Rogue Villain-Chapter 251: Again Again

Ackster was confident the Sword God wouldn’t do something that required sitting still and meditating, even if only because he wouldn’t need it. The Sword God would just do what he wanted to do. If he wanted to learn Will, he would do it, not sit around and look at the butterflies.

Ackster might be able to use another solution to find the same answer. But if he wanted to learn from the Sword God, he should follow the Sword God’s teachings.

So, Ackster got up again and focused on the world around him. If he wanted to learn Will in one go without wasting time or effort on something useless, he just needed to want it so badly that his Will manifested on its own.

Ackster felt like he was closing in on the right track.

He didn’t want to attack the Sword God, even by accident, at least not until he was strong enough to handle the repercussions, so Ackster chose the nearby wall as his target. He focused on a spot on the wall and strongly wished for the wall to be cut.

As far as Ackster could understand, the Sword God hadn’t cut him directly, at least not in a way he could see. So, it wasn’t a matter of cutting. It was a matter of one’s Will influencing the world so that the target is cut.

It sounded a lot more difficult than using his Will to cut someone, but Ackster felt that it would be more powerful and useful.

It would be like the difference between spitting on someone and the sky tossing down a squirt of rain on them.

Still, before he could start thinking or guessing about how to use Will, Ackster first had to learn it.

Ackster focused on his mind again, and this time, more specifically, on his Spirit stat as he tried to connect with it on a deeper level.

When Bo sealed his stats and skills, Ackster had vaguely noticed the absence in skills, even when they weren’t in effect. And when they returned, he felt immediately the difference in his entire being as he went from being purely physical to having both soul and physical body.

Ackster’s idea was to hijack the connection between the effects of his skills on his body, follow that connection back to his soul, and from there, track down his Spirit stat. Then, with a firmer grasp on his Spirit stat, he would use that as a boost when imagining the wall being cut.

It sounded very roundabout, much more so than Ackster expected the Sword God to do, at least consciously. However, Ackster also had a feeling that the Sword God was more in sync with his soul. Or that his body and soul were better connected than his body and soul were, considering he was originally a soul belonging to another body.

So, the Sword God hadn’t needed to grab hold of the stats connected to his soul and threaten them to act properly. They obeyed his body, and his body was in perfect harmony with his soul.

Ackster, on the other hand, was getting more and more confident there was a discrepancy between his body and soul, even after having his body reconstructed with Martial Body. He would need to do something about that.

Ackster didn’t think he needed to get a new body or anything, and certainly not in order to learn Will, but he would have to do it at some point to unlock his true potential. Of course, changing his body like that on a fundamental level could cost him the original Ackster Phileam’s talent, which had helped him tremendously.

’Uh...’

Ackster realized he was distracting himself and focused on the task at hand.

He looked at the bare, dark grey cobbled rocks piled high like bricks. He cleared his mind before imagining them with a scratch on them as if they had just been cut by him. It was a small scratch since he wasn’t sure how much he could damage them and because he wanted to play it safe.

Nothing happened.

Ackster erased the image and tried again. This time, he turned it into a video in which the scratch mark gradually appeared.

Nothing happened.

Ackster tried again, but a little faster. He was supposed to cut it, not etch the stone.

Nothing happened.

Ackster tried again, still a little faster. The Sword God had done it so quickly that he couldn’t even see it unless the Sword God slowed it down and he sharpened his senses beyond the limit.

Nothing happened.

Ackster tried again, still a little faster. The Sword God’s cuts had been so quick his arm was severed before it was affected by gravity. He wasn’t supposed to see the scratch appear.

Nothing happened.

Ackster tried again. While the scratch was supposed to be almost instantaneous, it was still supposed to be a sword slash. So, it shouldn’t be instantaneous, either. The scratch was supposed to appear on the stone in one swift, smooth motion.

Nothing happened.

Ackster tried again. This much wasn’t enough to get him frustrated, not after Bo’s training or his own.

Nothing happened.

Ackster tried again. He wondered if he needed to use his body as a conduit the same way his martial arts inspired his mana to move when learning the Unimportant Whatever Arts. Maybe that’s what he saw flashing through the air when the Sword God cut him.

Nothing happened.

Ackster tried again. It wasn’t necessarily the Sword God’s arm, but it could be an expression of his arm manifested by his Will to solidify the image of his cut further.

Nothing happened.

Ackster tried again. It could also be a side effect of the Sword God’s powerful Will. It didn’t only manifest his intent to cut. It also manifested the motion of cutting by projecting an image of his cut.

Nothing happened.

Ackster tried again. It could also be that the Sword God was swinging his arm that quickly, and what Ackster was supposed to imitate was that, not Will—

Nothing happened.

Ackster cleared his mind and tried again. He didn’t allow any distracting thoughts that sought to sow doubt in his mind. He could do this. He could cut the wall. He would cut the wall.

He. Will. Cut. The. Wall.