Rogue Villain-Chapter 196: Tiring

Ackster repeated the motions and the mobility exercises like a machine, an exhausted, sweaty machine, but a machine nonetheless. His body successfully memorized the movements. It was just a matter of powering through the fatigue and performing them without letting the quality drop.

Although his skills, including Strong Body, had been sealed, his body’s natural talent wasn’t. If anything, it made his pure physique stand out even more. He didn’t have access to as much strength or his regenerative abilities the same way he did before. But his body’s athletic performance shone through and let him feel his muscles adapt and imprint the mobility movements.

As he did the movements, Ackster gradually realized why it was so much more demanding with only a slight weight added to the exercises. It was because that added weight made him use his muscles in a state of maximum extension, something he rarely, if ever, reached in his everyday life. It also required him to use muscles he didn’t even know he had to keep the exercises perfect without letting any errors show.

Ackster couldn’t help but be amazed by the exercises as he did them until he fell to the ground in a puddle of stinking sweat. Then, as Bo had ordered, he forced his body to move and do two more cycles.

Ackster had no idea how he managed, but he did, and he was beyond exhausted by the end of it. His entire body throbbed and ached from the unusual muscle, tendons, and joint usage. He had lost his sense of time doing it, but it had taken the entire day for him to complete the task Bo had assigned him.

Ackster hoped that was it for the day.

Thankfully, it was. Ackster just had to stuff himself with the food Bo prepared before hitting the sack.

The next day, Ackster woke up with a note stuck to his forehead telling him to do the same as yesterday but to go up one weight class. So, after the first two sets he did without weights to warm up his aching body, Ackster picked a pair of needles slightly larger than yesterday before repeating the process and once again collapsing after sunset.

He found a meal waiting for him in the house despite not having seen Bo the entire day. Like yesterday, he ate it before crashing on the bed and sleeping until he woke up, once again with a note telling him to up the weights.

’Seriously?’

Ackster had felt the absence of skills when he ate. The sensation of his skills increasing his metabolism and recovery, which allowed him to adapt and grow stronger, was gone. He still had a recovery rate beyond ordinary people. But it wasn’t enough to outpace the rate at which Bo increased the weight. It felt like he was lagging behind.

Ackster didn’t like that feeling.

But he followed Bo’s instructions and repeated what he had done the last two days but with a slightly heavier weight. It once again led to Ackster being completely drained, with his entire body aching and throbbing.

There was still no sign of Bo, but there was food, so Ackster didn’t mind. He did mind, however, when he was told to increase the weight again the next day. But not enough to risk aborting the training.

Ackster finished the training, feeling even more exhausted. But he wasn’t done as the next day, Bo asked him to increase the weight again. Ackster could only groan before doing it.

This time, he collapsed at sunset, exhausted earlier than the days before. He was lagging behind the rate at which his training increased in intensity. He didn’t even feel like he was getting used to the movements despite having repeated them countless times. He just knew how to execute them. But they weren’t getting any easier.

Ackster began to understand why Bo had warned him that there would be no quitting. He wasn’t thinking of actually giving up, not when he had endured far worse and far more painful things. But it was the first time he had felt such exhausting helplessness. The only feeling that came close was when he realized how fucked he was after discovering he had transmigrated into the body of Ackster Phileam. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The feeling continued to grow as Bo continued to force Ackster to increase the weight during his mobility exercises.

Ackster exhaustion accumulated until he only lasted to midday doing the exercises before collapsing on the ground in dire need of sleep and nourishment. He felt like a pile of minced meat. But he resolved to get through this. With how laborious it was, it was bound to pay off greatly if he didn’t give up.

Besides, it was just built-up fatigue. It wasn’t that bad. Ackster might not have his skills like before, but he had still acquired Iron Will and the like on his own. He was stubborn even without the skills, and he was filled with resolve to complete the training before moving on to the next step in preventing his looming death.

Ackster continued the training, increasing the weight each day and growing more and more exhausted each day. Finally, he arrived at a point where he barely managed to last the first two sets without weights. The bone-deep weariness made it difficult for him to even think. Unfortunately, even with his addled mind, he could still feel how drained and lifeless his body was.

In the same vein, Ackster could still harbor thoughts of how nice it would be just to lay down and not wake up or do the exercises. Sleeping for a couple of days straight sounded like a fine idea. But he didn’t act on those thoughts, at least not yet.

Ackster made use of the listlessness and mind-numbing experience the curse from the Alchemaze had given him to somehow keep moving. He had gone from a well-oiled machine of perfect movements to a rusty old robot creaking like an old floor. But he was still moving.

Ackster woke up once again despite his fatigue. He had a feeling that Bo was somehow waking him up from a distance, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was the note stuck on his forehead.

Since they all practically said the same, Ackster barely read them. But a faint sliver of hope made him glance at the note before he set out.

’Rest.’