Serum

After getting around 8 hours of sleep, Dirk finally woke up from his slumber. With nothing to do, he was able to get more sleep than normal. 

Nothing had changed on the outside. The Grand Marshal and Ethan were still fighting snakes which seemed to dominate this dungeon. There were also other variations besides fire and lightning, such as a Tier 6 Magma Snake. Those were able to control both fire and earth mana, producing a synergy that resulted in the power of magma. Only the Grand Marshal could kill that one, and she also took the body, according to Pandora who seemed to be irked by that. 

Regardless, the hunt for whatever the Grand Marshal was looking for didn’t seem like it would end soon. So Dirk decided to finalize his plans for his armor. 

The entire armor consisted of turtle shell chains that were looped and fitted with black snake scales. Then there was the helmet that would be constructed from the spare turtle shell material. 

The construction process seemed simple enough, just a bunch of repetitive chain-making. But Dirk decided to add a few more details that would make things convenient. 

One thing was snake leather that was woven underneath the chainmail. That would serve to keep things stable, like a foundation. It also acted as insulation since the lightning snake was not just powerful in terms of lightning, but also fire since lightning was a specialty of fire. 

Plus, he would have tons of left over leather anyway after plucking the scales. This would put it to use and act as another thin yet significant layer of protection. 

He even blueprinted leather boots that would integrate with the scale armor, as well as gloves.

With all these things, Dirk finally felt like the armor could be considered fully blueprinted. After that, he just needed to figure out how he would go about putting it together. That didn’t take too long though considering how he made standardized pieces. 

And so, a few hours after he woke up, Dirk had everything prepared. Only problem was the fact that they were still driving. He coudln’t bring out the vault to forge anything.

So he waited until Pandora stopped a distance from where the Grand Marshal and Ethan began fighting more snakes. 

“I think I’m gonna get out.”

“Out?”

“I want to forge. I need the vault for that.”

Dirk spoke while checking his ring. He had been handed all the corpses that Pandora collected, and it was more than enough for what he wanted. 

Pandora gazed at Dirk for a few second before speaking. 

“If you leave, that could complicate things.”

“How so?”

“Well, I’m not staying with you. I need to find out what this Grand Marshal is scouting for, so I’ll continue to follow. But without you, she might get some funny ideas, like assassinating the oh-so valuable Vampire Princess.”

“...Would she?”

“I don’t know. She doesn’t seem like a loose cannon, but shes ruthless enough to make hard decisions. There would be nothing I could do if she decided to kill me.”

Pandora spoke with a weird smile, causing Dirk to doubt her seemingly helpless words. 

“...Right.”

“Your presence is keeping them in check. But, if you’re really eager, I suppose I can make do without you. I am curious about your forging skill after all, as well as your friend’s ability to eat armor. I don’t want to stop you. So go ahead and find a safe place. I’m sure you could survive the pursuit of a Tier 6 snake should it come to that.”

“Alright.”

With her words, he jumped out of the car. Just as he was about to close the door though, she called out. 

“Hey.”

*Catch*

Dirk snatched the orb that Pandora suddenly threw. 

“It’s a long distance communication orb. It’s built around a Tier 7 light mana crystal, so it has plenty of juice for sending messages. Contact me if you need to. And keep that thing safe. There’s a reason only nobles get their hands on such a thing.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

Dirk nodded before stowing the orb away. Then, he walked away from the car and toward the battlefield that was calming down. 

“Want to try your hand?”

The Grand Marshal called out as Dirk approached, simultaneously crushing the throat of a snake. Dirk shook his head. 

“No. I’m planning on staying here. I have something I want to forge.”

“I knew that huge building was for something. Staying behind though is rather dangerous.”

“I can handle myself.”

Dirk spoke with obvious confidence, causing the Grand Marshal to stare at him for a second before sighing. 

“Very well. I’ve seen and heard about some of your skill, so I suppose running away wouldn’t be difficult for you. Still, take this.”

The Grand Marshal threw an item over. Dirk caught it and inspected what looked like a necklace. 

“An enchanted consumable. It’ll teleport you 50 meters in any direction about three times. That should be enough to get you out of sticky situations.”

“Alright. Thank you.”

“No problem. Keep yourself safe. If you use it, just think of it as a favor.”

She waved with a smile, afterward continuing on her way. Ethan also nodded to Dirk before following. 

“Have fun!”

Pandora waved while driving past in pursuit. Given several seconds, they turned behind a hill, exiting his view. 

Dirk looked around the now quiet battlefield. That Grand Marshal must be rich, since she left most of the corpses behind. Ethan had been collecting some, but also seemed to leave many behind. 

Dirk doubted he had dozens of empty pocket rings like Pandora though, so he was probably only able to carry so much. 

After finding a nice secluded place to work, Dirk took out the vault and entered. 

The materials were still beside the table that Dirk had worked at, so he quickly formulated his steps. 

“Spyte.”

[Since you’ve decided to use snake leather as the foundation, you’ll need to prepare it first. Afterward you make the chains, and then the scales.”

“Alright then. Time to pluck some scales.”

Dirk mumbled while approaching a lightning snake corpse. Grabbing it, he spread it across an empty table. 

He inspected the scales closely, taking out a knife and moving them around to see how they grew off the snake. 

“...Looks like they’re similar to nails. They grow out of the leather, so removing the scales would technically damage the surface of the leather.”

[How thick is the leather? If it’s thick enough, then surface damage wouldn’t affect it much.]

“...Let’s see.”

Preparing his knife, Dirk stabbed down onto the snake. 

*Ting!*

The tip of the knife stopped at the scales, unable to even pierce through. Dirk’s eye twitched before he remembered that this was indeed a Tier 6 monster.

“...A little more force then.”

Activating his anima, Dirk stabbed down again. He also stabbed against the scales, allowing he blade to catch and slide under. 

This time though, the blade caught in the leather of the snake, not entering more than an inch or two. 

Spyte jumped on the table in its cat form, tilting its head at the pitiful attempt to cut the snake. 

[So harvesting corpses requries a certain level of strength too.]

“Is that to say I’m weak?”

[Well, I was gonna beat around the bush. But since we’re just jumping right to the conclusions...]

“Sure.”

Dirk smirked before pulling the knife out. 

“Guess I’ll need to use my Aura.”

[It’ll be a good way to hone it.]

“Mm.”

With a nod, Dirk’s knife suddenly took on a golden hue as an impressively sharp Aura blade overlapped with the knife. 

Then, he stabbed again. 

This time, the knife smoothly glided into the leather of the snake. Afterward, Dirk used more anima to slide the knife around in order to slice along the length of the snake. 

As he quickly found out though, this process took tons of anima, rapidly draining the energy of his body. It also stressed his control over his Aura. If he poured too much into it, the Aura would go out of control and destroy the material around the knife, including the knife itself. But if he put in too little, he’d waste energy while failing to cut. 

Striking a balance between power and control was shockingly difficult. After all, Dirk had barely become a Rook class capable of controlling Aura like this recently. He hadn’t practiced much except for a few times while protecting the city. 

Spyte was right. This would make for much needed practice. 

So he continued to concentrate. With Spyte there, he didn’t have to worry about his back not being watched. 

Focus the blade. 

Focus the energy moving through the body. 

Control it. 

Dominate the volatile Aura. 

Through sheer will, Dirk forced his Aura to adapt to him, not the other way around. While he needed to learn how Aura worked and moved, he was also unbending in how it should be applied. 

Dirk envisioned his Aura and knife gliding through the snake’s leather and scales. He envisioned his Aura forming into the perfect blade that was as still and tame as metal. 

And he forged his Aura to be just like his vision. He constantly corrected himself, constantly changed his Aura until it did as he wanted. 

But it still took time to realize the changes he wanted. After an entire hour, Dirk had barely cut down half the length of a snake. On top of that, his knife was eventually destroyed, snapping in half. 

He luckily had more, but if he didn’t fix his Aura, he would go through them quickly. 

That only meant he needed to get it right, or fail and be forced to wait. He wouldn’t be able to forge if he couldn’t get this simple step down. 

So he buckled down once more and continued. 

Luckily his stamina was plentiful. Dirk was able to continue for another hour, and by the end of that hour, the knife was less damaged than before, able to be used a bit more. Plus, he had cut down the length of the snake. 

With that, he moved onto another snake. He decided he would skin the leather of the first when he was tired. 

And halfway into the third hour, Dirk stopped when the second knife was destroyed. Taking that as his chance, he decided to rest and eat some food, replenishing his energy. In not draining his energy to the point of exhaustion, he could recover faster, especially as his body processed the food.

And his body worked with gusto once food hit his stomach, digesting all of it’s dense anima and mana. His Restoration skill worked to bring him to his prime. 

And immediately after eating, Dirk went and skinned the leather, which was far easier than cutting through it. It didn’t even take anima, allowing him to rest while working. 

At the end of the third hour, Dirk had skinned an entire snake, setting the long leather hide to the side. With that, he was one snake down. And he was rested enough to continue on the second snake. 

Stabbing down on the corpse, Dirk restarted the arduous process of cutting through more leather. 

This time though, he was able to cut for two hours before the knife was destroyed. Taking out a spare knife, he continued. 

Cut through the leather, eat some food, skin its hide, and repeat. Dirk’s body was constantly working and recovering as he stressed his Aura. And his control over Aura rapidly solidified, making it easier and easier on him. 

But after around 12 hours, his body’s recovery slowed down substantially, all the fatigue taking its toll. 

So he decided to do a destruction cycle using the remaining dregs of energy he had. For that, he used the bone of a strong anima monster. Drawing out that dense anima and streaming it into his muscles, he resonated it, and an unbelievable pain wracked every cell of his muscles, every pain receptor screaming at him. 

But his face was neutral, as if it weren’t even happening. Dirk just went through the cycle like normal, and as soon as he was done, a large portion of his legs were black and red, the skin horribly cracked, almost like the curse over his eyes. 

With that, Dirk was officially tired. Grabbing a few spare blankets, he made himself comfortable on the ground, going to sleep as soon as his head touched his pillow. 

Spyte watched him fall asleep before taking up guard outside, watching for any unwanted guests. 

………

Pandora watched lazily as the Grand Marshal fought a few lightning snakes. As for Ethan, he had tired out a while ago and was sitting on the sidelines. 

It had been several hours since Dirk was left behind. Nothing much had occurred except the now boring fights with more and more snakes. 

After a few minutes, the Grand Marshal killed off all the monsters. She never got tired, but that was because these enemies were below her. 

Seeing her finish, Pandora moved her feet and prepared to drive. 

Instead of running off like she usually did though, the Grand Marshal settled her gaze on the car. Pandora’s eyebrows raised in mild interest, but when the opposition's eyes never moved, she smiled and sat up. 

There was a standoff for almost a minute, the Grand Marshal simply staring at the car. Then, Pandora exited, jumping out with an innocent smile. 

She leaned on the side of the vehicle, returning the stare. 

“Is there something you need, Grand Marshal Vincent?”

“...”

Vincent was silent. After a few seconds though, she disappeared from her position, reappearing in front of Pandora. 

Pandora didn’t so much as flinch though, continuing to stare at the woman who was now much closer. She didn’t seem to care that she was in striking distance of an opponent who’s specialty lay in melee combat.

Vincent narrowed her eyes at Pandora. 

“What is the Vampire Princess doing here?”

“What do you mean? You invited me along.”

“Don’t be a smartass. I want to know what your objective is. Why are you following Dirk Strider? And what are you attempting to accomplish by doing so?”

Vincent gripped her blades. By all logic, Pandora’s life was in her hands. She could take her head off in the time it took to blink. 

But Pandora was abnormally calm. No, she seemed to be having fun as she smiled and chuckled so cutely. 

“I thought I already answered you, Grand Marshal. Dirk and I are on a super secret mission involving the fate of the world! I couldn’t possibly tell you about something so important.”

“Cut the shit. Nobody like you would move like this without purpose. Tell me why you’re with Dirk Strider.”

At Vincent’s question, Pandora’s face twisted a bit with an odd smile.

“What can I say? We’re just so horny for each other. I mean, as soon as we met, Dirk couldn’t seem to keep his hands off me. I don’t think I’ve ever been so hot and exhilarated as when he came and jumped on me like a beast. My pussy just couldn’t let him go after that.”

“...Disgusting.”

Vincent’s face twisted. To hear such vulgar words from the mouth of a beautiful princess was nothing short of shocking. No royal, especially one of her standing, would ever utter such profanity. She was absolutely the first of her kind.

But it also frustrated Vincent, because Pandora was obviously toying with her. She raised her knife, pointing it at Pandora’s throat. 

Before she could get close though, Pandora’s hot smile cooled just a bit. 

“Careful there. Cross a certain line, and you won’t even be able to regret it.”

“Oh? What can a little Tier 4 mage like you do?”

Vincent sneered, her powerful presence releasing monumental pressure focused entirely on the girl in front of her. But Pandora let out a small huff in response, as if she didn’t feel the intent to kill surrounding her body. 

“As a mage, nothing. But as the Vampire Princess, daughter of the Vampire Queen, and most valuable asset to the current noble alliance, I could have you executed where you stand.”

Pandora’s voice softened as she pressed forward just slightly. 

“Don’t think I’m so stupid as to come out here unprepared for people like you. If you don’t want to gaze upon your heart as it beats outside your chest, then you should exercise some restraint. Otherwise, I won’t.”

Pandora’s eyes flashed with a hint of the madness within her as she leaned forward into the knife. When the blade crossed a certain threshold though, Vincent felt a small chill go up her spine, causing her to pull the knife and jump back a few feet. 

Seeing that, Pandora smiled and went back to her cute self. 

“Aww, you were so close.”

“Shut up, you monster.”

“Oh please, I didn’t threaten your 42 year old sister or your three children of 14, 18, and 21. I think that’s pretty tame of me, considering what I had done only a few weeks ago.”

“You…”

Vincent trembled ever so slightly, her eyes dilating in disbelief. She then gripped her knives in anger, but she knew she couldn’t do anything. 

She reevaluated Pandora in her mind. 

She wasn’t a princess. She was a madwoman who would stoop to any level, a dangerous freak with the shell of royalty. 

How else would this princess know about her sister and three children, four people who she treasured the most in this world? It wasn’t like she was one of the dukes. She was one of the weakest Rank 7’s, in fact. And the fact that Pandora didn’t mention her husband, who was actually estranged, showed that she knew just who to target. Who studied the personnel of an entire Empire that thoroughly to know the strengths and weaknesses of someone as low-key as her, along with the people around them? That was a level of intellect that shouldn’t belong to someone like her. Or, perhaps that’s exactly what made her so freakish. 

Did Dirk know about this girl’s true nature? Was there a side to him she didn’t know about, and they really were entangled with each other? Did Pandora seduce him? If he did know about this freak and was in his right mind, then why would he travel with her? Just what was the goal here?

So many questions, and every possible answer led Vincent down unpredictable paths. She couldn’t wrap her mind around this situation. Everything before had pointed to them being decent friends. But now, Pandora’s words and actions threw everything she knew out the window. 

In the end though, only one thought remained. Vincent resigned herself.

Don’t fuck with Pandora.