This time, Ronan didn't use them all at once. There were still around two minutes left on the timer before he was taken to the gladiator staging platform, and he had no desire to rush.

He did want to try and use some of the shards he'd received from the previous stages of the tutorial, but he wasn't sure there was enough time to do so, given that most of them weren't body-aspected. It was only thanks to the Diamondback Gorilla Tempered Body Art that he was able to perform body cultivation in such a short amount of time.

He opted to go for the skills tome first. They didn't take long to use and he was curious to know what his second rare skill of his fiftieth iteration would be.

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

You have received the skill [Voracious Vitality (Rare)]!

Voracious Vitality (Rare): Gain +1 to vitality for every 7 points of vitality you possess. Does not include stat bonuses.

He let out a whoop of celebration when he saw the skill he had received. His collection of stat-boosting skills had grown larger and he was one step closer to obtaining an ultimate all-stat-boosting skill.

Vitality was a great stat to boost for free. Getting the skill at rare basically just gave him a huge chunk of extra health points. In other words, he'd take way more hits before being forced to start a new iteration.

As he'd started with the skill, he decided to go for the trait next. Of the various consumables, the endless treasury tokens were the ones that enthused him the least. The legendary one might give him something promising, but even in the instance he was provided with a ridiculously powerful item, Ronan wanted to save it for last.

The thesaurus has read the fibres of your being, and bestowed a suitable trait upon you! You have been awarded the mutative trait [Shard Reprocessor]

Shard Reprocessor (Rare): Every time a challenger consumes a shard to cultivate, a portion of its energy and material remains as impure residue, polluting a cultivator's sacred vessel. This trait allows the challenger to slowly reprocess those impurities into shard-energy, furthering their cultivation and obtaining the most efficiency from each shard, while maintaining the purity of their vessel in all four paths.

He needed to stop for a brief moment when he received the trait. Not because of what it did—which was impressive—but because it was the first time he'd learned that shards left impurities behind. It raised a lot of questions for him.

To begin with, was that even a problem that Ronan needed to worry about. Did the impurities linger through iterations or did his death wipe them away while maintaining his cultivation?

In any case, now that he'd obtained this trait he would be able to squeeze more progress out of every shard. That was fantastic, regardless of whether it would lose its fuel each time he died, until such point that he began consuming shards again and more impurities settled in his 'vessel.'

With the trait obtained and added to his collection of rare traits, it was finally time for Ronan to use the treasury tokens. He would start with the three rare tokens, saving the best for last.

[Endless Treasury Token (Rare)] has been consumed x3!

You have received [Infused Dexterous Date (Rare)] x2!

Infused Dexterous Date (Rare)

Rich and sweet fruits with soft and chewy flesh that improve fine motor control and hand-eye coordination. This crop was infused with mana while growing, and allows extreme manoeuvrability once consumed.

+11 Dexterity

You have received [Princess Petal's Flower Crown 2.0 (Rare)]!

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Princess Petal's Flower Crown 2.0 (Rare)

Having grown and learned much, the princess used her amassed knowledge and magical talent to weave herself a second crown. This one contained more intricate natural enchantments produced by the interlocking flower stems. The faint magic of friendship can still be felt from the crown, but tinged with an aura of distinction.

+11 Charisma, +5 Wisdom, +7 Luck

Any action made with the intention of helping an ally is 10% more likely to succeed

Bow of the Primal Hunter (Rare)

An early weapon used by a feared hunter, this bow allows the user to form arrows by infusing their mana into the enchanted wood. The more mana used, the more powerful the arrow and the faster it flies. Mana is limited to the strength of the enchantment. Attempts to force more mana than the bow can handle will cause deterioration.

+3 Agility, +3 Dexterity

Ronan was flabbergasted to receive two infused fruits from a single token. Whether that was down to the few extra points he'd put into luck before or simply him getting lucky in the traditional sense, he would never know. In any case, he savoured the sweet caramel taste of both dates, as well as delighting in the 22 points of dexterity that had been permanently added to his base stats.

Then there was the flower crown. Reading the description, he almost felt a sense of pride towards the strange princess he would never meet. The crown was more intricate than the common version, with two layers of interwoven flowers of various colours and sizes forming the rounded shape. It sat perfectly on his head, slightly expanding to fit. The bonus stats and the enchantment were fantastic.

As for the bow, he was in two minds about it. There was no doubting the fact that it was a powerful weapon with good bonus stats and an incredibly useful ability. Never needing to make arrows was a godsend for an archer, he was sure. However, Ronan had no idea how to use a bow and that meant the weapon wasn't that useful in his hands.

He could learn how to shoot one, given enough time, but he wasn't heading back to the familiar environment that he'd grown used to over the past 49 iterations. He was going down the path of the gladiator. If the system was right, this would be his hardest challenge yet and using a weapon he wasn't familiar with would be foolish.

Still, he would have it as a backup if he ever truly needed it. That was good enough for him.

With the rare tokens used, there was only the legendary token left to consume. After receiving the double dates, Ronan was optimistic about what he might receive from this token. Tossing it into the air as he activated it, he listened to the deafening sounds of wealth and fortune that emanated from the token as it started to glow with a golden-orange light.

[Endless Treasury Token (Legendary)] has been consumed!

You have received [Seven Silent Clarities Crystalline Mind Cultivation Art (Legendary)]!

Seven Silent Clarities Crystalline Mind Cultivation Art (Legendary)

There was an ancient monastery in the depths of an otherwise uninhabited solar system where there lived seven monks. Always seven, no more, no less. Over a thousand eons each of these monks passed on their lifetimes' worth of meditations and insights onto the next to take up their position. Nearby star systems died and were born, all while they meditated in the silence of a near-dead solar system. After millions and millions of years, each of the seven finally reached their ultimate clarity. Their combined wisdom and understanding was fused to develop this crystalline mind art, allowing the user to use successive layers of the seven clarities to achieve mental perfection.

Ronan's reward from the legendary token was another cultivation art. His best to date, and one that sounded extraordinarily profound. The idea of living in silence for an entire lifetime in an empty solar system was haunting, but awe-inspiring. The length of time it had taken to develop this art wasn't something he could fully comprehend. Not yet, at least.

He glanced at the timer. There was only about fifty seconds left. Hopefully it's enough to use the art. No way in hell am I leaving that in my inventory and risking losing it forever, Ronan decided.

Taking out the art, as well as the lowest level of elite shard in his possession, he placed them both beside him and began to cultivate. About five seconds in, the art evaporated into a million tiny particles of shining dust. The way the light reflected off the cloud of dust was breathtaking.

It lasted for a half-second before the entire cloud rushed into his every pore, and a flood of knowledge greater than he'd ever received before crashed into his mind. He felt he might pass out, but knew he couldn't risk that so close to the transport time.

The art had mentioned layers. That became clear as the intense rush of information slowed. Only portions of it were truly clear to him, with the rest being shrouded in some sort of mental fog. He assumed it would become available to him when he pushed his crystalline mind cultivation further.

From what he understood now, having reached the first threshold, there were two layers of the art which he could use. However, only the first layer was truly usable until he gained more proficiency in the art.

His rare art had progressed slower than the uncommon one, and he suspected this legendary art would move at a snail's pace. Nonetheless, it would surely be worth the effort.

There was still some time before the countdown ran out, so he decided to see what the first layer of the cultivation art involved. It turned out to be fairly simple.

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