Serum

It was three weeks until the Advent of the Dark Dragon. 

After creating his mana hearts of fire and dark, Dirk spent some time furthering his comprehension of all the runes he'd traced from the original magic texts. 

With an abundant supply of all his elements, Dirk was able to properly practice spells. He practiced void walking, a spell he used very often in the jungle of death. He pushed himself to understand the complex runes he traced in the void walking book even though it was supposed to be beyond his level. And surprisingly, he was able to comprehend a lot more.

The same went for all the other texts. He was able to learn a lot of magical theory about lightning as well as a few powerful spells from the Series of Lightning book. One was a lightning bolt spell that shocked and scorched enemies with lightning that came from your hands. The other was a spell that could enhance weapons with lightning effects, paralyzing enemies and incinerating their body when hit. 

Dirk didn't just learn spells from traced runes though. Because he also had his new Stigma, he planned to use it correctly. 

So Dirk worked on creating his own magic. It actually didn't take long for Dirk to learn how to create metal bullets. His enhanced fireball spell was also highly condensed, so after a bit of alteration, Dirk was able to make the projectile speed of the fireball much faster. The same went for the metal bullet where Dirk sacrificed a bit of material strength for much higher speeds

Then Dirk looked toward dark mana. He already knew how to create little clusters of dark mana, so he created a spell that made it into a bullet. Then, Dirk actually learned the runic texts behind Curse of Darkness. 

Curse of Darkness was a spell one could learn at Tier 3. So Dirk didn't have much trouble learning it all. This was especially so since he recently took over a domain of dark mana. He was able to gain great comprehensions of the element, allowing him to understand the runes much easier. 

So Dirk applied curses to his bullets. The curses were corrosive ones that would eat away at an opponent's vitality over time, destroying their bodies. With this type of bullet, he could fire a few and then gradually cut his opponent down. It was great for long term battles. Though, Dirk didn't intend to invest much power into it. Void walking was a more useful application of his limited dark mana. 

After that, Dirk had three types of bullets: Metal, Fire, and Dark. He tried to make a lightning bullet, but that proved to be extremely difficult. Lightning was too volatile and had little discernible form. 

Other than that, Dirk focused on one other spell he had in his arsenal. He didn't use it much since its power was limited, but now he intended to fix that. 

Earth Guard was a spell that could create armor out of dirt or rock, guarding a single limb or area of the body. Dirk went ahead and modified it, making the armor metal. 

While metal mana obeyed slightly different rules than standard earth mana, it was still relatively easy to modify the spell. It wasn't long before Dirk was able to generate metal plating over parts of his body. They were solid and powerful, only lesser than properly forged armor. 

With that, Dirk had the spells he wanted. He then focused on his techniques. 

Stealth was used to hide. Dirk had made this technique after combining theory, elemental manipulation, and silent spells. It was a complex technique to activate, but worked relatively well when he wasn't up against the jungle of death. It could get past the senses of people at and around his power level.

But it wasn't perfect. So Dirk decided to bring the technique to his mother so she could help him refine it. She proved to be a shockingly great help, and he was able to sharpen some things up and make it much easier to use. 

Then there was Elemental Sonar and Dirk's mana vision. His mana vision was a work in progress, at least, his dark mana vision was. But even that improved greatly after his recent domain takeover in the mana dimension. Dirk was able to form reliable black and white images. For once, he could properly make out faces. He could also see much farther with this black and white vision since it was based on light and brightness, not his general mana sense. 

As for Elemental Sonar, Dirk only refined the efficiency and applied some Stealth concepts to it, making it more discreet. He was happy with the end result. 

With that, Dirk had sharpened up all of his magical tools. Next, he took a look at his Aura. 

Aura was an emission of anima beyond the body. Dirk only learned to eject it, creating a small outward wave of pure destruction. It wasn't focused in any way and was crude in its usage, so it was only good to supplement punches or kicks. Dirk had used it a few times in the jungle, though he had been more focused on using anima to run and escape. 

Dirk went to his mother for guidance for this as well, and she was surprised that he was able to create Aura at all. He told her that it came naturally with his anima technique after he finished blood destruction, surprising her yet again. Afterward, she showed him the more advanced levels. 

A Pawn class warrior could activate anima in their bodies, strengthening themselves actively. A Knight class warrior could emit anima in the form of Aura, though only in a crude form like Dirk. A Rook class warrior could sharpen and concentrate their Aura, using it to enhance their weapons and launch blades of absolute sharpness. 

Then, there was the Bishop class. Dirk was told that Bishops could wield their Aura in ways that gave rise to magical phenomena. And amazingly, his mother showed him exactly what that meant. 

Cecilia first showed what an Aura blade looked like. A Rook was someone who could channel their Aura into a weapon without destroying it, instead using the weapon to guide and supplement their Aura when destroying something. She told him that a skilled Rank 6 or a genius Rank 5 warrior could become a Rook class. 

She picked up a kitchen knife, and with a flick, released a void black blade into the air. It dissipated quickly since she hardly infused any power into it. Still, it cut through the air, sending a shiver down Dirk's spine. He couldn't imagine how sharp that blade was. 

But then, she showed him something amazing. She suddenly started waving the knife around. The tip of the knife drew thin lines in the air that disappeared after a short second. After a few seconds of this, she stopped and reached out her finger. 

Her finger touched something in the air. It was one of the threads, and it had turned invisible. After flicking the thread though, Dirk saw hundreds of lines of threads momentarily appear all around the room they were in. She had filled the place with a web of death. Dirk froze up, not moving an inch as he felt goosebumps on his neck. 

'Bishop class...'

Dirk was amazed at this power. Cecilia didn't look like much when she fought Asura since he had absolutely suppressed her, but he was beginning to understand that she was most definitely a monstrous woman. He believed that Asura was her only rival, along with others of his insane level. She could beat anyone else.

"Go ahead and walk around."

Cecilia suddenly spoke to him after he froze up. Gulping in nervousness, he nodded and took a step forward. He felt nothing as he walked through the path of dozens of those strings. It looked like they had disappeared. 

But they hadn't. Cecilia flicked the string again, and he saw them all reappear. Dirk had walked right through them, and he didn't sense a thing. 

'...Yea, she's a master assassin."

Dirk couldn't help but smile a bit. His mother was outrageously powerful. It made him happy. 

After that, Cecilia started to train Dirk on sharpening his Aura. He was a Rank 4-, and she promised that she could make him a Rook by Rank 5. He smiled at her conviction, and they began a short daily routine of training. 

.......

Training his magic and body wasn't all Dirk wanted to do though. He remembered a certain someone who had apparently been worried about him. 

"Dirk! You dare disappear while in the middle of lessons?! I was teaching you the good stuff! Do you know how much you have to catch up on?! You were supposed to be forging with mana crystals long ago!"

"...It's nice to see you, Sir Tobasden."

Dirk chuckled when he appeared at Forge 8. The dwarf immediately started yelling, but Dirk didn't mind. Tobasden yelled all the time. It was just how he communicated. 

Seeing Dirk laugh, Tobasden grabbed him by the collar and dragged him inside the forge. 

"We're doing 12 hours today! I hope you haven't been jerking off for the past two and a half years! At least you look a little bigger than before. That means you can hammer more metal!"

"Heh, understood."

He laughed as Tobasden threw him his hammer. Dirk was a bit nostalgic before he caught a thrown ingot. 

And he quickly got to work, Tobasden grilling him with tons of advanced knowledge. He did a short recap on everything they had learned before Dirk disappeared. Then they moved on to the hard stuff. Elemental manipulation, precise metal shaping, infusing elemental power. 

Tobasden introduced concepts and techniques that Dirk hadn't heard of before, and he was forced to exert lots of energy as he refined his physical and magical control. But Dirk was able to pick up on things shockingly fast. Tobasden was pleasantly surprised. 

And it wasn't uncalled for. Although Dirk had been through hell, he hadn't been idle. His strength and endurance increased, and his magical prowess jumped significantly just recently. Along with Dirk's natural growth, his overall skill went up. 

Dirk's muscle memory quickly came back as he moved his body with precision. Of course, there was only so much Tobasden could properly teach in a day, so Dirk wasn't given everything to learn at once. But compared to the past, it was a big leap. 

By the end of the day, Dirk was breathing fire with every swing of the hammer. Lightning also crackled around his skin. His body was bursting with elemental energy due to his mana hearts, and Tobasden had cheered when he saw Dirk controlling flame like a dragon. 

Before they knew it, 12 hours passed. Dirk stood straight. His mind was a bit tired from wielding the elements, but his body was bursting with energy. It had vast endurance thanks to his blood destruction and his Restoration skill. 

"Alright, now go home and digest everything you learned! I expect you back here in the morning. And don't go disappearing again!"

"Don't worry, I won't. And... thanks for continuing to teach me, Sir Tobasden. Sorry for being gone for so long."

"Please, you think two years is long? I've lived for close to 300 years. I have no problem waiting a couple more for my genius apprentice to return."

"...Of course."

Dirk was stunned by his words for a bit before smiling. 

'So I'm his apprentice now, huh?'

Dirk bid goodbye as he thought about that. Tobasden had never directly called him his apprentice before. It had always been an unspoken thing between them. 

He was happy.

..........

Magical study, Aura practice, and forging. 

These three things comprised Dirk's schedule. Dirk woke up early to work with his mother and went to Forge 8 for forging lessons. At the end of the day, he would study more traced runes and practice more magic, ending with a tired mind. 

But there was one more thing Dirk needed to work on. He had completed section 2 of his Anima Resonance Destruction Technique: Blood Destruction. Now came section 3.

Section three required one to resonate and destroy the muscles with anima. It was as straightforward as the other two sections. This technique really was all about destroying the body and refining it, making it stronger. 

But there was one other detail Dirk learned through the runes in the book. With every step forward, the anima in the body became denser and denser. Likewise, it became more difficult to destroy parts of the body down the line. It required not just more anima, but denser anima. 

So the book called for different items that could be used in the process of resonation and destruction. The items varied greatly, but they could all be summarized.

Anything from a living thing that accumulated anima could be used as a source of anima. 

The bones of monsters, the cores of special trees, exotic fruits, even rare synthetic formations like metal ore veins or special rocks. 

There were all kinds of things that utilized or accumulated anima in this world. In fact, things that accumulated anima were just as prevalent as things that accumulated mana. This could be seen in the amount of mages versus the amount of warriors. Many more people could train anima and not mana. It was also easier to train anima, though only for the low ranks. 

So finding monsters or other lifeforms with dense amounts of anima wasn't that difficult. And the book showed Dirk a simple technique to channel anima from other sources and into the body to destroy what he wished. It merely required him to touch the source and absorb it through the porous membrane that was his skin. Skin destruction had precisely prepared him for this. 

Long story short, Dirk needed dense sources of anima to use. He wouldn't be able to progress anymore without it. His blood destruction had taken a long time since he had been using ambient anima, in fact. It would've gone faster if he had dense anima sources.

Luckily, Dirk had rich parents. Upon telling his mother about the next steps he needed to take, she immediately tossed him a bone. A literal bone.

It was a human skull, in fact. Dirk was a bit surprised when he caught it. His mother got a bit sheepish. 

"Sorry sweetie, it's the only source of anima I have on me. I'll grab some for you later. Until then, that will act as a great source for anima. It came from a high Rank 5."

"Oh. Thanks."

Dirk didn't mind that much. The next moment though, his mother tossed him another object. 

"Since you lost your other one."

Dirk caught a small ring out of the air. It was a pocket ring, and when he checked it, he was surprised to see a 100 cubic meter space. It was an absolutely massive space compared to the previous one he had. Dirk smiled. 

"Thanks mom."

"It's nothing. I would get you an even larger one, but it's not necessary for you right now. Powerful rings can also attract unnecessary attention."

"Of course."

Whatever the explanation, Dirk was happy with it. He slipped it over his index finger where it was most snug, then put the anima skull into it. 

Since Dirk lived in his parent's house now, there was no need to go home. That night, he pulled out the skull and got comfortable as he recalled the technique to channel anima from a source. 

He also did a bit of pondering.

"I should prioritize the muscles I destroy. Start with the important ones. But which one..."

Dirk went through all the sections of his body. His legs, arms, abdomen, back, neck, and feet. He wondered which one he wanted to become stronger first. 

"...I'm already strong everywhere, so there's nothing that's lacking. In that case, it should be something that would give me an edge when fighting. If I assume the worst opponent, then I should prioritize speed over sheer power. So legs will be first. But... I can't immediately strengthen the biggest muscles. I should reinforce the flexors and mobility muscles. In that case, let's start with my hips. Then I can do my knees. And then my calves and ankles. Then I can do the quads and glutes and hamstrings. Then I'll need to do my core for stability. Yes, let's start with that."

Dirk quickly made an ordered list. And with the decision made, he started with his right leg. 

He targetted the right hip flexors, the muscles that allowed the leg to raise and gave it some horizontal mobility. Dirk didn't want to target the largest muscles and then create strength imbalances or even harm himself. He prioritized stable and gradual strengthening, not sudden and erratic. 

Of course, his strengthening wouldn't happen immediately. It would be a long process to destroy every muscle group in his body. 

"Or will it?"

Dirk suddenly questioned that. He had his new Restoration skill that repaired his body. With it, he could heal faster and destroy things faster. 

[Just destroy the muscle already and then we'll know.]

"...Alright then."

Dirk shrugged after hearing Spyte before channeling anima out of the skull. He placed it against his leg and absorbed it through the skin. Then, he concentrated it before resonating it. 

Dirk felt as his muscles were destroyed by the cell. It was like the anima was burning his muscle alive. The pain was much greater than blood destruction. 

But Dirk didn't so much as frown. He was merely curious as he felt the muscles weaken greatly. He also noticed how much of the anima he resonated dissipated during the process. Dirk wasn't sure if this was due to a lack of skill or if it was natural.

Either way, when he hit a certain level of destruction, he stopped. Standing up, Dirk could barely lift his knee with weakness. 

"So my muscle isn't totally immobilized, just really weak. That's good to know. How's the healing?"

[Give me a minute.]

Spyte mumbled as she observed his body. The nanites flooded to the muscle, and his skill kicked in. Cells began to naturally regenerate and rebuild the muscle with surprising speed. His mana also vitalized the destroyed muscle, giving it more strength despite nearly half of it being obliterated. 

Dirk felt all the food he ate from dinner be burned for fuel. His heart pumped nutrients through his bloodstream, his nanites following along to increase the throughput of essential supplies. 

He decided to grab more food as his fuel was burned. After cooking himself a large slab of meat, he ate as the muscle continued to rebuild. It was almost half an hour later when Spyte came back with a report. 

[The muscle should be completely rebuilt and fully functional in 14 hours.]

"Really? That's nice. Question is though, how much progress does each destruction cycle give me."

Dirk asked the most important question. He might heal fast, but if the muscles didn't regenerate with a lot of anima, it would take a lot of destruction cycles to complete a single muscle. 

[We can only wait and see.]

"True. Then let's hurry up and sleep."

Dirk spoke before finishing up his midnight dinner and going to bed. He slept with a bit of excitement that night.