66 Iron

After taking several deep breaths and pushing his free foot against the rock lizard's neck to see what would happen if he tried to shove the neck off his leg, Ackster decided to take a little break. His foot, ankle, and half his lower leg could wait a little.

His free foot was still too mangled and crushed to provide any stability, and if he pushed with enough force to lift the rock lizard's neck and free his other leg, he was in for a world of pain and possibly even damage that not even his Strong Body could fix it.

While Ackster wanted to get free as soon as possible so that both legs could recover, which would let him move around, something incredibly useful for doing stuff, there was technically no rush.

He had killed the rock lizard. And since it was so territorial, no other monsters would be nearby. The largest threat was maybe adventurers or scavenger birds looking for a snack.

There wasn't much he could do while waiting to recover aside from sleeping, which Ackster didn't want to do, considering the position and state he was in. But there was one thing he could do to pass the time.

Check his Nominus Card. After this fight, which pushed his mental, physical, and skeletal limits as well as ended with his victory against a superior foe, he was bound to have grown significantly.

Fortunately, his hand was intact enough to grab the Nomi from a designated pocket inside his shirt.

With how essential Nomis were, especially for adventurers, and the fact that they worked better the closer to their user they were, most adventurer-made clothes had pockets for the cards, which would make sure the card would be one of the last things they lost should adventurers lose everything in an accident.

It wasn't the whole world if they lost the Nomi, but it was a procedure and a half to get a new one since the connection with the old card wouldn't just disappear because one lost track of it.

The Nomi would either have to be tossed into an active volcano or eaten by a dragon to sever the connection with its user. So, if it simply were lost and not destroyed, an adventurer would either have to find it or undergo an expensive and cumbersome ritualistic procedure that severed the connection on the user side of things.

'I should really start looking for upgrades to this thing.'

Ackster flapped the card a couple of times to wave some cool air on his face before he took a look at its contents.

[Name: –]

[Profession: (Adventurer)]

[Stats:

[Strength: D]

[Agility: E]

[Fortitude: D]

[Mana: –]

[Spirit: E]

[Skills:

[Strong Body]

[Pain Tolerance: C]

[Poison Resistance: E]

[Keen Senses: D]

[Iron Stomach: E]

[Sprint: E]

[Strike: D]

[Soft Footsteps: E]

[Leather Skin: D]

[Survivalist: F]

[Stone Fists: F]

[Iron Will: F]

[Clear Mind: G]

"Huu."

Ackster let out all the air in his lungs as he looked at his Nomi.

Not only had several of his stats and skills ranked up to D, but he had also gotten three new skills, all of which were good, and his Pain Tolerance had reached C-rank. The clear signs of his growth and the rewards of his victory were almost addictive.

Ackster was especially pleased with Iron Will and Clear Mind since they would help him stay clear-headed in tense situations and focused on his goal. As long as he didn't get too lazy or lose sight of his goal, Iron Will would keep him going in the direction he needed to go.

Since their acquisition conditions were pretty esoteric and imprecise, Ackster didn't think he would get them that quickly. But thinking about it again, it made sense.

He had trained to keep his mind working even through pain and poison, so Clear Mind was only a matter of him. And with how much he had resolved himself to do whatever it took to save his life, it was the same with Iron Will.

On that point, it was more surprising that he had gotten Stone Fists that quickly. He had engaged in multiple exchanges of fisticuffs with other monsters after he left Degrest. But he had only managed to get Strike, which was similar but easier to get.

However, one proper pummeling of the rock lizard had granted him the skill and even ranked it up once. But it was a slight shame that it was the stone variant of the skill. He understood why he had gotten Stone Fists instead of Iron Fists since his punches had been pretty slow and heavy, and his fists had broken, much like stone might do when bashed against the rock lizard's armor.

Ackster already had Iron Stomach and Iron Will, and with Iron Fists, he could have started getting synergistic effects. And then, upgrading or evolving Leather Skin into Iron Skin and breaking his bones until he found the version for his skeleton as well would have made him even stronger.

Why stop there? If there were strengthening skills for his fists, skin, bones, stomach, and will, why not the rest of him? His muscles, arms, legs, other internal organs, and head were also likely to have them. That was how skills worked, after all.

So far, Ackster had relied on his knowledge of the skills that The Hero had and what was told in the original story. But that didn't mean that was all there was to know. There were an uncountable number of skills out there, ready for Ackster to learn.

And for the ones he couldn't learn on his own, he would sell the monsters he killed during training to buy information on how to get them or to buy Skill books.

Ackster could almost feel himself growing stronger just by thinking about it, especially when he imagined the skills working together with his main skill, Strong Body. Although it was mostly auxiliary at the moment, Ackster couldn't deny the fact that Strong Body was the reason for his survival this far and the number of skills he had.

Ackster was convinced that he wouldn't have gotten as many skills as he had now, even if he replaced Strong Body with an endless amount of potions that would let him be just as reckless.

It felt weird attributing all his growth to a single skill. But without Strong Body, Ackster wouldn't have his regeneration, innate strength, mobility, and his body's ability to learn and memorize new movements almost instantly.

Ackster continued thinking about his skills as he waited for his leg to recover. Maybe he should wait before getting a skeleton strengthening skill until his recovery rate improved so that he wouldn't be out of commission for at least a day every time he trained.