While running, Ronan had turned another two of the shapeshifters to paste. They had rewarded him with levels, and he had even felt the warmth of a restoration at one point, but he hadn't even had time to check the exact measure of his rewards because the damned flames were still chasing him.

He ran towards a dead end, cursing his luck. There was a turn at the end of the street, but he still had no clue what his objective was here.

As he rounded the bend, Ronan looked ahead of him and let out a foul string of curses that no civil person should ever be subjected to. Another wall of flame was burning its way down the street towards him.

His desperate gaze ran up and down the street, looking for a way out. He found one. A tiny alleyway nestled between two houses that would take him out of this infernal oven. Likely into a fresh hell, but temporary relief was better than death. That was an ironic thought for him, given that to Ronan, death was also a temporary relief.

Still, he wasn't the type of man to go down without a fight. So he ran, putting everything he had into his muscles to ensure that he made it to the alleyway before he was sandwiched between two all-consuming walls of fire.

With just two seconds or so to spare, he made it. Ronan grabbed hold of the brick wall and ripped himself into the alley way. He crashed into one of the walls and briefly lost his breath, but quickly recovered and began to sprint once more.

Almost as soon as he started to run he hit something else, knocking it backwards onto the ground. A person. "Fuck, sorry about that mate." He reached out a hand to help the stranger up. "We need to run. Like right fucking now."

The man seemed confused but grateful. He grabbed Ronan's hand and let himself be hauled to his feet. Ronan had done his part to make up for barrelling into the poor guy and so he started to run once more. If the man couldn't keep up, that was between him and the flames.

As Ronan passed by the man, he saw a flash of metal. He tried to dodge, but it was too late. A stinging sensation passed through his abdomen as the knife cut through his flesh. How fucking strong is this guy? The other gorzerk had failed to pierce him beyond a centimetre or two, but this blade had cut right through him as though he were a steak filet.

Ronan reached down and grabbed the man—the monster—by the wrist. With a grunt he yanked the man's arm back, pulling the blade with it. The gorzerk refused to release its hold on the weapon.

Ronan roared with anger and unleashed a right hook straight into the false bastard's jaw. A glow of mana coated his knuckles. A crunching pop sounded as the bone shattered and the jaw spun, but Ronan was far from finished.

A flurry of blows rained down onto the monster. The fourth punch exploded its shoulder. The eighth blew a hole in its chest. The twelfth punch—and the third critical hit—turned its head into a pulp.

Another chime rang out. The fourth gorzerk. Unfortunately for Ronan it still wasn't enough to sate the system's thirst for blood. Stage 2 continued, but the flames hadn't stopped while he was fighting.

Ronan turned and started to run towards the alley's exit, but before he could take more than a single step he felt a searing heat against the back of his legs and torso. As the flames touched his skin and started to consume the dead shapeshifter, he heard a voice.

"So beautiful! To think there is another in this wretched place who knows the glory of purification. To cleanse the filth from existence! To purge! TO BURN!" The deafening voice roared from within the flames themselves.

Ronan didn't stop to listen. He felt his health points dropping rapidly as the flames took hold on his skin. He activated quick step.

It was the first time he had used the epic skill, but he quickly learned how it worked as he was flung face first into the brick wall of the alleyway. Nose bleeding and head ringing, he peeled himself off and kept running.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw the flames hadn't stopped even while they spoke. The body of his defeated enemy burned in the flames and they seemed to speed up, racing down the alleyway towards him.

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Even though the voice had seemed to have a favourable opinion of Ronan after he killed the gorzerk, he had no desire to stick around and see what it wanted to do with him. He burst out of the alleyway with a gasp as he activated quick step a second time, soaring through the air before crashing down onto the asphalt.

His ankles protested at the sudden velocity, but there was nothing else he could do. He looked left and right on the new road he was on. Another wall of fire burned towards him from the left, consuming everything in its path.

There was no need to hesitate. He turned and started to run once more. He suspected there would be more flames ahead, but until that time came, he wouldn't stop moving. Maybe the fifth shapeshifter will be the last one for this stage? Or is there some other hidden objective I'm not seeing? Ronan couldn't understand. None of the other tutorials had been like this.

While he was lost in thought, he heard a groaning rumble. It seemed to come from beneath the ground. He ignored it and kept running.

The only warning he had for what came next was the asphalt ahead of him splitting across the road. There was a fraction of a second for him to make a decision, and the wall of flame rushing to consume him from behind was all the motivation he needed.

Ronan kept running and right before he reached the half-metre-wide crack he jumped. As he soared into the air, he heard another rumble and saw an orange glow peeking through the crack in the road. Oh fuck me. He landed, his ankles straining slightly but otherwise unaffected. He took another step.

The ground beneath him exploded and he felt an all-consuming heat in every cell of his body. His vision went orange, then black as his eyes were burned. Ronan tried to scream, but his vocal cords had already melted.

As his luminous nerve endings fried, he was grateful for the relief from the agonising pain. He last a couple more seconds after that before he was incinerated in his entirety. The moment before he died, Ronan heard the same voice again.

"BEAUTIFUL! PURE!"

Unprecedented modifications detected…

Analysing…

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

Physical body has mutated, resulting in the following:

Fire resistance +263%

Soul damage resistance +1.6%

Divinity resistance +0.1%

Keep mutations?

The first one didn't surprise Ronan whatsoever. The number was really high, but it was the first time he had been killed by fire. And it was a really fucking big fire. The other two did throw him off a little.

He hadn't even felt something damaging his soul as he died. The physical pain probably obscured it, given how all-consuming and agonising it had been. The flames burned my soul, I guess? That's terrifying. Ronan was a little overwhelmed by the experience, but even the soul damage paled to what the third gain revealed about the nature of his murderer.

Those flames were a god? The Great Purifier… What the fuck is the system putting me against? That was meant to be a tutorial, for fucks sake. Even if it is nightmare, pitting me against a damned divinity seems extreme. He ranted a little longer, but eventually ran out of steam.

At the very least, he had 'survived' and everything about him seemed relatively intact. Maybe his heritage would let him survive against a god and come out stronger on the other side. He accepted all the modifications, knowing that the next time he faced the flames, he would be slightly harder to burn.

Iteration 52 analysis:

Highest level achieved: 8

Highest class achieved: None

Highest fortune achieved: 1 Bronze Credit, 294 Copper Credits

Stats gained: 3544

Cultivation stages achieved: Mind (Opal ★★★), Body (Iron ★★★), Energy (Vibrating ★★★), Soul (Yellow ★★★★) [+0]

Inventory value accumulated: 712 Copper Credits

Chrono Enhancement Updates:

Experience gain multiplier has increased from 0% to 200%

Credit gain multiplier has increased from 0% to 3.2%

Experience gain multiplier has increased from 0 to 8.86

Cultivation talent multiplier has not increased

Cultivation progress has been reset, maximum stages reached have been locked

Mastery progress has been reset, maximum tiers reached have been locked

Class has been reset, class skills purged from status

Levels have been reset, maximum race grade reached has been locked

Chronos merits have been acquired! All four paths of cultivation have reached at least the first realm! Inheritor possesses 35+ skills or traits! Inheritor has pushed one or more multipliers beyond the first concentration point! Access to chronos clan ancestral grounds granted at the second threshold

It was painful seeing his multipliers so low, but already he knew he'd made the right decision by taking the baptism. The gains were so much better, and that was just his first run. There was nothing for him to do in the ancestral grounds this time around, so Ronan immediately began his next life.

It was time to wrestle with a nightmare.

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