Ackster had stepped up his self-harm game after he left Degrest in a desperate attempt to strengthen Strong Body and make his recovery rate even quicker. However, he had mostly been cutting bits and pieces of himself. He also hadn't been able to confirm any definite progress aside from how he could easily eat a lot more now, even without injuring himself.
However, now that he had broken his fists, one ankle, and one elbow, Ackstre realized a relatively serious problem with his explosive growth.
Thanks to Strong Body and his stat growth, his muscular strength had skyrocketed when compared to how it was his first day after transmigration. And while his Fortitude had also risen, it had only risen to the same level as his Strength stat. It didn't make up for the increase in muscles Strong Body had given Ackster.
But, while Ackster's muscles had grown, and he was happy that he was stronger than he was before, they had grown too quickly. He had left the rest of his body behind.
As long as he kept moving and using his skeleton, it would gradually acclimatize to his strength, but only if his strength didn't continue increasing at a similarly disproportionate pace to his skeleton's growth.
In short, his bones were too weak.
Long before his muscles were fatigued and too weary for him to move, the pain of his broken bones stopped Ackster from fully utilizing his body.
Sure, he might be up against an opponent that made that difficult, regardless of the difference in strength between his muscles and skeleton, but that didn't really matter. Ackster's weak skeleton limited how hard he could attack and how hard he could be attacked.
While ramming his, so far still intact elbow into the same spot on the rock lizard's forehead as before, Ackster made a mental note to begin conditioning his skeleton so that it could keep up with his muscles. And when he was at it, he should also do something with his tendons, ligaments, and stuff.
It was just that he didn't know how to do that.
Unfortunately, due to the pressure of his current situation, Ackster wasn't in a position to start thinking about solutions to that problem just yet. He had to get rid of the rock lizard first before he could start thinking about nonsense like growing stronger.
He had one last thought before he managed to break his other elbow.
'The strength from Strong Body is separate from the stat.'
The discrepancy between his muscular strength and the tensile strength of his skeleton, while disconcerting, also told Ackster that his only source of strength wasn't the Strength stat.
But before he could think about it anymore, the pain from breaking his second elbow washed over him and stopped his mind from picking that train of thought back up.
Ackster had hoped that he would have grown numb to the pain by now or that his Pain Tolerance would have surpassed the threshold and reached D-rank. Well, considering he didn't lose consciousness despite multiple breaks and fractures in three of his limbs, his Pain Tolerance might actually have ranked up.
However, even if he was awake, there wasn't much Ackster could do.
He couldn't run away due to his foot, and he couldn't attack the rock lizard since both his arms were broken and unusable. Even if he gritted his teeth and endured the pain of moving his arms, he wouldn't be able to muster enough force to make the soft elbows deal any damage.
And while his fists were showing signs of recovery already, they would break again before doing any real damage.
And if he let go of the rock lizard's neck with his only intact limb, he would fall to the ground and get eaten by the rock lizard in a matter of seconds.
'Fucking shit.'
He had sacrificed an ankle and both arms, and he had managed to crack several scales in the center of the rock lizard's forehead. He had also gotten deep enough to draw blood. If he had a third elbow, it might be enough to get to the skull and crack the rock lizard's skull open.
Ackster didn't often think it was a shame that he was an ordinary human since he liked being one. Not that he had any experience benign anything else. But now was one of those moments where being a monster or any creature with a stack of arms would be nice.
The fact that he only wanted more arms to be able to use them as disposable tools and that he didn't even think about being stronger or something didn't cross Ackster's mind.
What did cross Ackster's mind however, aside from how he would never give up, was the realization that he still had a body part that was hard enough to use as a weapon.
Before he could hesitate and realize that it was a bad idea, Ackster had already bent his body forward and rammed his forehead against the stony, slightly bloody rock lizard's head.
Unlike his elbows, Ackster couldn't treat his skull as a disposable weapon. If it broke, he would most likely die. Considering how Strong Body hadn't any trouble healing and helping his body recover without disinfectants or any aid like that, it might not be impossible for Strong Body to recover brain damage as well. He hadn't even needed to use a splint or anything when he broke his arm against the poison goblin.
But that was one risk Ackster didn't want to take.
Fortunately, with the fine touch of his forehead, Ackster could sense that his elbows had done a great deal of damage to the rock lizard's head. The fact that it was bucking wildly like a raging bull was also an indication of Ackster doing something the rock lizard didn't like.
However, the rock lizard wasn't as good as a bull at jumping and trying to throw off any possible riders, so Ackster managed to hold on despite the hard, sharp scales digging into his flesh through the layer of clothes. If anything, the scales and the resistance they offered made it easier for Ackster to stay on the rock lizard's neck, at least as long as he ignored the pain.
Thankfully, the pain and ringing in his head each time he headbutted the rock lizard helped him ignore the pain in the rest of his body.
Ackster continued smashing his head against the rock lizard's in the hopes that he would be the one with the hardest bone until he lost consciousness.