Rather than being thrown right into the invasion, Ronan found himself back inside the room he'd just left. A system message floated in front of him and he was unable to move his body whatsoever.

Welcome to the Path of the Gladiator, Ronan Steele!

The first step on your path is to successfully invade and conquer a planet owned by the [Grathen], one of the factions invading your homeworld.

You will be sent in alone and the only assistance you will receive is the sponsorships and gifts you have been given. Between each step of the path your sponsor will be able to meet with you and provide you more resources based on their personal limit.

Until you complete the invasion, you will be alone.

Please select a starting location for your incursion portal:

Vacilly [Difficulty: Easy] [Rewards: Minimum]

Grahoun [Difficulty: Normal] [Rewards: Low]

Kayir [Difficulty: Medium] [Rewards: Average]

Vorunga [Difficulty: Hard] [Rewards: High]

Hallet [Difficulty: Harder] [Rewards: Highest]

Grathamor [Difficulty: Nightmare] [Rewards: Excessive]

The difficulties were familiar. They followed the same system as the tutorials did, which potentially answered the unsolved question of whether there was another difficulty between harder and nightmare. If the tutorial was the same as this list, then it seemed not.

He thought about which starting location he wanted to choose. The problem with this difficulty scale is that it was completely arbitrary and gave him little clue about what he would actually face when he went through the portal.

Was 'easy' relative to his own level and class, with the system judging the enemies that would be waiting for him near the other side? Or was it simply based on some universal metric that the system had decided to consider easy, regardless of who was going to be stepping through that portal as the invader?

In any case, if he died because he chose a difficulty that was too hard, he could just try again. However, getting to this point had been tedious and at the very least he wanted the opportunity to try out some of his new skills. For that reason he wasn't going to go crazy and pick nightmare off the bat.

Instead, he decided to play it a little safe. At the end of the day, all of these locations were on the planet, so he would be facing the enemies in them at some point during the invasion, regardless of which location he started at. All that in mind, Ronan opted to go with the medium difficulty location—Kayir.

You have chosen the starting location for your incursion portal as [Kayir]! The portal will be sealed once you exit and will not open again until certain conditions are met. Prepare for transport in 10 seconds!

10…

He double checked his inventory to see what weapons he had to hand, as well as mentally preparing himself. Perhaps there wouldn't be any enemies directly outside the portal, but it was better safe than sorry.

Ronan didn't want to step out and get instantly killed, dying like a fool. Actually, let me make sure I'm really prepared. With that thought in mind, he took a longsword from his inventory and gripped it tightly in both hands.

Prepare for transport!

He found himself being whisked out of the room into the shifting void. It was the first time in a while that he found himself being able to observe the shapes that writhed inside. When he found himself focusing too hard or getting close to figuring out what one might be, his focus was suddenly shifted elsewhere. It was disconcerting, but not as much as the dazzling light of the sun suddenly blinding him.

He dropped his left hand from the sword's handle and raised the arm to block the light. After a few blinks he was able to see again and moved the arm a little further away so that he could see.

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The first thing he did was check his immediate surroundings for enemies. He couldn't see any monsters or people, which was fantastic. Frankly, if there had been someone waiting for him, they might have been able to get the drop on him while he was blinded.

The surroundings were bleak. Ronan found himself in a compound of sorts. If he were back on Earth, he would say it was military, but given that this was an alien world it might have been a luxurious family home.

Towering walls surrounded him on all four sides, with the floors and walls both being made of the same grey material. It reminded him of concrete, but it was far smoother, reminiscent of marble. There was a gate in the middle of the wall ahead of him and at the top of the walls he saw faint red beams of light that crossed between the four corners. Lasers, presumably of the lethal variety.

Strangely, the compound was empty. As his gaze continued upwards, he received the biggest surprise of the invasion. The sky was a light green, and sitting in it were two blazing suns. One was enormous, as though it were right next to the planet, while the other was far smaller, barely a dot. The large sun was a reddish-yellow, while the smaller one was closer to white.

A thin film of sweat had already formed on his skin, but it wasn't uncomfortably hot. Or perhaps that's only because my stats have increased so much? Would a pre-integration human even be able to survive on this planet? That line of thought brought up many questions about the residents of the planet.

Before he could consider the answers, a loud wailing noise cut through the relative silence. An alarm.

It seemed that his presence had been noticed. He wondered how and why, given that there was no one nearby. Perhaps the building itself had some kind of motion sensor. Maybe the huge glowing portal behind him was a giveaway?

Not wanting to be trapped inside whatever this place was when someone came checking for what set off the alarm, Ronan rushed towards the gate. It was made of the same grey material as the floor and walls. The only way he'd been able to mark it as a gate was the shimmering lines of metal that separated it from the rest of the wall.

He started cycling his mana immediately. Once it was ready, he began to form a rainbow bomb. He wasn't going to hold back. Using vital surge and stone grip, he also lunged forwards and stabbed the sword into the gate, activating arcane piercing strike, magic strike, and even surging strikes.

The blade crashed into the material, making a small chip in the gate. Six more blades struck the same spot, digging the hole a little deeper each time. From the fourth to seventh strikes, a spiderweb of cracks spread from the impact zone. However, he was unable to destroy the gate using purely a physical attack.

Stepping back, he then launched the rainbow bomb. It exploded against the wall. The colour of his surroundings actually didn't change much, given that it was mostly grey to begin with. He heard a loud bang followed by a series of clattering noises.

When the explosion faded he was greeted with the sight of the outside world. The edges of the gate were still intact, but the majority of it had been blasted open by his combined assault. Unfortunately his problems had only just begun.

Standing on the other side of the destroyed gate was a group of six humanoids with grey skin dressed in identical uniforms. Ronan didn't know the customs of this species or planet, but he would have bet everything he owned on them being military uniforms.

The aliens had two arms and all of them were pointing at least one in his direction while shouting something. Half of the group split off and started rushing towards him, two took out long metallic items that were extremely gun-like, while the final alien raised its hands in the sky and closed its eyes. A mage, most likely.

There was no time to waste. Ronan felt his heart begin to pound, excitement building in his chest. Perhaps it was just the adrenaline talking, but he was looking forward to this.

Raising the longsword in one hand, he started to form a mana bolt in the other. All six of the aliens had tags floating above their heads, but they were hard to make out at that distance. He would find out how strong they were up close and personal.

He tossed the mana bolt the moment it formed, aiming it at the mage. Usually mages were the most dangerous and he wanted to take the bastard out before it could cast an annoying spell.

Ronan was already rushing to meet the group of three, watching their movements to try and judge which one was the weakest. One of them was a half-step slower than the others and its eyes were less confident.

When there was just a few metres between Ronan and the group, he lunged forwards and thrust his blade at the weaker alien. He heard the mana bolt exploding just before the tip of his sword pierced the alien's chest through its uniform. There was barely any resistance, and as he yanked the blade out the alien slumped to the ground.

He whipped a second mana bolt at the alien on his left, before avoiding a punch from the right and retaliating with a rapid downwards swing. The alien's head fell to the ground as he smashed his heel into the head of the alien that had taken the mana bolt to the face.

He heard yelling ahead of him, and saw the two gun-wielding aliens screeching at each other. One glanced at him and raised its weapon. The other stomped on the ground, before suddenly turning and making a break for it.

Ronan wouldn't let a single one of these bastards escape.

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