Ackster entered the locker room and unhappily confirmed that he wasn’t alone. There were a couple of other guys in the men’s section washing blood and dirt off themselves. He wasn’t dissatisfied because he was shy. It was because the state of his clothes didn’t match the state of his body.

But there was something else that worried him as well. So, he found a relatively secluded corner that was free from the presence of others. He found a free locker with simple brown clothes and a towel.

The clothes weren’t as good as the clothes he used when he was Ackster Phileam, but they were better than the ones he had on him at the moment. They were even better than his had been when he first bought them from the homeless people in Degrest.

He inspected the locker and put his bag in there, casually opening it and leaning down.

“Psst. Is this stuff waterproof?”

Ackster whispered to the slime while grabbing a tress of his hair.

He had seen his reflection a couple of times while walking through the city. It was a perfect dye, at least as far as he could tell. He looked like a naturally black-haired young man. He didn’t want to catch attention by suddenly transforming into a handsome blue-haired young man with a refined complexion that looked more like that of a noble’s than a commoner who had worked outside their entire life.

It wasn’t even something Ackster could get rid of since Strong Body made sure his skin was in tip-top condition.

But being pretty with nice skin wasn’t strange, even if he were handsome enough to catch eyes. Suddenly dying his hair, since that’s what it would look like from the perspectives of others, was strange.

The slime raised a tentacle enough for Ackster to see it and nodded with the tentacle.

Ackster trusted the slime and closed the locker.

And, as the slime had promised, the grey hair gel that turned his blue hair black was waterproof. He was a little worried about how he would go about changing his hair color next time or what he would have to do if he wanted to go back to blue. But that wasn’t important. Hopefully, the slime could produce other colors.

After the shower, which succeeded in cleansing Ackster of most of the filth and dried blood – he felt like some of it had become part of him, despite his skill’s cleaning function – he wore the new clothes. He threw away the rags in a nearby trash can before leaving the locker room, slime bag on his back.

Since he saw that Wilma had noticed his progress, he gave her a slight wink just to confirm that they had met eyes. He then went to the other door Wilma had pointed out, where he found Tilt, who almost should have been called Stilt since he was tall and thin, especially his legs, almost like he was standing on a pair of stilts.

After reading the note, Tilt let Ackster past the door, where he found a bunch of intersecting corridors. The grid of corridors was decorated with an almost innumerable number of doors.

Ackster picked an available one, marked by its open door, and entered, closing the door behind him.

He felt like a prisoner in isolation.

Bare wooden walls fit together to make a room just enough for a decently tall person to stand in. It was as deep as it was tall. The room was wide enough for Ackster to walk next to the bed that went bordered three of the room’s walls.

Even if he was allowed to sleep here for more than one night, Ackster didn’t want to. He sat down on the bed, which was, as expected, not very comfortable.

‘How am I supposed to fit a visitor in here when there’s barely enough space for me?’

Ackster sighed and put the bag at the top of the bed.

Compared to sleeping on hard ground filled with cones, sticks, and stones, the bed was a lot better. But the cramped experience was too much for Ackster, who was used to the freedom of sleeping under the bare night sky.

However, when he started to look at it as training for maintaining his calm in tight spaces, it went a little better. So, he laid down and used the slime bag as a pillow while he fished out his Nomi. It had been a while since he last looked at it.

[Name: –]

[Profession: (Adventurer)]

[Stats:

[Strength: E]

[Agility: E]

[Fortitude: E]

[Mana: –]

[Spirit: E]

[Skills:

[Strong Body]

[Pain Tolerance: E]

[Poison Resistance: E]

[Keen Senses: E]

[Iron Stomach: E]

[Sprint: E]

[Strike: E]

[Soft Footsteps: E]

[Leather Skin: E]

[Survivalist: G]

“Huuh~”

Ackster breathed out, unable to contain his feelings. He had picked up five skills during his time in the forest. They were almost all pretty basic skills, but they were useful, even if only due to their simplicity. Well, there was one exception.

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Although Ackster was a little surprised that he had gotten so many skills so quickly and ranked them up to E just as fast, it only confirmed his theory that his innate skill, Strong Body, made it easier for him to get more skills since it made it easier for him to fulfill the acquisition conditions for the various skills.

Sprint, Strike, and Soft Footsteps all had to do with an advancement in the way Ackster moved his body. He ran with more grace and control over his muscles to get Sprint. He used his body more efficiently when attacking, regardless of weapon or body part he used, to get Strike. And he walked more gently and while making less sound to get Soft Footsteps.

Leather Skin had more to do with enduring a lot of damage to his skin. But without Strong Body, Ackster wouldn’t have gotten it so easily since it also had to do with just taking blows better, which was something his body had learned intuitively in the process of getting beat a lot.

If he wasn’t wrong, he should also be able to get skills that required a lot of time and money to get just by being himself and continuing what he was doing. It would still take a while, but the fact that he had gotten those skills so easily was proof of it.

The only exception was probably Survivalist, and the proof was that it was still G-ranked.

Unlike his other new skills, Survivalist wasn’t as noticeable in the lower ranks, and it was more of a testament that he had survived harsh conditions. Supposedly, it began helping with survival activities like finding shelter, setting up camp, and lighting a fire when it ranked up a little.

But its true worth was when it began reaching the higher ranks since it literally made him better at surviving, no matter what. It increased his odds of survival.

‘I should start getting more Stats available.’

Although the stats could still grow, even if they weren’t visible on the Nomi, they didn’t benefit from a profession’s stat growth, which came from the Nomi that tapped into the world and helped its user absorb and direct the existential power and mana of the world.

So, if he wanted to raise his Luck, the most important stat for Survivalist, Ackster would have to unlock it. Fortunately, compared to some other stats, it was relatively straightforward. He just had to get an item.

Unfortunately, getting that item, Denebre’s Necklace, wasn’t as straightforward.

However, before he could start thinking about that, he should get over the first wall of progress. Ackster had no doubts he could do it. It was just a matter of time.

But the fact that all of his stats and skills, except one, were at E, was proof that he would need to put some effort into ranking up. And since his profession was currently Adventurer, there was only one thing he had to do.

Kill a strong enough monster.

Well, he could do other things that weren’t as dangerous, but it would take more time. Not to mention how Ackster wanted the challenge. How else was he supposed to grow? So, after sleeping a few hours, enough to make him feel refreshed and clear-headed, Ackster left his room.

It was nice to sleep on a bed after several weeks in the wild, but it was too relaxed of an environment, even if he pretended it was training for claustrophobia. The fact that he could sense other presences, some significantly stronger than him, move around outside did help. But he could tell that he was safe.

It wasn’t good enough.

Ackster either wanted luxury and complete rest that would let him recover from his training – after all, rest is an integral part of growth – or no safety and comfort at all. Half-measures wouldn’t do him any good.

It was early morning when Ackster left his room. The sun hadn’t even begun to show the top of its forehead yet. And it would probably take an hour or two until it did.

However, Acskter wasn’t the only adventurer up and about, ready to start hunting monsters.

‘Adventurers… Advent… Ant… Seems fitting.’

The sight of adventures milling about both now and yesterday made it seem like adventurers were constantly working, like worker ants in an ant colony. Of course, the adventurers now were different from those last night, but it was whatever

At least there weren’t as many now as yesterday. And Ackster quickly found an available desk where he could hopefully get some information on possible candidates for his training and growth. He would have almost liked it if Wilma was working since she seemed capable enough to get him the information he wanted and be quick about it.

Before he went over, he hoped that the guy at the open desk would be the same, that Wilma was the standard for the place. Unfortunately, that wasn’t so.

It took a little work, but the guy still eventually gave Ackster a list of known monsters and beasts in the nearby area that should be around the danger level he had requested. There was general information about types of monsters who thrived in certain areas and information about specific individual monsters that were causing trouble for the folk.

Ackster quickly found a target that was suitable for him at the moment.

Before he went to sleep, Ackster had analyzed his weakness and possible shortcomings as best as he could. He wasn’t sure how he did overall, but he had identified a few problems.

Ackster’s experience with fighting was pretty uniform and one-sided.

He had tried to push himself while he trekked toward Lill and after leaving Degrest. He had almost died several times, which was why he already had almost all of his skills at E. However, his victories mostly relied on cheap tricks.

He ambushed, targeted weak points, or found and used poison. He also used weapons to overwhelm and suppress his targets without giving them a fighting chance and then relied on his Strong Body to handle any consequences.

Since it helped him gain a defensive skill and slightly improve his Strong Body skill, it was a viable method. It was also a decent fighting strategy, considering he didn’t know how to fight.

But cheap tricks didn’t work on strong opponents, especially ones who surpassed him greatly in any one area. He didn’t know how to deal with enemies that didn’t have weaknesses.

Considering Ackster’s grand plan contained a lot of enemies and encounters like that, it wasn’t a good combat method. He would have to find a way to fight people that worked no matter what opponent it was.

It would almost come naturally with the Sea God’s Manual since mana training manuals at that level almost always came with ways to use that mana in the most optimal and suitable way.

The Hero’s Blessed World manual showed The Hero how to use his mana both for swordplay and magic. Regardless of what the Sea God Manual was better suited for weapons or magic, Ackster was sure that it would contain something similar.

However, he would be a fool if he placed all his eggs in one basket.

There were a thousand things that could go wrong with the Sea God Manual plan before he even got there. Even if he arrived there successfully and got his hands on the manual, there was no guarantee that it would suit him or that he would be talented enough at mana to use it.

It was still his best bet, especially when compared to the Ocean Unison Manual and the mermaids, so Ackster was still going for it after securing Karandiel. But he had to have preparations and backup plans in case things went awry.

And for that, he had to learn how to fight in such a way that no matter the opponent and their weakness, he would still triumph.

To that end, Ackster had chosen a walking tank as his target for training and to break through the first wall of growth. The fact that it had a juicy bounty that would let him buy clothes, information, and a soft bed was also a plus.

After getting the information he needed from the guild receptionist, Ackster left the Guild’s branch office and headed out of town.

This early, most of the others on the streets were adventurers either coming back from or going on an adventure.

Still, Ackster expected some trouble at the gates.

“Uh, you’re Dean, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Jim and the captain told us about you. You’re good to go.”

But, contrary to his expectations, the guards waved him through. Being friendly with Jim had apparently helped quite a bit. Ackster made a mental note not to be overly antagonistic should he encounter similar situations in the future.

The ease with which he passed through the gate wasn’t something he could miss out on. And if he were going to stay in Ilto a little while to get stronger and look for Karandiel, going through the gate so quickly the guards didn’t even notice the color of his eyes was something he would appreciate.