The kill notification for defeating the mutated coconut crab blinked for Ronan’s attention, but didn’t expand. He had long since ordered the system not to distract him until he wished it to.

  He stood in the remains of the crab, coated in bits of its insides and shell. His heart pounded in his chest and he felt a heat within his body. The thrill of a battle against two colossal crustaceans that could have killed him in one or two blows the moment he made a mistake was delicious.

  Ronan had loved every moment of the battle, even when he had been on the brink of death. But the tables had turned. With one monster down, all that remained was the mantis shrimp.

  It was moving sluggishly, bleeding profusely from the wound where Porcupine Shield had reflected its own punch back at it and blown its claw to pieces. A sustained barrage of throwing knives and mana bolts had further exacerbated the damage, leading to the horrific state it was currently in.

  Despite that, it still stared at Ronan as though he were an ant. He stepped towards it. The shrimp’s remaining claw blasted towards him, still lightning fast even though it was in terrible condition.

  Unfortunately for the monster, Ronan had learned its tells. The twitch before it punched was obvious to him and he had moved to the side before the claw even struck out. It shot past his body harmlessly, though the blastwave of air still knocked him slightly off balance. However, the punch also exposed its soft underbelly.

  Ronan sent a mana bolt flying and tore a fresh wound in the shrimp. It collapsed against the ground and made an awful gurgling sound. He started to sprint, not wanting to let it get another chance to strike.

  Another conjured hammer appeared in his fist as he closed the distance in a few long strides. The shrimp saw him coming but was essentially powerless to stop him. Ronan swung the hammer and struck its wounded side. A few explosive blows later, half of the shrimp’s body was torn to shreds. Twin chimes sounded in his mind, informing Ronan of his victory.

  He let the hammer dissipate and took enough steps away from the monster that when he collapsed to the ground it wasn’t in a puddle of jellified shrimp organs and foul-smelling ichor. For a few moments, he simply let the adrenaline fade while looking back over the events of the battle.

  I fucked up at the start. I could have baited them both into striking me at the same time and used Porcupine Shield more effectively. I need to not let new skills fall to the wayside when they can have a big impact on fights. While he was more of a brute, the previous iteration had taught him the value of strategic thinking.

  After Ronan had recovered his breath and no longer felt as though his heart was going to leap out of his chest, he pulled up the notifications to see what the battle had earned him. With his massively increased multipliers, he was hoping for big numbers.

  You have killed [Mutated Coconut Crab Lv.25] and [Mutated Mantis Shrimp Lv.25]!

  Enemy killed with a critical hit, 2.8x experience earned!

  +976 Copper Credits

  +7 [Spellcasting] Mastery

  +15 [Stealth] Mastery

  +16 [Mana VI] Mastery

  +13 [Blunt Weapons VII] Mastery

  +11 [Stamina VI] Mastery

  +14 [Pain III] Mastery

  +8 [Health V] Mastery

  +14 [Shield I] Mastery

  +41 [Throwing Knife] Mastery

  +Mutated Crab Chitin Lv.25 (Rare)

  +Mutated Crab Leg Lv.25 (Uncommon)

  +Mutated Shrimp Claw Lv.25 (Rare)

  You have leveled up to Lv.1!

  …

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  You have leveled up to Lv.32!

  +480 Vitality

  +480 Endurance

  +288 Wisdom

  +128 Regeneration

  +64 Resistance

  +288 Intelligence

  +288 Acuity

  +640 Charisma

  +1760 Luck

  +10,656 Free Stat Points

  Congratulations on reaching Lv.10!

  …

  Congratulations, you have cleared Stage 1 of the tutorial!

  [Inventory] access has been granted at minimum functionality. Improve inventory metrics by spending system credits or through other approved means. Open inventory through mental, verbal, or spiritual command.

  +1 Bronze Credit

  +247 Copper Credits

  +Myriad Skills Tome (Epic)

  Stage 2 will begin in 5 minutes!

  4:59…

  It was rather amusing to Ronan that while his combat style relied on savage melee engagement, his stats were severely skewed towards magic. However, the power of a second sub-class was unbelievable, especially one as amazing as Blessed Dao Child. Over 10,000 stat points from killing just two enemies was absurd. That was before even choosing his level 10 class, too.

  Before rushing into that decision, however, Ronan had a decision to make. He suspected he would take Gambler of Fate again. He hadn’t actually had an opportunity to utilise its class skills in the last iteration and he felt that a more combat-focused scenario such as the crustacean one would be a better environment for a field test. The moment he selected the class, though, he would only be able to allocate his free stat points into luck.

  The last fight had shown him that while he was strong and able to bring down foes that were well above his level with some smart utilisation of his skills, he needed more strength, speed, and reflexes. With 10,000 free stat points to spend, he would shore up those weaknesses before taking a class that locked him into a shitload of luck until the moment of his death.

  Ronan split them evenly between strength, agility, dexterity, and tenacity. The rest of his stats would see massive passive increases as he leveled up, but those four would lag behind. There was a startling sensation as his muscles swelled enormously and then condensed back down. He felt as though he could take on any challenge and emerge victorious, even if a damned system administrator appeared to stand in his way.

  The effects of so much tenacity were impressive. Ronan wondered if the fact his initial personality was that of a stubborn bastard had a synergistic effect. It had been his highest original starting stat when he went through the integration for the first time. An amusing idea, but one that had merit, given how he’d seen so many monsters exhibit far greater power at lower levels than humans could.

  Once he had invested those free stat points, Ronan locked himself into Gambler of Fate as his class. That gave him an immediate infusion of 16,500 luck. A mind-boggling amount that was only going to get larger if he succeeded in completing stage 2 of this tutorial scenario.

  There were still a few minutes until he began that stage, so Ronan moved away from the leftover gore of the battle, that the system was slowly reclaiming, and started to examine his loot. Two bits of the crab and one from the shrimp.

  He had a few ideas about how to use them, so that they didn’t simply rot away in his inventory while he fought his way through the tutorial. The first was to integrate them into himself using Mineral Skeleton. He suspected that would add some decent stats and go a long way to empowering him in the early stages of nightmare tutorial attempts. However, there was another use for the monster parts, one that he had been building up to for a long time. These particular loot drops seemed perfect to finally begin his crafting journey.

  The chitin would make a decent chestplate. It was just a little larger than Ronan’s torso which meant he had some leeway. He had no idea how to shape it, but that was what he was there for—to learn. As for the crab leg and the shrimp claw, he figured he would turn them into a heavy weapon of some sort.

  The chestplate would probably be the easiest of the two to create and given the limited time Ronan decided to start with that. He put the crab leg and the shrimp claw back in his inventory, leaving him with the plate of chitin. He wandered around until he found a large, flat piece of rubble to lay the crab shell on. After placing it against himself a couple of times he believed he had the measurements down.

  Ronan conjured a hammer and tested it against the edge of the chitin with a soft blow. Thanks to his newly increased strength he was able to bend the chitin with ease. It was surprisingly flexible for a shell that he’d cracked with a single heavy blow, but perhaps the system had adjusted it somewhat when giving it to him as a loot drop.

  Laying it back on the stone, Ronan raised his hammer and went to work. He knew his technique probably sucked, but it was doing the job. After two minutes the large piece of shell had been reformed into something resembling a chestplate. The back looked awful, given that it wasn’t actually attached together but simply bent around so that he could fit it over his head and it wouldn’t fall off during battle. However, durability mattered more than looks when it came to armour. Also, it was his first attempt so he wouldn’t be too harsh on himself.

  The crafting process had been odd. The first time he’d made a mistake and struck the shell too hard, bending it too far, he felt a strange surge of mana gathering in his hand. After a moment it suddenly flowed into the chestplate and restored the incorrectly hammered chitin into a perfect position. Ronan realised that was his new crafting skill coming into play. Unfortunately when he made a second mistake the ‘roll’ failed and didn’t correct his error.

  He made a final adjustment, breaking off a sharp piece of chitin that would dig into his skin when he wore the chestplate. Then he raised it in the air and slipped it over his head, pushing his arms through the holes he’d punched in it with a conjured chisel and hammer. It fit snugly and didn’t restrict his movements much. As soon as he felt satisfied it was complete, he heard a chime in his mind.

  Congratulations, you have successfully crafted an item!