The rock lizard's armor wasn't just ordinary stone that it had picked up and plastered onto itself. The rock lizard ate stone as part of its diet, and then after processing that stone, it secreted a layer of hard, dense rock through its skin.
As the rock lizard grew, so too did its armor. The rock lizard became stronger and could eat more and tougher stones to create better armor that would also weigh more. It was a never-ending process that eventually turned the rock lizard into a massive, hulking monster of impenetrable rocks.
Fortunately, the rock lizard Ackster had hunted was a young one who had just formed its armor. Otherwise, no matter how many bones Ackster broke, he wouldn't have ever gotten through its armor and cracked its skull.
As Ackster started dismantling the rock lizard to the best of his ability, and he struggled to set aside the rock lizard's skin and the armor of stone scales on the skin to access the meat beneath, he realized exactly how strong the rock lizard was.
Despite such a heavy layer of armor protecting its entire body, the rock lizard was still a smidge faster than Ackster.
Ackster had initially thought that his stats were in the same range as the rock lizard's, but he had vastly underestimated the rock lizard and the weight of its armor. The rock lizard's stats were probably up at B-rank or something. It was just that the armor weighed it down so much and restrained its stats until a D-rank's stats were enough to compare with it.
If the rock lizard hadn't carried its armor around, Ackster wouldn't have lasted more than a moment against it. The rock lizard would have sprinted over as soon as it sensed Ackster, and before Ackster could have done anything, it would have torn him apart with an overwhelming amount of strength and the sharpness of its claws.
However, that was if it had been able to take off its armor.
After all, the source of the rock lizard's strength and agility was the fact that it carried such heavy armor almost from when it was born. Well, the armor probably wasn't as heavy as the one in Ackster's hands from the very beginning. It grew with the rock lizard and became heavier according to how much weight the rock lizard could handle.
Ackster grinned.
The rock lizard had inspired him to add to his training.
Since the rock lizard became that strong by being covered in heavy weights at all times, why couldn't he?
If he went about his daily business while being covered in clothes or an outfit made from the rock lizard's armor, he would force his body to train, no matter what he did. Putting that kind of strain on his entire body would also put pressure on his bones. It wouldn't be as direct as repeatedly hitting and breaking his bones, but it was enough, at least to start with.
The greatest thing of it all was that when he outgrew the rock lizard's armor, he could just find another one. An older rock lizard would have scales of much denser stone that would weigh a lot more. And, in order to defeat those rock lizards that would provide him with the best training equipment, he would also have to get better at fighting, especially against well-armored opponents.
It was a perfect cycle of training.
Ackster had first planned to sell the scales since the dense stone was a useful material in constructing defensive structures or sturdy buildings. It was ill-suited for weapons or tools due to its weight. But, as long as the ground was solid enough to carry it, houses, fortresses, or walls made even from a mixture of it would become great defenses.
Although it was still currently peacetime, The Hero's existence was proof that the world would be getting chaotic in the near future. Naturally, it was the opportune time to start reinforcing and shoring up the defenses, whether that be against monsters or other humans or civilized species.
The price would continue rising for things like the rock lizard's scales and armor, so Ackster would gain more if he sold it in the future. But without an Inventory, it would be too much to carry it around and wait for that time to come.
However, now that he was going to get someone to turn it into wearable equipment, he wouldn't have to sell it or worry about selling it later, though he could probably sell the equipment to someone like-minded once he had outgrown it.
Fortunately, the armor wasn't the only valuable thing on a rock lizard.
The meat, which was basically only muscles and organs, was tough. The muscles had been put under constant strain for the entirety of the rock lizard's life, and it was apparent just from how hard they were, even when relaxed.
Besides, Ackster would be eating it to make up for all the energy he had spent.
The only thing that would remain of the rock lizard would be its skeleton.
Although Ackster wanted to be able to eat bone since it was probably nutritious and could also lead to new skills, the rock lizard's skeleton was definitely not a good starting point.
Just like the rock lizard's muscles had grown strong after living with the stone armor, so had its skeleton. After all, no matter how strong the rock lizard was, it would all be for nothing if its own skeleton crumbled under the weight of its body.
Unlike slimes, most living beings require the structure of a skeleton to move their body.
The skeleton was also the part worth the most on a rock lizard. It wasn't heavy like the scales, and it wasn't a source of possible food like the meat. The bones were still heavier than bones from lightweight creatures like humans, but the sturdiness more than made up for it.
So, in the hands of a decent weaponsmith, the bones could be turned into great weapons or shields.
With the money he got from selling an entire, almost-intact skeleton of a rock lizard, Ackster would be set for a while as long as it didn't cost too much to custom order an outfit from the scales.
But before he could sell the skeleton or order his training equipment, Ackster would have to pick the skeleton clean from most of the meat and transport it all back to Ilto.
It was time for a feast.