Ronan let out a long exhale, allowing his body to relax after the extended cultivation session. He'd struggled towards the end of the crystalline mind cultivation as errant guilt from killing Keith surged to the forefront of his mind. However, he'd been able to wrangle it. He knew it had been the correct decision and wasn't going to beat himself up about it forever.

Congratulations! Your hard work and effort have allowed you to reach the third realm of Crystalline Mind Cultivation!

Crystalline Mind Cultivation has advanced from [Quartz ★★] to [Quartz ★★★]!

Mental damage resistance +9%

Efficacy of wisdom, dexterity, acuity, and charisma +15%

There had been nothing particularly exciting about the next realm. It was just a flat increase to the previous buffs. That wasn't a bad thing—Ronan was glad for any extra mental resistance. Plus, efficacy in wisdom and dexterity directly translated to increased combat ability.

He'd followed that by cultivating his energy, reaching the second realm and earning another increase to it. The bonuses were similarly repetitive, but with infinite lives, small increments would gradually become overwhelming power.

Congratulations! Your hard work and effort have allowed you to reach the second realm of Mystic Energy Cultivation!

Mystic Energy Cultivation has advanced from [Sparkling ★] to [Sparkling ★★]!

All forms of energy regenerate 20% faster

Energy costs are reduced by 6%

Efficacy of endurance and regeneration +10%

With this improvement, Ronan observed his mana for a little while. It was regenerating at a visible rate, even without much investment in any of the relevant stats. His current best guess was a combination of wisdom, acuity, and intelligence, with regeneration providing a sort of multiplier to the rate of recovery for health, stamina, and mana across the board.

Once those two were done, Ronan had attempted to push his tempered body cultivation to the third realm, but he'd run out of shards at around eighty percent progress. It was a shame, but he would keep about a third of that in the next iteration thanks to deep cultivation III, so perhaps he could make the push then.

There were two last decisions to make regarding his preparation to fight the boss, and it came down to his equipment. The first was whether he would use the arcane needle—Lord Rockmore's rapier—as it might be more lethal than his fists.

He quickly calculated the buffs of his various masteries and skills, realising that while the base damage of his fists was only slightly higher, the increased mana manipulation the blade offered tipped it over the line to victory. Rockmore had 'melted' him so many times with a skill—one that Ronan obviously didn't possess—but it was the rapier which had enhanced it to the point it killed him near-instantaneously on so many occasions.

Having decided to use the rapier until he died or it was no longer feasible, he had to make a decision about the skillbound conduit ring. Did he want to empower one of his skills, and if so, what skills would he 'sacrifice' to empower it.

It raised more than a few annoying questions. If Ronan used the ring and bound a skill along with sacrificing others, would that reset when he died and lost the ring, or would the lost skills remain lost when he began his next life?

He would be 'sacrificing' his least useful skills, but just because a skill wasn't useful now, that didn't mean that would remain the case forever. What if he sacrificed a skill, only to discover a few months or years down the line that it was the perfect solution to a problem?

In the end, Ronan couldn't reach a decision he was satisfied with. He decided to just leave the ring in his inventory so that it would give him more value upon his death. The risks of permanently losing a skill were too great. He would continue to accrue skills across iterations, but there was no guarantee he could get the same skill twice.

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With all of his preparations complete, Ronan stood up and made his way to the staircase. He withdrew Arcane Needle as he ascended the stairs, swinging and thrusting the rapier a few times to get used to the weight.

When he arrived in front of the door, he paused for a moment to prepare himself. It would be hilarious if the boss wasn't inside after all his struggles to get here. However, given the setup of the tower, it was basically a certainty at this point.

Once he'd gathered his wits and courage, and settled his pounding heart, Ronan pushed open the door and made his way onto the top floor of the tower, rapier held outwards in a loose grip and ready to pierce anything that appeared in his path.

He wasn't sure what he'd expected to find, but the top floor was unlike the rest of the tower. The plants still grew, but they seemed to crawl around the steel pillars like decorative art, and there were obvious paths left clear on the ground.

In the centre of the high-ceilinged room, a solitary tree grew from the marble tiles, towering over everything else. Despite the lack of soil to draw nutrients and water from, the tree's canopy was a vibrant green and the trunk seemed healthy. However, it wasn't the tree that captured Ronan's attention.

It was the fox sleeping at its base. When he'd first spotted the slightly-larger-than-normal fox, he'd thought it was another eight-tailed fox—some sort of guardian for the boss. However, upon checking the tags floating above the napping canine's head, he received a great shock.

[Veloxis the Dreamweaver — BOSS]

[Nine-tailed Fox Alpha Lv.95]

Not only was the relatively small beast the boss he'd been searching for, but it was also the highest leveled monster Ronan had ever encountered. Its name was similar to the mini-boss', with the whole V-is schtick and the illusion-related title.

Per his predictions, it was a nine-tailed fox, but he was just stunned by its small size. How powerful could a creature barely larger than his torso and cute enough to die for really be?

Despite those thoughts and feelings, Ronan kept his guard up. There was no telling how powerful its mental manipulations might be. For all he knew, the moment he'd entered the top floor he had been caught in its trap. It was called the Dreamweaver, after all.

He scanned his surroundings, but found no other enemies aside from the boss. He'd thought there might be some other foxes guarding it, but that didn't seem to be the case. Still, this one enemy was likely a greater threat than another twenty of the eight-tailed foxes would pose together.

There was a quick way to check if he was under an illusion. Ronan glanced at his Eye of the Trickster, and he saw that it was inert. In his mind he felt no tingling or guiding light away from his current situation. It meant the fox hadn't used its magic yet.

Or that its illusions were so powerful that even the amulet couldn't overcome them. Either way, it wasn't a problem. Death would reveal everything, whether his or the boss' came first.

Ronan began to make a cautious approach towards the creature. He kept Arcane Needle raised, the tip of the rapier ready to strike the moment he sensed movement.

As he inched forwards, he observed the boss. It didn't resemble the other foxes. Where they were all similar to the red foxes which had inhabited London pre-integration, this one was closer to a kit fox. Sharper, taped ears and a slender body, with nine fluffy tails gently waving in the air at its rear.

When he was ten paces away from the fox, three of its tails suddenly flicked to one side and then back up. It cracked open a single eye, revealing a bright blue iris the colour of a summer sky, with a thin black slit-pupil. Ronan froze, observing the fox.

It stared at him, but other than the swaying of its tails and the occasional twitch of its ears, the fox made no move to attack him or leap to its feet. It simply kept lounging at the base of the tree like an ancient emperor.

Ronan felt a little confused. However, he'd made up his mind. He was going to defeat this boss or die trying. It being cute and behaving curiously would not affect his determination.

He kept moving forward. Then, when he was just five paces from the fox, close enough that he could lunge out and stab it with the rapier, the boss' other eye snapped open and both eyes started to shine with a familiar glow—mana. Then, felt something brushing over his mind.

The tails continued to sway and the fox remained relaxed, but Ronan knew it had begun the battle. Or at the very least, it had begun to appraise the challenger who had dared encroach on its domain.

The mental sensation was like a gust of sea air, gentle and cooling, yet he felt as though all his secrets had been exposed to the creature. Then, a feeling reminiscent of the soul-link, but in his mind, blossomed to life.

Ronan felt as though a subtle connection had formed between him and the boss. He wondered if this was the beginning of its illusory magic. Then, the boss spoke.

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