Keeping half an eye on the surroundings while cultivating had become rather simple for Ronan. With his increased stats, his actual mental faculties saw a sharp increase in function, meaning that he could sort-of split his focus into two streams. Not fully, as even attempting to do so gave him headaches and caused his body to start moving like he was having a seizure, but enough that he was confident in keeping their base secure while he'd cultivated.

Frankly, there was no reason for him to delay his fox hunt. Keith would only hold him back. Last time he'd brought the man along, he'd ended up having to make a decision that still haunted him.

It was better to leave the guy behind and let him think he'd been abandoned. When Ronan died this iteration would end, anyway. The effects wouldn't be permanent.

The sun was just visible in the distance, peeking up over the horizon. How that worked when vision between sectors was blocked, Ronan had no idea. The how didn't really matter. It was beautiful.

He had one more shard left to go until he was dry. Then it would be time to seek out Vulparis, take down the mini-boss to earn his class evolution, discover what said evolution was and how overpowered it might be, and then make his way to the boss' tower to fight upwards to Veloxis' lair. A simple set of goals that would, for the most part, be simple to accomplish.

All that was uncertain was whether or not he would actually be able to defeat the Dreamweaver. While this was the strongest Ronan had ever been in any of his iterations, with an absurd number of stats and far more skills and tools at his disposal than ever before, the fact remained that he had no real measurement for Veloxis' power.

In all of their previous encounters the sector boss had killed him in under a minute. Even the most recent battles, where he used the skill-stealing mirror to obtain ethereal slash from the wily fox, had been a one-sided beatdown ending in his brutal death.

Well, there's no use stressing myself out over what hasn't happened yet. All I have to do is take each battle as it comes. I'll go even more insane than I already have if I start panicking about the infinite futures that lay ahead of me, Ronan consoled himself.

Taking out the final shard, he sat down on the ground, once more adopting a cross-legged meditative position. His body cultivation session was over, and it was time to for some more peaceful progression.

A gentle stream of energy flowed from the mind-aspected shard into his forehead, bathing his brain in a warm and gentle embrace. It was optimistic to believe he could push all the way to the fourth realm with just one shard, given that his starting point was basically zero, but he had so many talent multipliers, cultivation speed multipliers, and even energy absorption multipliers that Ronan wouldn't deem it impossible.

Utterly focused on absorbing the energy and properly directing it through his mind, ensuring he was as cautious as possible, Ronan pushed onwards. In a normal iteration he would have been more reckless, not minding if he caused a bit of damage along the way. This time, however, there was no room for mistakes.

When he took on the boss he needed to be in peak condition or he was throwing away a perfectly good chance at victory.

After what felt like a lifetime, but based on the position of the sun had only been about thirty minutes, the shard crumbled into sparkling sand that drifted through his fingers and was carried away on the wind. He smiled as he saw the message floating in front of him. He had missed the chime, having been so focused on his cultivation, so it was gratifying to receive a visual reminder of his success.

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

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

Mental damage resistance +12%

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Efficacy of wisdom, dexterity, acuity, and charisma +20%

Having slightly more mana and mental damage resistance, along with more effective acuity, would go a long way against the illusion-magic using foxes, especially the boss. Ronan was glad to have upgraded another one of his most useful tools against the annoying canids.

With that shard consumed, he had well and truly used up all of his resources in preparation for the difficult fight ahead. There was only one thing left to do before he sought out Vulparis.

Have a nap.

When he woke up the sun was nearing its zenith. It was hot. Not sweltering, fuck-get-me-outta-here hot, but enough that Ronan felt like having a nice cold shower.

He cursed the system for ruining all of the city's plumbing. He would kill for a shower right now. Or a bath. Or a working toilet. He didn't even want to think about how many times he'd needed to use an empty building to relieve himself during their explorations.

In fairness to the system, he did notice that his need to go to the bathroom and sleep had lessened the higher his stats grew. That was a neat benefit that he hoped might mitigate the need for said plumbing at some point in the future.

To be honest, though, there was something about a lovely shower that went beyond the mere need for hygiene. It was soothing for the soul.

He got mad again thinking about it, so he decided to stop letting his mind lead him astray. There was only one thing Ronan needed to focus on.

Killing foxes.

Stretching, he made his way down from the roof. Keith was still fast asleep. It had to have been nearly fourteen hours that the guy had been resting. Ronan sighed, wondering just how this idiot had survived the tutorial when he'd been in a different difficulty.

Dana, Terry, and Jackson must have carried the hell out of him. If he was even partnered with them.

Leaving the building behind, Ronan made a beeline for where Vulparis usually made its lair. He now knew the fox's secret. It wasn't openly napping in the middle of the street, but prowling or hiding inside a nearby building.

It only took him two hours to reach the street. He slowed his pace as he approached. If the Trickster heard his footsteps before he arrived, Ronan would lose the element of surprise.

Not that he particularly needed it. With how many stats he had and the range of skills, traits, and cultivation realms he'd gained, a mere level 51 mini-boss no longer posed a threat. Still, fast and efficient was better than slow and annoying any day of the week.

Once he was right around the corner from the fox's hiding place. Ronan prepared himself. He used conjure weapon to equip himself with a dagger, gripping it tightly in his right hand.

While the stat gain from dao child was utterly undefeated by any of the other classes, there were times that Ronan missed the instant destruction he could unleash with charge of the juggernaut. It was to the point that he wanted to either lock juggernaut as one of his subclasses or find a way to alloy or forge a similar charging skill in the chronos forge.

The knight class had breaking charge, so there were clearly skills of a similar nature that existed throughout the system. Why wouldn't he be able to create one himself?

At this time he didn't have that advantage. Raising the dagger, he crept towards Vulparis. Currently the mini-boss was lounging in the rubble of a five-story brick building. Ronan had no idea what it once was and he didn't really care. All that mattered was that the fox had left the nape of its neck exposed, believing its illusions kept it safe from an ambush.

Once he'd judged the distance, Ronan cycled his mana. He didn't intend to need a mana bolt, but better to be prepared than caught off guard. Bending his legs, he inhaled deeply.

A stone clattered against the brick wall a second after he leapt forward.

A crimson jet of blood sprayed into the air, painting the brick a deeper shade of red as it splashed against it. A second was all it had taken for Ronan to kill an opponent that had once toyed with his mind as though it were play-doh.

You have killed [Vulparis the Trickster - MINI BOSS][Five-Tailed Fox Lv.51]!

Enemy killed with a critical hit, 1.5x Experience gained!

+34 Bronze Credits

+461 Copper Credits

+11 [Dagger] Mastery

+3 [Stamina III] Mastery

+6 [Perception I] Mastery

+Illusory Fox Pelt Lv.51 (Rare)

+Mini-Boss Shard Lv.51 (Mind)

You have leveled up to Lv.50!

You have leveled up to Lv.51!

You have leveled up to Lv.52!

You have leveled up to Lv.53!

You have been restored x4!

+4 Vitality

+4 Endurance

+8 Wisdom

+8 Intelligence

+12 Acuity

+328 Free Stat Points

Congratulations for reaching Lv.50!

You have reached the first threshold for your class! Class will evolve…

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