Serum

[No no, shake it a bit more, and then dump it with the fruit juice.]

“But I already added the juice.”

[I told you not to, but it doesn’t matter much. Just shake.]

“Fine…”

*Slip*

“...Shit.”

Dirk cursed as liquid spilled all over the passenger seat, one of the cups flying out of his grasp.

Spyte looked down from on top of Dirk’s head.

[You’re trying to be fancy. You’re not that bartender.]

“I thought the technique was there for a reason.”

[Mixing is mixing. I could get a blender and mix it just as easily. Kind of. Just shake it normally next time.]

“I smell alcohol!”

Suddenly, Pandora’s voice echoed inside the car.

She opened her eyes, exiting her meditation.

When she looked up, she saw Dirk mixing drinks over the passenger seat of the car. It so happened that neither of his hands were on the steering wheel, yet they were still driving.

She peeked over only to see his knees steering the vehicle, causing her to roll her eyes.

“I swear, it's been all of 6 days and you’ve become a proper alcoholic. You’ve put more effort into studying drinks than your magic!”

“I still get sick when I drink, so more conditioning is needed.”

“It's alcohol! You’re gonna feel a bit sick when you drink it! Especially for someone like you who has no experience with it. You probably get drunk way too easily.”

“Not really…”

Dirk refuted while cleaning things up.

According to what he’s experienced, it actually took a shocking amount of magic alcohol to even get him buzzed. He could down two entire bottles worth of liquor spiked with anima and barely start feeling warm.

At first he thought it was just his metabolism, or maybe his high Rank. But after Spyte took a look, he found that his blood simply rejected almost all of the negative effects of the alcohol. The only reason he could feel anything at all was because all the alcohol he took from that bar was some of the highest-class drinks that were enhanced with both anima and mana designed to get powerful people drunk.

Sure, it wasn’t the most powerful alcohol there was. But it was well above what Dirk should be able to handle, and yet he did so easily.

Which was good, because that meant he could focus more on conditioning himself rather than worrying about getting drunk.

And even after almost a week, he still felt sick whenever he drank. It was like anything other than water was a poison that his body wanted to throw back up.

And in fact, after pushing himself enough, he did throw up. Pandora was always too focused on her magic though to notice, as was Exos with his enchanting.

She sighed.

“Just don’t ruin my car, please. And don’t push yourself so hard. There are some things that time can heal as well. You don’t always have to put yourself through your traumas to conquer them.”

“That’s counterintuitive.”

“From your perspective, maybe.”

Pandora gave a soft smile as Dirk refuted again. Then, she closed her eyes.

“I’ll focus until we arrive. Just let me know when we get there.”

“Sure.”

Dirk nodded, focusing back on his drinks.

And not long later, he spotted a massive city in the distance.

Taking out an orb, he tapped it a few times before sending a message.

……

…

“Dirk!”

“Hi mom.”

Dirk smiled as he stepped down from the vehicle.

Cecilia dove in, hugging her son a little too tight for his comfort.

“I missed you so much! You’re okay, right? I heard from Ethan about the things that happened in that city. You did an amazing thing.”

“Yea…”

Dirk grit his teeth for nearly half a minute while his mother squeezed him with atrocious strength.

And when she separated, he took a deep breath, causing her to laugh.

“Sorry, my baby. I’m glad you’re here. And I see the princess is here as well.”

Looking over his shoulder, Cecilia spotted Pandora stepping down from the truck.

Pandora curtsied a bit in greeting.

“Nice to see you again, Madam Strider.”

“Hm. I’m just glad you didn’t get my child into trouble.”

“Haha, surely you don’t believe our trip was so uneventful.”

Pandora smirked a bit. How ludicrous was it to think that they hadn’t gotten into trouble? Surely Cecilia wasn’t so naive.

But the protective mother just narrowed her eyes.

“I mean trouble he couldn’t fight his own way out of.”

“Well, I don’t know if there’s any such thing. Don’t worry, Madam Strider. Your son happens to be irreplaceable to me.”

Pandora spoke while linking with Dirk’s arm, almost as if in provocation.

It caused Cecilia to narrow her eyes a bit further before glancing at Dirk, who looked as still and calm as a statue.

Pandora also looked at him, poking him in the side.

“Is acting as neutral as possible a defense mechanism or something?”

“...More so inconspicuous.”

“It’s not working.”

“Shut up.”

He turned his head away, earning a chuckle from Pandora.

Cecilia watched, more so curious than anything. She wasn’t exactly fond of this diabolical princess, but it seemed that the relationship between the two was closer than it had been before. Even she remembered the distance between them that now looked largely gone.

Still, it was difficult for Cecilia to not be protective. If there was any child to trust, it was Dirk, but when it came to him she was also extra cautious.

But she knew when to back off a bit, so with a small sigh, she shifted the topic to the others who had somehow tagged along with the duo.

Exos and Nova exited the truck, both of them observing Cecilia curiously. Nova was particularly observant, but when she suddenly felt her hair stand on end, she retreated and looked down at the floor.

Cecilia smiled and walked over.

“And who are these two?”

“M-My name is Exos Havalite, madam.”

Exos stuttered a bit, catching himself as he stared at Cecilia in enamor. He was obviously embarrassed as he bowed a bit in greeting.

Nova also curtsied, but she refused to meet Cecilia’s gaze as she spoke.

“I am Nova, and I serve the Princess.”

“A pleasure, Nova. I hope you and my son can also get along. There aren’t many he can relate to like you.”

“Y-Yes.”

Nova found herself baffled.

His mother? Were they a family of freaks? Why did both mother and son feel like they could wring her neck with nothing but their gaze? And why was she so easily being seen through?

With a chuckle, Cecilia turned back to Dirk.

“So, my son. To what do I owe this unexpected visit?”

“Just visiting before continuing. Thought I should say hello to everyone.”

“I see. Now tell me, why does my 16 year old son reek of alcohol?”

“...”

Dirk’s face went neutral again, and perhaps in a moment of panic, found himself looking toward Pandora.

Her brows raised.

“What are you looking at me for? You’re the one who sunk into depravity.”

“Shut up. I’m just experimenting, or something.”

He spoke, hoping that was a half decent explanation.

And Cecilia found herself curious. She knew her son wouldn’t take to alcohol without purpose. In fact, he shouldn’t like drinking anything remotely similar to alcohol. Ever since his time at Asura’s Mountain, he hadn’t put any liquid other than water into his stomach.

‘Wait, maybe that’s…’

Cecilia’s eyes widened, coming to a conjecture. And she quickly decided she wouldn’t question it.

She stepped forward, combing Dirk’s hair back before giving him a kiss on the forehead.

“Alright, it’s fine. Unfortunately, your father isn’t here. He’s on the front lines with your brother and sister.”

“Sister?”

“Viola. She returned not long after the Advent.”

Cecilia guided them through the city while speaking.

Apparently, while Viola wasn’t enlisted with the Empire’s military, she was still acting as a mercenary. And since she was the daughter of a Grand Marshal and the sister of a Marshal, she had a rather lofty position, especially with her skills.

However, the second sister, Rita, had yet to appear.

“After disappearing a few years ago, Rita hasn’t shown up in the Empire once. Not even I know where she might me, though I suspect she’s in the Otherworld.”

“Elven territories? Why?”

“Because her elven lineage started to awaken. It had started when she was going on adventures throughout the Dark Kingdom, which was about the time when I last saw her. If she’s smart, then she should be trying to get blessed by the World Tree.”

“Oh. So how’s her Tier? She was really strong when I last saw her.”

Dirk asked curiously. When he last saw her at the Academy, she had been a Tier 5 who was already learning Void Walking. She even had a Domain.

With a perfect Darkness attribute, she should be far stronger.

But Cecilia spoke otherwise.

“Your sister stagnated, actually. It’s something most dark magicians and all Elves go through. You see, Elves go through magical growth spurts early in their lives. But then their progress slows dramatically. They could jump three Tiers in one year, and then not advance another Tier for a decade. That’s because of their Blessing, which is also technically a curse. And Dark Elven magicians have it even harder because at some point, they must decide on their relationship with Darkness, which can halt their progress depending on how they decide.”

“Hm, then she must be either having the time of her life or going through hell right now.”

Pandora suddenly chimed in. Although she didn’t know Dirk’s sister, she definitely knew about all the species of this world. She probably wasn’t any less informed than Cecilia.

And her words were confirmed by a nod.

“Correct. Thankfully she had already formed her Domain, so her difficulty should be lesser and her talent greater. Well, unless she deviated in some way.”

Cecilia muttered darkly, causing Dirk to show a bit of concern.

He actually knew what she meant by that. Deviation was a big concept for dark magicians, and it was determined by their path in the dark arts. Giving in to the darkness too much could cause one to gradually lose their sense of ego in the pursuit of power, making them crazy. It was why, despite being generally accepted by society, dark magicians were still stigmatized.

Dirk took the extreme path of absolutely dominating his element, not giving even an inch of space to its chaos. But that wasn’t an option for most, and they were required to change themselves and their psyche in order to accommodate the element and its comprehensions.

A balance needed to be struck, and one's state of mind heavily influenced their path in the dark arts.

But Dirk wasn’t sure why Rita, his buttery sister, would have even the slightest chance of deviating. Especially because she was so talented.

“Why would she deviate? Did something happen?”

He asked with a surprising amount of urgency, taking Pandora off guard. There were few people Dirk would concern himself over. It seemed he was close with his sister.

Cecilia couldn’t help a wry smile.

“Well, you’re actually the reason. Rita disappeared not long after hearing of your kidnapping. I guess she knew she couldn’t help you as she was, so she left to go hone herself. She said she had gone to the Dark Kingdom to study magic there, but during the Advent I couldn’t find her. That means she probably wasn’t in the Kingdom anymore, thus my guesses about her going to the World Tree.”

“...Oh.”

Dirk scratched his head. It seemed he would need to apologize when he saw her again. If he could find her in the first place.

Well, it was at least good that they were going in her assumed direction. Perhaps by some miracle they would find her.

For a moment, Dirk found himself longing to see his sister. But he quickly pushed the thought back. Brooding over it wouldn’t get him anywhere.

Cecilia changed the topic with a smile.

“Don’t worry about it much. Now let’s go home. I’m sure you all are tired from travel.”

“Yes please! I’d love to see Dirk’s old room.”

Pandora smiled, and they continued toward the house.

……

When they arrived, Pandora took in the sights of the house with great pleasure.

Dirk was also quite nostalgic. He had come home briefly after escaping the Mountain before going right back out to the Dark Kingdom. It had felt like years since then.

But beyond that, he found it funny. Pandora was oddly interested in the house, and she wasted no time in checking out his room.

He laughed when she was disappointed. With words like, “I don’t know what I expected” and “How dull,” she went around critiquing the place.

And it was true. Dirk was never one for decor. It was like all that style was taken and put into his combat instead.

Like that, night fell. They had rolled into the city around sunset anyway, and they really were tired from the long drives.

So they retired early.

Exos and Nova were offered guest rooms, as was Pandora. Yet, she found herself in Dirk’s room anyway.

However, Dirk didn’t retire when they did. Instead, he made his way to the study, a large bottle of another concoction he brewed up during the drive.

His father’s study was a place Dirk frequented when he was a young child. He still had those vivid memories of gathering intel with his stubby little 4 year old hands, taking several seconds just to separate and flip a single page, and even more time to figure out how to knock the books down in the first place.

The book shelves were dustier than they had been though. It seemed that they hadn’t been used in quite some time.

Well, they were all growing up. Despite his father being in his 90s and his mother approaching her 70s, it seemed they were still maturing. After all, raising your children was just as much of a growing experience as becoming an adult was.

And many things had happened, especially in the past few years. Their family had been through quite a bit. One child became a soldier, one got kidnapped, two daughters disappeared while adventuring, and only one had yet come back.

And now a war had thrown them into conflict. Dirk was about to continue traveling the world and two were fighting a war against monsters alongside their father. As for the mother, who knew what she did in her free time?

Going through the study, Dirk concluded that nobody had time for leisurely reading anymore. In fact, the maids who had once frequented this palace when they were kids were nowhere to be found. Dirk only saw the head maid and an assistant, both of which were merely maintaining the place and standing by should the masters suddenly come home.

It made Dirk melancholic. A part of him longed for those days when things were simpler. When he could just go to school, be loved by his parents, and play around with Ava.

“Are you alright?”

Dirk suddenly heard a voice, seeing it was his mother.

He lowered the bottle he was about to take a swig out of, sighing.

“Yea. It’s just been a long time.”

“I would normally say that you’re exaggerating and have yet to experience even a fraction of what life has to offer, but I don’t think that applies to you. Sometimes I forget, but you’re not just a 16 year old teen. I find myself deeply curious about what your other world was like. And even then, you’ve experienced so much here.”

Cecilia took a seat at the one desk in the study, turning the chair to Dirk as he leaned on a bookcase.

And her words caused him to dive into yet another bout of nostalgia. He recalled his old memories as if they had happened a hundred years ago. Some of those memories felt completely foreign to him.

He mumbled.

“Maybe one day I can let you see what it's like.”

“There is in fact a light and dark spell that lets you display images of what’s in your memories. It requires a fairly strong mind, but it's nothing that advanced. I haven't learned it myself, but it should be possible for you to learn it sometime in the future.”

“Well, there’s that, and the alternative. Just remember that I came here from a world without magic, and yet it was by no fluke. Perhaps in the future, they might develop whatever technology they had back then. And when that happens, the people of my old world will come marching over with weapons that this world can’t begin to understand.”

Dirk spoke those words with great foreboding, causing Cecilia’s blood to run cold. This was the first she was hearing of this, but she could understand that a world which could bridge the gap between two planets was not one to be trifled with. They would come with weapons that could destroy them, at the least. In fact, it seemed almost inevitable by how Dirk spoke of it.

Suddenly, she thought that she would need to ask Pandora to find the magic she spoke of. She was now morbidly curious about their native world, and surely Pandora should be able to cast the magic. Even if not right now, she could do so in the near future.

Then again, whether she would agree was a different story.