Rogue Villain-Chapter 351: New Sources

Ackster’s fight with the golem was slow and excruciatingly long. At first, it was just a non-stop slugfest with Ackster and the golem tearing each other apart. The only thing that changed was Ackster’s efficiency in destroying the golem’s body.

The golem was nothing if not a good practice target for Ackster’s martial arts. So, even if he had an idea about how he might go about ending the golem once and for all, Ackster continued honing his use of force when attacking. He also wasn’t looking forward to actually executing that idea.

Ackster would rather look for other ways to defeat the golem and pry those doors open. But mostly because it would take a lot of time.

Besides, Ackster was rather enjoying the feeling of a pure brawl for the first time in a while. It gave him an opportunity to learn more about himself and how he fought. The way he fought was proof of how he lived and what his existence meant.

That was something that had poked Ackster’s uncertainties ever since he realized his memories of his past life were fake or at least heavily altered. He wasn’t the original Ackster Phileam, but he also wasn’t whoever his memories had tried to make him think he was.

Ackster didn’t know who he was. It didn’t help that his fights were a mess, and he only lived to live and stop The Hero from ending the world. He didn’t have anything that solidified and condensed his existence.

Aside from his stats and skill ranks, Ackster had a feeling that something along those veins was a necessary step in his future development. He couldn’t forget about that Perfect World Trana had demonstrated.

That Perfect World hadn’t been very effective against Mazar, but neither had anything else. And Ackster was pretty sure Trana dispelled the Perfect World when Mazar slammed Ackster into its border, rather than the Perfect World breaking.

’Does she still have Stormcaller?’

Ackster couldn’t remember getting back the trident he got from Dala Storm.

’I wonder if it’s still stuck in her back. No way, right?’

Ackster found the image of Trana sleeping like the dead with a trident poking out of her back, jiggling with every breath, a little comical. But the trident had most likely slipped out when Trana’s Covenant took effect.

Where it went after that, Ackster had no idea.

Ackster continued thinking about random things while fighting with the golem, trying to determine how endless its energy supply was to see if he could tire it out. Unfortunately, the golem’s power didn’t show any signs of waning, and neither did its regeneration slow down.

Ackster had all the beasts he ate from the primeval miniature world to supply him with energy for a while. But sooner or later, Ackster would run out of fuel. He didn’t want that to happen so soon when he had just entered the Alchemaze’s depths where he wasn’t sure when he would find more things to eat and provide him with actual energy and sustenance rather than just building blocks for Smelting Furnace’s reconstruction of his body.

Ackster furrowed his brow. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

’That’s my only flaw.’

Ackster couldn’t claim he was undefeatable. But he was undoubtedly strong. He was also versatile. He could attack, fight using pure technical skills, defend, and could do both melee and long-range combat. He was good with fists, swords, and, most likely, every weapon granted the honor to be wielded by his hands.

His martial arts and abundance of sources also made sure he wouldn’t end up at a disadvantage when facing all kinds of unique or specialized enemies. Unstoppable made it so he could continue moving no matter what state his practically immortal body was in.

Ackster was a living weapon. He had achieved what he set out to do when he first began to realize the potential of his body and how cumbersome it was to lug around a weapon, especially a good one since it might lead to The Hero identifying him.

His body alone was more dangerous and capable than most weapons in the world. Based on Smelting Furnace’s progress, it also wouldn’t be long until he could contend with Heavenly Iron.

However, his body still required fuel. With something to eat, Ackster could keep moving for a theoretical eternity if he didn’t die of old age. However, it was more than likely that he could end up in situations that would drain him of all he had stocked up in advance without giving him a chance to replenish it.

After all, eating something like clay wouldn’t necessarily give him the energy he needed to sustain Stubborn Well-Being, Limit Breaker, or Unstoppable. All those kinds of materials were good for was to fortify Ackster’s body when it recovered.

If Ackster could solve that problem, he would truly become unstoppable.

Limit Breaker and Unstoppable, at least, seemed to have their own reserves of energy independent of Ackster’s diet.

’Are they their own sources of power?’

After hunting for sources to fortify his Ichor with, Ackster found hope. If each of his skills were a source of power in their own way, he might find a way to upgrade his Ichor sooner and further than he thought would be possible.

However, with how intensely Ackster was using Stubborn Well-Being, Limit Breaker, and Unstoppable in his fight with the clay golem, Ackster could tell that wasn’t the case.

In his current state, partly thanks to the Ex-rank Spirit stat, Ackster could more accurately sense his soul than he usually could. That was why he could tell that rather than Limit Breaker and his skills being their own sources. It was more like they tapped into the power of his soul and wrung it out like water out of a rag.

Ackster did not doubt that the power of his soul or the power of souls, in general, could be considered a source. But he did not know how to use that power for himself or how to add it into the mix of his Ichor. And he certainly wasn’t looking forward to using his own soul to experiment with.

The budding hope and its immediate crushing at the hands of reality left a bitter taste in the emotionally unstable Ackster.

Adding miasma to the mix of his Ichor, which had maintained a delicate balance between his obsession and grand and pure wish for life and salvation, was not a wise choice.