Ronan hadn't known what to expect when he began cultivating. All the stories he'd read before the… apocalypse? Yeah, the apocalypse was damn right. Anyway, before it had happened, all those stories said it was a peaceful activity. The protagonists would meditate for a while and then emerge far stronger than before, perhaps even unlocking a novel ability or technique along the way.

The reality was nothing like that. First there had been the burning in his veins that downing the warrior's fortitude elixir caused. That was painful, but manageable.

When it came to actually cultivating using the elite shard—even beginning from the weakest lv.19 shard—the agony reached a whole new dimension. Ronan had to throw his mind elsewhere to ignore the burning, stinging, and hammering pains that resonated in every cell of his body.

However, he knew that it would be worth it. That was why he was able to grit his teeth through the process.

In the end, the first elite shard was consumed much faster than he'd expected. A quick check of the timer on the warrior's fortitude elixir told Ronan that only 48 minutes had passed.

There was a distinct sensation in his body that a change had taken place. He felt stronger, but not by much. A check of his status let him know why.

[Partial Status - Ronan Steele]

[Cultivation]

Mind: None

Body: None (26%)

Energy: None

Soul: None

Despite consuming the entire elite shard, he had only made a little over a quarter progress towards the first… stage? Step? Realm? Of body cultivation. Although, that was taking into account his talent multiplier from the blessing of chronos. Other people might fare even worse.

Or better, if they had a superior technique to his brute force. Now that he had a clear idea of how fast his progress would be and what to expect from the cultivation process, Ronan felt confident to proceed with the other shards.

The next shard to be consumed was level 23. That was a decent step up from the first. Ronan hoped it might advance him a few extra percent further.

In the end, the second shard took a total of 63 minutes to consume. The results were marginally better, with his progress sitting at fifty-five percent. Unfortunately the pain he experienced was multiplied by a similar amount.

The trend continued as Ronan went through the rest of the shards. The third shard took 81 minutes to fully absorb, with his progress ending at eighty-nine percent once it shattered into dust.

When he picked up the final elite shard, the penultimate shard in his collection, his anticipation was nearing its peak. With this one, he would reach one hundred percent and find out what the real benefits of cultivating were.

Thus far, all he'd gained was an increased tolerance to agonising pain and an ethereal sensation of confidence and machismo. When the shard was about halfway drained, he saw a system message appear.

However, he didn't have a chance to focus on it before his entire skeleton shattered. Less than two seconds later it reformed itself, but the impact left its mark. Ronan never wanted to experience being a human jellyfish again.

That was followed by his muscles snapping as new, more densely packed and thicker muscle fibres replaced the old ones. A new layer of skin stretched over the muscles, slightly elastic yet tougher than before.

Once the process was finished Ronan actually felt rejuvenated. It was as if he'd spent the day in a spa getting every treatment possible. The shard was still half consumed, but before he finished the process he wanted to see what he'd gained for all his suffering.

Congratulations! Your hard work and effort have allowed you to reach the first realm of Tempered Body Cultivation!

Tempered Body Cultivation has advanced from [None] to [Stone ★]!

Physical damage reduction +3%

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Efficacy of vitality, strength, agility, and resistance +5%

Ronan felt powerful. There was an odd underlying sensation of fatigue that even the surge of strength and energy couldn't wipe away, but there was a satisfied grin splitting his face nonetheless.

The boosts seemed minimal at a first glance, but a deeper look revealed just how potent cultivation would be. Three percent physical damage reduction, presumably from all sources, was incredible.

Against a single hit, it didn't mean much. However, the longer any battle went on the greater his advantage against an opponent without a similar reduction would become. Given his current fighting style, it was a perfect boon for Ronan.

Adding the stat efficacy boost into the equation, he had just become a lot harder to kill while also being faster and hitting harder. What was not to love?

While the efficacy increase was hard to measure when it came to strength, agility, and even resistance, the same wasn't true for vitality. There he was able to see the increase immediately reflected in his status.

Health: 409/409

Despite his vitality still being at 39 points, his health had increased from 390 to 409 points. Those 19 points represented a few seconds of bleeding or a weaker hit from a monster, giving Ronan extra time to turn the tides of battle.

There was a small discrepancy of half a health point, but he assumed the system simply rounded down. It could've rounded up, but it was a cruel bastard, as always.

Now that he knew what he stood to gain from further cultivation, the prospect of more painful absorption didn't faze him. He still felt fatigued, but he didn't want to waste the remaining time on the warrior's fortitude elixir.

With one hour and forty minutes still to go, he finished the process of absorbing the level 28 elite shard. Finishing that took another fifty-five minutes, but when he checked his status, Ronan couldn't help but frown.

[Partial Status - Ronan Steele]

[Cultivation]

Mind: None

Body: Stone ★ (7%)

Energy: None

Soul: None

He had sensed the energy from the shard. Using half of it advanced him from eighty-nine to one hundred percent completion of the stone ★ realm. Yet the second half of the shard had only advanced him a further seven percent.

It seemed that diminishing gains were a problem with many parts of the system. He had hoped that by adding the boss shard to the elite he might have just crept into the next realm, but it seemed that wouldn't be happening.

Not to mention that with just under an hour left of the elixir, there probably wasn't enough time to finish absorbing the energy of the boss shard. However, he could at least get started and see where he ended up.

Even though he had expected the pain to be worse during the boss shard cultivation, Ronan was still left gasping and fighting the urge to scream as the first streams of its energy entered his body. He felt as though someone was bursting every cell in his body over and over.

At some point during the remaining time, his mind had blanked out. His body kept cultivating, but the pain had sent his consciousness into an odd fugue state.

In the end he snapped out of it when a system message popped into view. Right after, he felt a sudden sharp lance of pain near his navel. At that moment, he immediately forced the boss shard back into his inventory.

Effects of [Warrior's Fortitude] have timed out!

You have been hit by [Boss Shard Lv.40 (Body)]

-36 Health (Corrupting)

It was a stark reminder of the dangers this new world presented. Even the methods of strengthening oneself could lead to death if handled improperly. Especially one as potent as the boss shard.

Nonetheless, the gains it had provided Ronan with were more than worth it. Checking his inventory he saw the shard's description now had a tag saying there was just sixty-four percent of its energy remaining. Yet, his progress towards the next realm of body cultivation had skyrocketed to fifty-eight percent.

The difference between the elite shards and the boss shard was huge. Ronan felt he'd learned a little about how to properly cultivate, but until he found another useful resource like the warrior's fortitude elixir he wouldn't risk his life on absorbing the rest of the boss shard.

Satisfied with the gains he'd made, Ronan stretched his aching muscles. The first rays of dawn were shining over the horizon, the twin moons' brilliance fading as night turned to day.

Crap, I wasn't paying much attention to my surroundings. A monster or even some other humans could have snuck up on us, he admonished himself. Thankfully a quick check of the minimap and a visual check of his surroundings let Ronan know it was still just him and Keith in the area.

Speaking of Keith, the guy was still fast asleep. A couple of protein bar wrappers and a crushed can of diet cherry soda were strewn beside him.

Ronan considered waking him up, but that felt cruel. Especially after Keith had let him sleep it out earlier. He was just too excited to explore and hopefully test his new strength in combat.

An hour later, Keith woke up with a yawn and found Ronan sitting right beside him. "Jeez, you scared me, mate. It's a bit creepy to watch a man in his sleep, no?" he joked.

"What can I say, you've just got a beautiful face," Ronan replied, taking the banter in stride.

After a quick drink of water and taking a moment to relieve his bladder, Keith returned to the floor they'd made their 'home'. "So, where to first?" he asked.

"Given that we arrived in the ruins of the office, I'm guessing we're somewhere around moorgate. Or what used to be moorgate, anyway. Let's try and find the river, that should help us get a feel for our new surroundings. Are you feeling prepared?" Ronan asked once he finished explaining the plan.

"As ready as I'll ever be, mate. Let's go."

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