Ackster's anxious and solemn expression made Wilma chuckle a little.

"There is no need to think about it too much right now. You are still not strong enough to perform any tasks that we cannot ask of other explorers. Don’t worry. The only thing you need to do now is grow stronger with the help of the Guild. And once you’ve reached a high enough rank, you’ll have to start making up for the help the Guild will give you.”

Ackster nodded. Although it seemed like some kind of scam that the Guild would help him become strong on a verbal promise that he would carry out their secret orders in the future, at the moment, that was precisely what he needed.

“Okay. So, for now, business as usual?”

“Yeah. Unless you have something you need or want to become stronger. Don’t be afraid to ask. If it’s something the Guild can provide, we will.”

Ackster was still filled with doubt.

He had never heard of something like this—that the Guild had its own special task force. He had to admit that it made sense since even the Guild would have things they wanted to deal with secretly.

But even if he understood that it was reasonable for the Guild to have their own special task force, he had a hard time accepting the fact that Wilma wanted to recruit him so strongly. She was even willing to lend him the Guild’s unreserved help, all because they might ask things of him in the future when he became strong enough.

It was too good to be true. Ackster had gotten the greatest help he could possibly get, right when he needed it. And all he had to do in exchange was carry out orders on the Guild’s behalf in the future once he was already strong.

“Am I really worth that kind of investment? Do you have any guarantees to secure me and my help in the future? What if I get all the help I need and then take off? Also, why would the Guild be willing to go this far just to get more S-ranks?”

Since he was potentially making a choice that would change his entire future, Ackster would have to clear up as many doubts and concerns as possible. He probably wouldn’t be able to get a perfect answer to everything if what Wilma was talking about was true, but he had to try.

Wilma hesitated a little.

“We are approaching things I won’t be able to tell you, even to try and persuade you, just so you know.”

“Okay.”

Wilma continued after Ackster showed he understood that he might not get satisfactory answers.

“The burtally short answer is that the Guild won’t lose much even if we lose you. At this level, the Guild can afford to expend its resources, even if you don’t live up to expectations. The potential gains and benefits, even if only one in ten or twenty potential candidates get anywhere, far outweigh the losses if the rest fall off.”

“So, I have everything to gain, and you have next to nothing to lose?”

“That’s about it. Of course, we will have to monitor you a little and check how you’re proceeding before just handing out the good stuff, but yeah. With how powerful the Adventurer’s Guild really is, low- and medium-ranked adventurers and the supplies they need are something that won’t even put a dent in its finances.”

“Hmm….”

To Ackster, it was still too good to be true. But he also couldn’t really refute Wilma’s statement. The Guild was so far above him that the resources needed to help him climb up through the ranks even faster were something the Guild couldn’t even be bothered about. It was a disparaging feeling to be so weak. But if Wilma were honest right now and the Guild would be backing him, he could almost feel some confidence in becoming strong enough and assembling people capable of helping him stop The Hero.

Also, at this point, it would be too late to back away.

The Adventurer’s Guild already knew he wasn’t who he said he was, and Wilma had told him a lot of confidential information. Even if they didn’t openly kill him, nothing was stopping them from ensuring his lips didn’t flap more than they should.

He had put half his foot in out of necessity since he needed to know what Wilma wanted. And that had been enough. It was too late to take it back. Ackster’s only option was to continue forward and embrace this sudden windfall, no matter how suspicious the timing was.

Even if he asked, he wouldn’t get an answer other than what Wilma had already said. She had coincidentally noticed him and ran a background check, which confirmed that he was suspicious. And then he also showed signs of being in the middle of rapid growth.

In order not to miss out on a precious seedling like that, Wilma acted quickly and recruited him, even if it meant revealing part of her intentions.

Ackster wouldn’t get more information about that even if he asked since it was an answer without obvious flaws. However, it was only a foolproof answer to Ackster’s worries if he ignored the fact that it had begun with a coincidence.

He had coincidentally arrived at Ilto and the Guild’s branch office during the hours Wilma worked. He didn’t even know if she worked every day, but still. If he hadn’t met Wilma then, he wouldn’t have ended up in this park late at night with the Guild offering to sponsor him.

However, even if Ackster brought this up with Wilma, she would just say that it was a coincidence.

No matter how much Ackster doubted it, he had been lucky.

Either he had actually been lucky or he hadn’t. Either way, he was in this situation now, and the only thing left for him to do was agree.

He didn’t like the feeling of being manipulated, since that’s what it felt like when he analyzed what had happened when he arrived at Ilto. Even the guards hadn’t bothered him too much. When it had happened, he had chalked it up to them being nice people, but what if it was all prearranged?

Maybe even the old man on the cart could have intentionally guided him to Ilto.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

‘Holy fuck, I’m paranoid.’

Ackster realized the depths of his paranoia. However, he couldn’t disregard it. He was onto something. He didn’t know what, but he was. What he did know was that the forces in play, should he be right, were not something he couldn’t even see the tip of.

Ackster controlled his expression and forced his insights out of his mind; regardless of whether they were true or figments of his imagination, there was nothing he could do about or with them at the moment.

“Alright, Wilma. In that case, I would like to start getting some skills.”

“Skills, huh?”

Wilma grimaced as she repeated Ackster’s request.

“I mean, it’s doable, but you shouldn’t be such a greenhorn that you don’t know that skills aren’t everything, right?”

Ackster nodded.

Although The Hero had a ton of skills that made him stronger to an unbelievable degree, his power didn’t only lie in his skills. And The Hero’s skills didn’t necessarily catch and express all of The Hero’s strengths.

Besides, even with ranks and the descriptions an upgraded Nomi would give, which not all skills had, skills were just names and identifications of something a person could do. And while they helped a person perform an action better or become stronger in some kind of way, how were skills supposed to account for a person’s combat instincts, adaptability, and the general way they move or use their weapons?

Skills could do those things. They could even improve and strengthen things like that beyond what a person could do on their own. But if the person couldn’t do it on their own in the first place, there was only so much a skill could do, especially if it was acquired through skillbooks or items.

“I know. But at the moment, my growth is tied to accumulating and overlapping skills. So, if you want me to continue growing stronger, this is at least one way to do it.”

Ackster seemed adamant in his request, and Wilman wasn’t quite sure what to do.

“You know learning skills on your own is the best way, right?”

“Yes. I’m only asking for skillbooks where that isn’t an opportunity or where it would take too much effort to be worth it. Otherwise, only the methods for getting skills will be more than enough.”

Wilma sighed. She had just said that the Guild would support Ackster in whichever way he wanted in exchange for him staying silent about the special task force and even joining it when he was eligible.

And focusing on skills wasn’t necessarily a bad way to grow stronger. It was just that it was a shortsighted method.

No matter how many skills one had or which skills it was, they would be useless if one couldn’t use them properly, either because of lacking technical capability or because they weren’t strong enough to handle it. The fundamentals and basics were the most important aspect of every path to strength. Without a well-rounded and solid foundation, everything built on it would crumble.

In fact, Ackster was already experiencing one thing that could happen because of a lacking foundation or a misaligned skill list. His body couldn’t handle its own strength. It wasn’t because he had prioritized too many skills of one attribute, but it was closely tied to his skill, Strong Body.

Since he had used his muscles so much and put them through the wringer repeatedly, they had grown stronger. However, his skeleton and internal organs were falling behind. Well, his stomach was barely keeping up, thanks to his Iron Stomach.

“Alright. Any specifics? What kind of skills do you want, Dean?”

Since it seemed Ackster didn’t have any intentions of changing his mind and that he was aware of what focusing solely on skills could do, Wilma relented.

“Body reinforcement skills. Things that will strengthen all of this.”

Ackster pointed to his entire body.

“Any kind?”

“Any kind. Also, I know it probably won’t be easy, but anything that will help me heal faster would be greatly appreciated.”

“You want to boost your regeneration?”

Wilma raised an eye and looked at him skeptically.

“Yeah. Is there something wrong with that? You should have noticed by now that I’m a close-quarters combat fighter. If I get injured, increased healing will help me get back to fighting quicker and all that.”

“I mean, there are a couple of ways to do it that I can tell you right now. But it usually requires a lot of money and time. The more money you have, the less time you need, basically. Well, you also need a strong will to go through with it. But I think you’ll be fine on that part, Dean.”

“I see. How much time and money would you say is needed?”

Ackster already knew that there were ways to get healing skills that relied on those two things, but Wilma seemed like she would know more details.

Wilma raised the center of her furrowed brow as she thought about it.

“I think the record is something along the lines of two months, maybe? One of the brothers of the Warent House did in that amount of time by blowing through more than half of their military budget.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah.”

Ackster furrowed his brow in deep thought. The Warent House was one of the greater Houses of Lill. They were also famous for their military strength. So, half their budget was certainly an incredible sum. It wasn’t money Ackster could get his hands on. Even if he did, it would be so much money, and such an expenditure of money that it would be impossible to avoid notice.

He would have to find another way.

“You said ‘usually’?”

Wilma nodded after a couple of seconds.

“Yes. As with everything, there are exceptions. There are artifacts that can do what time and money can’t. There are also ruins of past Cycles with magic and technology that can grant their discoverer those kinds of skills. This is just a rumor, but the Guildmaster, the Dragon Slayer, obtained significant regenerative capabilities by killing and bathing in the blood of a half-orc, half-dragon hybrid.”

“You don’t happen to have any of those on hand?”

“No… Even if I, or the Guild, did, you wouldn’t get them.”

“That’s understandable. And there’s no other way?”

Ackster didn’t want to give up yet. Combined with the regenerative power his Strong Body already offered him, another healing skill would significantly boost Ackster’s fighting capabilities, especially if he decided to go down the route of using his own body as an expendable weapon.

Wilma hesitated again. She tilted her head back and forth as if trying to shake out any other way to get the type of skill Ackster wanted.

“Ah!”

Eventually, she remembered something.

“I’ll say this first. Don’t get your hopes up.”

“Okay…?”

“And this is just a theory. Barely even that, really. And it hasn’t been confirmed to work on all kinds of skills, especially not self-healing skills since they’re so rare.”

“Okay…?”

“But, you’re aware that different people are not equal. Everyone is good at different things to various degrees.”

“Yeah…?”

Wilma could tell that while Ackster was patient enough to see where she was going, he also didn’t feel like listening to a bunch of rhetorical questions for the rest of the night.

“I’ll get to the point. Innate talent makes it easier for some people to acquire new skills than others. For example, a person with a naturally gifted physique and an innate sense for fighting will have an easier time learning combat-related skills like Strike, Press The Attack, Slash, and General Martial Arts, regardless of their profession.”

“Are you saying that applies to healing as well? That a person with a great natural recovery rate will have an easier time getting a self-healing skill?”

Wilma shrugged.

“It’s not impossible, at least. But that only means it hasn’t been proven or disproven. Yet.”