Ronan didn't even see the champion's fist coming. One moment he was staring at its hideous sneering face. Then everything went black.

He remembered… the crack of a whip. Then the crack of bone. Then… nothing.

No. There was something else. Familiar. In between the moment of his death and…

And? I died. How… Oh no, you're fucking kidding me, Ronan felt his stomach sinking. His eyes snapped open. Before he could even move, he heard the cursed chime of the fucking system.

Welcome to the tutorial of the 103rd Grand Integration! This introduction to the multiverse will serve to test your strength and skill. Upon completion, you will return to your newly terraformed planet for the 1st Phase.

This time he didn't even bother wasting his breath or mental energy on further curses. He'd thought the first time was an insane intervention by a mad god, or perhaps he was simply dreaming. Now?

Now he didn't know what to think. If this was a dream, it was a shitty one. If this was the system fucking with his life… Well, it wasn't like he could hate it more than he already did.

Initiating user assessment…

Terry and Jackson… that hobgoblin champion tore them apart as if they were papier mache! I couldn't even raise a finger against it, how is that 'normal' difficulty!?

Ronan had nothing but disbelief and resentment in his heart and mind. However, the system didn't give a crap and continued droning on.

Assessment complete!

Once again, the strange sound didn't interrupt the system's robotic whining. Wait… the sound. That familiar sound. Between dying and now, that sound. Heard? I'm not sure that's the right word. I felt it, Ronan suddenly realised.

His status appeared and this time he immediately rushed to read it. It had changed the first time. He expected it to be different this time, too.

[Status]

Name: Ronan Steele

Race: Human (G)

Heritage: ERROR: Unreadable (Analysis attempted: Results unreadable. DNA matches: 0. Recognised characters: '2')

Level: 0 (20)

Class: N/A (Fighter (Common))

Fortune: 0 (6,169c)

[Stats (1.028)]

Health: 60/60 Stamina: 90/90 Mana: 50/50

Vitality: 6

Endurance: 9

Wisdom: 5

Regeneration: 3

Resistance: 6

Strength: 6

Agility: 5

Intelligence: 8

Dexterity: 5

Acuity: 7

Tenacity: 12

Luck: 2

Charisma: 4

Available Points: 0

[Traits]

Personal: Inevitable (Epic)

[Skills]

Unified Language Adaptation (Universal)

Relentless Training (Common)

Magic Strike (Common)

[Mastery]

Pugilist I 0/100

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

[Cultivation]

Mind: None

Body: None

Energy: None

Soul: None

Ronan wasn't sure what to make of it this time. The first thing that caught his attention was his heritage.

Instead of a string of random characters, it had actual, readable words. However, that didn't make what it said any less confusing.

Ultimately, even though he had English to go on now, the end result was the same. He had no clue what his heritage was or what it was doing to him. However, he was now certain of something.

It wasn't the system or some mad deity that was pulling this crap on him, forcing him to live the tutorial over and over again. It was his own bloody heritage. He had no doubts in his mind.

In fact, the only 'data' the system could give him about his heritage was that it recognised a number. The number two.

That was how many times Ronan had died so far. How many times he'd had to suffer through the tutorial. How many times he'd watched the people around him die horrible, meaningless deaths.

The second thing he realised was that he no longer had his class skill, only those obtained through the myriad skills tome. That was a shame, but not a huge loss. He would get to pick a class again at level 10, after all.

Your difficulty has been set to [Normal]! If you believe this is an unsuitable assessment, you are free to voice your complaints. Stage 1 will begin in 5…

Ronan let out a maniacal cackle. It was as if his mind had shattered as he was frozen, laughing like the damn joker. Rather than insanity, what Ronan felt in that moment was actually gratitude.

4…

To be honest, I thought it was a curse that I had to do that shit twice. Seeing Jackson and Terry die like that was horrible. Knowing that Dana died the same way I did. Even poor Keith… Ronan thought back to his final moments with sadness.

3…

I'll probably have to watch them die again, but if I can keep coming back and I get to keep my skills and my knowledge every time. Ha! Shitty system. You can't stop me from coming to kick your ass now. Even if it takes me a million deaths, I'll get there. Just wait for me, he promised himself he would stop at nothing to achieve that goal.

1…

Right before the countdown ended, Ronan finished scanning through his status. A devious grin split his face as he saw the mastery section. Pugilist I. Those fucking goblins don't know what's about to hit them, he chuckled to himself.

0…

Good luck, challenger!

Stage 1 of the tutorial was a solo battle. Ronan against a single lesser goblin. He had lost all of the stats he had earned through his sweat and blood, but that didn't mean he was weak.

From the beginning Ronan had a sturdy, muscular body and knew a little about fighting. While he did lose his stats, he retained all his memories. His body remembered every strike it had received and given in return.

Unfortunately for the goblin, it had to walk out of a portal instead of being able to get the jump on him. Ronan crossed the distance in a few steps and as soon as its head appeared it met his sturdy fist.

The flimsy head of the goblin caved in with a single punch. Ronan exhaled. He stood in the middle of that forest clearing, staring up into the sky.

His fist was trembling. Looking down, he opened his hand and stared into his quivering palm. Magriz'al. You won't have a quick death. The events of his previous life had affected him more than he realised.

You have killed [Lesser Goblin Lv.2]!

+2 Copper Credits

+Lesser Goblin Ears (Common)

You have leveled up to Lv.1!

You have been restored!

+1 Vitality

+1 Endurance

+1 Free Stat Point

Congratulations, you have cleared Stage 1 of the tutorial!

[Inventory] access has been granted at minimum functionality. Improve inventory metrics by spending system credits or through other approved means. Open inventory through mental, verbal, or spiritual command.

+10 Copper Credits

+Myriad Skills Tome (Common)

Stage 2 will begin in 1 minute!

Ronan had gained a valuable insight from his most recent death. Reaching the first cap in a mastery would allow him to retain it even after dying.

The evidence was there in the form of his pugilist I accolade. However, the difficulty of increasing it was increased, which meant pathetic enemies such as this wouldn't suffice.

However, it gave him an interesting idea. He knew that even if he was to struggle and fight his way back to Magriz'al, that overpowered hobgoblin champion, in this life, he would still stand no chance of victory.

While he favoured hand to hand combat, he knew that to defeat that boss monster he would first need to be able to dodge its strikes or be able to take them without dying. In order to do that, it might be best to train those skills to the point he could keep them even if he died a hundred more times.

52…

He thought back to his first death against the zombified fleshbeast. Against the hordes of goblins in stage 4. Pain mastery. Mana mastery. Shield mastery.

Those abilities would give him the edge he needed to have a chance against Magriz'al. Now that he knew the advantage he had over the tutorial, granted by his mysterious heritage, Ronan would exploit it to fuck over the system.

In this life, I want to train my mana mastery. I remember the first few times I used magic strike I was able to slowly sense my mana travelling from my heart, Ronan thought to himself.

Before his second death, his mana mastery had only reached one fifth of the cap—a little over 20 points. Reaching 100 before the end of stage 4 might be impossible, especially with how slow his mana regenerated.

However, Ronan had a genius idea to overcome that drawback. He chuckled, thinking back to the loss he'd felt upon skipping the mage class. This time, Ronan would embrace the magic he'd dreamt of since he was a kid.

Rather than a whimsical adventure at a magic academy, he would be facing life and death struggles and painful training. He would embrace it wholeheartedly.

If he was going to focus everything into reaching the cap for mana mastery, he would have to go all in. So, he put his stat point into wisdom, increasing his mana pool.

44…

There was still quite a lot of time before he had to enter stage 2 and Ronan had two tasks. The first was to use the myriad skills tome and receive a third skill.

Skills were also a tool that remained with him after death, which made this item one of the most valuable rewards to him—even more than those elite shards or lethal weapons. He used the tome without delay, eagerly awaiting his new skill.

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