Rogue Villain-Chapter 291: Two Sides

Ackster’s mind was a mess with more feelings than he thought a human could feel at once. His body felt strange. He was filled with doubt about how he had survived and what had happened with Trana and Mazar. Shock and surprise didn’t even begin to describe what he felt when he realized he had survived the blue sun.

"No, I totally died, didn’t I?"

Ackster sat up and rested his forehead against his palm.

Yet, despite the mess in his head, including the weird feeling that his palm was stupidly hard and stiff, Ackster’s mind was clear. He was rational and could piece together what had happened to some degree, even if he didn’t know the details.

He analyzed his surroundings, including the two halves of Mazar’s corpse. There were no signs of Trana or any other living being. It was all a deserted wasteland with a dragon corpse and a cave entrance.

There wasn’t anything Ackster needed to do for now. He was safe, alive, and intact. And although he was hungry, Ackster was more curious about his body and the feeling of endless heat, energy, and strength surging from it with every breath he took and every move he made.

Just by sitting up and propping himself up with a hand, Ackster had made a small crater in the mountainous rock, already hardened after being refined by Trana’s blue sun and his own heat.

"Woah..."

Ackster was amazed just by looking at his body. It was different from before. It wasn’t just better.

Somehow, Ackster could tell that it was a completely new body and not a remade one. It was one borne from his soul. It was a perfect match beyond what Ackster Phileam’s original body could ever hope to be.

Ackster wanted to look at his face, but he didn’t have a mirror. So, he was about to move on and inspect the internal and metaphysical parts of his body when something flew out of his body and transformed into a flat, plate-sized disk that reflected his appearance.

After being surprised, Ackster narrowed his eyes.

The face was mostly the same. Or rather, there were clear traces of Ackster’s old body in his face. But there were also hints of something else. It was just that Ackster couldn’t tell where they came from. It didn’t look like what he had looked like on Earth. Of course, it could just be that he was so handsome that his features weren’t similar anymore—

"What did I used to look like?"

Ackster stared at the face in the mirror with overwhelming confusion, despair, and dread. He had no idea what he had looked like before his transmigration.

Ackster’s eyes widened, and he stared at his face, trying to remember, but all he got was a headache that threatened to split his head apart like a log.

It was the same as when he fought Mazar and suddenly realized that he had no idea what he had wanted to do in the future before his transmigration.

"Seriously. What the fuck?"

It was the first pain Ackster had ever felt since his Pain Tolerance ranked up.

’I guess there’s more to my transmigration than coincidence.’

Ackster sighed. Having no defined memories of himself or his past further back than a few years, other than the fact that he was a student from Earth, gave him a creepy feeling.

But there was nothing Ackster could do about it now, so he looked inside himself.

The first thing he realized was that it was empty.

His vitality, mana, and Will were gone. Ackster’s internal organs and insides were freakishly strong and sturdy. They were glossy with strength and durability. But there wasn’t a hint of his mana core in his abdomen, the vitality in his heart, or the Will in his head.

However, after looking closely, Ackster found a tiny marble in the center of his chest, between the tops of his lungs. When Ackster’s consciousness touched the marble, the mirror he had somehow conjured transformed into a stream of light grey and vanished into his body, taking refuge in that marble.

"Huh?"

Ackster willed the mirror back out again. Less than a moment later, the mirror appeared.

After more experimenting than necessary, Ackster confirmed that the new source of energy inside the marble was something like Will, mana, or vitality, or all three. It was definitely superior to all three, even if he didn’t have much of it. It also didn’t ever seem to run out, no matter how much he used it.

"I guess it’s time, then..."

Ackster was still hungry and eager for dragon meat, but there was something he had to do first. He didn’t even need to rummage to retrieve the only thing left in his Inventory.

[Name: –]

[Profession: D■■■■■■]

[Inventory]

[Stats:

[Strength: SSS]

[Agility: SSS]

[Fortitude: SSS]

[Ichor (Inferior): G]

[Spirit: Ex]

[Stamina: SSS]

[Wisdom: SSS]

[Skills:

[Diamond Body]

[Pain Tolerance: Ex]

[Overhuman Senses: S]

[Conditional Immortality]

[Clear Mind: Ex]

[Limit Breaker: SS] 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

[Monster Muncher: SS]

[Stubborn Well-Being: Ex]

[Unstoppable: SSS]

[Sea God]

[(Unimportant Whatever Art): A]

[Smelting Furnace: S]

[Berserk: S]

[Demon Sword]

[Sword God’s Disciple/Sword]

"Fuck yeah! I’m getting close!"

Ackster got several questions from his updated status, but more than that, he was overwhelmed with his growth. He had also finally surpassed the standards of humans. He wasn’t quite at the level of strength he needed, but he was close.

He didn’t know how to feel other than overjoyed. He was strong. Ackster allowed himself to feel relief—relief that his efforts had borne fruit and that his pain, labor, suffering, and strife weren’t for nothing.

But only for a moment. Ackster wasn’t there yet, and every step from now on would be much more difficult to take.

Still, with Stubborn Well-Being reaching the Ex-rank and Survivalist having evolved to Conditional Immortality, Ackster was confident he could take whatever he threw at himself.

Diamond Body had absorbed all of his resistances and affinities and most likely Guardian as well, which Ackster didn’t quite get. Overhuman Senses was still its own skill and was the skill aside from his martial arts that had the most room to grow still. Smelting Furnace was excluded since it was special.

Berserk was also S-rank, but Ackster wasn’t about it, at least until he remembered his Ex-rank Clear Mind. Berserk was a higher-grade skill than Clear Mind, which was a little basic. But Ackster also had Iron Will now inside Diamond Body, and an Ex-rank skill was always better than one below, regardless of the skill’s innate grade or potential.

So, Ackster wasn’t worried. It was a card up his sleeve and gave him tremendous strength.

All the other skills and stats were pretty standard. They were proof of Ackster’s growth.

"It has to be that marble..."

Ackster stared at the G after his new stat that had replaced Mana, Ichor.

It didn’t make sense. Or maybe Ackster just didn’t like seeing such a letter next to a bunch of esses and Exs.