Rogue Villain-Chapter 190: Hayut

Time passed by as Ackster indulged in a strict training regimen that allowed no leisure. And without him keeping more than a superficial eye on how long it had been, a hot air balloon touched down not far from the beach he had commandeered.

"Wilma?"

"Were you expecting someone else?"

Ackster shrugged as he got up and entered the basket. There was no reason to dally.

"No."

Wilma scanned Ackster up and down as she returned the hot air balloon to the sky.

"I see you were successful in your endeavor."

"I would like to think so."

Ackster looked down and noticed Wilma was taking them away from Tenger, away from land. And it didn’t look like it was because it was a more effective route. They were leaving the continent.

"Mmm. Your life force is still leaking, but it’s a lot better now."

"I still can’t sense it, so precision’s difficult."

Wilma narrowed her eyes slightly as she inspected Ackster even more closely.

’This idiot just keeps growing.’

She had only taken her eyes off of him for a month, but he had learned Last Stand, mana, and his life force had not only grown stronger, but it had also grown better in terms of quality.

"Y’know, if you wanted a mana training method, you could’ve asked me for it. I’m sure we could have gotten you something better than what you’ve picked up."

Ackster raised an eyebrow as he looked at Wilma. He hesitated for a moment before disparaging her.

"I would have laughed at that before I found out how much force the Guild keeps hidden. Thanks. But I’m pretty sure this is the best choice for me."

Ackster hadn’t thought much of it when it happened. But when he reflected on it, he realized that he learned and initiated one of the highest-grade mana training methods during his first attempt. That should be proof enough of his compatibility with it.

Wilma looked a little surprised at Ackster’s confidence.

"Really?"

Ackster nodded confidently.

"Yeah. Can’t you check how good my mana is with your eyes?"

Wilma shook her head.

"I mean, I can see that you’ve learned mana since I’m stronger than you. But that’s not quite how my skill works. You’ll need to train your mana a little more for me to be able to discern it from the rest of your potential."

"I see. Thanks for telling me."

"I’m only repaying your trust."

Ackster nodded as he looked out at the wide sea, the Tenger Continent fading to less than a dot on the horizon.

"Have you heard of the Sea God?"

Ackster knew the Sea God was ancient and from more than a couple of Calamitous Cycles ago. As far as he knew, the Sea God Temple was all that remained of them, and he was the only one aware of its existence—former existence. The Temple had collapsed after running out of resources, whatever they were.

But from the beginning, the Temple had probably had enough resources to maintain all those trials and rewards and internal structure to arrange for someone to inherit the Sea God’s legacy. Stuff like that was supposed to last a while. Yet, all but the first trial were defunct.

"’Sea God’? Do you mean Hayut, the God of Oceans?"

"No. Sea God, as far as I can tell, was something like a very strong human who lived many Cycles ago."

"When you say ’very strong’...?"

"I mean strong enough to be called a god."

"For real?"

"As far as I can tell."

"Huh."

Wilma crossed her arms in flabbergastation.

"I’ve never heard of him, but I’ll check the Guild’s records. I’m not that caught up on history. But I know someone who does."

Ackster nodded.

"What got you mentioning this Sea God anyway?"

"I got his mana training method."

"Oh, I see—Huh?! You got the mana training method of a person with the title of a god?!"

Ackster nodded.

Wilma stared at Ackster’s calm face in shock and a little irritation at his nonchalance.

"Sheesh. No wonder you didn’t learn mana before or bother asking me for a method since I assume you knew beforehand how to get it."

Ackster nodded.

"And you won’t tell me how you knew." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ask about that."

Although Ackster trusted Wilma to some degree and was willing to share information with her, he shared information that he stood to benefit from sharing with her. He also wasn’t sure how to explain to Wilma the fact that he had transmigrated into a story where she wasn’t even a character mentioned by name. He wasn’t exactly interested in giving Wilma an existential crisis.

’Maybe after all this is done.’

Ackster looked out at the horizon with a gaze that stretched beyond it.

Wilma sighed before nodding and staying silent. She already knew Ackster trusted her. And if he didn’t want to tell her how he knew certain things, there was probably a reason.

Ackster seemed to have been lost in thought, so Wilma let the conversation die out as she controlled the hot air balloon toward their destination. They had gotten quite far already, but there was still quite a significant distance left to cover before they arrived.

Thankfully, Wilma had chosen a hot air balloon suited for intercontinental travel, and it only took a day to arrive at the residence of the person who had agreed to teach Ackster. Well, who agreed to consider the thought of giving Ackster a couple of pointers. But Wilma was hopeful.

Granted, she wasn’t an expert, and she knew Ackster was a handful. But purely based on his potential, Wilma didn’t think there should be anything to cause an immediate rejection.

"Is that it?"

Ackster nodded in the direction of a vast island that gradually appeared in the distance. As they got closer, Ackster noticed it was larger than he first assumed.

"Yep. Hopefully, that’s where you will finally get yourself under control and get your arm back."

Wilma stood next to Ackster and smiled expectantly with her arms on the railing.