Time passed as Ackster waited for his body to patch itself back together while thinking about his plans for the future.
The rock lizard aside, Ackster had come up with three concrete goals for the foreseeable future. Locate and get Karandiel, a Fallen Angel, to work with him. Head south to the sea and locate the Sea God's Temple and the Sea God's Manual that should be inside it. And while doing those things, he would prioritize getting skills, primarily those with Iron in their names or something similar, since they would strengthen his body beyond what his stats could do.
Ackster felt more secure knowing he had a definite goal in his training, and it wasn't just going all out and torturing himself in whichever way he could think of. His status showed that it hadn't been an entirely useless method. But even The Hero and everyone else of note in the original story had trained with a clear goal in mind most of the time.
If Ackster wanted to reach or surpass that level, he should, at the very least, use a similar or better method. And now that he had found a direction to train and center his combat around, he could finally do that.
The fight with the rock lizard had also shown him a possible route to develop a suitable combat style. Until he became stronger or somehow increased his recovery rate, it would be a very inefficient style that would only be good for one fight at a time. But Ackster was confident he wouldn't lose against anyone at a similar level as himself with his self-sacrificing way of fighting.
Ackster had Strong Body's regeneration, a decently high-ranked Pain Tolerance for his average rank, Iron Will and Clear mind, which helped him stay clear-headed and focused, even while breaking his body, and Strike and Stone Fists, which increased the damage he dealt when attacking. Leather Skin also added some extra toughness, which would help him endure attacks better.
It was still far from perfect since this kind of melee and physical fighting specialization was vulnerable to two main things, magic and ranged attacks. He did have Sprint and Keen Senses to help him avoid attacks while closing the distance, but he still couldn't guarantee victory against mages, archers, and other ranged fighters the same way he could against melee fighters.
Even then, as long as his opponent had a good weapon and armor, they could still chop off or break his limbs and stop him from moving before or after blocking his attacks.
'Shit. I'm fucking weak.'
Ackster quickly realized after thinking about possible scenarios where he fought against others that he wasn't good. His current skills, and the skills he was planning to acquire, would be a good foundation since they would strengthen his body and make him stronger and sturdier, possibly faster as well.
But just that wouldn't be enough.
He wouldn't have anything that brought him up and above anyone else in a specific area. He didn't have anything he excelled in, something he could dominate others in.
All of The Hero's comrades were specialized and at the peak of their various fields. Practically everyone at the top of the world, the level Ackster would have to reach since it was the one he would have to face, were the same. They specialized in one thing, and, thanks to that extreme specialization, they managed to win against others, regardless of what their opponent was.
'The Hero….'
Was the only exception Ackster could think of. He was all-rounded and did everything. Melee combat with his sword, magic, tanking, buffing, trapping, scouting, and tactics. He wasn't necessarily the best in history at everything he did, especially a couple of the more auxiliary aspects of combat that his comrades could handle. But he was the best in terms of fencing and magic.
The Hero was like several specialized people clumped together in one individual being, and he was the only one Ackster knew that could reach the apex in several fields like that.
The most straightforward way to beat The Hero that Ackster could think of was to surpass The Hero in every field The Hero dabbled in. But that was impossible, regardless of how much knowledge Ackster had, unless he could find a way to make up for the difference in time.
The other way would be to do like the Sword God and excel so much in a single field that it didn't matter how much The Hero had achieved in any other field. The gap between the Sword God's swordplay and The Hero's combined skills in all of his fields was large enough in the Sword God's favor for the Sword God to play around with The Hero whenever he appeared in the first nine-tenths of the original story.
It was only when The Hero started maturing fully and getting his hands on a slew of skills that he began catching up to the Sword God.
However, before The Hero could best the Sword God in a duel, he bested the Sword God and all life in Millmeria by destroying the world after defeating The Calamity. Even until the end, the Sword God remained undefeated by nothing other than his own mortality in the face of complete destruction of the world.
'Too bad he's a fucking psycho.'
A person as strong as the Sword God was naturally someone Ackster could use if he wanted to stop The Hero from destroying the world.
Since the Sword God and The Hero didn't fight after The Hero reached his highest level of strength, Ackster couldn't say for sure who would win, especially if The Hero's comrades survived the fight with The Calamity. But if Ackster, the Sword God, Karandiel, Dragon Slayer Kargas, and whoever else he could get his hands on, their victory was guaranteed, almost solely thanks to the Sword God.
It was also a shame they had to do it after The Hero defeated The Calamity. Otherwise, no matter how strong they were, The Calamity would win. It was simply how the Calamitous Cycles worked.
Every few hundred or thousands, maybe even ten thousand years, a calamity would show signs of appearing in Millmeria, shortly after which a hero, blessed by the world, would be born.
That hero and the calamity would compete. The chosen hero would do all they could to become as strong as possible in as short a time as possible, while the calamity would strive to manifest and mature as quickly as possible, by any means necessary.
The chosen hero, blessed by the world and by fate, was nigh-unkillable by human hands or by anyone other than the calamity of that cycle. Likewise, only the chosen hero's power and blessing could kill and defeat the calamity.
It was a binary fate that put the entire world's fate on the shoulders of one man or woman. If they failed, the calamity would win and, depending on the calamity, enslave all life or destroy the world. At least if the calamity enslaved everything, there was a slight chance of getting another chance with a new hero, but it would all be over if the world got destroyed.
So, Ackster couldn't just stop The Hero before he had completed his mission. He had to interfere right after The Calamity was defeated and before The Hero could destroy the world. Or rather, before The Hero was controlled to destroy the world.
"Hello…?"