Ackster's eyes flashed wide open at the startling realization that there was someone right above his head, but they closed just as quickly due to the avalanche of light pouring in. A wave of frustration surged through Ackster's mind long enough for him to realize that he was insane for letting that happen when there was a possible threat.
But he slowly realized that the voice and the presence were familiar.
"Wilma?"
"You sound disappointed. What? Am I not who you expected?"
Ackster cleared his throat a little. It was the first time he spoke to another person—ants included—in way too long.
"No. My throat's just dry. Anyway, fancy meeting you here. Has the city moved since I went underground?"
"Moved, huh?"
Wilma spoke while rubbing her chin thoughtfully.
"I guess that's one way to put it. But no, that's not why I'm here. I'm here for you."
"You are? Wait, how did you even know where I was? Well, I guess your tail knew my approximate location, but how did you know I was going to pop up here?"
"I didn't."
Ackster's eyes finally adjusted enough for him to squint and see Wilma standing above him. She was dressed in clothes that seemed more like what an adventurer would wear and not a receptionist.
'Huh? Fieldwork?'
He was pretty sure he had seen several adventurers wearing similar light leather armor. But Ackster already knew Wilma was pretty strong, so he wasn't surprised.
"I didn't need to."
Ackster's brow furrowed as he looked at Wilma.
"What do you mean?"
Wilma sighed slightly with a troubled expression.
"I kind of suspected it, but you don't know what you're doing, do you, Dean?"
"..."
She was right, but he didn't like it, so Ackster remained silent.
"Well, you'll understand in the future if you don't die first. But in short, you're exuding so much life force I could see you as soon as you got close enough to the surface. You're basically like a beacon of energy for anyone with good enough senses."
"Huh? Why?"
Ackster understood what Wilma meant, but he couldn't understand why. He hadn't done or eaten anything special. He had just trained as usual.
"You tell me. You're the one figuratively shining like the sun."
"Wait…."
Ackster gradually realized what it was. It was a little concerning, but it was also kind of cool.
'It has to be Strong Body.'
The only answer Ackster could think of was his innate skill.
When he had injured and harmed himself in various ways to train and try to acquire a self-regeneration skill, he also put stress on his vitality and life force. Or something along those lines.
Or maybe, in order to increase the rate at which Ackster healed, Strong Body had increased the source of his healing, which was his vitality. So Strong Body, through some mysterious means, boosted the very core of Ackster's life with seemingly reckless abandon since he didn't stop getting injured.
And since he had been injured a lot and also made a lot of progress with Nold's secret technique, Strong Body had pumped up his life force quite a bit.
"It's nothing to be that happy about, you know? Every adventurer worth their salt has a strong life force."
"Oh…"
Wilma read Ackster's expression as he pieced together the reason behind his spike in life force.
"One of the many differences between them and you is that they know how to stop it from leaking like a dragon-chewed boot."
"Ah…"
Wilma's words dampened Ackster's spirit enough to make him realize that it was probably his budding life force that had attracted the ant queen and made her want to eat him. So, he could understand why it wasn't anything to be overly happy about, even if it were a sign of being strong. As Wilma said, his abundant life force was a beacon, a beacon for trouble.
"I understand. It's not that difficult learning how to suppress it, right?"
Wilma shrugged.
"Depends. Is it difficult to learn how to run?"
"No…?"
"Are you sure? If you were given all the strength you have now without knowing how to run before, would it be easy? Ah! Don't answer, we don't have time for this. Since you obviously need help, and it's clearly worth it from an investment standpoint, I'm going to see if I can get you some. But it's going to take a while. So, you should do what you need to do and stay out of trouble, any more trouble, I should say."
Words poured out of Wilma's mouth almost too quickly for Ackster to respond. But as he realized something felt ominous about her last ones and was about to ask, Wilma grabbed hold of his arm and yanked him up so he was standing. She began dragging him forward.
"Um, are you sure?"
Ackster spoke with hesitation after processing all that Wilma had said. He decided to take it one thing at a time. And the first point she made was that she was going to get him help. Ackster could also tell that she was referring to learning how to control his life force and generally improving as an adventurer or a combatant who could enter the Guild's special forces.
"Always."
"..."
"About what, though?"
"Helping me learn how to control my life force."
"Oh, that? Yeah. If you can take down an entire ant colony ruled by a mutated queen with an estimated rank two above yours and then maintain your sanity after staying in the darkness for two months or so, you've got the groundwork to be well and truly sponsored. It's going to take a little time to convince the higher-ups and get things set up. But if you ask me, getting you professional help and some proper training is a done deal. You've gotten this far on your own in a record timeframe. And you've made astounding progress with that crazy-ass technique in addition to acquiring what seems like a self-regeneration skill. If the Guild doesn't agree to it, I'll personally ask Grannie—Ah, I'm not supposed to mention her. Anyway, I'm as sure as a shower curtain, so you can go ahead and rest easy."
"...Two months…?"
Ackster's mouth hung open as he stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes glazed over in disbelief.