"Fucking hell. I knew I should have written down everything, even if just to get a better look at it all. I never would have missed it. I was even planning on recruiting her to help me stop The Hero. Why did I forget she appears on Millmeria about now?"
Ackster sat down again and rubbed his temples as his outburst cooled down. No matter how much he cursed, it wouldn't change anything. He had temporarily forgotten a tiny detail that could prove essential for his plans. But the keyword was 'temporarily.'
Now that he had remembered it, he could just alter his plans a little. In fact, it was a good thing he had remembered it this early since it would make his plans, at least when it came to getting a reliable ally in the fight against The Hero, a little easier to execute.
A simple detour would fix it. It wasn't even that far. He just had to walk east, maybe continue a little south, and maybe backtrack up north a little. But he should still make it in time.
And now that he remembered and realized what a golden opportunity he had in front of him, Ackster couldn't sit still.
There weren't a lot of characters who could fight on equal standing with The Hero at the end of the original story. And while some of them would be impossible to recruit or get to help, there were a couple that were absolutely necessary if Ackster wanted to save his life, along with everyone else's.
Even a couple of those were still stupidly far out of his reach at the moment.
But, right now, and in the near future, there were a couple of potential candidates for his anti-Hero crew that he could try and get his hands on. And the first one would be….
'Fallen Angel Karandiel.'
She was the one whose backstory Ackster knew the least about. He did know a little about her personality. But, most importantly, he knew how strong she was or could be. She wasn't that strong when she first appeared, but she smashed The Hero when they met each other the first time, which, now that he had almost died to The Hero, was satisfying to think about.
He was a little worried that his interference would affect how quickly Karandiel regained her strength since he wasn't completely sure how she worked. But if it worked like he thought her powers did, and if the backstory the original story had hinted about was anything to go about, Ackster could also help her grow stronger faster.
With a past, well, a possible future now that Ackster had transmigrated into the beginning of the original story before it had happened, of defeating The Hero, Ackster definitely had to make Karandiel work for him.
So, he set off toward Lill, where the Fallen Angel Karandiel would appear first.
'Well, she's an Angel at the moment, though.'
However, there were two main aspects of Ackster's plan that were slightly problematic.
The original story never specified where or when Karandiel first fell to Millmeria. It was just a brief flashback that told the readers she first appeared in Lill.
'Who the fuck made Lill so fucking big?'
And the other problem was the fact that Lill was one of the biggest countries on the Tenger continent.
There was another country up north, Nimur, which was the undisputed largest country on Tenger since it alone covered half the continent, but Lill, despite its name, was in a solid second place.
And, although Ackster had to find Karandiel before it was too late since she didn't have the most pleasant stay on Millmeria at first, he didn't have time to search a country that big on his own.
It would be great if he had access to an information network that could patch the gaps in his transmigrator's knowledge for situations like these and for when his actions eventually started having repercussions and changed the timeline.
Once the butterfly effect actually started taking effect, Ackster's transmigrator's privilege would gradually begin to lose its efficiency. He would still know about things that wouldn't change that easily, like the Sea God's Temple.
But people and living beings weren't as static. They were a little less predictable and easily influenced by their surroundings. And Ackster would have to keep track of The Hero's movements so he didn't accidentally run into someone who would definitely see Ackster as a kill-on-sight target.
Unfortunately, getting his hands on an information network that could track The Hero without The Hero tracking it back to him would have to wait if he didn't want to jeopardize his life. He had an idea of how to go about it. It was also connected to one of the candidates for his anti-Hero crew, who should be pretty easy to recruit.
But the plan, or rather, bait, that he would use to get that candidate was way out of his league at the moment. It would probably take a year before he could even start thinking about approaching that candidate and their information network.
And there wasn't anything else that was suitable for this. Any information he could get second-hand would be too slow.
If Ackster weren't the first to find Karandiel, he would have to go through a bunch of trouble that would delay his plans for the Sea God Manual. That couldn't happen.
With how strong he was without mana, Ackster had to get his hands on a manual that good to see how strong he would really become once he started growing properly and reaching beyond the level of the lower-ranked adventurers.
Although Ackster had a boost in confidence after dusting the group of goblins, he was still painfully aware that The Hero could have done the entire pack in with a single swing of his sword. He wouldn't even have to use any active skills.
With mana, Ackster would slowly but surely begin to step into the upper echelons of the world, even if he would still be far too weak.
But before he could do that, he had to secure Karandiel. So, he gritted his teeth and resolved to focus his training on Agility and Keen Senses for a little since they would be his greatest help in finding Karandiel as quickly as possible.