing the tutorial, which wasn't enough to upgrade an uncommon skill to rare, but allowed him to dismantle them and bring one of his common skills up to uncommon. The third token rewarded Ronan with another 3 uncommon shards, bringing him up to a total of six. That meant he could upgrade an uncommon skill. All that remained was to choose which one.

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