The Apocalypse Grinder - Chapter 305

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Ronan managed to defeat the spider monkeys all the way up to stage 4. The mini-boss there hadn’t been as challenging to defeat as Spinodoxis. Ronan reckoned that was purely because he was on land and not in the ocean, meaning that the monsters had less of a terrain advantage. However, they did use the skyscrapers like giant trees to jump around on, which made them hard to hit.

In the end he still killed it and made out like a bandit. Before entering stage 5 he used the two shards he received to attempt to push himself over the edge in all four paths. Unfortunately that wasn’t possible. In the end he had only been able to reach the third threshold for Tempered Body and Prismatic Soul. However, the moment he defeated the first mini-boss in stage 5 Ronan decided to temporarily abandon the battle against the others in order to push the rest of his cultivation paths into the third threshold too, meaning he successfully achieved his goal. Because of the distraction he ended up dying to the second mini-boss, but he didn’t mind that much because defeating the nightmare tutorial hadn’t been his main aim during that iteration.

You are attempting to break through the third threshold in Tempered Body Cultivation!

Challenger possesses at least one body-related mastery at tier V or higher, and two body-related masteries at tier III or higher!

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

Tempered Body Cultivation has advanced from [Iron ★★★★★★★] to [Bronze ★]!

Greatly reduces chance of tendon, joint, and muscle damage during movement and combat. Efficiency of bodily functions is greatly increased. Durability, muscle memory, and bodily independence are moderately increased.

Physical damage reduction +300%

Efficacy of vitality, strength, agility, and resistance +250%

Potency of vitality, strength, agility, and resistance +85%

You are attempting to break through the third threshold in Mystic Energy Cultivation!

Challenger possesses at least three energy-based masteries at tier V or higher!

Challenger has at least one energy resource at a quantity of 10,000 or higher!

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

Mystic Energy Cultivation has advanced from [Vibrating ★★★★★★★] to [Luminous ★]!

All forms of energy regenerate 350% faster

Energy costs are reduced by 165%

Efficacy of endurance and regeneration +270%

Potency of endurance and regeneration +95%

There is a 1% chance to regain 50% of the expended energy when using a skill, spell, or other applicable process that costs energy to activate. Only works on one-time costs and not channeled or long-term energy expenditures.

You are attempting to break through the third threshold in Prismatic Soul Cultivation!

The same overwhelming pressure descended and filled him from top to bottom. Ronan felt scrutinised on an atomic level, but he endured, and he succeeded in passing the test.

Challenger possesses sufficient soul weight!

Congratulations! Your hard work and effort have allowed you to reach the nineteenth realm of Prismatic Soul Cultivation!

Prismatic Soul Cultivation has advanced from [Yellow ★★★★★★★] to [Green ★]!

Soul weight is increased by 45.4%

Cultivation talent is increased by 459%

When you defeat an enemy in a soul-based trial, claim a portion of their soul’s power for your own.

You are attempting to break through the third threshold in Crystalline Mind Cultivation!

Challenger possesses at least one mind-based mastery at tier IV or higher!

Challenger possesses wisdom, acuity, and intelligence of at least 500 points or higher!

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

Crystalline Mind Cultivation has advanced from [Opal ★★★★★★★] to [Topaz ★]!

Mental processing speed +80%

Nerve processing speed +220%

Mental damage resistance +250%

Efficacy of wisdom, dexterity, acuity, and charisma +270%

Potency of wisdom, dexterity, acuity, and charisma +95%

You are far more resilient against mental intrusions and attempted mind control attacks.

Ronan wondered if he might fail the requirements for the fourth threshold for some of the paths. Mystic Energy and Prismatic Soul would probably be fine. The latter was a bit obscure but he kept getting bonuses to his soul weight and believed that it would be sufficient to keep carrying him through. As for the other two he would just have to see what they were when he reached that point.

With his cultivation at a sufficient level for the time being, Ronan moved onto the next part of his grinding strategy. He planned to kill two birds with one stone by improving his crafting abilities while also getting his masteries up. Along the way there were a few more skills he hoped to acquire, but that would happen as a natural consequence of completing so many tutorials.

So it was that he began the next step of his plan. This time he entered the harder difficulty tutorial. The large quantity of monsters as well as the Path of the Gladiator would be the perfect whetstone to sharpen himself against.

Beginning a new iteration, please stand by…

Ronan reached level 10 very quickly. After killing one enemy, in fact. With his experience multipliers at the level they were, gaining experience was a breeze. Actually he also wanted to test the effects of freeloader by saving up his free stat points now that he had a chance to not just auto-assign them to luck. He wondered if he could breach the level 400 mark while not in the nightmare tutorial.

Before he moved onto stage 2 he checked out his list of masteries. He had gained quite a few during the recent iterations and he wanted to figure out where he needed to focus his efforts in order to unlock some more advanced masteries by merging his existing ones.

[Mastery]

Pugilist II 2/100, Mana IX 11/100, Sword VII 3/100, Shield I 3/100, Staff II 1/100, Spear V 18/100, Stamina VIII 24/100, Pain III 39/100, Anti-Magic 2/100, Perception II 8/100, Leadership 1/100, Stealth 1/100, Grappling 7/100, Critical III 19/100, Momentum II 1/100, Health VI 12/100, Breath 4/100, Meditation 1/100, Crafting 18/100, Dagger I 10/100, Throwing Knife II 31/100, Sickle 1/100, Knuckleduster 2/100, Pan 1/100, Bow I 29/100, Enchant 5/100, Crafting 13/100, Blunt Weapons VII 21/100, Spellcasting IV 46/100, Javelin II 4/100, Focus II 2/100, Creativity 11/100, Dart 4/100, Shuriken 2/100, Boomerang 3/100, Bola 4/100

He did wonder why he hadn’t gained a merged thrown weapons mastery yet. Surely there can’t be that many more to discover? Then again there is a whole new multiverse out there. I can’t necessarily limit myself to Earth’s historical weaponry. But I gained blunt weapons from just a few… The legacy had a big hand in that. I hope I won’t need to luck out with grimoires just to condense this list. In any case, worrying about it wouldn’t help. Only killing stuff would. For most of the masteries, anyway. He wasn’t looking forward to improving meditation and breath that much, but they had good bonuses that meant ignoring them would be futile.

As he fought his way through the endless waves of goblins Ronan tried out practically every weapon under the sun. He knew there were plenty from other cultures and nations he likely hadn’t even heard of, but if there was even one instance of a weapon in his memory, he conjured it and killed a few goblins while figuring out how it worked. The benefit of increased intelligence and acuity meant he had no problem recalling anything from his past, even things like his early childhood memories. The first time he’d remembered crying for milk as a baby was odd, but he’d learnt how to just push those memories into a corner until they were needed.

It was only four iterations later that Ronan finally received the notification he had been waiting for. That also helped him understand why it was that he hadn’t gained any merged masteries until that point. It wasn’t just a matter of obtaining the prerequisite masteries and having the system do the heavy lifting, but he needed to gain an actual understanding of the masteries themselves. That should have been obvious, given… Mastery. It was in the name. Understanding was more than just conjuring a weapon and using it, but learning how it was best used to take down an opponent.

It was only once Ronan gained an appreciation for how to use various ranged weapons, how to judge distance and travel time, understand obstacles like the wind and the parabolas of his throws, that the system finally saw fit to grant him what he had been working towards. His second merged mastery.

[Throwing Knife II], [Javelin II], [Dart], [Shuriken], [Boomerang], and [Bola] Mastery have been assimilated into [Thrown Weapons I] Mastery!

Gain a minor accuracy and precision bonus when using a thrown weapon that you are familiar with. Gain a minor damage bonus when landing a successful hit with a thrown weapon you are familiar with. Thrown weapons travel slightly faster when you throw them. Gain a 5% chance to apply a cascading [Bleed] effect when landing a successful strike with a thrown weapon.

The bonuses were decent. While some of them were made obsolete by Mark of the Eternal Seeker, there would be battles where Ronan had more than five opponents where they would still come in handy. More than that, he now had the general idea for how to gain merged masteries and could work towards earning more of them. Next on the list was a return to pugilism and the various other forms of bodily combat.

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