Ronan knew without a doubt that something was really, really fucking wrong. Every time he threw a punch or kick at Lord Rockmore, he felt his personal trait subtly shifting the course of his strikes—shifting them away from the man's body!

More than that, the weird shifting shadows had become even more disorientating than the last iteration. He saw strange flickering lights in the corners of his eyes. The building itself seemed to have moving architectural features.

Every step he took felt like it put him off balance. Letting out a roar of frustration, he unleashed another blow empowered by all his skills. Even his newest skill—weapons expert - melee. As it turned out, pugilist mastery and unarmed blows were included in its function.

That meant he was dealing a whopping 25% more damage with every blow. And it still wasn't enough to bring the fake, sneering aristocrat down. It might have been if he was able to hit the fucker.

But no, his trait seemed to be doing the opposite of what it was meant to.

This makes no goddamn sense, he inwardly cursed as yet another lightning fast jab was veered away from Rockmore's preening chin. In response, Rockmore weaved around Ronan's arm and then thrust his rapier through his throat.

Ronan felt his breathing start to stall. He forced himself to stop gasping for air. Each inhale only made more blood spill into his larynx, speeding his demise.

Instead, he closed his eyes and focused exclusively on the sensation of his mana and its source—his heart. He reached out to the pool of almost two hundred points that remained.

His manipulation was crude and unwieldy. Ronan's mana seemed unwilling to obey his command when it wasn't directed through a skill. Even so, brute force was effective.

He'd been practicing this method of mana manipulation ever since he'd first tried out the mage class. As Rockmore's lethal mana explosion radiated from the tip of his rapier, Ronan forced a wave of his own mana to surround and suffocate it.

It only delayed the inevitable.

As the light faded from his eyes, Ronan could've sworn he saw two floating yellow orbs in the shadows of the building. A dying human brain conjures weird shit, was his last conscious thought.

Then he snapped awake in an empty white void.

Unprecedented modifications detected…

Analysing…

Unable to determine harm-benefit of modifications. Deferring to inheritor

Physical body has mutated, resulting in the following:

Magical damage reduction +6%

Mind has mutated, resulting in the following:

Mental resistance +11%

Keep mutations?

Both resistances increased by a lot more once again. Ronan was now certain that Lord Rockmore possessed some sort of illusion skill. Mental manipulation was insidious.

However, there was something off about that assumption. If he possessed such a skill, why hadn't he used it the very first time he ambushed them?

Many things didn't add up. It pissed Ronan off.

However, he calmed himself with one simple thought. All I have to do is keep fighting until I'm strong enough to punch my way through whatever bullshit skill he's using.

Iteration 11 analysis:

Highest level achieved: 59

Highest class achieved: Adaptive Martial Artist (Rare)

Highest fortune achieved: 39 Bronze Credits, 438 Copper Credits

Stats gained: 592

Cultivation stages achieved: Mind (Quartz ★), Body (Stone ★), Energy (Sparkling ★)

Inventory value accumulated: 16 Bronze Credits, 56 Copper Credits

Chrono Enhancement Updates:

Experience gain multiplier has increased from 570% to 590%

Credit gain multiplier has increased from 38.4% to 39.4%

Experience gain multiplier has increased from 2.962 to 3.554

Cultivation talent multiplier remains at 1.6

Cultivation progress has been reset, maximum stages reached have been locked

Mastery progress has been reset, maximum tiers reached have been locked

Class has been reset, class skills purged from status

Access to Chronos Clan Ancestral grounds has been granted at minimum threshold

Ronan had already made the decision to spend the one chronos merit he had saved up. He wasn't going to take the risk that an incredible weapon or piece of equipment turned up in one of his lives and he was forced to leave it behind.

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[Temporal Obelisk]

Jack of all trades, master of some III: The influence of the Chronos Clan is not truly boundless, especially so for a sapling. However, with time and investment, your mastery over everything becomes more persistent through iterations. Maintain 25% more of your progress towards the next mastery tier through each iteration for every tier of this enhancement. [Cost to reach next tier: 2 Chronos merit]

Deep cultivation III: As a clan which transcends the limits of time and space, the act of cultivation holds a far more significant meaning to those of the Chronos heritage. Maintain 10% more of your progress towards the next cultivation realm for every tier of this enhancement. Cultivation benefits are 25% more effective for every tier of this enhancement. [Cost to reach next tier: 2 Chronos merits]

Brand of the temporal artificer: Even items forged from the base materials of reality can be iterated. Through the powers of the temporal artificer, items can be branded and will persist through iterations. Number of concurrent brands increased by 1 for every tier of this enhancement. Enhancement will mutate once for every 3 tiers in this enhancement. Branded items will receive a 10% improvement for every tier in this enhancement. [Cost to reach next tier: 1 Chronos merit]

Accumulate greater accomplishments to unlock further enhancement options…

You have purchased the permanent enhancement [Brand of the temporal artificer] for 1 chronos merit! Brand of the temporal artificer has increased from Tier N to Tier I

You have no chronos merits remaining! The Temporal Obelisk has returned to slumber, awaiting your return

Ronan could now brand 1 item and bring it with him even after his death. That meant gaining the chance to have a weapon with him from the very beginning of the tutorial.

Which paved the way for a question he'd been considering for a while. Should I try doing a harder difficulty tutorial soon?

It was an important question for him to consider. In the end he decided he would give it a go once he found a suitable weapon to bring with him to the beginning of the tutorial and not a moment sooner.

Right now his focus was on figuring out how to beat Rockmore. So began a truly strange series of encounters with the fake aristocrat.

Ronan threw a right hook. Rockmore shifted backwards, but it was still on course to clip the bastard's jaw. He could see the trajectory.

Then he felt the pull of his trait.

His fist pulled back towards his body, aiming down and to the left of where he'd originally tried to strike. It went wide and he stumbled forwards. The rapier pierced his skull. A burst of chaotic mana fried his brain an instant later.

That pillar literally just moved! What the fuck is going on, Ronan screamed internally. His fist crashed against the concrete, showering him with dust and debris.

Rockmore danced around the pillar, thrusting his rapier twice a second at Ronan's vitals. It took everything he had to avoid or parry the worst of the jabs.

He lunged forwards, unleashing an uppercut that would take out a gorilla. His trait pulled it to the right and then Rockmore stabbed him between his clavicle and neck.

As he fought against the chaotic wave of mana with all his might, Ronan swore he could hear a high-pitched laugh emanating from the shadows at the edge of the room. Then he died for the thirteenth time.

Ronan actually ignored Lord Rockmore when he burst into the building this time. He watched the shadows. He watched the pillars that held up the half-constructed tower.

By now, his mental resistance was sitting at almost fifty percent. Whatever illusion was in effect was slowly, but surely, losing its hold over him.

Yet he still kept missing his damned punches. He'd tried kicking more, but inevitable still shifted their trajectories.

Every time Ronan looked into the shadows, he briefly caught sight of a pair of glowing yellow orbs. Right before Rockmore caught him off guard in this life, he saw them again.

The last thing Ronan heard before he died for the fifteenth time was sinister, high-pitched laughter echoing from all around him.

His mental resistance was over fifty percent. Ronan sat in meditation on the roof of the tower that he and Keith had made their base in every single lifetime.

Sharp stinging pain—like pins and needles if the pins were hornets and the needles knives—assault Ronan's skull. All of a sudden the pain vanished as a cooling wave of clarity and rejuvenation washed through his mind.

Congratulations! Your hard work and effort have allowed you to reach the second realm of Crystalline Mind Cultivation!

Crystalline Mind Cultivation has advanced from [Quartz ★] to [Quartz ★★]!

Mental damage resistance +6%

Efficacy of wisdom, dexterity, acuity, and charisma +10%

And now his mental resistance was over seventy percent. This time I'll figure this mystery out once and for all, he vowed to himself.

Thanks to deep cultivation and his continued hard work, Ronan had finally reached the second realm in crystalline mind cultivation. Tempered body wasn't far behind, but he wouldn't achieve it in this life.

Besides, solving the mystery of the illusion was definitely the key to defeating Lord Rockmore. He felt he was strong enough to kill the bastard as soon as he did so.

Thus Ronan entered another duel with Lord Rockmore filled with confidence. The moment he stepped onto the stairs leading towards the floor that Keith was sleeping on, he felt something brush against the base of his neck.

He shivered, but continued. He reached the bottom of the stairs and found Lord Rockmore holding Keith up by the neck.

Ronan grimaced at the sight. Every time he failed to save Keith it cut another wound in his heart. The guy had been an asshole before the integration, sure, but he'd fought alongside Ronan every step of the tutorial. He didn't deserve this.

As he fought Rockmore this time, he noticed that the shadows actually shifted less. The building remained in place. Nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Well, except for his damn trait still not working properly. That was the biggest annoyance. However, Ronan had realised what was actually happening. It made him want to slap himself.

Inevitable makes all of my strikes, even those that miss, adjust to hit their intended target. If I'm striking at what I think is Lord Rockmore, but my trait is making me aim for what seems to be empty air, there's only one reasonable conclusion to draw…

As yet another punch was shifted away from the sneering bastard, Ronan understood what was happening. The Lord Rockmore he saw in front of him—the one that he'd dueled over and over again—was not the real thing.

And as soon as he realised that, the illusion broke.

Lord Rockmore had seemed to be on the defensive, retreating from Ronan's unrelenting blows. As his mind suddenly shifted its perspective from the illusory to the real, Rockmore appeared on his left an instant before the man's rapier pierced his heart through his ribcage. Shit.

He had died once again. This time, his death was not in vain. He'd finally figured out Lord Rockmore's trick.

"I'll get you next time, fake noble bastard. Your illusions can't fool me," he chuckled as the mana began to tear his chest apart.

"What? Illusions? What are you rambling about, you incoherent fool," Rockmore sneered in reply.

Ronan frowned. Was this some sort of trick? Was Rockmore so paranoid he would try to lie to a dying man?

That was when he caught sight of a pair of glowing yellow orbs in the shadows, slowly drawing towards the two men. Only this time, a vertical black pupil ran down the middle of each orb.

They were a pair of eyes.

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