Rogue Villain-Chapter 218: Three Part Routine

Ackster was fortunate. No one had been able to buy the outrageously expensive boat he sold for a fraction of what the wharf was selling it for. So, he took it back by force. No one could stop him, and by the time they had gathered forces to try and regain the treasure they lost, Ackster was already far out at sea, fishing.

Since nolding what remained of his skeleton would take time, most likely more than fighting creatures of the ocean until he reached enlightenment, that’s where Ackster started.

Without his skills, the process wouldn’t be as rushed and straightforward. Ackster would heal slower, and since he didn’t have Strong Body, Monster Muncher, and Iron Stomach to boost his metabolism and recovery in conjunction with Stubborn Well-Being, he wouldn’t need to eat quite as much. But he would still need to eat.

Ackster’s life force spurred his body to regenerate quicker. It was far from the effects of his skills, but it was still significant enough that he couldn’t be considered an ordinary human. But it didn’t come without a requirement.

So, Ackster’s first order of business was to secure a food supply

Without Pain Tolerance, doing things when impeded by the pain from Nold’s secret technique would be difficult. Fishing, fighting sea creatures, and moving around in general would be nigh impossible, especially when he got to his spine.

Ackster got shivers just thinking about it. But it had to be done.

So, Ackster started up a routine of nolding his skeleton, training his mana while recovering, and fighting beasts as he finished his recovery. He then took it from the top, eating and sleeping whenever necessary, indulging in the simple training.

At first, he wholeheartedly devoted himself to each section of the training while he did it. When he smashed his bones, Ackster made sure to do it right while focusing on his vitality and not losing consciousness to the pain. By the looks of it, the times when he was nolding were his best shot at mastering the power of his life force.

When he trained his mana, Ackster thought, felt, and sensed the mana in the air and his body. He sharpened his mana sense while increasing the quantity, quality, and control of his mana.

While fighting, Ackster’s mind only had his body, his movements, and his opponents in them. He didn’t think of anything else, not even the pain that remained from the Nolding or things he wanted to try out with his mana as it started to grow beyond a mere couple of drops.

Regardless of weather and time of day, Ackster executed his routine with strict discipline. He made steady progress. His skeleton broke and healed stronger. He didn’t learn how to control his life force beyond preventing it from leaking.

His mana grew stronger and increased in amount, as did his control over it. But his practical applications beyond body reinforcement and channeling it into Stormcaller weren’t seeing the same progress.

His senses for dodging incoming attacks were already sharp, thanks to Bo’s training. The training Ackster did as he defended against numerous sea creatures, ranging from the size of his toenails to many times the size of his boat, only sharpened those senses. It even improved his balance and the grip strength in his feet, as the ocean was not a friendly place to be fighting. But he wasn’t seeing much progress in raw combat ability or his martial arts.

Ackster improved, but he could hardly be satisfied with the rate of improvement. Still, it was better than doing nothing. And climbing a mountain or crossing an ocean didn’t happen in one day or in one step. Reaching enlightenment wasn’t something that should be rushed.

So, Ackster stuck to his routine without any intentions of faltering from it aside from keeping his body limber with Bo’s exercises. But those helped his recovery, so he counted to the nolding part of his routine.

However, as time passed, the need to monitor himself and maintain focus on each and every task faded. Ackster got back in the rhythm of nolding his bones. He didn’t make any errors with the hammer and chisel, even if he did it without looking, and he breathed out the pain, no longer on the verge of fainting each time.

His body was so used to transitioning from whatever position he had been in to pulverize a piece of his skeleton to cross-legged that he did it without even realizing it. As if a built-in trigger, he also started breathing in the rich water mana of the ocean while still trying to feel the vitality from his nolding session.

The two different sections of his routine started to overlap.

The process of feeling for the activity of his life force and training his mana blended like two puddles of food coloring. But only for a moment before Ackster caught himself and realized what was going on. He hurried to straighten his mind and focus on one thing at a time.

However, his determination was shortlived, and it didn’t take long before the feeling of using and applying his mana to his body and weapon in new ways lingered into the battles he started with the innocent creatures of the sea, lured in by the smell of his life force and the blood of those who came before them.

Ackster caught himself again. But this time, he didn’t rush to correct himself. His instincts told him to go with the flow. He breathed in. He pulled back his fist and took a stance. The fragments of bone in his rib pulled apart slightly, not yet ready to be reconnected.

Ackster breathed out. In doing so, mana flowed through his body like water in a stream. Vitality filled his rib, persuading it to heal.

At the end of his breath, Ackster’s fist shot forward like a raging river. It looked slow, deceptively so, since it was anything but. It was like the flow of water after the opening or destruction of a dam. The size and volume of the water made it difficult to determine the speed.

It was the same with Ackster’s fist, but with it, it was the size and volume of mana and power instead of water that made it look slow as it burrowed through the air toward the moss-green shark’s forehead.