'The Sea God's Temple, huh. It's going to be rough. Doable. But rough.'
Ackster had decided on the first step of his grand plan to save his life and, in the process, the world.
But getting to the Sea God's Temple and taking the Sea God Manual was easier said than done. In the first place, The Hero and his party only discovered it by accident when it got smashed open during a fight with a kraken, so Ackster only knew its general location.
At least there should be a couple of years before then, so Ackster would have time to scour the ocean floor for the Temple. Hopefully, he would find it before the kraken showed up or made its nest. Of course, the quicker he found it, the better since it would let him grow stronger faster and move on to the next steps of his plan.
But finding the Temple wasn't the only obstacle in Ackster's path.
He had to be strong enough to find it and venture that deep into the ocean. Even if the kraken didn't show up, there were bound to be loads of other aquatic monsters and beasts with a taste for human flesh.
And fighting underwater to get to the Temple was bound to be a mess.
There was a lot to do before Ackster could tackle the Temple.
Fortunately, he at least knew what to start with. His skills.
At first, when he realized he was in Ackster Phileam's body and had maintained the original Ackster's skill, Strong Body, Ackster thought that the skill was not quite omnipotent but very versatile.
So, if he wanted to get stronger, he would simply have to focus on training Strong Body.
But the Nomi card's display had shown Ackster that Strong Body's capabilities didn't exclude the presence of other skills.
Even if Strong Body increased his natural resistance to poison, there were other skills that did the same. And if Ackster fulfilled the correct conditions, he would be able to learn them as well. It was the same with the Pain Tolerance skill.
Ackster was sure that his body helped him endure pain a little better than if he didn't have it.
When he thought about it, it wasn't weird that he got those kinds of supplementary skills in addition to Strong Body. After all, they had relatively simple acquisition conditions.
Resist poison to gain Poison Resistance and tolerate pain to get Pain Tolerance. Simple. It was a little concerning that both were F-ranked, however. And even more so, considering that he had only really experienced both one or two times, especially Poison Resistance.
It had gotten to the F-rank from one dose of the poison goblin's poison. Without Strong Body and the glade of Sun-kissed Grass, Ackster would have died to it. No doubt about it.
And the pain when he realigned his broken arm was probably enough to get his Pain Tolerance close to F-rank, and then, stabbing himself with a serrated knife, pushed it over the edge.
However, what Ackster found surprising was the [Keen Senses – G].
His strengthened senses should be a part of Strong Body. But, just like with the other two skills, it wouldn't be impossible for him to acquire that skill on its own as well.
However, Keen Senses had a much higher acquisition difficulty.
Merely straining his ears and looking at intense darkness a couple of times over the span of three days wouldn't be enough to get the Keen Senses skill. It required training his senses, preferably all of them, and noticing an improvement.
But thanks to Strong Body, Ackster had noticed an improvement almost as soon as he put his mind to it. And, without even using all of his senses, he still got the Keen Senses skill since he used multiple senses.
If he had only used his hearing or sight, he would have gotten something like Keen Eye or Keen Ears.
Ackster liked the skill. Keen Senses would be helpful for the spartan training plan he had in mind, even if it was G-ranked now.
But that wasn't why he was excited at having acquired it. It was what getting it so easy meant.
Strong Body had helped Acskter acquire Keen Senses in a fraction of the time usually necessary. And if it could do it with Keen Senses, Strong Body would be able to do it with other skills as well.
Ackster would be able to use Strong Body to acquire a bunch of strengthening and supplementary skills that had straightforward but demanding requirements.
He would have to experiment and see what Strong Body could do and what skills it would help him get. But Acskter was already looking forward to it.
At the moment, he knew Strong Body helped with his senses, metabolism, poison resistance, reflexes, flexibility, strength and muscle development, and recovery. Strong Body might also help him deal with any pain he would experience better. But Ackster wasn't certain about that part.
Also, if the way Ackster's body remembered the original Ackster's movements and body language and quickly adapted to new exercises was any indication, Strong Body was pretty good at learning new tricks. Maybe something like martial arts.
So far, Ackster had only taken advantage of a fraction of Strong Body's possible capabilities, and he was looking forward to seeing this skill blossom and reveal its full potential. If he was up against The Hero, he would be damned sure that he needed it.
With a decision made, Ackster once again firmed his resolve and walked straight off the dirt road toward the next city south of Degrest.
Following the roads and stopping by the towns to do some proper adventuring business would be the easiest and quickest way for Ackster to get to the coast and find a boat to take him to the Central Isles of Matar while also earning some money.
However, following the roads would make him trackable, and he would get there too quickly.
The danger level rose the closer he would get to Matar. If Ackster weren't ready to handle it on his own before he arrived, he would drown.
And so, he would begin his spartan training regime now.