Serum

Dirk returned while the capital city was shrouded by night. He wasn't in the best mood, but he decided to be satisfied with seeing Ava once before she left. 

Upon arriving, he rode his horse back into the stable. Cecilia was there waiting for him. She saw that he didn't look happy, but it was good that he wasn't that angry either.

"I'm sorry, honey."

"...It's fine. She wants her family. I'm not going to insist otherwise."

"Mm. It's not easy, but there's always the future."

Cecilia rubbed his back as she spoke lovingly. When her hand touched his exposed neck though, she stopped. 

"...What happened?"

She asked worriedly as she looked at her fingers. There was a hint of blood on them. 

Dirk hesitated a bit before taking off his shirt. Cecilia looked at his back which had the remnant scarring of whipping. There were over 50 different discolored lacerations that marred his skin. 

"But... you healed..."

"The caravan made a bonfire."

Dirk turned, bundling up his shirt. 

"An ember exploded. I heard the whip. When I left, I found blood on my back. The wounds... just appeared."

"Phantom scars."

Cecilia spoke with mean eyes. 

"It's pain that you feel when something triggers a... trauma."

"But it should be nothing more than pain."

"Because you remember the trauma so vividly and the pain feels real, your body effectively recreates the event. It's not voluntary."

"...But why? I'm not afraid of some lousy piece of string."

"You underestimate what actually happened to you, my child."

Cecilia walked around Dirk, tracing the scars on his back with gritted teeth. 

"The whip they used... It destroys your mind. At some point, your body becomes able to handle any pain you throw at it. But... the mind is greater than the body. It can handle more. It has more capacity for pain. Those whips, starting at 7, no longer harm just your body but your mind. The level 10 whip is capable of destroying a person's mind, killing them while only wounding their body. It's an advanced curse magic. Dirk... your scars run deeper than your flesh. I'm just glad that you were able to survive what you did."

She hugged him from behind, disregarding the dried blood on his skin. 

Dirk scowled inwardly.

'I've been traumatized by that man? Ridiculous...'

He refused to believe it. He had fought through everything, tooth and nail. Though, he was also beginning to see that there really was more to Asura's torture than he knew. First the potion withdrawals, and now the mental scarring. What more did that snake do to him?

It pissed him off that something had slipped through his defenses. 

"...Oh well."

Dirk eventually sighed. He didn't like worrying his mother, so he quickly moved on. 

...........

The Advent of the Dark Dragon, an annual holiday of the Dark Kingdom, was around a month away from the time Dirk made his recovery. 

Dirk had already talked with his mother about it. She and Ryker would be going, so Dirk was going to join them. While Ryker was going as an envoy of the Empire, Dirk and his mother would be going for the sake of getting out of the house. They had no responsibilities on this trip. 

But of course, they weren't totally uninvolved. As of now, the Dark Kingdom was hostile territory. Technically, for the duration of their stay, they would be political hostages. The armies at the border would be a bit on edge as they waited for this round of diplomacy to bear fruit. If anything big and bad happened, war could immediately break out. 

Of course, these political hostages were anything but helpless. Dirk and his mother were expert assassins even though Dirk didn't have the same sheer power. Ryker was also a renowned battle mage, though Dirk had never actually seen his full power. Not only that, there would be a Duke going with them, one of the few Tier 8's of the Empire. 

The combat strength of the envoys surpassed that of the armies on the border. From what Dirk surmised, a Tier 8 was nothing short of a tactical nuke, while Tier 7's like his father could control entire battlefields. 

Long story short, even the weak Dirk would be perfectly safe so long as he wasn't isolated. 

Of course, Dirk wasn't planning on being weak for long. He hadn't been able to advance in power much at Asura's mountain. But now that he had resources at his disposal and an accumulated elemental comprehension, he planned to make a jump. 

His first order of business was his fire and lightning mana heart. Like his earth and metal mana heart, he had to create the mana heart with equal amounts of both types of mana. This wasn't difficult at all, and after getting set up in a high quality room at the Magic Pyramid, he had all the dense mana he wanted. 

And his growth truly was explosive. In a mere week, Dirk was able to push his fire and lightning mana heart near completion. After creating the rune for the heart and enchanting it, he smoothly triggered the advancement. 

It was a repeat of what happened with his earth mana heart. His awareness was pulled into the Mana Dimension, and he watched as his soul opened itself up. His mana heart that was half fire and half lightning sunk into the soul, filling the void. And now that he made proper preparations, Cecilia was on standby, and she crushed fire and lighting mana crystals to give Dirk plenty of fuel. 

It was a perfect advancement when the cavity in Dirk's soul was completely filled with mana. After a short amount of time, the fire mana heart appeared next to his earth mana heart. Both of them contracted with the beats of his physical heart, pumping dense amounts of every mana type into his blood. For a while, it made sparks and arcs jump around his skin until things settled down. Even Dirk's breath let out some flame, causing his mother to chuckle. 

"Congratulations."

"Thanks."

Dirk smiled. Only, this was just a small advancement. It would greatly increase his ability to wield fire and lightning mana, but his Tier was still Tier III-. 

Getting to this point, Dirk frowned. To get to Tier 3 mid, he would need to create his dark mana heart. The only problem was the annoying bug in his way. 

'Eldritch Primordial.'

Dirk recalled those abyssal eyes within the Mana Dimension. Dirk had actually glanced at him while creating the fire mana heart. That dark being was always there, always watching him. 

And due to his godly powers, Dirk was unable to control any dark mana. 

'Well, that's not completely true.'

Dirk did have access to a small reservoir of dark mana. This was due to the darkness that he wrested away from Eldritch Primordial. The small amount of darkness he took gave him access to that amount of mana. 

So there was only one way to continue advancing. 

'It's time to pay him a visit.'

Dirk thought with a smile. He looked at his mother who was still with him in the mana room. She was excited about his advancement, but he decided to ride this wave of success. 

"Give me a moment, mom."

Saying that, Dirk closed his eyes. He concentrated, and he looked to the door to the Mana Dimension. Normally it was sealed tight, but due to the advancement, it was still open. Dirk pushed through, and his awareness returned to his soul. 

Dirk smiled as he saw the ocean of mana around him. Then, he looked down at those dark eyes. 

"How's it going, Eldritch? Remember that full course meal I promised to take?"

You dare step into death's domain?

The dark being below screeched a bit in rage. Then, a small cluster of dark mana was shot at Dirk.

Begone!

Dirk watched as the cluster threatened to injure his soul. Unlike before though, he wasn't helpless. 

"Cat."

[My name is Spyte.]

Spyte spoke as she appeared next to Dirk's soul. Shooting forward, she swam through the ocean of mana and intercepted the cluster. 

With a flick of the head, she snatched the dark cluster out of the air, swallowing it whole. 

At that moment, Dirk felt a bit more dark mana be made available to him. 

[A simple game.]

Dirk nodded in agreement when Spyte snickered. It was a battle for territory. Eldritch Primordial controlled all dark mana. So if Dirk wanted some, he just had to take it. 

Dirk had to trespass into the domain of Chaos. 

Eldritch Primordial also knew this. But it wasn't angry. In fact, Dirk could sense a bit of... glee.

Come then.

Dirk heard that grating voice, and tendrils rose up from the darkness. They stopped at a certain level, as if hitting a barrier. This was its domain. 

Dirk lowered himself into that domain. 

Hand your soul to me.

With a clash of chaos and an ordered soul, a fierce battle of the elements ensued. 

............

"Ugh..."

"Dirk?!"

Cecilia was suddenly startled when Dirk collapsed. From his mouth, eyes, and nose poured blood. His body shivered uncontrollably. 

But he was smiling. Before Cecilia could bend down to hold him, she suddenly felt dark mana surge toward his body. 

"An... advancement?"

She was startled before reflexively pulling out a dark mana crystal and breaking it, making the environment dense with dark mana. She then bent down and laid Dirk's body against hers. 

After a minute or so, his body calmed down, as did the surrounding mana. Cecilia watched as Dirk's complexion quickly healed. 

"I... I did it..."

Dirk chuckled before his head went limp. Cecilia was worriedly confused as he fell asleep. 

At the same time, in the Mana Dimension, Eldritch Primordial was livid.

Dirk had taken a lot of ground for himself. It was a grand battle between Dirk and dark mana taking all kinds of shapes and forms. Dirk not only had to defend, but usurp the dark mana for himself. It took a ton of energy to do this, and compared to the vastness of what Eldritch Pirmordial controlled, his effects were minuscule. 

But nonetheless, Dirk had carved out a domain of his own. At first it had been nothing. But now, if Dirk had to measure it in terms of depth within the ocean of mana, it was around 150 meters deep. 

It was at that point that Dirk had to stop because the resistance grew exponentially. He had pushed so far and felt like he got closer to Eldritch Primordial, nonetheless. While those Abyssal eyes were still far away, they were definitely closer than before. Dirk could feel the presence of that dark being flow around him. 

[1000 meters.]

Spyte suddenly spoke. She was also drained, but for her, it was only a matter of energy levels.

Dirk's soul stood on the border of his domain. 

"Is that how far you are?"

Dirk's eyes bored into Eldritch. 

[He's 1000 meters deep. Proportionally, you should be able to take 100 meters per Tier.]

"I'm lacking then. And Tier 10 doesn't exist. Unless a Tier 10 would be an existence like Eldritch."

[Probably. Only way to find out would be to get there yourself.]

"Baby steps."

[Says the one who just performed a magical blitzkrieg on a god.]

Spyte snickered, its whiskers twitching in excitement. 

After the battle, Dirk calmed himself. Fighting Eldritch wasn't like fighting a normal enemy. He had to combat all those dark tendrils and bullets and curses with his own power to wield elements. Dirk controlled earth, fire, metal, lighting, and dark mana as he moved forward. Thankfully, due to the recent small advancement he was able to squeeze out more energy than normal. 

[It's curious though. He's so powerful and yet he can actually be pushed back. It's like he's being limited.]

"I agree. But I doubt he's in any mood to satisfy our curiosity."

Dirk looked into Eldritch's deep eyes. He had refused to speak when Dirk kicked him back. Perhaps there were sinister machinations brewing behind his vast mind. Either way, they weren't getting anything out of him. 

"Anyway, time for me to get some sleep."

Dirk immediately passed out when he said that. His physical body sleeping and his consciousness were two different things. He had kept himself awake, but he was utterly exhausted. After ensuring that things were safe, he finally let go. 

............

Fighting Eldritch Primordial for his domain was, in a way, a form of cultivating mana. 

It was much different than gradually increasing the density of his mana heart. Dirk's other elements didn't have anything like domains to invade and take. So Dirk needed to gather it himself and accumulate normally. 

But when he encroached on Eldtrich Primordial's domain, the dark mana he took was immediately handed to him. There was no need to accumulate. The dark mana was now in absolute control of his soul to do whatever he wanted with. This was his domain. 

So when Dirk had taken a large enough domain, he realized that he was immediately able to create his dark mana heart. Like that, he simply pulled on the mana within his domain, instantly forming the mana heart and triggering his advancement. 

And now, Dirk had all three of his mana hearts. 

Of course, there were pros and cons to doing things this way. Dirk still couldn't control any dark mana outside of his domain. This basically meant that Dirk had a fixed pool. 

For Dirk's other elements, while he had a certain amount of mana in his mana pools, he could constantly regenerate his pool with Mana Lungs, giving him magical longevity.

But because he was fighting for his domain, he had an absolutely fixed dark mana pool. When he used it up, he could cast no more dark magic.

This is when Dirk found something peculiar. His domain allowed him access to a certain amount of mana. But when he spent it, it gradually came back like regenerating energy. It wasn't like his other mana pools that naturally drew from the surroundings to recover mana. 

Dirk couldn't control the surrounding dark mana. So where was this mana regeneration from? Dirk wasn't sure, but whatever this source was, his domain controlled it. Thus, he had access to this regenerating source of dark mana. 

Dirk was happy. Of course, this didn't all come for free. He was pretty sure his soul was injured in the process. 

He woke up after a day of rest, and when he did, he felt a constant pain in his chest. It wasn't heartache, but pain coming from his soul. And even after several hours, it never went away. It always remained, just a dull ache that annoyed him. 

Of course, Dirk had a hardened mind, so he could bear it. Still, when three days passed and the pain never left, he began to think that this was permanent. 

That was when he went to his mother. She had been worried about him after his advancement, but he assured her it was nothing. She thought it was backlash from forcing his dark mana heart to form. After he promised to never force advancements and showed that he was magically fine, she was satisfied. 

But now he had a question for her. 

"Can a soul be hurt?"

Dirk asked as Cecilia cooked some food. She stopped when she heard him and looked back at him with worry.

He shook his head. 

"My soul is fine."

"...Good. Because any harm that comes to your soul is devastating. It inhibits your ability to regenerate mental energy, causes eternal pain, and can impair your ability to control the elements."

[Well that isn't good.]

Spyte mumbled in Dirk's head. Dirk had lied when he said his soul was fine. It really was injured. So learning this wasn't good news. 

"Is the soul being injured really that bad?"

"Of course! The soul is the deepest essence of every being. It's the foundation for their existence. People with injured souls can be driven to madness and have their minds collapse from the eternal pain, and the lucky ones merely lose their ability to control the elements. Thankfully there aren't many ways a soul can be injured in the first place. But that also means there aren't many ways to heal a soul. I've only heard a few legends of items that can heal or nurture a soul."

"...Oh."

Dirk frowned. He didn't think it would be so bad. 

But it seemed like his injuries were the mildest of mild. Dirk remembered that Eldritch still wanted Dirk's soul, so he couldn't destroy it. At least, the injury he caused Dirk wasn't irreversible. Dirk could also see that it barely affected him at all, merely giving him a dull eternal pain. 

So he snickered a bit. 

'He can't stop me. He wants me alive and can't kill me while I encroach on his territory. Still, there must be something he can do to take my soul. I can't push my luck. He's likely just as devious as Asura. Baby steps.'

He nodded as he made his plans. As he got more powerful, he would gradually take more territory. He would stick to the safe route, making stable progress and not making himself vulnerable to surprises.