Ronan didn't focus as much on his status this time around. All he cared about was getting back into the nightmare difficulty tutorial and figuring out how he could put that damned divine fire out.

He complained to the system and got his difficulty adjusted with ease. His excitement grew as the timer counted down to the beginning of the tutorial. Ronan was ready to show that fiery bastard what pain was.

The world around him shifted. He stepped out onto cold ground. And promptly slipped, falling onto his backside. He shivered as a biting cold gripped him, sinking down to the bone in mere seconds.

He placed a hand against the ground to push himself back up. Halfway through standing he tried to peel the hand off the ground for balance. Peel was the accurate word, because the skin on his palm was left stuck to the ice as he ripped the rest of his hand free.

Ronan screamed. What the fuck is going on!? He looked around and found himself in a frozen wasteland. There were familiar shapes. Towers covered in ice. Buildings buried under mounds of snow.

He used suture wound on his bleeding palm, turning it into a mess of scar tissue. It would have to do for now. He was grateful that his sorcery still worked just as well as it always had, despite him being a level 0 whelp without any multipliers.

This is the same place as the last nightmare tutorial, but why is it so cold. Why is there ice and snow everywhere? This makes no sense. He looked around in confusion while hopping from one foot to another. His shoes hadn't frozen to the icy asphalt, but it was only a matter of time if he didn't take precautions.

Ronan looked around, wondering what the objective would be this time. He doubted it would take place in the station again, but who knew with the system. It could be anything, especially now that he knew the nightmare difficulty tutorial was not a fixed trial, but one that could change each time it was challenged.

That was when he heard a loud bang followed by muted cracks. The earth started to shake and snow fell from the nearby houses as they trembled in the aftermath of whatever had made the tremor. Ronan looked in the direction of the noise. Perhaps not so different, after all…

He started to make his way towards the sound. It wasn't in the direction of the station, but rather the river. It was quite a distance from here, but he had nothing if not time and stamina.

Ten seconds after the first noise, another loud bang echoed across the city. The tremor from the second was larger than the first, and not just because he was closer. Ronan was almost knocked off balance as the icy road shook beneath his feet. It was already hard enough running on the slippery frozen surface without bloody earthquakes going off every so often.

It took him six minutes to reach the river. It was a little over three miles from his starting destination, but his prodigious agility meant he could cover the distance in barely any time at all. Marathon runners used to do four-minute miles, but he was a step beyond, even without any extra stat points.

Even before he reached the river, however, he caught sight of what he assumed to be the objective of stage 1. And he was stunned by it.

A towering giant with skin the colour of frost and glowing blue eyes stood on the frozen surface of the River Thames. It was almost thirty metres tall and held a brutally spiked club in its right hand.

While he'd run, constant tremors had shook the city, modulating in intensity. One of the worst ones had actually knocked him off his feet and buried him under a small mound of snow.

When he rushed out of the last row of buildings and up to the river's edge, Ronan realised there wasn't only one giant, but two. They were locked in battle. As he watched, the club-wielding giant raised its enormous weapon into the air and swung at its adversary.

Its opponent, another frost giant with similar genetics but starkly different features, also held a huge club in one hand. As the first giant's spiked weapon slammed down from the air, the other swung upwards to meet its blow.

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When the two clubs crashed into one another, a violent shockwave blasted outwards, making the ice beneath their feet crack a little more, and the buildings at the river's edge shake as though they were about to come tumbling down. Ronan watched with fascinated horror.

[Abanagar - Frost Giant Mauler Lv.25]

[Cobitir - Frost Giant Brute Lv.25]

The two giants were evenly matched in levels. Judging from how long their clash had been going on and the fact that neither pushed the other back an inch in their most recent exchange of club-blows, Ronan suspected they were equal in strength, too.

Unlike in the last iteration, there were no humans that he could see. Whatever had happened to this version of Earth—an ice age, from the looks of things—humanity had not survived. Instead, there were two frost giants duking it out on the surface of the river. That, to Ronan, meant there was only one way he was getting out of this tutorial stage with his promised rewards.

He would need to kill the big icy fuckers.

Before rushing into battle against two opponents who had him severely beaten in levels, and likely physical strength too, considering that their blows were shaking the city for at least three miles in every direction. Which was slightly confusing to him.

They were level 25, but only level 25. The first time Ronan reached level 25 he wasn't able to take down a building with a punch or make a city tremble. Even if he'd put all his stats into strength he wouldn't have been able to do so. He came to a worrying realisation.

Race clearly matters a lot! Being human is another bloody scam. Fuck you, system. He cursed a little, then realised he was being angry for a stupid reason. It was kind of obvious that a great fuck-off giant would be stronger than a human, even at level 0. Either each point of strength counts for far more when you're a frost giant, or they just get a fuckload more points each time they level up. Possibly from the get-go. Ronan had a bit of an insane idea.

He wondered if he could get a racial evolution that wasn't human, to see just how much better the stats were. The only issue with that was he didn't know how to meet the unlock requirements. Maybe if I take enough metal into my body? Could be worth a shot, but it is permanent…

He was getting distracted. Ronan turned his attention back to the brawling frost giants right as their clubs smashed into each other once more, shaking the world. He watched with awe, marvelling at seeing a real giant in the flesh. In the ice, really. It was incredible.

Ronan watched them swing at one another again. There were no underhanded tactics or cunning strategy at play. Only raw, unfettered savagery. It was beautiful.

And as he watched, his mind told him a dozen ways he could kill the bastards. If their physiology was similar to a human, he could probably conjure a spear and plunge it into their heart. He was level 0, but he did have a plethora of rare and epic skills at his disposal.

Another two blows were exchanged while he analysed the frost giants. He came up with a rudimentary plan. It would require perfect timing, but he might be able to pull off something incredible.

He edged towards the stone wall at the river's edge. He hopped over, falling to the frozen water below. He landed, sending a thin spiderweb of cracks rippling outwards. Nervous, he glanced up at the giants, but they were too focused on one another to notice the tiny human approaching.

Ronan crept closer and closer. He timed his approach with the devastating swings of the two giant clubs, hoping the sound and the force of the blows would keep the giants distracted. The only problem was, he couldn't sneak up behind one of the two giants without the other noticing him.

Actually… He remembered that he could use light manipulation with his sorcery. It was still a bit of a crude method of stealth, but he was banking on the two giants being more focused in the physical department and not having very keen senses.

He stood still, cursing himself for not remembering this before he stepped onto the ice. Sure, he hadn't been noticed, but he could have saved himself a lot of nervous heartache. Once he had activated it, Ronan bent the light around himself so that it reflected outwards. An onlooker would simply see the frozen surface of the lake, and perhaps a slightly blurry patch of air moving across it.

Ronan snuck up close to the giants. As close as he could get without being at risk of accidentally getting stomped when they stepped into their swings. This close, their height was ridiculously impressive. Thirty metres didn't seem like a lot from afar, but it was about sixteen Ronans tall. He honestly wasn't sure he could do what he'd planned with his current stats, but he couldn't just do nothing and fail the tutorial stage.

He took a deep breath and mustered his courage. As he did so, he conjured a medium-length spear and raised it above his head. Keeping the spear stabilised while hiding it and himself with light manipulation was tricky, but he managed it well. Dual mind helped a great deal.

He watched the giants' feet as they stared at one another and grunted. When the giant closest to him took a subtle step forwards, so did Ronan. He whipped his arm forward and let his spear fly as the two giants swung.

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