Rogue Villain-Chapter 370: Getting Busy

Ackster delegated tasks to his party members, Willow, and Tenrick. Before they could do anything, they had to figure out where The Hero was, if there was anything else going on, and where they could find another Seed of Calamity. And they had to do it all without The Hero or anyone else noticing their actions.

Ackster wasn’t sure about entrusting such a critical task to others. But he didn’t have much of a choice. This decision was a necessity. What he had found in the Creator’s inheritance didn’t give him much of a choice. If he wanted to save the world and establish a peaceful life afterward, he needed the Forest of Eternity.

He needed a bunch of other things, too, but they would be easier to get under control since he already had connections with a lot of places.

Ackster was a little worried since some of his party members weren’t the most subtle. But, as much as it worried him, the world would be busy with something else.

It wouldn’t take long until the news that someone had reached the depths of the Alchemaze spread. With the grand and timeless mystery that was the Alchemaze, and with how many people had died through the ages trying to explore it, the news would shake the world.

It was the opposite of the secrecy Ackster had wanted to maintain.

Unfortunately, if he killed any surviving witnesses to the event, the Alchemaze wouldn’t accept him. Ackster wasn’t sure about how the magic worked. But he had no idea how the Alchemaze worked, to begin with, and he wasn’t going to take any chances.

But that was partly why he stayed in the Alchemaze. He had to gain complete control over it as quickly as possible to regulate the influx of people wanting to explore and find the way to the bottom.

He doubted anyone would actually succeed in less than two years. But he had killed the gatekeepers, and the world was a big place. Taking control over the Alchemaze would also make it easier for Ackster to continue his search.

Even after making it to the bottom, he hadn’t found the core of the world yet. After reading a little bit of what the Creator had written in his notes, Ackster could already guess that there was a path there.

Ackster wanted a flame powerful enough to melt and refine Heavenly Iron. According to Trana, he could only find that in the Celestial Realm’s smithy or in the center of the world. Both places had seemed impossible to get to. But now, he had a high chance of finding a path to the center.

However, taking control of the Alchemaze and finding a path to the center of the world weren’t the only things he had to do.

There was one party member Ackster hadn’t let into the world on a mission for obvious reasons. He couldn’t be trusted. And he didn’t want to go. It was time to fulfill his side of the deal with Mastrax.

Ackster could probably have convinced Mastrax to wait a little if it was before the Alchemaze. But now that they had rejoined, it had taken Mastrax less than a second to sense Ackster’s Anima.

Mastrax could tell it was something akin to vitality but still very different. As the Dragon of Life, the uncontested master of vitality, he was painfully curious about anything similar to vitality.

And if Ackster didn’t volunteer his body, Mastrax would probably find an opportunity to snag the bird if Ackster hadn’t lent it to Wilma and Makkel. Considering how busy Ackster would be, Mastrax might have found an opportunity anyway.

So, while the rest of the party went into the world to do what they had to do, Ackster trained, sacrificed his body to research, and investigated the Alchemaze. Progress was slow but steady.

After a while, Ackster figured out that one of the reasons he could inherit the Alchemaze was his sensitivity to space and space magic. A person less sensitive would have still triggered the teleportation array. But they wouldn’t have consumed all of it to teleport to the absolute depths of the Alchemaze. They and their party would have ended up somewhere else.

There was so much information about the Alchemaze, what went into building it, and its contents that Ackster had no way of knowing where he would have ended up if he hadn’t eaten that flower at the bottom of the Space Jelly Habitat.

But since it wouldn’t change anything even if he knew, he focused on looking for things that would be useful to him, such as rare materials and a way to the center of the world.

Unfortunately, that seemed to be a core secret, and Ackster would have to scour for clues through all of the Creator’s notes.

At least he had more success understanding, controlling, and mastering his sources with Mastrax’s help.

Mastrax cut Ackster up and watched him heal countless times. Sometimes, he had Ackster do it himself. He performed various experiments, seemingly overjoyed at having such a helpful test subject who willingly plucked himself apart for Mastrax’s sake.

Any progress Mastrax made in understanding how Ackster’s body and sources worked was also progress for Ackster, so he was happy to do it.

It was otherwise dull in the bottom of the Alchemaze, and a little bloodshed, even if not from battle, kept Ackster’s mind sharp. Besides, if he needed some grueling training, he would just Limit Break his body until it turned to ash. He also did the same with his senses and the skills he could.

Ackster also used Covenants to restrain as many of his senses and as much of his strength as he could without completely crippling himself. It wouldn’t just store part of the sealed strength for the future. It would also act as training, similar to when he wore clothes from Rock Lizard skin.

His body would get accustomed to working under stress until that became the new normal. At that point, Ackster would just add another layer of Covenants.

He had seen Trana’s strength. A card up his sleeve like that would make things a lot easier for him.

But unlike Trana, he hadn’t spent countless years building that power. He had a couple of years until he would have to use it. He needed to make up for the lacking quality with quantity.