Rogue Villain-Chapter 188: Distracting Thoughts

When not even the captain could put up any resistance toward Ackster, it was only a matter of course that none in the crew could either. Even those who had time to grab their weapons didn’t stand a chance.

Ackster’s rage that he had intended to use to bring himself to slaughter all the pirates chilled earlier than he had counted on. It only took the blood of a couple of pirates, including the captain, to cool his angry heart and leave him a cold-blooded murdering machine.

Those few initial kills, however, were also all it took for him to grow numb.

But since Ackster wasn’t sure if it was temporary, he didn’t stop to think about the ramifications. While he hoped he hadn’t lost all his consciousness, he couldn’t ignore the fact that being merciless would make things easier in the future.

Ackster bulldozed through the pirates and their ship until the only sign of life left was him. When that was done, Ackster occupied his mind and hand with looting the ship before stomping several holes in the hull to let water in and sink the ship.

Part of his effort in slaughtering the pirates would be for naught if someone stumbled upon the ship filled with massacred pirates. That would create a stir. If Ackster were unlucky enough, that stir might even be enough for the use of a mage or a magic tool to identify traces of the culprit.

It was unlikely since a lot of people had grudges against pirates. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

But Ackster was paranoid.

Ackster watched the ship sink from the bow of his boat with a cold expression. He turned his gaze and let it wander across the watery horizon. The wind was just enough to make the water wave at him, with the occasional gesture reminding him of Mio.

In between the flashes of Mio in his mind, Ackster also saw the terrified faces of the pirates he had killed. He didn’t know if they were haunting him, his consciousness was aching, or if it was because he felt he should remember them. But it was distracting, too distracting.

Although he wanted to start practicing the Sea God Manual, Ackster couldn’t concentrate. What had just happened had affected Ackster, but he couldn’t tell if it was because he had committed his first murder or because he had lost Mio.

But he needed something to distract his mind. And Ackster knew just what would do the trick.

Pain. Pain—extreme pain—was usually very effective in taking his mind off things.

And the greatest source of pain he knew was Nold’s secret technique. Without further ado, Ackster took a seat after setting a course back toward Tenger.

Ackster considered searching for Mio since he refused to believe the slime had succumbed. But looking for Mio would be even more difficult than it had been to look for the Sea God Manual. And while it was a shame, Ackster didn’t have that time to waste.

A couple of notions of how it would be good to break free from Mio as an emotional crutch and come up with new and improved methods of disguise crawled through the recesses of Ackster’s mind. But those notions didn’t get anywhere before Ackster shut them down using the extremely anguishing pain of pulverizing his bones, continuing from where he left off in the ant nest.

Compared to the toe bones that had only needed a single tap for the entire bone to break, things changed when he started moving onto the bigger bones in his legs. It wasn’t that different since he still needed multiple taps for each toe since each toe had multiple bones.

But two bones in his legs were significantly larger than his feet. It required delicacy and cohesiveness in the execution of the secret technique to ensure optimal development and minimal error.

Of course, despite his distracted mind, Ackster didn’t allow failure. He might have become slightly addicted to pain and how useful it was in keeping him focused and alive, but not even he was interested in failing the secret technique. At best, he would need to redo it once he had healed. At worst, he would lose a leg.

Besides, Ackster had noticed that his feet and legs were pretty useful when he stomped through the pirate ship’s hull. Progress was slow, arduous, painful, and not quite worth the pain, but it was there.

With his regenerative skills, Ackster didn’t have to wait long to heal from his Nolding. But he still had to wait. Thankfully, since he was in a boat and he could steer it with his hand, he didn’t have to worry about not being able to walk as he crushed the legs in both of his bones at the same time.

During his wait for recovery, Ackster finally picked up the Sea God Manual. The pain had indeed helped him clear his mind, though he had yet to sleep.

The Sea God Manual’s contents were surprisingly straightforward and humble compared to its fancy exterior. But Ackster didn’t mind. That was better than the book being a fake, empty, or a placeholder for a reward the Temple didn’t have the resources to grant him.

Of course, the contents being straightforward didn’t mean they were easy to follow since they were still esoteric.

The Sea God Manual was one of the highest-grade mana training manuals of Millmeria. It wasn’t the absolute best, but it was enough to compete with it in the right hands and in the right conditions.

But it was a manual for a person to become a god of the sea. That was one of the few things the introduction on the first page said.

Ackster didn’t need to be a genius to understand that becoming a god, regardless of the meaning of the word, wouldn’t be easy. Still, he did his best to understand and do his best to sense mana, which was the first step.

It had been troublesome, to say the least, when he wanted to sense his vitality and overflowing life force, so Ackster had expected it to be the same when trying to sense mana, especially since he hadn’t known where to begin before reading the Sea God Manual. However, the Manual was unexpectedly helpful, and Ackster felt like he could do it in a short time.

The Sea God Manual explained in surprising detail—to the point Ackster felt he could see the mana in the world around him before he could sense it—how mana was part of everything. Ackster already knew it since the original story had also given a passing description to deepen the worldbuilding.

But the Sea God Manual somehow gave Ackster the final puzzle piece of understanding he needed to realize his mana sense. And it was like it had unlocked a whole new world.