Ronan watched as the myriad skills tome floated into the air in front of him. It slammed open and the endless pages started to flutter. After a few seconds, it landed on a particular page and golden script appeared in the air.

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

You have received the skill [Vital Surge (Common)]!

Vital Surge (Common): Pay 5% of your health points in order to boost your agility and strength by 5% for 30 seconds.

When he saw the skill he'd received, Ronan could only laugh. He'd decided in this life to focus on his mastery of mana, yet the system gave him a skill to enhance his physical strength.

Even so, he wasn't complaining. While the skill might not see much use now, it would be an incredibly powerful tool in future.

Ronan decided he would use it once now to test its effects, but leave it to the side until he was fighting in close quarters once again. Just as he'd activated the other skills, he simply had to focus on his intent.

A few moments later, he felt an ominous pull in his chest as though his lifeforce was being sucked out of him. However, it vanished as soon as it had arrived and he was filled with a surge of energy in his muscles.

Throwing a few punches and performing some short sprints, he was able to feel the difference. It wasn't an enormous boost, but that was because his stats were still low. Since it was percentage based, the higher his stats became the more impactful it would be.

28…

The effects of vital surge would last until he was taken to the next stage, but he was done with fighting with his fists for the time being. Taking up a combat stance, he closed his eyes and focused his attention on his heart.

He wanted to determine the source of his mana and observe how it flowed through his arm when he activated magic strike. Even when slaughtering goblins with magic strike, his mana mastery didn't always increase.

The largest gains often came when he focused hardest on the flow of the mana. Ronan had deduced that rather than simple repetition, he needed true understanding in order to progress.

In other words—mastery!

He focused on his heart as he began initiating magic strike. There was a delay between that moment and the tingling in his heart as the mana gathered.

Without a delay it started to whirl and flow down his arm towards his fist. When it reached his knuckles, Ronan waited half a second before punching forwards with a "Ha!"

A gentle gust of wind brushed down his arm, followed by a ripple in the air. As there was no target for his punch, the effects of magic strike weren't that devastating. But his lips curled upwards into a smile as he stared forwards.

You have gained insight!

+1 [Mana] Mastery

That's new. Ronan was pleased that it was possible to advance his mastery this way. It meant he wouldn't be limited by the number of goblins he faced. If he was, reaching the cap of 100 points in mana mastery might be impossible even if it was the only thing he focused on.

Health: 70/70

Stamina: 100/100

Mana: 54/60

Unfortunately, glancing at his mana, Ronan knew that he couldn't simply use these short waiting periods and practice magic strike. He needed to save mana to kill the damn goblins.

He hoped that the mana regeneration boost from picking the mage class this time around would rectify the painfully slow rate of regeneration, but he wouldn't know until he reached level 10. First, he had to slaughter his way there.

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He didn't have to be completely conservative. Before the timer ran out, Ronan executed two more perfect magic strikes. Rather than focusing on power he was attempting to understand the flow of this mysterious energy.

You have gained insight!

+1 [Mana] Mastery

Unfortunately he only received mastery one more time, despite performing the skill twice. Advancing in this way wouldn't be so easy after all.

0…

Good luck, challenger!

Ronan didn't try to focus on the strange void this time, either. He had tried it many times in the first two attempts but ended up only hurting his head.

The moment his feet touched down in that muddy field, he raced forwards, ignoring the stupefied goblin warrior. He didn't even spare a glance for Keith, knowing the man could probably handle himself for a short time.

The lesser goblin archer was caught by surprise. Ronan appeared in front of it before it could even nock a single arrow.

It turned to escape, but immediately realised it was too late. Instead, it screeched at him and drew a short dagger, taking a combat stance.

Ronan's arm tingled with mana already. He planted his left foot in the mud, slipping slightly. Even with a less than perfect foundation his punches weren't to be underestimated.

His fist slammed against the goblin's chest. It gasped as the wind was blown from its lungs and its ribcage trembled. Then, a wave of mana exploded against its organs, lacerating them.

Even then, it wasn't dead. Ronan sighed. He was still too weak at this point. However, the goblin was paralysed on the ground, bleeding from every orifice.

This was a perfect chance to test his control over mana. Previously, he'd unlocked the flood gates in order to deliver a devastating magic strike with all his power. Now he wanted to try doing the opposite.

Raising his knee into the air, he used magic strike, focusing his mana into his foot. As soon as he felt the crackling power in his chest, he clamped down with all his willpower. What he wanted was to limit the mana cost to only the 5 it took to activate.

Rather than a wild flow, a single uniform strand of mana threaded its way down his leg towards the tip of his big toe. When Ronan felt it connect to the tip, he slammed his foot down into the goblin's head.

Right before his stomp was going to smash the monster's face apart, he grunted in exertion and stopped his foot above its nose. The next moment, the mana burst from his foot.

Here, he strained his mind to the limit. Ronan wanted to try and control his mana even after it left his body—a feat he'd never attempted before!

At the last moment a sharp spike of pain shot through his temple and he stumbled backwards. However, he had partially achieved his goal.

The mana that burst from his foot formed a narrow cone rather than a rippling wave. All of the energy was focused into a cylinder in front of his toe. If an insect beneath the goblin's head was looking upwards, they would see a tunnel suddenly blasted through its skull, splashing brains onto the ground before gently brushing against its exoskeleton.

Ronan chuckled as he regained his balance, but rubbed his temple to relieve the pain. Using mana this way is strenuous, but totally worth it! he chuckled to himself as the kill notification appeared.

You have killed [Lesser Goblin Archer Lv.5]!

+6 Copper Credits

+1 [Pugilist I] Mastery

+3 [Mana] Mastery

+Lesser Goblin Ears (Common)

You have leveled up to Lv.2!

You have been restored!

+1 Vitality

+1 Endurance

+1 Free Stat Point

His mana mastery had leapt up by 3 points in a single swoop. Even when facing those frenzied goblin berserkers with his magic strikes, it was rare for his mana mastery to increase this much.

Even his pugilist I mastery increased, despite the difficulty. Perhaps his fine control of his body during that experiment had helped. After all, rapidly bringing the momentum of a kick to a halt was a difficult thing to do.

Ronan immediately tossed the free stat point into wisdom, bringing his maximum mana up again and giving him 10 more points to work with right away. He turned around and saw the lesser goblin warrior stabbing its sword at a frantically dodging Keith.

Not bad. He didn't run this time. Although he looks like one of those fluttering tube guys outside of a car dealership dodging to and fro, Ronan joked to himself. Then, he raced over to help the guy out.

After all, he wanted to get the most out of every tutorial stage. He couldn't allow Keith to steal his experience or opportunities at mastery. Before he reached the goblin warrior, he suddenly froze.

Wait a moment! Jackson only discovered that party function in stage 4, but perhaps…? Ronan had a sudden realisation and before he killed the goblin warrior he mentally commanded the system to invite Keith to a party with him.

"Aah, what the fuck is this?" Keith suddenly exclaimed. Unfortunately, that distraction gave the warrior a chance to strike. "OWW!" Keith yelped as the sword plunged into his thigh.

Ronan grimaced. It was his fault Keith had been stabbed. The next moment, he received another notification and rushed in to help.

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