Rogue Villain-Chapter 189: Professional Update

The step after sensing mana was a tad more difficult since he now had to start building the foundation that would prop him up as a god of the sea. Different from becoming aware of mana, a factual building block of nature that existed just as much as he or any other particle did, somehow taking that mana and building a sea of it within himself was a little less clear-cut.

Ackster wasn’t sure if it was actually helpful, but he had adored fantasy stories in his past life. He probably still did to some degree, though living one had taken some charm off it. He also didn’t have time to read stories at the moment. But he felt that he had a certain edge, thanks to his knowledge of different fictional worlds and power systems that could help him shape a mental image.

Most of it was a little fuzzy, but Ackster still had his imagination, so it didn’t take long before he could start with the first drop of water that would become his Sea.

With a mental image solid as lead printed to the fore of his mind, Ackster followed the instructions of the Sea God Manual to absorb and turn the mana into a metaphysical drop of water floating around in the center of his body.

"Phew~ That wasn’t so difficult—"

Ackster wiped the pearls of sweat generated by concentration from his brow when he was interrupted by the boat rocking against a cliff. He had run aground without even noticing that he was close to land since he had been so caught up in his mana training.

’I guess solitude and a controlled environment were more important than the original story led me to believe.’

The Hero and others in the original story barely made much of a mention of securing their surroundings when training their mana in the original story. Just training probably wasn’t as difficult or mentally monopolizing as initiating a new method of the same grade as the Sea God Manual. But it wasn’t something Ackster should do when he couldn’t be certain of his safety.

Thankfully, his Last Stand remained active and kept his vitality from attracting all the beasts of the sea. But it was time to turn that off.

Ackster’s belly rumbled. He needed to eat. With his vitality acting like a beacon, he didn’t have to hunt. He could just wait for the food to serve itself on a silver platter. After that, he just had to eat.

[Name: –]

[Profession: ■■■■■■■]

[Inventory]

[Stats:

[Strength: B(A)]

[Agility: B(A)]

[Fortitude: B(A)]

[Mana: F]

[Spirit: A]

[Stamina: A]

[Skills:

[Strong Body]

[Pain Tolerance: A]

[Poison Resistance: E]

[Keen Senses: B]

[Iron Stomach: C]

[Strike: A]

[Iron Skin: B]

[Survivalist: C]

[Iron Fists: C]

[Iron Will: A]

[Clear Mind: B]

[Battlesight: B]

[Limit Breaker: D]

[Resilience: B]

[Monster Muncher: E]

[Iron Wall: D]

[Guardian: C]

[Block: D]

[Steel-Boned: D]

[Stubborn Well-Being: E]

[Superficial Martial Arts: D]

[Curse Resistance: G]

[Feather-Footed: C]

[Darksight: G]

[Stalwart Advance: G]

[Last Stand]

[Hemorrhage Resistance: G]

[Swimming: F]

[Mana Sense: G]

[Sea God]

’Uh, what?’

Ackster stared in confusion at his Nominus card. It wasn’t the first time its contents shocked him. But it was the first time he had no idea what to think.

His profession being inside brackets was one thing since he could at least get an idea of what it meant. But a series of black squares meant nothing to him. It probably meant his Profession was hidden, or the Nomi couldn’t display it for some reason.

An image of the redacted murals on the Sea God Temple’s walls flashed through Ackster’s mind.

He didn’t know what was going on, and he had a feeling it wasn’t something he could figure out just by sitting around and scrunching his brow. Instead, Ackster acknowledged his other gains, albeit not that great. However, Survivalist had ranked up. It was finally reaching a level where he could rely on its effect.

Other than that, there was nothing really of note except for maybe the way his Nomi had formulated his mana training method as a skill. But Ackster’s only real point of reference was The Hero, who got his mana training method from his skill, Blessing of the World. So, Ackster chalked it up to the differences in methods before looking around as he wondered what to do.

Wilma should have a way to find him as long as he stayed in place. She should also know he would be done with his business now that he had returned to land.

Since he had fortunately ended up on a seemingly deserted stretch of coastline, Ackster wondered if he should just set up camp and train until Wilma shows up. There were other things that he wanted and needed to do. But he didn’t want to waste time by having Wilma chase him across the continent when the most important thing was to train and hopefully get his arm back.

Ackster hoped he wouldn’t have to wait too long since he could feel how useful guidance from an expert would be in terms of improving his strength.

But for now, he decided to focus on the Sea God Manual and hopefully get his mana to a level where he could use it.

Ackster switched up his mana training with Nolding, eating, and practicing to sense his vitality. Last Stand worked decently well to stem the overflowing life force of his body. But it was a stop-gap measure that he had no real control over. He could only guess how accurate it was and how much life force was still leaking out.

If he continued to use Nold’s secret technique, which caused his body to repeatedly break down and recover, thus increasing his life force, thanks to Strong Body, Ackster’s vitality would only grow more out of control. So, although it wasn’t as lucrative, easy, or straightforward as the rest of his training, Ackster still set aside time for trying to expand his senses to incorporate life force.