"Urgh."
Ackster came to shortly after losing consciousness.
"Huh?"
Ackster regaining consciousness wasn't surprising. He knew he wouldn't die from pushing himself too far in the Habitat. The pressure would force him back to the surface, and Wilma or someone could fish him out if necessary.
But as Ackster opened his eyes while sitting up, he realized that he wasn't back inside the tent where the Habitat lay. He wasn't even on the ground, well, above ground. The soil beneath his hand and body was solid, but no tent or sky filled his eyes as he looked up.
"What the…?"
Ackster knew he was looking up. He could feel gravity pulling his head down as he did so. Still, the sight of looking at the Habitat from down under made his head spin. Being beneath a liquid with seemingly nothing in between but still not getting wet didn't make sense.
But that was how it was.
Ackster had somehow ended up below the Habitat.
Ackster looked at the ground beneath him in sudden realization.
He had reached the bottom! He didn't know how he had done it or why he hadn't been pushed back to the surface. But Ackster had done something no one else had done. He had reached the end of the Habitat.
That wasn't the only thing he had done.
Ackster had beaten The Hero.
Ackster stared at the ground beneath his feet, lightly stomping on it in disbelief.
He had actually done it. He wanted to whoop and cheer. But he still couldn't quite believe he had done something not even The Hero could do.
Ackster closed his eyes and put his arm over them as he leaned his head back to keep the tears from flowing.
There was hope.
This occasion was the first real proof that Ackster wasn't fighting a losing battle. He hadn't had any concrete evidence that Strong Body and Ackster Phileam's innate talent would even be enough to come close to touching The Hero's toe hair. But now Ackster knew that not only could he stand on equal footing with The Hero, he could even defeat him.
Of course, a single non-combat incident wouldn't be enough to confirm it. But Ackster felt true hope for the first time since his transmigration.
He was no longer holding on to his resolution to defeat The Hero through sheer willpower. He now had hope that his goal was achievable.
Ackster knew that this incident was circumstantial and that he had reached the bottom while The Hero hadn't, mostly had to do with his nigh-masochistic treatment of himself and his willingness to do everything it took.
The Hero was also willing to do everything necessary to save the world and stop The Calamity.
However, the key difference between Ackster's and The Hero's willingness was upon whom they inflicted it. Ackster treated himself and his body as something less than a punching bag, while The Hero didn't let anyone stop him or interfere with his quest.
The Hero worked with the bigger picture in mind since he was already confident in himself.
Ackster knew that he would be the key to defeating The Hero. He needed to get stronger, no matter what it took, even if he had to throw himself into a volcano to do it.
When The Hero had entered the Habitat for his inventory, he had retreated when he was satisfied.
Ackster had willingly forgotten what the word retreat meant. He was a little more stubborn and willing to suffer than The Hero, at least this time when the stakes weren't that high.
After all, The Hero had never suffered from a lacking inventory size despite not reaching the Habitat's bottom.
Ackster hoped there would be something special at the bottom. But even if there wasn't, and he simply had a ginormous inventory, he would happily take it. While The Hero hadn't lacked volume in his inventory, Ackster was of the mind that there was no such thing as too big.
If he couldn't fill it with various weapons, food, clothes, supplies, and the like, he could just fill it with explosives and dump them all on his enemy if he couldn't defeat them with regular means.
But he had to leave the Habitat before he could start filling it with things. And before he could leave, Ackster naturally had to explore.
Ackster looked around.
It seemed like he had ended up in a cave right below the nectar. He had landed close to the edge, and he followed the wall with his eyes as he looked around the surprisingly spacious cave.
At first, Ackster thought that he could see so well thanks to his Darksight. But when his gaze reached the center of the cave, he found a source of light subtle enough that he wouldn't have seen it without Darksight. It emitted barely enough glow to stand out from the otherwise dark blue, almost black earth in the cave.
Ackster swept the cave with his eyes again and confirmed that at the bottom of the circular cave, located right below the circular pond, there was nothing other than him and the source of light in the center.
Ackster made a note of the fact that he was once again deep underground in a tunnel without any real light before deciding to approach the bulbous light source.
As far as Ackster knew, no one had reached the bottom of a Habitat, and thus, no one had found out what was there. He had to investigate, and if possible, he could use whatever it was for himself.
Something resting at the bottom of a Habitat had to be something extraordinary. Of course, Ackster doubted he would know what to do with something like that. Thankfully, he had the wondrous skills Monster Muncher, Iron Stomach, and Strong Body. He could just eat it if he didn't figure out what to do with the source of light that appeared to be a…
"...A flower?"
Ackster spoke out loud as he got close enough to make out the characteristics of the source of light at the bottom of the Habitat.