‘Or not.’

The bull hadn’t taken as much of a beating after Ackster’s torrent of kicks as he would have liked, and it was still breathing, even if it was wheezing rather than panting or huffing like earlier. It was also still struggling to get back up or retaliate against Ackster’s attacks. But its efforts had weakened, and even without Battlesight, Ackster still easily avoided getting hit.

However, the bull wasn’t dead yet, and it wouldn’t die if he left it alone. And since his foot was a soggy mess of broken bone, Ackster bent down. He was already training to acquire Iron Wall. So, while he was at it, he might as well try and turn his Stone Fists into Iron Fists.

He ignored his hands’ injuries and closed them into solid fists protected and reinforced by the gauntlets. Then, supported by Strong Body and Strike, he lashed out with a series of quick, precise, and heavy punches at the same exact spot.

It probably wouldn’t be that easy to modify or change a skill, but since his target and prey was such a mighty bull, its death would likely affect the development of his skills, so there was hope. The only question was if it was even a valid method.

Stone Fists were a sign of heavy bouldering punches, like the ones he had used when punching the rock lizard. Iron Fists were quick and hard but maybe not quite as heavy as the stone ones.

Ackster entered a daze as he punched the bull until its skin broke and revealed the bloody and mangled mess within. Ackster’s kicks and punches had done a lot of damage through the skin, and he could understand why the bull had finally died.

Ackster made use of the damage he had done to the bull’s throat and used that as his starting point to dismantle and eat the bull. It was tough, but the bull’s defenses weren’t as great as the rock lizard’s. It was just that he had been tired before he even started attacking it, and he had worn his training equipment during the fight.

So, once the bull was finally dead, Ackster didn’t have much trouble picking it apart and throwing the raw meat in his mouth to let Monster Muncher and Iron Stomach do their work. Strong Body, too, since it would use the nutrients to heal and strengthen his body.

While eating, Ackster sat and watched his surroundings, enjoying the view of the peach-orange sunrise bathing the green grass in its glow. The area directly around him, where he and the bull had fought, was almost even more dazzling since the juices from the trampled grass and the blood he spilled caught the sunlight and reflected it like beads of colorful crystals.

The sunrise’s beauty helped detract from the unpleasantness of the destruction Ackster and the bull’s fight had caused since there were deep furrows in the ground and piles of torn-up grass littered around the place.

‘Camp acquired, I guess.’

But it wasn’t all bad. Ackster still didn’t have reliable access to water, but now he didn’t have to waste time clearing an area to set up something like a base camp he could use in between hunts and while training Nold’s secret technique. So, after eating the bull, which, despite its size, went down easy, he got to clearing it up a little. He didn’t have to harm himself or get Strong Body to burn through what he had already eaten to make place for more.

He flattened the ground, gathered the grass in one place, and put the bull remains in one corner. He looked at the homely camp with satisfaction. It was simple, without shelter, he had just eaten the last of the food, and there was no water. But it had traces of his first fight in the Grasslands, and it was also the first proper camp he had set up.

He wanted to start trying Nold’s secret technique now that he had trained his Iron Wall a little. Some variation would do his mentality and training well since it would be easy to repeat the same mistakes if he did the same thing over and over. But he could already tell in advance that he would need a lot of nutrients to keep Strong Body healing his body after he started pulverizing his bones.

The first thing he had to do was stock up on food. And if the secret technique were as painful and debilitating as Wilma and its own description made it sound, he would probably need a lot of food since he wouldn’t be in a state to hunt for a while after he began.

Without even taking a break after defeating and eating the bull and cleaning up his new camp, Ackster set out again on the prowl for more prey to bring back to his camp and turn into food. It was a shame he didn’t have anything to conserve the food with since raw meat would probably grow bad pretty quickly in the summery heat. But, as long as it didn’t rot and become worse than ten poison goblin fingers, it would be fine training for Iron Stomach and Poison Resistance.

Well, it would probably be unpleasant to be sick or poisoned in addition to the pain from the secret technique, so he hoped that wouldn’t happen.

Ackster’s thoughts wandered a little as he looked for traces to follow, but his thoughts didn’t get very far. Probably because of his fight with the bull, a lot of nearby beasts and monsters had been startled and moved around to get away from the battle and whatever else may follow.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Unfortunately for them, they weren’t good enough at hiding their tracks to evade Ackster’s pursuit. And, since he prioritized hunting as efficiently as possible, not training, he brought back a bunch of beasts like cows, deers, goats, horses, and monsters like hobgoblins and gravellers.

With food storage secured, Ackster only had to dig a hole for it. Otherwise, it would draw other hungry predators, which wasn’t the kind of environment Ackster wanted to train the secret technique in.

After using his bare hands to dig a hole that should, in theory, somewhat contain the scent of dead beasts and monsters, Ackster unpacked Mio and Nold’s Secret Skeleton Refinement Technique: Stage One. He gave Mio unrestricted access to the food in the pit built on nonexistent theory as an apology for not being able to give him slices of prime Ackster meat, both the last couple of days and when he was busy practicing the secret technique.

Mio seemed a little disappointed at missing out on Ackster, but the slime also understood that Ackster needed to focus. So, after grabbing a tiny piece of meat from one of the creatures Ackster had hunted, it climbed on top of the pile of dirt that remained after the hole and watched over the surroundings. One of the perks of slimes was the all-encompassing field of view. Mio could see in all directions at all times. They were the perfect guard.

Ackster noticed Mio’s actions and flipped open the secret technique with his mind at ease. Mio probably wasn’t much of a combatant, but they were clearly smart enough to keep watch, which meant they would be smart enough to warn Ackster if anyone or anything came while he focused on his training.

Well, it was uncertain how much help that would be if he was in so much pain that he could barely retain his sanity. He wondered if he should build some kind of fortification or defense around his camp. But with the resources on hand, both materials and knowledge, there wasn’t much he could build. And what he could do wouldn’t offer defense against anything other than starved cats or stuff in the same weight class. And animals like that probably wouldn’t dare approach Ackster anyways.

Ackster took a final look around the area of flattened grass and plowed dirt before he sat down with his back to the pile that was tall enough for Mio to see over the grassy fields. Instead of worrying about what his food storage might attract, he should just get his training over and done with.

He read the parts he had already read again to make sure he didn’t miss anything before he got to the part where the secret technique told him how to go about the training.

Ackster looked at the diagrams and depictions of the human body. The skeletons made it look more like something a necromancer might use, but Ackster couldn’t care less about that since he was more focused on learning the correct places and methods to use the hammer and chisel to pulverize his bones. Fortunately, the descriptions and images were extremely clear and straightforward.

It also seemed like the first stage of the secret technique wasn’t overly advanced. It was meant to be an all-rounded and simple way to establish the foundation needed for the full development of the human skeleton’s potential. But in its simplicity, the first stage of the secret technique became brutally efficient.

Ackster was a little nervous as he grabbed the hammer and chisel and put the rounded tip to his pinky toe. It was a little dirty since he hadn’t had time or resources to wash it properly. But walking around in grass and dirt had at least scrubbed any dry blood off.

He hoped the dirt wouldn’t affect the training. And he saw no reason why it would since the training would only affect his skeleton and nothing else.

Ackster adjusted the chisel and looked for the spot the secret technique wanted him to find, and when he did, he put the rounded tip against the toe just hard enough to push it into the ground so that it had a decently sturdy surface to rest on. Nold had written that something too hard would make the vibrations too effective, and something too soft or nothing at all could make it so that he would need to do it twice. So, for smaller pieces of bone that sat pretty loosely on the skeleton, finding a suitable surface was important.

He gulped nervously as he raised the hammer.

He was about to find out whether the pain really was as bad as he had heard, if it was blown out of proportion, or if it would be worse.

He held the hammer only a few fingers away from the chisel and aligned the head with the handle and stem of Gattel Steel that would reverberate and create the vibrations necessary for the secret technique’s first stage. He only needed a slight tap, so there was no need for strength or distance to build up momentum.

But he did need precision and accurate technique to do it correctly. Ackster used all the fine motor skills Strong Body offered and Keen Senses to control his hands. He kept the chisel and his toe as still as mountains while moving the hammer in a machine-like trajectory toward the chisel.

Then, with a slight knocking sound, Ackster felt a slight tremble in the hand that held the chisel, and he heard a vague hum more silent than an owl’s wings.

‘Nothing?’

But he didn’t feel anything in his pinky toe, the supposed target of a secret technique rumored to be painful enough to make men go mad.

Confused, Ackster leaned forward to get a better look at his toe and, in the process of doing so, put more pressure on it. It would barely have been enough to create a ripple in still water. But it was still enough to shatter the toe, which had been turned into dust by the hammer and chisel, but had been held together by inertia for the couple of moments Ackster had time to grow confused.

The outermost piece of bone on his toe, the tiny pill, smaller than a fly, shattered, and it was going to tell Ackster all about it, whether he wanted to listen or not. The bone demolition fired up all of the tiny little nerves crammed into Ackster’s toe and turned on their overdrive.

The stimuli rocketed into Ackster’s brain and sent him reeling back while reflexively clutching his toe, which only exacerbated the pain.

Ackster screamed in pain through clenched teeth as he hit the ground with the back of his head to futilely try and vent his pain.