Ronan was finding the elite fox a lot harder to kill than its non-elite kin. The main reason for that was its elusiveness and agile movements combined with a powerful ability to strike at his mind.

Unlike the other foxes, this sneaky bastard had quickly realised that its more complex attempts at mental manipulation and detailed illusions would be broken by Ronan in seconds. Thus, it had changed tactics.

Now, every time it was about to strike or Ronan found an opening, a sudden and agonising blast of pain would blossom in his skull. He was now facing rapid-onset cluster migraines as well as an agile fox armed with razor-sharp claws and piercing teeth.

It wasn't all bad. Each time the fox struck with a mental assault, Ronan felt the pain a little less. He suspected it was his class skill—learn through suffering—which was gradually letting him adapt.

He glanced at his health points. They were still at a decent level, but the fox was breaking through his guard with relative ease, clawing at his chest and forearms with furious vigour.

He heard rustling in the greenery, fully aware there were more foxes approaching or already watching and waiting for their moment to strike. When the headaches reached a level that barely even fazed Ronan, he knew it was time to end the battle.

He widened his guard, timing it with one of the fox's claw strikes so that it appeared natural. Seeing the opening, the fox wasted no time in leaping through the gap, opening its jaws wide to bite his throat and end the battle.

As its mouth passed through his open arms, Ronan suddenly shifted his weight. Now stable, his feet and legs provided a base from which he could exert his full strength. His arms shot towards the beast's open jaws, his left hand grabbing hold of the top half, while his right gripped onto the bottom half of the fox's jaw.

Its beady eyes widened as it realised it had been trapped. It tried to clamp its jaw shut, biting off his hands, but he'd already activated stone grip. It was too late to fight back against his overwhelming physical might.

The foxes were clearly more invested in their mental stats and perhaps agility, given their propensity towards illusions and mental attacks. It couldn't shake itself free. With a grunt, Ronan yanked his arms in either direction.

There was a horrible, high-pitched scream from the fox as its jaw was torn apart. The creature's body wasn't sure which half of the jaw to follow, leading to a gruesome result. The crunching of bone and tearing of fur and flesh formed a macabre symphony.

Ronan tossed the two halves away, before letting out a pained yell. After three full seconds of screaming, he slapped himself on the cheeks and exhaled sharply. "I needed that," he muttered.

You have killed [Elite Eight-Tailed Fox Lv.85]!

+6 Bronze Credit

+739 Copper Credits

+4 [Pugilist II] Mastery

+5 [Stamina II] Mastery

+6 [Grappling] Mastery

+3 [Pain I] Mastery

+8 [Anti-Magic] Mastery

+2 [Perception] Mastery

+Fox Fur (Uncommon)

+Elite Shard Lv.85 (Mind)

He spent the next half an hour exploring every inch of the floor, fighting the savage foxes wherever he discovered one. The battles were tough, leaving him with bleeding claw-wounds and bite marks all over.

However, the rewards for taking down a number of the higher level foxes were equally worthwhile. He'd gained two more levels by the time he had cleared the floor of any remaining eight-tailed foxes, putting him at level 79.

He thought about the difficulties he'd had in the last few fights. With the increasing intelligence of the monsters, they adapted much faster to his strengths and weaknesses, as evidenced by the targeted bursts of mental magic they started to utilise. They were also extremely agile—their speed and reflexes made up for their complete lack of physical strength, which itself was compensated by the absurd sharpness of their claws and fangs.

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The boss, which Ronan was sure would be a nine-tailed fox, was likely to possess the most potent illusion and mental magic he'd experienced thus far. Not only that, but Ronan felt it might even be too fast for him to land a hit.

His overwhelming strength would become a weakness without the ability to even land a punch. Not that he was slow by any means—a third of his free stats went into agility, and his class gave him 4 points every time he leveled up—but given that he struggled to land enough hits on the eight-tailed foxes, the boss was sure to be a major step up in difficulty.

Magriz'al the Crazed had been overwhelmingly stronger than the other goblins in the tutorial. If the pattern here was similar… Ronan gulped. Ah, why am I worrying about it, he suddenly admonished himself. If I die, I die. I can just keep throwing myself at the fucker until I'm strong enough to take it down.

Even with his number of deaths approaching twenty, Ronan still hadn't quite got used to his heritage. It was a hardwired human instinct to preserve one's own life. Going against millions of years of evolution wasn't something he could do after just a dozen and a half deaths.

Ronan found the staircase that he expected would take him to the top floor of the tower, where the boss was likely waiting for him. He felt it was a bit strange for a fox to live almost a hundred floors in the sky, but then he remembered a funny story from before the integration.

Some architects had built a garden on top of a skyscraper, then a few weeks later foxes had moved in and started making burrows. They were funny little creatures, seemingly omnipresent in London—even after the arrival of the system.

Before he made his way up to face the boss, there were a few things Ronan wanted to do. Or rather, needed to do, if he was to maximise the benefits of his heritage.

First, he opened the marketplace and bought up every single shard that was for sale. Which wasn't a huge haul, given that any that got listed were snatched up within the first hour—people knew how important cultivation was.

He did wonder where all these people were hiding, given that he hadn't encountered many during his exploration. I guess I haven't been everywhere in each iteration… And people are likely laying low so they don't draw the attention of monsters.

[Partial Status - Ronan Steele]

[Cultivation]

Mind: Quartz ★★ (11.5%)

Body: Stone ★★ (5.2%)

Energy: Sparkling ★ (11.6%)

Soul: None (2.3%)

None of his cultivations were close to the next stage. He had plenty of shards, though, so he was confident in being able to raise at least one of them.

There was a risk with cultivating without a proper technique; the risk that he could damage himself. However, given that he was fully expecting the boss to slaughter him by the end of the day, that felt somewhat unimportant to worry about.

Ronan also wasn't sure that the boss would sit idly by as he raised his strength to face it. Would it come down from its designated floor to kill me while I'm cultivating? The thought was worrying, but ultimately not worth considering. What will happen will happen. I just have to keep moving forwards.

Ronan wondered what might happen when he reached the first stage in all four types of cultivation. A new class, perhaps? Unfortunately he hadn't yet encountered any soul-aspected shards, so it wasn't feasible.

However, he somehow had a little over two percent progress to the first stage, which left him baffled. The only explanation he could think of was that the creation of the soul-link with Serenaeth the Tellen had raised it. He remembered it mentioned soul weight, and his heritage had done something odd. For now he put it out of his mind and focused on what he could actually accomplish before his next death.

Energy cultivation was still at the first stage, and Ronan was certain he had enough shards to bring it to the next, but it would take a while. On the other hand, his mind cultivation would take 'more' of the shard energy to reach the third stage, but with the fifty percent boost from the Eye of the Trickster as well as the high level mind-aspected shards he had, Ronan felt it might go a lot faster.

That being said, he decided to begin with his crystalline mind cultivation. He decided to start with the lowest leveled shards and work his way upwards. His logic was that higher cultivation stages probably needed higher quality energy so saving the mini-boss shard from Vulparis and the level 85 shard from the elite eight-tailed fox for last would be most efficient.

Without further delay, Ronan sat down in a spot that was mostly free of vines and vegetation—thanks to his furious efforts in ripping them up while fighting the foxes—and held the lowest level mind-aspected shard in one of his hands. The moment he began to draw the energy into him, he felt the absurd increase in speed.

A fifty percent boost was no joke. The Eye of the Trickster was definitely worth branding and bringing with him through his deaths. Once he'd adjusted to the new speed at which he could cultivate, Ronan settled in and fell into a deep focus.

Suppressing his excitement at the greatest challenge he'd yet to face was hard, but necessary to maintain his cultivation trance. Everything would happen in the right order. Once he was done, it would be time to face the boss.

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