‘That was such a fucking flag. Shit.’

Soon after Ackster decided to brave the depths of the Habitat while hoping that the Space Jellies remained docile, he felt a chill run down his spine. His Keen Senses and Strong Body’s amped-up survival instincts had picked up on a thread of hostility belonging to a space jelly lurking in the depths of the Habitat.

Ackster stopped swimming for a moment as he thought about what to do. The thread was getting shorter, and Ackster sensed the source getting closer despite not being able to see through the swarm of jellyfish crowding his immediate vicinity.

He could retreat.

But why?

The Space Jellies were mystical beings, sure. But they weren’t threatening or dangerous, even if he didn’t know what they were capable of in combat. Since they were mostly docile, cute, and harmless, Ackster also wasn’t sure about killing them or what kind of opinions the Guild would have if he did.

However, retreating meant forgoing a chance to increase the odds of his survival. There was no way he could do that.

Ackster gritted his teeth and pushed aside the heap of Space Jellies around him to welcome the one wanting his vitality for itself.

So what if they were cute? Ackster wanted to live.

So what if they were part of the reason the Habitat existed and why he could get an inventory here? Ackster wasn’t going to let anything stand in his path.

So what if the Guild probably wouldn’t appreciate him killing what they were trying to protect? Ackster knew his worth. The guild wanted him more than they wanted a single Space Jelly.

Ackster swam forward while eyeing the Space Jelly, which propelled itself toward him while spreading its tentacles like a bed of seaweed.

Ackster made note of the tentacles since they were most likely the jellyfish’s main attack.

Since they were mystical beasts, they could probably use magic. But jellyfish were brainless, and it would, at most, be something primitive and instinctual. Ackster was confident he could react in time.

After all, not even the hostile Space Jelly gave Ackster as bad a feeling as the Ant Queen had done. It was that he didn’t know what it did and the fact that he had to think about where he was that made fighting the Space Jelly a challenge.

Ackster didn’t have anything other than his fist to use as a weapon, so he raised it as he kicked himself forward through the nectar with his legs.

‘How the fuck do you fight underwater?’

Ackster wasn’t technically in water, but the nectar, despite the feeling of weightlessness it gave, still behaved like water.

‘It’s good practice for the Sea God Temple, I guess.’

But Ackster was mostly undeterred by the unfamiliar environment.

The Space Jelly would die if he hit it. Hopefully.

The basics of combat hadn’t changed just because the nectar affected his movements. He had to hit his opponent while not getting hit.

However, the Space Jelly had an overwhelming advantage by being in its home and having more tentacles than Ackster could count. Ackster realized that the not getting hit part of his plan would have to experience some liberties as he barreled through the net of tentacles toward the jellyfish’s main body with his fist poised to launch.

Ackster fluttered his legs and gathered enough speed to torpedo into the Jelly. He felt a slight sense of trepidation as he closed in on the tentacles. But the Space Jelly was hiding behind them and expanding its net. If Ackster didn’t push through, he would get caught or be forced to retreat.

He clenched his teeth and continued kicking with his legs to the point the waves he made were enough to push the other Space Jellies back.

Ackster came into contact with the Space Jelly’s thread-like, light blue, almost white tentacles. They easily budged and caved as he continued forward. But they weren’t meant to resist his advance. They were there to trap him, catch him in their sticky tendrils.

Ackster winced mostly out of the anticipated shock. But as one could expect from mystical beasts with the space attribute and not ordinary jellyfish, they didn’t sting. At first, Ackster didn’t feel anything despite the tentacles wrapping around his arm and starting to do the same with the rest of his body.

But as more time passed and more tentacles clung to him, Ackster began to feel a prickly sensation all over his body.

It was the same feeling as the general baptism of energy inside the Habitat but magnified manyfold. It was also more forceful and unpleasant.

Ackster realized that if he didn’t get out of the tentacles soon, he would be forced back to the surface since the Space Jelly was forcefully overloading him with the space energy in the Habitat, though, considering the Space Jelly was holding onto him, he wouldn’t even be able to retreat anymore. Fortunately, Ackster had long discarded the thoughts of retreating.

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He reached out in an attempt to punch the main body of the fist.

However, the bandage of tentacles and the nectar were too much, and his punch slowed down to a crawl, and he grabbed the Jelly’s main body instead.

Ackster barely managed to wrench open his fingers and pinch the edge of the Space Jelly.

“You know what…?”

Ackster curled his arm and pulled the Space Jelly closer to himself.

“Down the hatch, you go!”

Ackster activated Limit Breaker to help ignore the tentacles’ resistance as he moved his body and bit down on the head-sized jellyfish, not that there was much to bite down on since it was so soft.

The Space Jelly was surprisingly tasteless, but compared to some other stuff Ackster had eaten, a lack of taste was synonyms with a blessing.

Before the Space Jelly could resist or try to flee, or before he suffered even more from the forceful overload, Ackster ate the rest of the Space Jelly, tentacle and all. He slurped on it like noodle-tipped monster jello.

Although it wasn’t a monster, Monster Muncher still activated.

Ackster gnawed on his arm and hand to get rid of the last remaining tentacles as Monster Muncher and Iron Stomach began digesting the Space Jelly he had just tossed down his throat. He also kicked with his legs to propel himself downward. He didn’t have much time left now after the Space Jelly’s obstruction.

Ackster could already feel the baptism of spatial energy beginning to become too much.

‘Wait a moment…’

The energy entering his body through the nectar wasn’t as oppressive as it had been a moment ago when the Space Jelly had him wrapped in its tentacles. And it wasn’t just because the Space Jelly had stopped supplying him with more energy.

Ackster grinned.

He wasn’t sure if he could call it a hidden piece or if it was just how the puzzle pieces that were Monster Muncher, Strong Body, and the traits of Space Jelly fell into place. But thanks to Monster Muncher’s ability to digest and use the consumed monster or beast’s strength for his sake and Strong Body’s adaptability, Ackster felt the pressure of the energy baptism lessen after eating the Space Jelly.

He didn’t know the specifics, whether he had gotten some kind of innate affinity for the spatial energy within the nectar or if, by eating the Space Jelly, he had taught his body to break down the spatial energy or what. But there was one thing Ackster felt instinctively.

Whatever it was wasn’t limited to just one Space Jelly. The more he ate, the better his body would handle the spatial energy, or at least he wouldn’t be forced to give up as soon, at least.

Even if he couldn’t make his body perfectly replicate the Space Jellyies’ ability to live in the nectar, he could at least increase how deep down he could go.

Ackster looked around with eager eyes before chasing after the closest Space Jellies and eating them like dessert.

He confirmed his theory that eating Space Jellies made it easier to withstand the baptism as soon as he ate a second one. Naturally, he kept eating them until he stopped noticing any difference. Eating all the Space Jellies in the Habitat probably wouldn’t put him in the Guild’s good books, so he was satisfied with the bare minimum.

Ackster also kept swimming downward while hunting. He hadn’t made much vertical progress during the hunt, but as soon as he stopped focusing on the Space Jellies and dove straight down, he quickly noticed the increasing pressure of the spatial energy as well as the fact that he could bear with it.

He sensed the mounting pressure within his body, but even if it surpassed what he had felt before, it felt like there was room for more, much more.

Ackster thanked the hostile Space Jelly in his heart. Without it, he would have never gotten this far.

The nectar grew darker and deeper in its blue, glossy color the further down Ackster reached. It was almost too dark to see anything. Yet, Ackster was still certain that he was far from the bottom of the Habitat. It almost made him wonder why it was so darn deep.

Ackster started getting curious about whether there really even was a bottom of this seemingly bottomless pond.

However, he was soon forced to concentrate and set aside stray thoughts like that.

The pressure of the energy baptism was finally putting a strain on Ackster’s body. It wasn’t unbearable yet, but it had started affecting his movements.

He gritted his teeth. He had come far, probably further than most. But it didn’t feel like he had shattered any records or reached a depth that The Hero couldn’t reach. He had to go deeper.

Ackster continued until his lungs felt heavy, and his lone arm struggled to drag him forward through the thick nectar. His legs weren’t exhausted, but it was like he was swimming through cotton, and the assistance forward they could provide was limited.

The spatial energy started becoming too much for him, and Ackster could sense that he had reached his limit. It was at this point, in terms of energy baptism, that others would start retreating.

But Ackster wasn’t others. Reaching the limit was just the start. This was where the real struggle began.

He swam as far as he could, fighting against the Habitat’s attempt at pushing upward. He struggled until he could feel the energy start becoming too much for his body and breaking it down. It was like filling an already full glass with even more water without there being a way for the glass to overflow.

Naturally, the glass would crack and break.

But Ackster wasn’t made of glass. His body suffered and started tearing at the seams of his cells. It was like he started cracking.

But he didn’t break and shatter. Strong Body kept him in one piece, and Stubborn Well-Being stayed true to its name. Ackster refused to give in. He displayed his stubbornness and let it maintain his well-being as his body struggled to repair itself in real time.

Finally, when Stubborn Well-Being and Strong Body could no longer keep up with the way his body was deteriorating and collapsing under the pressure of the spatial energy, Ackster activated Limit Breaker.

It was like he had gained new life or become a different person as his internal injuries faded, and he swam with newfound speed.

Ackster’s body surged with energy and vitality as he pierced downward with all his might.

Of course, the pressure only grew the further down he went. Clear Mind and Iron Will had to protect his mind from it, lest it become too much for both body and psyche. Ackster still felt his head begin to ache from the pressure.

But he could still think clearly.

Ackster also knew that there was no real danger. It was just a matter of pushing himself to his limit and beyond, braving the danger, threat, and pain of forcing his body so far.

If there was anything Ackster was confident in doing, it was pushing himself to and beyond his limit, even if it was something too reckless to boast about. That was why he managed to go all the way until he fainted from the overwhelming energy filling his body thanks to Limit Breaker expanding his vessel.