"Skills, huh?"
Wilma grimaced as she repeated Ackster's request.
"I mean, it's doable, but you shouldn't be such a greenhorn that you don't know that skills aren't everything, right?"
Ackster nodded.
Although The Hero had a ton of skills that made him stronger to an unbelievable degree, his power didn't only lie in his skills. And The Hero's skills didn't necessarily catch and express all of The Hero's strengths.
Besides, even with ranks and the descriptions an upgraded Nomi would give, which not all skills had, skills were just names and identifications of something a person could do. And while they helped a person perform an action better or become stronger in some kind of way, how were skills supposed to account for a person's combat instincts, adaptability, and the general way they move or use their weapons?
Skills could do those things. They could even improve and strengthen things like that beyond what a person could do on their own. But if the person couldn't do it on their own in the first place, there was only so much a skill could do, especially if it was acquired through skillbooks or items.
"I know. But at the moment, my growth is tied to accumulating and overlapping skills. So, if you want me to continue growing stronger, this is at least one way to do it."
Ackster seemed adamant in his request, and Wilman wasn't quite sure what to do.
"You know learning skills on your own is the best way, right?"
"Yes. I'm only asking for skillbooks where that isn't an opportunity or where it would take too much effort to be worth it. Otherwise, only the methods for getting skills will be more than enough."
Wilma sighed. She had just said that the Guild would support Ackster in whichever way he wanted in exchange for him staying silent about the special task force and even joining it when he was eligible.
And focusing on skills wasn't necessarily a bad way to grow stronger. It was just that it was a shortsighted method.
No matter how many skills one had or which skills it was, they would be useless if one couldn't use them properly, either because of lacking technical capability or because they weren't strong enough to handle it. The fundamentals and basics were the most important aspect of every path to strength. Without a well-rounded and solid foundation, everything built on it would crumble.
In fact, Ackster was already experiencing one thing that could happen because of a lacking foundation or a misaligned skill list. His body couldn't handle its own strength. It wasn't because he had prioritized too many skills of one attribute, but it was closely tied to his skill, Strong Body.
Since he had used his muscles so much and put them through the wringer repeatedly, they had grown stronger. However, his skeleton and internal organs were falling behind. Well, his stomach was barely keeping up, thanks to his Iron Stomach.
"Alright. Any specifics? What kind of skills do you want, Dean?"
Since it seemed Ackster didn't have any intentions of changing his mind and that he was aware of what focusing solely on skills could do, Wilma relented.
"Body reinforcement skills. Things that will strengthen all of this."
Ackster pointed to his entire body.
"Any kind?"
"Any kind. Also, I know it probably won't be easy, but anything that will help me heal faster would be greatly appreciated."
"You want to boost your regeneration?"
Wilma raised an eye and looked at him skeptically.
"Yeah. Is there something wrong with that? You should have noticed by now that I'm a close-quarters combat fighter. If I get injured, increased healing will help me get back to fighting quicker and all that."
"I mean, there are a couple of ways to do it that I can tell you right now. But it usually requires a lot of money and time. The more money you have, the less time you need, basically. Well, you also need a strong will to go through with it. But I think you'll be fine on that part, Dean."
"I see. How much time and money would you say is needed?"
Ackster already knew that there were ways to get healing skills that relied on those two things, but Wilma seemed like she would know more details.
Wilma raised the center of her furrowed brow as she thought about it.
"I think the record is something along the lines of two months, maybe? One of the brothers of the Warent House did in that amount of time by blowing through more than half of their military budget."
"Damn."
"Yeah."
Ackster furrowed his brow in deep thought. The Warent House was one of the greater Houses of Lill. They were also famous for their military strength. So, half their budget was certainly an incredible sum. It wasn't money Ackster could get his hands on. Even if he did, it would be so much money, and such an expenditure of money that it would be impossible to avoid notice.
He would have to find another way.
"You said 'usually'?"
Wilma nodded after a couple of seconds.
"Yes. As with everything, there are exceptions. There are artifacts that can do what time and money can't. There are also ruins of past Cycles with magic and technology that can grant their discoverer those kinds of skills. This is just a rumor, but the Guildmaster, the Dragon Slayer, obtained significant regenerative capabilities by killing and bathing in the blood of a half-orc, half-dragon hybrid."
"You don't happen to have any of those on hand?"
"No… Even if I, or the Guild, did, you wouldn't get them."
"That's understandable. And there's no other way?"
Ackster didn't want to give up yet. Combined with the regenerative power his Strong Body already offered him, another healing skill would significantly boost Ackster's fighting capabilities, especially if he decided to go down the route of using his own body as an expendable weapon.
Wilma hesitated again. She tilted her head back and forth as if trying to shake out any other way to get the type of skill Ackster wanted.
"Ah!"
Eventually, she remembered something.
"I'll say this first. Don't get your hopes up."
"Okay…?"
"And this is just a theory. Barely even that, really. And it hasn't been confirmed to work on all kinds of skills, especially not self-healing skills since they're so rare."
"Okay…?"
"But, you're aware that different people are not equal. Everyone is good at different things to various degrees."
"Yeah…?"
Wilma could tell that while Ackster was patient enough to see where she was going, he also didn't feel like listening to a bunch of rhetorical questions for the rest of the night.
"I'll get to the point. Innate talent makes it easier for some people to acquire new skills than others. For example, a person with a naturally gifted physique and an innate sense for fighting will have an easier time learning combat-related skills like Strike, Press The Attack, Slash, and General Martial Arts, regardless of their profession."
"Are you saying that applies to healing as well? That a person with a great natural recovery rate will have an easier time getting a self-healing skill?"
Wilma shrugged.
"It's not impossible, at least. But that only means it hasn't been proven or disproven. Yet."