Rogue Villain-Chapter 324: Ichor

Ackster noticed Karandiel’s look and held up his sword.

"Don’t worry. I’ve got this bastard under control."

Karandiel was still worried but did her best not to let it show on her face. Ackster had no reason to lie to her. He was also incredible. If there were someone who could win over a Demon Sword’s parasitism, it would be Ackster.

"That’s good. Do you want to know more now, or...?"

Karandiel looked at the entrance to the Alchemaze. There weren’t any more dogs for now. She could tell him more about Ichor now, or they could enter the Alchemaze.

Ackster nodded.

"Bring everyone up to speed."

Everyone, including Mastrax, looked at Ackster with disbelief and awe as soon as Karandiel explained that Ackster somehow got his hands on a power exclusive to gods.

"H-how?!"

Wilma had put up with Ackster’s outrageousness for a long time now, and he often did things she didn’t understand. But this was on a whole other level. It was common knowledge that gods existed. There were even several churches, both now and in the past, with saints and saintesses that could summon the power of their god to the mortal world of Millmeria from the faraway land of the Celestial Realm.

But gods were even further removed from the ordinary humans of Millmeria than demons. They were untouchable existences far up in the sky that wielded absolute power. Even the nicknames strong people, such as the Sword God and the Sea God, earned were a tribute to the gods rather than them actually being that strong.

’Well, the Sword God can probably kill an actual god.’

As Ackster thought about it, he realized that, according to The One Outside Time, the Sword God had caused the world’s destruction more time than the gods had. It could be that The One Outside Time couldn’t notice when a god interfered since they were at a level beyond even her.

’Maybe a god did all this?’

Ackster paused for a moment. His thoughts rushed so fast through his head that Karandiel’s words were unintelligible, slow-motion drivel.

What if a god had taken him from Earth, scrubbed his memories, and stuffed him into the original Ackster Phileam’s body after resetting the River of Time to three days before The Hero killed Ackster Phileam?

’No.’

Ackster discarded the thought.

The gods didn’t have that kind of power, not in the world of this story. They were strong, absolute beings. But absolute only meant they were uncontested and could rule over all mortals. But they had their own peers: The other gods.

Shifting time for the entire world, which was connected to the Celestial Realm with the rest of the gods, wasn’t something a god could do.

Whoever or whatever had caused all of this was above the gods of Millmeria.

"...And so, after observing Ackster for a little while, I’ve drawn the hypothesis that Ichor is the next step in source manipulation. It is above mana, vitality, Will, or any other kind of source."

Since Ackster was deep in thought, Karandiel continued her explanation, and Wilma was left without an answer to her question for the moment.

Everyone looked at Ackster with questioning eyes. All of them wanted to know how he had done it. Some wanted it to get stronger. Others so that they could get to Ackster’s level. And someone wanted it to experiment with.

Ackster noticed their intense gazes. He shrugged.

"I used one of my skills to burn and refine my three sources, mana, vitality, and Will, into one complete source when I died."

"’...’"

Right. Ackster’s methods weren’t something ordinary people could use if they wanted to stay sane. But not all of them were willing to give up.

"For reference, what is that skill?"

Asking about someone’s skills was rude and bad tact. Mastrax couldn’t care less about that when he had something as interesting as Ichor in front of him. If he was right, he might finally solve his trouble once and for all!

"You said ’burn.’ Do you think I can do it?"

Surprisingly, Makkel also showed a willingness to learn how he did it.

"My lord..."

Mara looked at Ackster with pleading eyes. She was also pretty good at fire magic.

Ackster shrugged. He didn’t see a reason to hide it from them. Besides, he had also promised them the information they wanted should they choose to accompany him to the end.

"The skill is called Smelting Furnace. I have, well, a furnace inside me that refines and reuses anything I toss into it to make my body stronger. It gets stronger and can refine better materials by consuming fire."

Ackster let a trickle of the blue sun’s heat leak out to let the others know what kind of heat he was talking about.

Instantly, the heat around them rose to sweltering temperatures. Ackster sucked the heat back inside.

"I also have it on a reliable source that it’s the skill of a past Calamity that I think got pretty close to winning. Throughout Millmeria’s history, I’ve been the only one to acquire it after that Calamity’s defeat."

"’...’"

They should have understood it already. But the temptation of learning Ichor for themselves was just too great. They couldn’t imitate Ackster’s methods, even if they tried.

Ackster glanced at Makkel.

"You had my Ichor inside you. Do you remember the sensation?"

Makkel thought for a moment as he tried to remember what Ackster was talking about. He quickly realized why Ackster had crouched over him instead of any of the others that he had expected to have healing magic.

As he thought about it now that he got a chance to think and process how he almost died before they could even enter the Alchemaze, Makkel gradually felt that his body was in a perfect state. He didn’t have any lingering issues or internal scars obstructing his mana pathways.

At first glance, it wasn’t anything special. But Makkel felt better than he had done in a long while.

However, he wasn’t satisfied. It was as if his body knew it could be better.

Makkel slowly nodded.

He didn’t remember the sensation, exactly. But he knew what had happened could only be explained by something as miraculous as Ichor.

"Do you think you can do it?"

Makkel hesitated. He slowly shook his head. He had no confidence in ever reaching the realm of Ichor. In the first place, even thinking of doing it was crazy. That was something that belonged to the gods.

Unlike with Smelting Furnace, Ackster might not be the first human to ever achieve it. But he had done it while dying and being reborn. That probably didn’t happen very often, either.

Ackster patted Makkel’s shoulder.

"Well, just do it at your own pace."

For some reason, Makkel didn’t feel any better, even with Ackster’s comfort.