Rogue Villain-Chapter 354: In Common
Ackster’s core—the very essence of his being—was made up of two sides. The dark side represented his obsession and the darkness of his heart’s willingness to do anything to reach his goals. The bright side represented his desire for peace.
The miasma had destabilized the balance and strengthened the dark side.
But there was one thing both sides had in common. It was Ackster’s craving for life. He wanted to live no matter what.
The miasma fanned the dark side’s desire to live no matter what. And as the dark side grew and threatened to overpower the bright side, it stimulated the bright side’s wish for survival.
The powers of Ackster’s Ichor raged, further encouraging each other and Ackster’s want for survival. It was a fierce battle with everything that was Ackster doing its best to live.
But the will to live and the willingness to fight to live wasn’t enough. The instability and miasma were too much.
The golden area of Ackster’s core shrank. The shadows grew and devoured any light. His core turned into one more like a demon’s than his own. It was just misshapen and lacked intensity. It was an imperfect core on the verge of collapse.
But when the final dot of gold light vanished under the consuming darkness, a power surged from the depths of the core.
Ackster’s body’s repeated destruction and regeneration at the hands of the golem had sped up his metabolism and the consumption of everything inside Monster Muncher. But it had taken a while for the changes brought about by transforming his food into useful building blocks to settle in his core.
After all, it wasn’t making something that belonged to other beings his own. That was why Ackster barely got anything from eating the beasts in terms of special abilities. He might get more sensitive to pheromones, and his muscles and skin might grow sturdier.
But he wouldn’t have perfectly acquired the headless gorilla’s defenses, nor would he get the purple butterfly’s ability.
However, if every single beast he devoured possessed the same trait, the chances of him getting it rose to the sky.
Still, it took some time for Ackster to perfectly acclimate and make space for the inherent potential of the beasts from that primeval miniature world to acquire Anima. Even then, he had only acquired the potential for Anima. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Theoretically speaking, his body was nothing but a suitable vessel that the power of Anima wouldn’t tear to shreds. He still had to learn Anima.
According to the bird, situations that stimulated a beast’s desire for survival were the best way to unlock Anima.
But even the bird had taken a long time and lived a long life on the brink of death before unlocking Anima.
Ackster, who had spent more time dancing with death than sleeping the last few years, was more accustomed to near-death experiences than anyone. Ordinary close calls wouldn’t be enough to unlock Anima.
Conditional Immortality would also be a hurdle on the road to unlocking Anima since Ackster would never truly fear for his life if he knew the conditions. He might fear that it would take too long and the world would end. But that was one step too many for him to fear his death. If he could be afraid of something that would happen in a few years, he wasn’t scared of dying.
In a way, it was luck that gave Ackster an opportunity to unlock Anima so soon after he learned of its existence. It was also luck that reduced Ackster to nothing but his marble of Ichor, giving Anima no choice but to settle in the core as soon as he unlocked it.
It wasn’t exactly a part of his Ichor. But after some time, his Anima and Ichor would naturally become one. Until then, the pure power of Anima that sought only explosive life would fight off the corrosive and malicious remnants of miasma. By that point, the vestiges of the miasma’s malice should also have melted and fused with the obsession of Ackster’s Ichor, balancing and unifying the source and bringing it to a new level.
Anima springing up inside Ackster’s Ichor didn’t only balance his core. Unlike his other sources, which were drained and tired, Ackster’s Anima was fresh and full of energy.
It was also Anima fostered by Ackster’s desire for life, which had been grown and strengthened with each close call with death.
It was something that even the bird didn’t know. But the raw power of Anima depended on the strength of the desperate struggle for survival of the one who unlocked it.
The bird’s fierce struggle for its life due to its weak body and lacking offensive power had granted it an Anima powerful enough to bring it to the top of the primeval mini world. The bird’s Anima transformed the bird from one muddling out a living to an apex predator at the top of the mini world’s food chain.
However, compared to Ackster, the bird had merely struggled to live. It hadn’t been easy living for as long as it had. And it hadn’t been easy rising through the jungle and defeating powerful beasts to use their bodies and existential power as nourishment.
But that was it.
It hadn’t been easy for the bird.
Saying the same about Ackster would be an insult of the highest level. It was his own fault. But if he hadn’t rolled around in the mud like a suicidal maniac since his transmigration, he wouldn’t have had a chance at saving the world or living beyond ten years.
Still, Ackster had spent the last almost seven years constantly looking for the line between life and death. He had worked so hard that he would have died a hundred times over if it wasn’t for his skills bringing him back to a healthy state.
Ackster had come closer to dying more times than he could count. And he had died more times than people could do. He was basically as good as dead for the second time in his life.
Yet, Ackster fought to live every time. His life was a constant fight for survival. And it was all for living. After all, his grand goal was to stop The Hero from destroying the world and killing everything in it.
It was only natural that Ackster’s Anima, which represented his will to live also represented the strength of his will to live.
