Ronan wiped his bloodstained hands on his threadbare suit trousers. He had a big grin on his face while he did it, most of his focus on the notification that had appeared after he and Keith put down a few foxes.

You have reached the mastery cap for [Stamina I]!

Stamina I has evolved to Stamina II!

All stamina costs are reduced by a minor amount. Whenever you expend stamina to activate a skill or item, regain 5% of the expended stamina. Efficacy of endurance +2%

The slight increases to the previous boosts were nice, but it was the added efficacy to endurance that really made all the effort Ronan had put into improving stamina mastery worth it. Two percent wasn't much, but he was certain it would increase exponentially the higher tier his stamina mastery reached.

Even the slight efficacy boost had a big impact on his overall stamina. None of his other masteries were particularly close to tiering up, so he figured it was time to face Lord Rockmore once more.

Something was… off. Rockmore's movements seemed less elegant and controlled than they usually were during their battle. At times, it felt as though the way his enemy's body telegraphed its moves was completely wrong.

More than that, the shadows in the half-constructed tower put him on edge. They hadn't oppressed him like this in the last two iterations. He forced himself to focus on the lightning fast thrusts of Rockmore's rapier instead.

His own fists were like pistons, pummelling the arrogant bastard each time he left gaps in his defence. Despite the improvements to his own status and the resistance increases from learn through suffering, it was still an uphill battle.

Two minutes later, his fatigue made him slip up. His punch slipped past Rockmore's head. He felt a pull on his fist, changing its course ever so slightly. Then the rapier pierced his lung and the explosion of mana tore him apart from within.

As he died for the tenth time, Ronan wasn't able to let go of the uneasiness he felt deep within his mind. Maybe all this dying is getting to me, he thought.

Unprecedented modifications detected…

Analysing…

Unable to determine harm-benefit of modifications. Deferring to inheritor

Physical body has mutated, resulting in the following:

Magical damage reduction +4%

Mind has mutated, resulting in the following:

Mental resistance +8%

Keep mutations?

Yes, he confirmed. Eight percent? That's a lot more than the other times. I don't get it though. Rockmore doesn't use mental skills.

Worrying about something he couldn't solve right now wasn't Ronan's style. Instead he read through his iteration analysis. He'd earned a chronos merit this time through his total accumulated inventory value, but there was nothing to spend it on.

All of his multipliers had increased once more, meaning he was drawing closer to the moment he would finally defeat Rockmore. He couldn't wait.

Ronan was grumpy. He dismissed the notification informing him he'd received a myriad skills tome, before taking the item from his inventory and holding it in his palm.

The reason he was in a foul mood with these esoteric tomes was that they were clearly out to get him. The past two iterations he'd received duplicate skills. The duplicates were consumed by his heritage and gave him progress towards another chronos merit, so it wasn't all bad, but he'd much rather accumulate more skills to bolster his overall abilities.

That was four tomes. All duplicates. He had less than ten skills. There had to be thousands of skills out there in this damned multiverse. Yet he kept rolling the same ones.

At this point he started to think the system was out to get him. Then he took a deep breath and used the skills tome. Surely this time…

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

You have received the skill [Weapons Expert - Melee (Common)]!

Weapons Expert - Melee (Common): Mastery gains for all melee weapons is accumulated infinitesimally faster. For every mastery tier you possess for all melee weapons, deal 5% extra damage when using a melee weapon

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Ronan let out a low whistle. That was a really good skill. It might not be that useful right now, given his propensity for pugilism, but it would certainly come in handy down the line.

He'd enjoyed using a spear and a sword at times—hell, even the staff was great fun to use. Ronan was sure he'd return to them at some point in future iterations.

That made him wonder about equipment in general. For most people it was likely one of the best ways to improve their combat abilities and stats without training or leveling up. For him, it held less utility given that he lost it all each time his life began anew. Though perhaps not forever…

He thought back to the third and final chronos enhancement he'd not yet purchased. If I find a weapon I really don't want to give up, I'll need to buy it. However, if I find a weapon and I don't have the enhancement, I'll lose it before I get the chance… He pondered this conundrum for a brief moment, before shrugging. Whatever, I'll just buy the first tier. It's only 1 merit.

Ronan looked out over New London at night. He had started calling the city that in his head, given that it was a weird, fantasy-world version of the old city.

The towers and mansion blocks that once decorated its streets now gave him an uncanny valley feeling as he looked over the skyline. They appeared roughly human in origin, but the longer he stared the more you realised how wrong everything was.

Still, there was no longer the dazzling light pollution or clouds of smog hanging over it all. A glittering blanket of stars shone down on him. Again, not quite the same sky he remembered, but rather a strange facsimile of it.

If he squinted, familiar constellations could be observed. Dotted among them, however, were countless new stars. Ronan wondered if the solar system he'd left behind on the day of the integration was the same one he now lived in.

His experience of life had shifted drastically. He was still human, but being able to repeat the same events over and over again made him functionally immortal. As long as my heritage keeps working, I suppose. I don't want to consider an alternative… It hadn't let him down yet, so he decided to keep trusting in the reverberating chronosphere heritage.

Tonight was the night Lord Rockmore should show up to ambush them. They'd run into the same group of his lackeys earlier that day. Ronan had almost explored the entire sector by now, but no matter which direction he and Keith travelled in from day one, they always ran into those four goons.

As he waited for the fake aristocratic bastard to arrive, he looked through his full status for the first time in a while. His stats and class had been fairly samey for the past few iterations, but everything else had seen major improvements.

[Status]

Name: Ronan Steele

Race: Human (G)

Heritage: Reverberating Chronosphere (Current Iteration: 11) +

Level: 59

Class: Adaptive Martial Artist (Rare)

Fortune: 39 Bronze Credits, 438 Copper Credits

[Stats]

Health: 693/693

Stamina: 836/836

Mana: 391/426

Vitality: 65

Endurance: 77

Wisdom: 40

Regeneration: 25

Resistance: 35

Strength: 122

Agility: 121

Intelligence: 15

Dexterity: 112

Acuity: 65

Tenacity: 30

Luck: 20

Charisma: 10

Available Points: 0

[Traits]

Personal: Inevitable (Epic)

[Skills]

Unified Language Adaptation (Universal)

Relentless Training (Common)

Magic Strike (Common)

Vital Surge (Common)

Mighty Strength (Common)

Critical Experience (Common)

Double Strike (Common)

Magic Money (Common)

Excessive Endurance (Common)

Reverberating Path (Epic) (Blessing)

Impact Leech (Common)

Weapons Expert - Melee (Common)

Adaptive Meditation (Rare) (Class)

Learn Through Suffering (Rare) (Class)

[Mastery]

Pugilist II 28/100

Mana I 66/100

Sword I 3/100

Shield I 8/100

Staff I 5/100

Spear I 9/100

Stamina II 13/100

Pain I 8/100

Anti-Magic 22/100

Perception 37/100

Leadership 6/100

Stealth 3/100

[Cultivation]

Mind: Quartz ★ (64.2%)

Body: Stone ★ (88.7%)

Energy: Sparkling ★ (32.3%)

Soul: None

[Blessings]

Blessing of Chronos (Boundless)

Minor Blessing of the Temporal Obelisk (Unique)

[Mutations]

+15% Mental resistance

+11% Magical damage resistance

Actually, he took back what he'd thought about stats. It was difficult to quantify, given that he'd reached this point a few times already, but the difference between pre-system Ronan and the man who was sitting on that rooftop right now was absurd.

He threw a punch through the air. There was a sharp crack, a soft clap of thunder. A simple jab of his was fast enough to split the air like a lightning strike. His skin was tough enough that it would probably stop a bullet. His top running speed—if he sprinted like his life depended on it—was around 80 miles per hour. Even on a long distance run, he could reliably hit 60 or 70mph.

He wasn't sure he could beat Rockmore this iteration. This life. However, Ronan knew he was getting closer to that moment. He let out a deep breath, before standing up to head back inside and wait for his enemy to arrive.

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