Ronan had begun to use surging strikes and magic strike in tandem on almost every swing he took. It didn't matter what weapon he was using, the results only varied a little.

He was still easily dispatching the ants. They weren't even a fifth of his level and even his normal blows were overkill. It was only because he needed more kill quantity that he was resorting to using his skills.

At the same time he continued to practice using rainbow bomb. The moment he figured out how to cast one, the ants would be in real danger. His allies were still fighting valiantly, but quite a few of them struggled to kill the monsters in a single blow, now that the level gap had closed.

Despite the odds stacked against them, not a single one of them faltered when their lives were on the line. Ronan respected that and made a mental note of their names, so that he could pick them out in future. If he ever formed a permanent faction, he would want them to be a part of it.

Somehow they all made it through the fourth wave. More injuries than the last one, but that wasn't a problem as his allies were also gaining levels a little quicker. He also had no issues patching up their bleeding wounds, so that they didn't cause any problems until they were able to earn their next level up restoration.

Ronan continued to cultivate once he had treated everyone who needed it and handed out some more weapons to those whose weapons had broken. He had decided to use the boss shard, as he had no other mind-aspected shards and he had five full minutes to cultivate. He suspected it would be enough to get him past the threshold and then some.

Four minutes passed and the shard wasn't yet drained, but Ronan felt something in his brain shudder. Then a hot needle was driven in through the top of his skull and he almost collapsed into a puddle.

He blacked out instantly.

When he woke up, he thanked his lucky stars that he hadn't managed to remain conscious. Having experienced the pain of breaking through the other thresholds, he didn't even want to imagine what having that same sensation inside his skull would feel like.

You are attempting to break through the first threshold in Crystalline Mind Cultivation!

Challenger possesses at least one mind-based mastery at tier I or higher!

Challenger possesses wisdom, acuity, and intelligence of at least 50 points or higher!

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

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

Mental processing speed +25%

Nerve processing speed +50%

Mental damage resistance +25%

Efficacy of wisdom, dexterity, acuity, and charisma +45%

Potency of wisdom, dexterity, acuity, and charisma +5%

He was able to drain the rest of the shard before the five minutes ran out, wiping the sparkling dust from his hands as he stood up to greet the fifth wave. The boosts provided by breaking through the threshold in mind cultivation would help him greatly in overcoming the second half of the wave survival trial.

Extra mana, faster thinking times, and better reactions were all things that directly improved his combat capabilities. However, the fifth wave threw them a curveball.

The number of ants hadn't really increased and neither had their levels. The worker ants were still level 15, but what had changed was the addition of ten larger ants interspersed amongst the swarm.

With brighter reddish bodies, the larger ants had visibly larger mandibles. As they grew nearer, it became obvious to Ronan that their mandibles were sharper. He turned the tags back on briefly to see what he was dealing with.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

[Soldier Ant - Lv.15]

Yeah, that makes sense. In the hierarchy of an ant hive, there were drones, workers, and queens. Soldiers were like a sub-category of workers, if his memory of secondary school biology served him correctly. He'd read about them on a museum trip once.

To have soldiers be the next step up was a logical progression. Ronan hoped his teammates would be up to the task, but he was confident in them. Apart from the ten new enemies, this wave was much the same as the last. They had managed fine then and he was sure they would be fine now.

When the ants reached the top of the hill he threw himself into battle with fervour, carving a path towards the nearest soldier. As the strongest of the group he made it his goal to take down the bigger enemies, while leaving the cannon fodder for the others to mop up.

His sword clashed against the mandibles of one of the soldier ants, before shearing right through it. The creature darted forwards without hesitation, attempting to spear him with its remaining mandible.

Seeing that they weren't much stronger than the workers, Ronan continued to cut through the monsters with abandon. He was using skills whenever he deemed fit, the only limitation being his mana regeneration. With how high his stats were, it wasn't much of a limit at all.

Admittedly he didn't want to bottom out constantly. Right now there were no enemies he needed a particular skill to defeat, but he would need to consider rationing himself towards the final waves if bigger and stronger enemies appeared.

When Ronan cut through his fourth soldier ant, killing it, he received an unexpected surge of warmth through his body. He had leveled up once more, reaching level 98.

That put some pep in his step and he redoubled his efforts to cut through the ants. In no time at all they were all dead, six of the soldiers cut down by him alone, with the others taking down the rest.

He continued to cultivate in the downtime between waves 5 and 6. He didn't have any soul-aspected shards, but soul cultivation was the only one of the four paths that he hadn't broken through the first threshold in. At 60% efficiency, he was more than happy to use his shards to cultivate it to that point—even the level 95 energy-aspected boss shard.

It wasn't as though they were limited resources. For him, anyway. Every time he began a new iteration the same shards would be there for the taking, to keep pushing him further and further along the four cultivation paths.

By the time he had burned through all of his remaining shards, with the exception of the boss shard, Ronan finally earned the breakthrough he'd been pushing for. In hindsight, he realised it might have been a better idea to get soul cultivation beyond the threshold first, as it boosted his progress in all the others.

Congratulations! Your hard work and effort have allowed you to reach the fifth realm of Prismatic Soul Cultivation!

Prismatic Soul Cultivation has advanced from [Red ★★★★] to [Red ★★★★★]!

Soul weight is increased by 6%

Cultivation talent is increased by 35%

Efficacy of intelligence, tenacity, and luck +25%

Maybe the extra luck would give him the edge needed to breeze through this without losing any allies.

Wave 6 has started!

Wave 7 will spawn in 30 Minutes!

29:59…

As the ants drew nearer, Ronan was able to make out all the details. Twenty-five soldiers and at least a thousand workers. The workers and soldiers were all level 19, with the exception of one soldier ant which was larger than the rest. The larger soldier was level 21 and also an elite.

"I'm going straight for the elite, then I'll try to cut down the rest of the soldiers. Do your best!" His shout was met with affirmative grunts and nods from the rest of the group. There was no time to get distracted now.

Before the ants reached the base of the hill Ronan ran down to meet them. He wasn't worried about getting swarmed by the weaker worker ants. His spear cut a wide arc around him, glowing with mana as it carved the insects apart.

One of the soldiers threw itself into his path, attempting to snap his spear in half with its sharp jaws. He grabbed the shaft with his left hand, pushing it beneath the snapping mandibles, before planting his front foot and jamming the spear into the ant's thorax.

Ichor sprayed everywhere as the monster was pierced, the chime of victory ringing in his mind the moment it did. He quickly yanked the weapon out before slicing down a few brave worker ants who'd tried to take advantage of the momentary distraction to bite at his legs.

His target was nearby now, about fifteen metres ahead of him and to the right. The elite soldier ant had noticed him, but decided to ignore the threat and make a beeline for the rest of his teammates. A cruel, but intelligent decision.

However, it was a decision Ronan would not allow to come to fruition. Continuing his charge, he formed a mana bolt in his left hand once it was free, launching it at the elite soldier ant's vulnerable eyes and antennae.

The ant froze and reared up. In an even colder move, it gripped a worker between its jaws and tossed the unfortunate ant into the mana bolt's path. The spell exploded the insect as if it were jelly.

Before the spray of guts and chitin had cleared, a crimson terror raced through the crackling mana, directly towards him. Seeing he had lost the first exchange, Ronan dropped his stance low and prepared to strike even harder.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.