While dreaming of the future but not yet leaving the present behind, Ackster continued his day-less routine of giving the ant queen his blood and flesh, Nolding the bones in his feet, sparring, and eating ants. He didn’t know how much time had passed since the stones used to illuminate the ant queen’s hall gave off a constant light. But he had slept almost ten times, which meant at least two weeks had passed.

Ackster hadn’t spent those two weeks doing nothing, and if he were to say it himself, he had achieved quite a lot. He had completely broken down both his feet, which hadn’t been easy. Some parts were still mushy, but he had moved up his ankles and started pulverizing his lower legs.

Compared to how much he still had left, it was only a small part, but Ackster could feel the difference in the sturdiness of his legs. So far, it wasn’t worth the pain he had endured. But it was at least a little promising. And that wasn’t the only thing the last couple of weeks had done for him in terms of progress.

[Name: –]

[Profession: (Adventurer)]

[Stats:

[Strength: B]

[Agility: B]

[Fortitude: C]

[Mana: –]

[Spirit: C]

[Stamina: B]

[Skills:

[Strong Body]

[Pain Tolerance: A]

[Poison Resistance: E]

[Keen Senses: B]

[Iron Stomach: C]

[Sprint: C]

[Strike: B]

[Soft Footsteps: C]

[Iron Skin: D]

[Survivalist: F]

[Iron Fists: D]

[Iron Will: C]

[Clear Mind: E]

[Battlesight: D]

[Limit Breaker: F]

[Resilience: D]

[Monster Muncher: E]

[Iron Wall: D]

[Guardian: E]

[Block: D]

[Steel-Boned: F]

[Stubborn Well-Being: G]

[Superficial Martial Arts: F]

‘It took fucking ages!’

Ackster had been so caught up in his training that he neglected to monitor his Nomi, so he didn’t know when exactly he got it. But he had finally gotten a skill that supported his recovery. He hadn’t heard or read about it before. But he could feel instinctively that Stubborn Well-Being, despite its unclear name, helped him recover faster.

Since most of his injuries by then were from Nold’s secret technique, it had taken a little before he noticed that his bones healed quicker, and the bruises from the ant general faded in a matter of minutes. However, that could also be because he finally managed to evolve Leather Skin to Iron Skin, even if it was at the cost of its rank.

But from that, Ackster could practically confirm that Iron Skin was better at overall defense and that Leather Skin was better at more superficial and cutting attacks.

He had also acquired Block and Superficial Martial Arts. However, Ackster was still the most satisfied with Stubborn Well-Being and Steel-Boned. Thanks to Nold’s secret technique, he had gotten a skill that surpassed the Iron type skills and went straight to steel. He wasn’t sure how much better it was, but he knew that steel was better than Iron, and his skill was F-ranked.

Nolding only two feet and a couple of additional bones had been enough to net him a Steel-grade skill and rank it up. Ackster couldn’t help but look forward to the future. What would he get, or what rank would Steel-Boned reach when he finished the first round of the first stage? What would happen when he completed several rounds of the first stage? And what would happen in the later stages?

Although the direct strength the secret technique had given Ackster wasn’t anything to write home about just yet, the fact that he got Steel-Boned was proof enough of the secret technique’s promised potential.

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Ackster almost wanted to continue Nolding his legs just to see himself grow. However, it wasn’t time for that. He was busy recovering from the last round. And, most importantly, he was preparing.

He had grown significantly during this period. But he wasn’t the only one who had gained something. The ant queen hadn’t missed out on a single meal, and once Ackster got Stubborn Well-Being, the ant queen had eaten with increased fervor. Since Ackster recovered quicker, thanks to the skill, he didn’t mind it that much.

However, the ant queen’s behavior was changing slightly. She vacillated between eating more and eating almost nothing while sleeping like the dead. Her carapace was also fluctuating with a beautiful gloss and a hollow dullness.

The ant queen had started achieving whatever objective she had in eating Ackster. That in itself wasn’t necessarily a problem. But Ackster had either outlived his usefulness, or it had become time for the ant queen to finish the meal she had only nibbled on until now.

The ant general hadn’t changed much, and it still didn’t like Ackster very much. But it had started looking at him with malicious happiness. It was faint, but during his time in the ant nest, Ackster had gotten pretty good at picking up the signs the ants had and used when communicating. He also had a pretty decent sixth sense, thanks to Strong Body and Keen Senses, so he was pretty confident it wouldn’t be long until the ant queen decided she needed his bones, brain, and internal organs to finish whatever she was going through.

And if he had to bet, the ant general would be more than happy to fulfill his queen’s wish.

So, before the ant queen or the ant general could decide that their deal had run its course, Ackster had to take some life-saving measures. And in this place where he was surrounded by ants, who could communicate with the ant queen even from a distance, Ackster didn’t really have much choice in how to survive.

He had to neutralize his enemies so he could take his time to break out of the nest.

He had left traces behind when he and Karandiel were first brought into the nest, but he did not doubt that they would be long gone. He had tried to sneak around and find a way that led to the surface, but he hadn’t had any success. The ant general didn’t seem to need rest, and whenever Ackster was about to move somewhere he shouldn’t, it was there to invite Ackster to a spar.

The only way to survive that Ackster could imagine was to kill the ant queen, her general, and then any ant that attacked him.

If Ackster didn’t kill the ant queen and all the other inhabitants of the nest, he would sooner or later drown in the ants or be buried alive. That was why he was taking a break from Nold’s secret technique and why he had studied the ant general’s movements and habits furiously during their spars. Even if the ant general had held back and was probably a notch above him in terms of stats, especially in agility, there was no way for it to avoid following the same patterns as it did when it wasn’t going all-out.

Now, he just had to find the right timing.

The ant queen’s state fluctuated between being sluggish, almost sick, and surpassing her prime. And there was no fixed interval. Sometimes, she slept for half an hour like she was on her deathbed before coming back stronger than ever. Other times, she was out for several hours, if not entire days.

Ackster didn’t have a way to measure the time, so he wasn’t sure. But it did feel like the trend leaned toward her rests becoming shorter, but with the occasional extended sleep. Not that there was any obvious pattern to it. The ant queen slept when she needed to, and when she didn’t, she ate pieces of Ackster.

But Ackster had to try and go for it during one of the ant queen’s random naps. Not only because the ant queen, one of the strongest beings in the nest, was asleep but also because, along with her, the rest of the nest’s activity sank.

When the ant queen was sluggish, her mental connection with the other ants also entered an energy-saving mode, so the ant lieutenants, ant soldiers, and worker ants also grew sluggish and only did their routine business. They didn’t change their movements or behavior. They were like mindless machines when the ant queen slept.

So, if Ackster made his move when the queen napped, he wouldn’t have to worry about the countless ants in the nest swarming him and burying him with their bodies or with a cave-in.

But there was one problem, one exception.

The ant general was unaffected by the queen’s sleep. If anything, it grew more vigilant to make up for the otherwise lacking security.

But the ant general’s heightened sense of caution wasn’t that much of a problem since Ackster would put him in a state of high alert at once by attacking him. Well, first, he was going to engage the ant general in a spar and then go from sparring to fighting to the death.

Ackster quickly grew restless as he waited for his bones to heal and the ant queen to go to sleep. But when things finally aligned, and he was ready to go out of his room and challenge the ant general to a spar, the ant queen decided that a minute-long nap was enough, and she woke up right as Ackster left his room.

To not rouse any suspicions, Ackster invited the general to a quick spar before giving the queen some extra food that would hopefully keep her out cold long enough.

And, when he finally recovered, thanks to Strong Body and Stubborn Well-Being, less than ten minutes had passed. The skin, flesh, and blood he had given the queen was all from relatively shallow wounds, and they recovered so quickly that Ackster would have almost gotten scared if it hadn’t been a gradual increase over the last couple of weeks.

He felt that he was closing in on that endlessly regenerating, even in combat, ideal he had dreamed up when he realized Strong Body’s healing capabilities. Of course, his internal organs and bones didn’t recover quickly enough just yet, so severe injuries would still incapacitate him for longer periods.

But the relatively shallow cuts weren’t even enough to put a dent in Ackster’s combat performance once ten minutes had passed. And it looked like the ant queen was still out cold, so he left his room again. Since he was planning on eating his full during or once he was done with what he was about to do, he didn’t waste time propping himself full of ants before the fight.

Besides, he had two delicious meals lined up right in front of him.

Since the soldier ants were a little better than the worker ants in terms of food quality, the odds that the ants at the top of the hierarchy, the queen and the general, were at least decent in taste and texture were pretty high. After only eating bland ant for several weeks, Ackster was craving something more fulfilling.

“Spar?”

He looked at the ant general, only barely managing to contain the hunger in his eyes.

The ant general wasn’t surprised at Ackster’s request for spar since it wasn’t the first time he asked for one almost immediately after the previous. He usually did it after or when he was about to have a realization, which happened enviously often. So, after giving a slight nod, the ant general charged forward, chitin-wrapped fists raised and wings fluttering.

Ackster stood his ground with Iron Wall and stopped the ant general’s fist dead in its tracks with the help of Block. He held onto the ant general’s fist with one hand while he used his free arm to block the next fist.

However, he had to let go of the first to block the third, and he had to let go of the second to block the fourth. Fighting an opponent with four arms while he only had two was difficult. But not impossible. Although it wasn’t the same, it was almost like fighting an opponent who could punch with an extreme frequency.

If he thought about it like that, Ackster realized that he wasn’t at a disadvantage because he had fewer arms. It was because he was worse. He was weaker and slower. It was as simple as that, which meant the solution was also just as simple. He just had to become better, stronger, faster.

Ackster could already feel his brain heating up as his eyes flickered around, almost unfocused, to catch up to the ant general and its four arms and two legs. But he was far from reaching his limit.