Ronan swung the conjured sword in a wide arc, cutting off the tip of the weird creature’s claw as it struck at him once more. At first the mutated creatures had been somewhat recognisable—both by the tags above their bodies and their physical features—but now they were weird amalgamations of marine life that bore no resemblance to creatures from Earth. Only the tags gave a clue as to their true origins.

  To be quite honest Ronan was only bothered by what his enemies were as a matter of curiosity. No matter what manner of monster rose from the depths to strike him or the ship down, he cut them apart or blew them to smithereens without much effort.

  Most of the monsters were around level 50, but a few crept higher than that. A couple of extra levels didn’t make much of a difference. His stats were so overwhelming at his level that nothing short of a boss monster that was over level 100 would even pose a challenge.

  Fighting on a moving ship at sea was certainly a novel battlefield, but he had grown used to it within the defeat of the first few monsters that reared their ugly heads. The rate at which they appeared was growing more frequent, however, and he knew he would soon be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

  As powerful as he was, Rainbow Bomb could only take out large groups of monsters if they clumped together. The sea creatures he faced weren’t entirely stupid, as many of them took to attacking the ship further away from Ronan, which forced him to run up and down the deck constantly to fend them off.

  He had crept up another few levels, but the diminishing experience gains were harsh. Every time a monster appeared that he had already defeated a few times before, Ronan was more excited to put them down. The legendary version of Relentless Training really showed its worth in the greater rewards he earned for defeating them.

  Not a single other person had appeared during the two hours or so that he’d been fighting on board the ship. He started to suspect that it was only him, and that the ship was being piloted automatically by the system as part of the tutorial scenario. He would have loved to go and check in the control tower, but unfortunately doing so would leave the deck unguarded, allowing the monsters to board the ship and start tearing it apart.

  While he doubted he would be at a major disadvantage in the water, given how absurd his stats were compared to the foes he faced, he would still rather not experience such a situation. The number of monsters that no doubt waited in there would be far greater than the number that rose from the churning waves to face him on the deck. As much as he relished a real challenge, he had a feeling that the scenario he faced that time around was the one he had the best chance of going all the way in, meaning he would get his first nightmare difficulty tutorial completion.

  Before that point he would need to get through his current predicament. To complete stage 2 he had to kill ten sea monsters, compared to just two for stage 1. If the same pattern continued then stage 3 would require Ronan to take down fifty monsters. The system had a bad habit of exponentially increasing the difficulty of subsequent stages, even more so in the higher tutorial difficulties.

  Unfortunately for the monsters, he was wiping them out with relative ease. He had just defeated another octopus when he received a double notification tacked onto the end of his kills. He wasn’t under a huge amount of pressure so he spared a moment to read them and was happy to see he’d increased the tier of two of his masteries.

  You have reached the mastery cap for [Mana]!

  Mana VI has evolved to Mana VII!

  Mana costs for skills are reduced by a moderate amount. Activation and channeling times for skills which cost mana are reduced by a moderate amount. Wisdom potency +25%. Wisdom efficacy +30%

  You have reached the mastery cap for [Spellcasting]!

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  Spellcasting has evolved to Spellcasting I!

  Casting the same spell multiple times will form mana memory, allowing you to cast it faster and more efficiently up to a limit based on the tier of this mastery and your intelligence and acuity. Intelligence and Acuity +1%

  That was the first time he received a direct stat boost from one of his masteries. One percent might seem like a miniscule buff, but for Ronan who had thousands of each, it was still a decent chunk of free stat points. It would only get better the more he increased his spellcasting mastery.

  Over the course of defeating another few monsters, he also increased the tier of a few other masteries that he was using. Namely, he reached Stamina VII, Sword VI, and Throwing Knife I. The bonus for Throwing Knife mastery was decent but functionally useless to Ronan. It increased his accuracy with thrown weapons, something that his Mark of the Eternal Seeker already handled with perfect precision. Still, there was also a minor damage bonus that he wouldn’t turn up his nose at.

  Small gains became big improvements over time, something that was being demonstrated to full effect as he tore his way through the monsters. A few elites even showed up amongst the chaff, but even they were in the mid-50s and still fell after a few strikes or spells. Ronan had enough shards now to do a proper cultivation session in the next break he would earn for completing stage 3, and he wanted to test his new Mystic Energy cultivation art.

  By that point he had killed about sixty sea monsters. The system always takes liberties. I really wonder who else could kill this many level 50 monsters without dying if not for my advantages, but I suppose only the true freaks of nature get put into the nightmare tutorial. Others could have heritages with abilities that are perhaps not equal to mine, but come close. He rarely considered what other humans had gained from the integration, but he was planning to spend some time pushing forward in the Earth-based integration once he completed the nightmare tutorial a few times and would need to think about how to grow his faction and learn about others on Earth.

  It would make sense actually. My heritage started out fairly average, if you can call not being able to die an ‘average’ ability, but the more time that passes the more powerful I grow, with seemingly no upper limit. Other heritages might be far more impactful from the get-go, allowing humans to defeat tutorials that seem otherwise impossible. The system has no qualms killing people, as evidenced by the difficulty of the tutorials. Its goal is enigmatic, but at the very least I know it wants only the strongest of any given species to survive. He buried a javelin right in the eyeball of a flying fish as he finished that thought, sending it careening across the deck of the ship. Nice, I think I’ll have some sushi for my next meal.

  He kept fighting, earning a couple more levels, but slowly reaching the limit of what level 50 monsters could grant him. When he defeated the seventy-fifth monster and still didn’t complete the stage, he realised he might have to take out another twenty-five to reach the system’s absurd requirements. The waves seemed to still at that moment and the storm which had been pelting the ship with rain and gale-force winds calmed. Something big is coming. Ronan knew a boss buildup when he saw one.

  Lo and behold, a few moments later, a large whirlpool started to form ahead of the ship. Whatever was controlling it didn’t bother changing course and continued to sail directly towards it. The ship was too big to be caught in its eddies, but that wasn’t what Ronan expected to happen.

  As the whirlpool reached a raging climax, it suddenly exploded as a towering stream of water shot into the sky, reaching almost forty metres into the air. It was impressive, reminding him of a scene from the greatest anime of all time that featured an eclectic pirate crew sailing into the sky. Except when this pillar of water collapsed, it revealed a hideous abomination that resembled one of the ugly creatures scientists would find while exploring the deepest recesses of the oceans before the integration.

  There were more tentacles than he could count at a glance, bulbous eyes placed in seemingly random areas of its body, and at least two beaked mouths and a large, dolphin-like jaw filled with rows of sharp teeth. Before Ronan could finish inspecting the monstrosity, three of its tentacles smashed into the prow of the ship, one denting the hull and two simply piercing straight through. Sharp shards of metal flew everywhere, forcing Ronan to throw up his arms to guard his face.

  When he lowered them he saw two more tentacles with strange hooks on the end shooting towards him. He conjured a sword, a true longsword—a recent accomplishment earned by continually practicing and pushing his conjure weapon to its limits—and raised it in both hands. An eager grin appeared on his face as he stepped forward to meet the new monster in battle.

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