Rogue Villain-Chapter 175: Easing The Shackles

Once he got the initial feeling down, Ackster realized what he had to do and feel to learn how to activate Last Stand.

The feeling of using Limit Breaker that had pointed him in the right direction had been the feeling of releasing the shackles around his body, easing up his limits, and allowing him more freedom. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

As far as Ackster could tell, Last Stand should almost be the same, just a little different. It wouldn’t be as delicate or precise as Limit Breaker.

That meant Ackster had to take the smooth energy enveloping his body and releasing his inhibitions that was Limit Breaker and make it more violent.

Fortunately, the desire to break his limits and ease the shackles symbolizing those limits had been enough to let Ackster nudge Limit Breaker to activate.

Now that he wasn’t involved in a tense battle with his life on the line or running with all his might, he could feel Limit Breaker wrap around, cover, and envelop his body with a neutral energy. Limit Breaker’s energy was so subtle that Ackster barely noticed it, even with his Keen Senses tuned to the max.

And sensing it was only the first step. After doing that, Ackster had to find a way to manipulate the energy beyond what the skill did for him.

Ackster realized and understood that he couldn’t control something he didn’t understand. He had also planned to use Limit Breaker to a breaking point where his body couldn’t handle it anymore. So, he kept Limit Breaker active while sensing the energy filling his body.

After the initial rush that eased up the limits of his physical strength, it grew harder to sense the energy. It was as if it had grown dormant or passive now that the heavy lifting was done.

Ackster had expected the skill to run while it was active. Instead, it had simply unlocked a higher realm for his body before calming down slightly again.

Just by doing this, Ackster had learned more about his skill. He was still far from reaching the necessary level of understanding to manipulate the skill. But it was proof he was on the right track.

He briefly wondered if he could do the same with other skills since Ackster was sure deepening his understanding of the skills he had would let him use them to their full potential, but now wasn’t the time for that or such idle thoughts.

Ackster refocused on the simmering Limit Breaker. There was one thing for Ackster to do if he wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the skill and bring his body to its breaking point. He had to kick it up a notch.

Thankfully, the second time was easier, even if he had to activate Limit Breaker manually.

Ackster urged the energy of Limit Breaker to rise and push away another layer of shackles. Since he had only activated Limit Breaker to a fraction of what it was possible for him to do, he could easily break another set of limits.

Ackster’s body began heating up, and his veins bulged as his muscles and body were getting ready for action that surpassed their limit. His heart beat faster to decrease the stress put on his muscles from the overexertion of Limit Breaker.

After breaking Ackster’s limits, Limit Breaker start pulling his body’s natural functions up to speed so that the use of the skill wasn’t unnecessary.

Ackster didn’t know if it was how the skill worked or if it was a side effect of using it when he had yet to reach his limits. But it gave him a deeper understanding nonetheless. But it was about the wrong thing, and it told Ackster that it wasn’t enough.

Limit Breaker made sure his body was ready for it, which meant the damage his body took was kept to a minimum at the moment. Ackster would have to keep Limit Breaker running for a needlessly long time before his body started breaking down. He would most likely run out of Stamina before then.

But while he would reach his limit in one area like that, it was the wrong area. It would take even longer for Limit Breaker to start eating at his vitality if he had to burn through all of his Stamina first.

Ackster kicked up Limit Breaker another notch to increase the strain on his body and spread it evenly so that it wasn’t just his lungs and heart working hard. All of his muscles, bones, skin, blood, and organs worked hard in synchronicity to endure the pressure Ackster’s body put on itself due to Limit Breaker.

Ackster’s body couldn’t handle its own strength after Limit Breaker took full effect.

’Perfect.’

Ackster had reached the state he wanted. It was even better than he imagined since he could feel Limit Breaker’s energy more clearly as it swept around the tears in his tissue.

The only problem was that the injuries were too minor. They recovered in mere moments and did nothing to shave away at Ackster’s overflowing vitality, even if they did help moderate it.

Ackster focused on Limit Breaker’s energy as he continued keeping it active and trying to maintain the same degree of activity. He could tell that he would sooner or later begin to break his body down if he continued like this.

Ackster just had to use Limit Breaker longer than ever before to reach his goal. How difficult could it be? After all, if there was one thing Ackster could take pride in, it was his ability to push himself and endure pain. He was also one hell of a talent when it came to self-mutilation.

Besides, his record of how long he had used Limit Breaker in one session wasn’t that long. He had used it to end fights or when sprinting relatively short distances, which, thanks to Limit Breaker, were even shorter. He had at most used it a couple of minutes at once.

However, doing nothing else but focusing on keeping Limit Breaker active and maintaining the same level of activity while also trying to understand how Limit Breaker worked for more than a couple of minutes was surprisingly difficult. It put Ackster’s mental endurance and ability to concentrate for extended periods of time to the test.

Fortunately, Iron Will and Clear Mind had improved a lot in recent times, thanks to his curse, and probably also after Ackster forced himself unconscious. He had grown beyond merely pushing his body to endure whatever he put it through. His mind was also growing solid.

Ackster continued concentrating on his meditation without a break.