Serum

After two weeks of training, Dirk had officially become a Rook class warrior. This was unheard of for Rank 4's, but he had done it. 

Dirk didn't think it was that difficult though. His Anima Resonance Destruction Technique, specifically the blood destruction, gave him the ability to fluidly circulate anima throughout his body. Just finishing blood destruction made him a Knight class capable of creating Aura. The rest came down to his control, and if Dirk was good at anything, it was bending things with his powerful will. 

Except instead of forcing dark mana to cooperate, it was using his bodily energy to force his Aura to settle down. Miraculously, utilizing Aura didn't take mental energy. It took anima and bodily energy. When Dirk wrapped the knife in his Aura, it also felt like an extension of his sense of touch. It was an odd feeling, but since Dirk had been relying on mana vision for so long now, it didn't surprise him much. 

Unfortunately, he couldn't progress much further. There were only two more days until Pandora's deadline. Plus, Dirk was dead tired. 

His mind was unbelievably strong, and he could ignore virtually all manner of pain. But that didn't mean his body could follow his mind. He had been training for over 20 hours a day, only getting a few hours of rest before continuing. It was hellish training by any normal standard, something only Dirk could withstand. And over time, fatigue had built. 

Long story short, he needed rest. 

So after Dirk took his step to become a Rook class, he engorged himself with food before falling asleep. As he refused to drink potions of any kind, he relied on food for all his energy. He ate a few pounds of meat every day. This meat also came from powerful monsters at the Tier 5 level, courtesy of Pandora and her fat wallet. 

Like that, he slept for an entire day, only waking up on the last day of the deadline. 

"Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty."

"Huh?"

Dirk's head raised at the gentle voice. At first he thought it was his mother, but after his brain took a second to boot up, he realized it definitely wasn't his mother. 

Dirk's hand shot out, pointing to his bedside. The pistol appeared at the same time, and the barrel was placed against a soft object. 

"Now you're poking my boobs with that thing? How am I supposed to retain my purity if you keep violating me like this?"

"...Please be quiet."

Dirk's head fell back to his pillow, feeling another wave of exhaustion come over him. His pistol transformed into Spyte, the cat laying on his stomach and lazily eyeing Pandora. 

"Cat."

[Bonjour.]

Spyte responded dully as Pandora took a seat on the bed. She looked as elegant and stunning as always, but Dirk couldn't care less. He was more concerned about the dark madness hiding under that pretty shell. 

"We leave tomorrow."

"Uh-huh."

"I hear you've made fantastic progress in the last two weeks. Tier 4 spells and a Rook class. You're finally catching up to your true potential."

"Uh-huh."

"..."

Pandora's mouth twitched before she pointed her finger. Dirk suddenly felt a wave of frost chill his neck, forcing him to jolt upward. 

"Ack!"

Dirk smacked her hand away, causing her to snicker.

"I didn't know you could be so lazy."

"What do you want?"

"Well, I wanted to be nice and equip you with a bunch of weapons, but you're not being very cooperative."

She smiled as Dirk sat up. He took a deep breath and grabbed a black strip of cloth, tying it over his cursed eyes. 

"Next time, start with that."

"...You're much more emotional than before, but you still take things way too seriously."

"Anything concerning you needs to be taken seriously."

"Haven't warmed up to me yet?"

She pouted and scooted closer, causing Dirk to jump off the other side of the bed. 

"I may have told you my skillset, but that doesn't mean I trust you."

"If you're following me into a world of descending hell, then it would be better if that changed."

Pandora's tone became a level more serious, but Dirk only responded with a snort.

"It'll change when you prove that giving you my trust won't get me killed."

"..."

Finally, Pandora frowned deeply. She stood forcefully, seemingly about to erupt with anger. 

"...You still think I'm that psycho from Earth."

"I don't know otherwise."

"..."

Pandora was silent for a moment. And with a sudden change in temperament, her face turned neutral while she walked to the door. 

"When you decide to receive your weapons, come find me in the kingdom's treasury."

"Where is that?"

"Use your fucking soul connection and figure it out yourself."

*Slam!*

She exited with a bang. Dirk frowned as he heard her shoes click down the hallway. 

Pandora left the building with a tremble.

"I'm trying, dammit."

...........

After Dirk left his room to search for the treasury, he ran into his mother. She had been searching for him and her first words were thus. 

"It's about time for me to leave."

"Now?"

"Yes. Your father says he needs me in Horizon."

Cecilia was solemn, Dirk sensing her urgency. 

"He called me back earlier, and I've delayed for these past two weeks. Pandora was right. The world is in chaos right now. Several Horizon cities have been overrun, and your father is fighting a war against monsters. Viola and Rita also appeared at some point. Ethan is trying to step up like his father. Thankfully the nobles are banding together, but there's nobody to keep them in check besides the Emperor who doesn't tend to involve himself with those affairs. There are also powerful monsters that are acting like generals and leading sieges..."

"I understand, mom."

Dirk stopped her words with a smile. 

Like him, Cecilia was also hesitant about leaving. Deep down, she was still painfully guilty for what Dirk went through. She didn't want to leave him alone out of fear. His otherworldly skill and talent only mitigated these fears a little. She wanted to be there in case he ever needed anything. 

But seeing his smile, she pushed down her worries. She gave him a big hug. 

"...Promise you'll come visit if you pass by the capital."

"I will."

"Good... Then I have nothing to worry about."

Cecilia separated and quickly said goodbye. Dirk waved as she disappeared from his mana sight, vanishing into the folds of space. 

He let out a sigh, turning on his heel. He walked in a certain direction, following tug of his soul connections. The first connection was vague and connected to Pandora. The second was connected to Spyte. He had the cat follow Pandora to reliably find out where the treasury was. 

The treasury was an underground floor under the spire. It actually extended down into the weightless bridge between the upper and lower cities. 

Dirk went down a floor, quickly finding his way with the information from Spyte. He eventually found a giant set of doors, two guards standing by on either side. 

Spyte had been sitting in front of the doors, staring at the two guards. They didn't move though, just standing there with their emotionless faces. 

Dirk reached out his arm upon approach, Spyte jumping up it and settling on his shoulder. The two guards finally reacted and looked at him. 

"Dirk Strider, the Princess awaits."

"Mm."

Dirk just nodded as the guards opened the doors. He walked in, entering a massive room filled with display cases and shelves. 

Pandora sat in the center of the treasury, specifically on top of a display case housing a huge gemstone. She didn't look happy, obviously mad about their previous conversation. 

Of course, Dirk didn't feel bad. 

He knew just how dangerous, volatile, and borderline evil this woman was. While she had definitely changed after being reborn, the souls were still the same. Until he could truly confirm that he could trust her, he wouldn't ever place his life in her hands. Not even a magical war between dragons and gods would change this. If anything, it made him all the more cautious. 

He could deal with her antics, her odd clinginess, and her teasing. He would help her with her objectives and let her help him. They could cooperate while riding this storm. 

But that didn't mean he trusted her. Dirk had made that clear, and he would act accordingly.

"About time."

Pandora glared at him before jumping off the display case. 

"Follow."

She waved, and with measured strides, led Dirk down another level. They entered a second treasury after getting past a single old man that gave Dirk goosebumps. 

The entrance to this second treasury room was actually a ladder. After climbing down, they suddenly became weightless, and they entered. 

The second floor was a room designed while ignoring gravity. Display cases were scattered across all levels of space, the power of darkness keeping them anchored in the air. 

Pandora moved herself to one display case. Inside of it was a blob that looked like some kind of murky slime. It bounced around the display case while ripples caused spikes to jut out of its body. 

"This is a high level artifact of our Dark Kingdom, produced by a forgemaster and alchemist working jointly. It was their life's work, and there's only one in existence because they literally gave their lives to produce this. Their creation unfortunately didn't care too much for its parents and attacked them. They died after killing the hostile ego and planting another one with their souls as the price. Since then, it's been sitting in this treasury, waiting for its new master. Now, it's yours.

"Only, you'll need to tame the ego within. Do that, and you'll have a powerful tool at your disposal. If you can't, then we'll find something else."

"..."

Dirk was silent, gazing at the bouncing blob within the glass case. 

He wanted to know what this item was, but he didn't believe it mattered. Whatever it was, it was powerful, so it would be useful no matter what. 

With that, Dirk drifted over. Pandora flicked her finger, and they were suddenly encased in an ice dome. The dome was incredibly solid, filled to the brim with earth and water mana that reinforced it dozens of times over. Dirk wouldn't be able to break the dome in a short amount of time. 

Then, she tapped the glass. The wall of the case melted away, releasing the blob. 

The blob shot out to escape, but Dirk was a step ahead. His hand shot out, and it looked like the blob threw itself into his grasp. 

Dirk grabbed the slime. It felt like melted rubber, yet had a strange metallic quality to it like fine grains of iron. 

A second after grabbing the slime though, Dirk felt an odd connection be initiated with it. Their minds, their egos, were suddenly connected. 

...........

The slime hadn't known anything other than loneliness. 

It was first born from the souls of two artisans, one of the greatest forgemasters and one of the greatest alchemists. The two had actually been secretly in love, and it was the only reason they had worked together on such a profound project. 

They gave their all for their creation. For both of them, the project was like making a baby. They came to love it like a child. Such was the natural inclination for masters and their crafts. And through their passion, they came to love each other even more. 

And their efforts bore fruit. A single mass of magic, material, and soul. The black blob didn't look like much, taken as nothing more than a botched concoction. But the artisans knew better. 

Unfortunately, through a freak turn of events, the creation turned on its creators. The blob exercised its greatest abilities, attacking the two masters in order to save its life from a nonexistent threat. 

The masters fought back to their great distress. They subdued the rogue ego within their creation, paying a great price to do so. They were left on death's doorstep, and their child had turned to nothing more than expensive goop. 

It was a horrible failure, and now, the couple couldn't fix their mistake. 

Unless, of course, they paid the ultimate price. 

With their strong wills, the two artisans mustered their energy, expelling their remaining power. They restructured the blob on the spot. Its power was reduced so that it could never kill its next master, and if they had left it in that state, it would remain a low class artifact for the rest of its time. 

But they couldn't bear such a sorrowful end. So they did what only few through history had ever done before. They used the power of their souls to empower the artifact. 

They gave it not an artificial ego, but a true intelligence birthed from a soul. A baby born from their union. 

And so, they turned to dust, the blob left as a naive child with no master. 

It was picked up by the Vampire Queen subsequently and dumped into the treasury out of naivety. Since then, it had lived an aimless life confined to a glass box. The Vampire Queen had initially planned to give it to a talented subordinate. But years went by and she both forgot and lost interest. 

Now, Pandora had come and dictated its use. For the first time in years, the blob was free. It escaped its cage, eager to do literally anything else other than bounce around a box. 

But then, it was blocked by a hand. The blob was more curious than anything. It carried no hostility and didn't know the concept of danger. It had never even felt pain. All it knew was that the hand was something new, so it wanted to play around. 

But upon making contact with the hand, something inside of it was triggered. The blob felt a connection be created between it and Dirk. 

And it saw Dirk's mind. 

Flashes of information containing scattered experiences from Dirk's two lives. 

The child who was beaten into a soldier. 

The cold killer who exterminated thousands from the face of the earth. 

The despair of betrayal and loss. 

The rebirth of a new child. 

The love of a mother.

The descent into hell. 

Key instances from Dirk's lives played out in the blob's mind. In this way, it learned a lot. In fact, it learned far more than it wanted to. 

The blob's soul trembled. It understood Dirk's plight, but more than anything, it was afraid. 

It became deathly terrified of the monster known as Dirk. It had never seen such a cold and ruthless mind, one capable of killing anyone without batting an eye. It was so detached, so indifferent, so apathetic. 

Even Pandora acknowledged the ruthless person Dirk was. As a supersoldier, he could truly kill anyone on a whim. If he was ordered to, he would do it, no matter who. While things had changed in his new life and Dirk had now made peace with his past self, he still retained that same ruthlessness. 

Perhaps in this way, he wasn't too different from Pandora who could so easily discard lives because she felt like it.

The blob wanted nothing to do with that sort of person. It was a child that sought a companion. Even now, it cowered from Dirk's fierce gaze. Only, it didn't dare try to escape out of fear that it would be exterminated. 

...........

Dirk wiped away the scary face, gazing oddly at the blob. 

He had also seen some of its memories, though they were few. 

He immediately knew that this blob was like a child, a curious kitten. It had been locked away in this box for so long. In fact, its only significant memories were from when it would see people drift into this treasury. Dirk had seen how it would bounce around in joy and curiosity. But it would always be ignored, making it sad. 

Now, it finally got a chance to interact with something new. But then it was met with Dirk's cruel memories. It trembled in his hand, barely keeping itself from melting away. 

He had thought that this thing had some strong ego that would try to attack him for attempting to wield it. 

But it was just a child!

Not even Dirk was so heartless as to attack and subdue a child. At least, not anymore. 

His head snapped at Pandora. 

"What the hell?!"

"What?"

"This thing is a child! You had me thinking it was some kind of monster!"

"How was I supposed to know that? I just gave you the facts of its origin. Now hurry up and tame it. It's supposed to be some kind of symbiotic artifact."

Pandora just waved lazily. She really didn't care as she was still mad at Dirk. 

He snorted at her before turning his attention back to the blob trembling in his hands. 

"Uh, sorry, little guy."

He spoke softly, patting the slime with his fingers. The thing fit in his palm, making it look pitiful. He really did feel bad too. 

"...I'm not that heartless anymore."

He mumbled, tapping into the connection formed between them. He tried to reassure it, letting it know that while he could still be a killing machine, he could be nice too. 

The little blob could feel his intent, and gradually, its trembling stopped. The bad memories it saw of Dirk's past faded, and it warily wiggled around in his hand. It wasn't sure whether to trust him or not. 

Then, he spoke.

"I'm not sure what you can do, but do your best, and I'll give you mine. I might be able to kill anybody, but if there's one thing I value, it's the gun that helps me keep my life. I won't get rid of you."

Dirk reassured the blob in his own special way. And it seemed to work. 

When the blob saw what he meant, its hesitation was wiped away. Like the child it was, its attitude reversed on the flip of a dime, becoming excited. 

As if that was the trigger, Dirk felt the connection between them strengthen. A power within the blob activated, and a massive magic circle appeared over the two. 

6 magic circles stacked on top of each other, hundreds of runes flying between them and causing the surrounding mana to go crazy. 

<Warning!>

<[The Heart of Promises] has been satisfied.>

<Familiar connection established.>

<Would you like to accept [Obsidius] as your familiar?>