Ackster continued tapping his toes with Nold’s sadistic tools. But eventually, the reverberating pain of four pulverized toes cascading through his body and nervous system and assaulting the pain receptors in his brain became too much. He had hoped that as he did more toes simultaneously, he wouldn’t feel the pain from each broken toe as intensely as before.

He was wrong.

If one broken toe was like one monster tentacle grabbing hold of his toe and crushing it to overwhelm his brain, four broken toes meant four tentacles, each competing to see which could make Ackster feel the most pain.

But Ackster had a feeling that it would take more than that for his Pain Tolerance to go beyond A-rank. He had glossed over it before since he was surprised to have gotten Guardian.

But an A-rank Pain Tolerance already was proof of how painful it was to practice Nold’s Secret Technique. But the gap, the wall, between A and S was far wider than even that between G and A. It would take a stupid amount of pain, perseverance, and endurance to get there, that, or enough pain to make someone go insane.

But even if Ackster was desperate enough to look for something like that, which he wasn’t just yet since there was a limit to how useful Pain Tolerance was, he didn’t even know where to find it. There were several things that put The Hero through unimaginable pain in the original story. But those things were either limited to The Hero, necessary for The Hero’s development, or unavailable at this moment.

For now, Ackster decided to start bringing his other skills and his stats up to a similar level as his Pain Tolerance. It would also be great if he could finally get that self-recovery skill, which, in his opinion, was long overdue.

Strong Body had helped him get a bunch of skills on the first try. He couldn’t understand why healing skills were so difficult when he got stuff like Keen Senses, Poison Resistance, and Sprint almost on the first try.

However, as he thought about it while escaping reality and the pain it bore, Ackster came up with a theory.

All the other skills he had gotten relatively easily were admittedly pretty low-level. But, most importantly, they were things he could achieve without Strong Body or the skills themselves. He could train his eyesight and his other senses, even if it would only be a minuscule difference. But, regardless of how much or how little, if he did seeing and listening exercises, he would get better at discerning what he saw and heard.

He could train poison and venom resistance and the like by ingesting and injecting minimal doses of whatever poison or venom he wanted to build a resistance toward. His body would only create antibodies toward the specific poison, but it would still work, and he could build on that resistance to create an immunity so that regardless of how much poison he ate, he would still be fine, even if he didn’t have the skill. Of course, on Millmeria, doing that would get him the Poison Resistance skill, which would shore up his overall poison resistance and so on.

And by training his running, improving his sprinting posture, and strengthening his endurance, stamina, and legs, he could become better at sprinting. He didn’t need Sprint to become better at running.

However, there was no way to do the same with his self-recovery. He could eat healthier to promote his body’s natural metabolism and the rebuilding of damaged tissue, but that would also reach a limit. And his body’s natural recovery would still be the same, just affected by external factors.

On Earth, it would be completely hopeless to try and improve the rate at which his body recovered, no matter what he ate or how much he slept.

But he wasn’t on Earth anymore. Ackster had transmigrated to Millmeria, where he had access to skills like Strong Body, Limit Breaker, and Monster Muncher. Those and his other skills were proof that he could do it, even without spending lavish amounts of money on potions and healers.

So, to promote his body’s recovery rate improving, Ackster continued with his daily life in the ant nest. Now that the ant queen had gotten her fill, he had Nolded his toes to the point where three on his left foot and two on his right were done or about to experience their first rebirth.

He considered continuing with that since he was eager to see what would happen once he finished. But the pain was too much. And when he thought about how many bones there were in the human body, Ackster decided that, while finishing quickly was good, it wouldn’t be good to rush it.

Thankfully, destroying his bones wasn’t the only way Ackster could train.

Part of the deal he made with the ant queen was that he could use the ant general as a sparring partner. So, he left his room and saw the general as soon as he left it. The general still seemed to have something against him, but Ackster didn’t mind.

He was a little curious about whether or not the general could talk, but he was sure it could understand him, at least.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Spar?”

And it seemed more than happy to accept Ackster’s request.

Ackster felt the ant’s eyes brighten with a malicious gleam, but it was too late to back down, so he followed the ant over to a corner of the mostly barren stone hall. Aside from the queen, Ackster, the general, and a bunch of lieutenant ants, there wasn’t much else. Bare, stone walls barely lit by the star-like stones in the ceiling.

Oh, and there was also a bunch of worker and soldier ants ready for consumption lined up along one side of the hall. Ackster was getting hungry so he gave them a long glance before facing the ant general.

The pain in his toes made it hard to walk and would make it even harder to fight. But maybe fighting would distract him from the pain. Ackster was doubtful, but he held onto hope as he raised his fists.

‘Well, that was embarrassing.’

Ackster had already decided from the get-go that he wouldn’t go all out in the spar with the ant general since it would only serve to inform the ants of how much of a threat he was. And he was injured. Due to Nolding his toes a bunch, his movements and kicks were far from what they could be. Ackster had only been able to deliver a fraction of his fighting capability.

But he could sense that the ant general had also held back a lot. Yet, Ackster had still been trounced.

It wasn’t for nothing since he got a vague grasp of what the ant general was capable of and an opportunity to train his reactions when his movements are restricted and he’s enduring severe pain.

Instead of using Keen Senses and Battlesight to supplement his combat and just using the best first move to dodge, Ackster had to be gentle with his moves. If he moved too much, he would have to take a step, which he couldn’t do without severe repercussions. So, he had to use minimal movements to avoid, block, or parry the ant general’s attacks, which came from all directions, thanks to the general’s wings giving him flight and boosted speed, agility, and mobility.

He also tried acquiring Block since he was up against an opponent whose attacks he could actually block with his hands, legs, and arms.

However, neither fighter was giving their all, and the fight ended too quickly, so Ackster didn’t make any progress. The only thing he gained was a better sense for unarmed melee combat, which, combined with his experience against Hansel and the unnamed bearded adventurer, was helping him flesh out his general understanding of battle. It wasn’t much, but baby steps build adults, and as he learned more, Ackster would become greater.

But first, food.

Although the fight was short, the ant general had landed several solid hits in that short time. Combined with the energy his body burned through to keep up with his regeneration, Ackster was feeling like feasting, so he happily indulged in the buffet of ants lined up outside his room.

He ate until he couldn’t, briefly entertaining the delusion of reducing the ants’ numbers solely by eating them all. But he didn’t forget how many ants had swarmed him and Karandiel, so he let that thought go with a smile as he pondered on his spar with the ant general to try and figure out what he could do better next time, what he shouldn’t do next time, and what he should try again next time.

His overall situation was tense, but at the same time, it was also Ackster’s first opportunity of not fighting for the sake of killing and surviving. He was fighting purely to learn and improve, and when he dedicated his entire self to that aspect of fighting, Ackster felt like he could see himself improving in real-time.

Ackster pretty quickly identified a couple of mistakes he made because he caught himself trying to move with his broken toes. Instead of either moving and bearing the extra pain or standing still and dealing with the general ant’s attacks, Ackster hesitated and oscillated between either option before deciding on one. That was something that got him hit several times.

Ackster knew already that hesitation was fatal in the middle of fighting. But he had somehow not recognized it while he hesitated. It was only afterward, as he thought about what led up to each instance where he got hit, that he realized it was because he moved slower than he should have. And he moved slower because he couldn’t decide how to move.

Ackster decided he would have to work on that. He didn’t have time to think and weigh his options while fighting. He should be reacting as soon as his opponent attacked. Or, with Battlesight, react before they do that and launch a preemptive counterattack if possible.

With Strong Body, his eventual regeneration, and his defensive skills, Ackster wasn’t too scared of getting hit. So, if he could land a solid blow by reacting as his opponent moves ahead of time, thanks to Battlesight and being trained to move at first possible stimuli, he would have a decent fighting strategy in place.

Reacting as things happen or are about to happen also makes it difficult for people reading him to guess what he’s about to do, such as The Hero, who, in the original story, used a couple of skills to analyze and observe his opponent. The Hero, calculative as he was, calculated what his opponents would do, their patterns, their trends, and their habits, and used it against them if possible and necessary.

If Ackster developed a fighting style that relied on his advantages with sturdiness, regeneration, and senses instead of one that relied on proper tactics and plans, he would lessen the weight of one of The Hero’s cards.

Of course, it wouldn’t be that simple to counter The Hero in direct combat, but it would be a start, something Ackster felt he hadn’t had until now.

‘I really owe a lot to these ants.’

Ackster had gotten some peace and quiet so he could train Nold’s secret technique without worrying about anything of the outside world. He got as much food as he wanted. And now, he had a personal trainer that helped him find flaws in his combat.

It was perfect except for the fact that he didn’t need peace and quiet for his training. He could find as much food as he needed outside the nest. And he could find a trainer that could talk with him instead of merely beating him until he starts looking like the other ants in the nest.

Most importantly, however, the ants were delaying his progress toward the Sea God Temple.

After seeing the sharpness Hansel had imbued his spear with, Ackster was looking forward to what mana, trained with the Sea God Manual, could do.