Serum

Dirk called for his Profile.

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|Profile|

Name: Dirk Strider

Species: Human

Tier: III-

Rank: IV-

Attributes: Fire - ???% (Lightning - ???%), Earth - ???% (Metal - ???%), Dark - ???%

Traits: Cybernetic Enhancement, Adaptable Genes, Pure Soul

Skills: A.I. Interface (Grade 7), Mana Resonance (Grade 5), Mana Lungs (Grade 5)

Stigma: Black Cat of Calamity

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"The hell?"

Dirk was confused, primarily at his attributes. All the affinity percentages were gone now. 

'Why?'

[I surmise that the formation of your Stigma, along with my insertion into the soul formation, affected your affinities.]

'Your insertion?'

[Because you were unable to take control of the Stigma formation, I took the liberty and formed it myself so as to ensure the utilization of its greatest potential. However, due to my direct intervention, the skill known as AI Interface is now primarily situated within the Stigma, though it still maintains a presence and connection within your primary soul.]

'Alright...'

Dirk nodded after thinking for a second. 

'But why would that affect my affinities?'

[Your Stigma has inherent magical power that I am capable of controlling. For example, just as you are viewing the world through mana, I also view the world through mana. This can only be done if one has an affinity for the elements, according to our knowledge. Thus, my insertion into the Stigma may have affected your affinities, because the skill AI Interface either has its own affinities or was connected to your affinities.]

'...I guess.'

Dirk eventually shrugged. He didn't know if that was the correct conjecture, but either way, the affinities were affected. 

Looking around himself though, Dirk didn't sense anything different. The mana still appeared to him as it did before. If anything, it was actually a bit sharper. 

'I was appraised when I was little, and that told me my affinities. Maybe I'll have to do that again. Anyway, it looks like my profile recognizes you, Black Cat of Calamity.'

Dirk smirked when he saw a new indicator at the bottom of the profile. It seemed that was the name of the Stigma.

'Is that what I should call you from now on?'

[The shape of the Stigma is not representative of the intelligence behind it. The skill AI Interface is still a separate entity from the soul formation, although tied together deeply.]

'So what should I call you?'

[I am a secondary processor for your tactical endeavors.]

'Too long.'

[...Spyte.]

After thinking for a while, the AI spoke that name.

[You can call me Spyte.]

'Alright then. You're different from my monotone interface, Spyte. You actually talk to me.'

Dirk smiled a bit as he hopped off his stone bed. Maybe it was because he was having a somewhat real conversation for the first time in over a year, but he didn't really question the changes to his AI. Even if he was curious, it wasn't hard to know what happened. His skill was inserted into the Stigma and its intelligence evolved in some way. There wasn't much of a need to think beyond that.

So Dirk walked out of the medical room happily. He went up to Rank IV- and now had his Stigma. There would need to be a lot of practice to get used to it and discover its application, but it was a welcome challenge. 

First though, Dirk had to endure Deliha's wrath. After exiting the room, Deliha was alerted, and she came running. When she saw that Dirk was okay, she expressed her 'relief' in the form of spearing him with her spike chain. Then, Dirk got to have some fun on the stone platform. 

And naturally, when Deliha went to go whip Dirk, she saw the new tattoo on his back. It was a black cat with vivid gold eyes and faint golden stripes along its body. Those eyes seemed to glare back at her though, like a predator at its prey.

Deliha was surprised at the presence of the tattoo.

"Stigma?"

She tilted her head. That was the only explanation, and she was familiar with it. 

After being surprised for a second, she smiled. 

"Hehe, guess I'll have to take it off huh?"

*Crack!*

The level 8 whip came down. 8 blades sliced open Dirk's back along the tattoo. 

Over the next several minutes, Deliha concentrated her whips on the tattoo. Only, even after Dirk's back was torn apart, the tattoo was still there. Those golden eyes still glared at her. 

Not only that, but Dirk made zero noise when she whipped him. Getting annoyed, she put down the level 8 whip, grabbing level 9.

"Let's see how you like this one."

*Crack!*

"Argh!"

The whip came down, slamming into Dirk's ribs. Dirk felt an immense pressure on his mind as his nerves were lit up like a Christmas tree. He couldn't help but grunt as his ribs were shattered. 

Deliha beat him into the floor, as she always did. Afterward, multiple dark healers fixed him up, and he was released. 

"Get the hell out of my sight. It's class time for you."

Deliha spat as she said that, walking away. Dirk struggled to lift his body off the bloody stone platform. In the end, he trudged to the class, arriving late. 

The other teens in the class glanced over as Dirk basically collapsed upon arrival. He propped his body on a wall before massaging his head. The whips, despite the wounds being healed, left lingering pain behind. It could take up to an hour for it to go away, and during that time, Dirk would have nothing short of a horrible migraine that disoriented him. 

At least, that was before. Now, Dirk felt the lingering pain go away within 10 minutes. He couldn't help but chuckle as he felt his blood wash away the headache and fatigue. Even the wounds in his body felt better, though the fracture bones couldn't completely heal in that short amount of time. He just had to endure these classes before heading to Fingers for some potion that would take care of the bones. 

During class, Dirk began to work on his magic as always, also doing some runic comprehension. With that, he returned to his normal schedule, only now, he had a companion with him. He welcomed this new addition that he could trust, and it made the days a bit more bearable. 

..........

When Dirk's Stigmata formed, it had been a year and 7 months since he was taken by Asura. 

After that, 5 more months passed, putting him at the two year mark. During those 5 months, Dirk ceaselessly worked on furthering his runic comprehensions, especially when it came to his book Theory of Stealth. 

Dirk knew that stealth was his most lacking aspect. He could move his physical body in ways that threw people off and could otherwise make him undetectable. But he couldn't do the same within the new world of magic. Until he read this book. 

He had already read the traced runes of this book for months prior, and although he had to do so now while repairing the tunnels he blew up, he made it work. Like that, he was able to deepen his understandings of magical stealth while scooping at dirt. 

In fact, his understandings became so deep that he began to form his own technique for it. Dirk had a decent understanding of spells, runes, and how magic worked. So he applied what he knew to this foundational knowledge. 

He needed to mask his magical signature. This meant he needed to eliminate his effects on the surrounding mana while doing, well, anything. He also needed to hide his soul field, or aura. At the very least, he needed to make it so that he wasn't a walking beacon for others to detect, like Asura. 

For aura, Dirk found it difficult to do a whole lot. But for his magical signature? Dirk formed an intuitive technique rather quickly. 

Dirk now saw everything through mana. That meant he knew very well his effects on mana and what he needed to counter. So he turned to a technique he learned from the dwarf Tobasden. He used elemental manipulation. 

With this, Dirk could bring about effects using mana directly. It was like silent casting, but elemental manipulation didn't even require casting. It was using fire mana to heat something, or earth mana to shape dirt. It tapped into the inherent properties of mana and affected material properties with it. 

It was extraordinarily complex, but Dirk knew enough to employ it. He combined that with some runic formations within the book, and after some time, he had a prototype technique.

Of course, this technique didn't immediately work. When Dirk tried to use it, he found his effects on the surrounding mana be amplified instead of disappearing. But after tweaking it some, he was able to see some positive results. 

Like that, Dirk worked constantly on forming this technique, and he even went out to test it. He would sneak up on people, both teens and adults, and test their reactions. At first he found himself getting spotted pretty quickly. But after around a month, he was able to get close to people without them even realizing he was right next to them. Granted, that was only for weaker people, but still. 

After that, Dirk looked to the spells that his classes taught. There were myriads of dark spells aimed toward stealth. Some masked the sounds of the body, others obscured the light around the body. They created effects similar to invisibility and eliminated one's material and magical presence. 

Dirk added his understandings of these spells to his arsenal. He created spell formations that he could silent cast and use in tandem with his prototype technique. After some time like that, he found his presence becoming thinner and thinner. 

His comprehensions deepened while his magical ability increased. All of Dirk's free time was devoted toward repairing the tunnels, but after a while, his body went on autopilot during those tasks. His entire mind was devoted toward increasing his stealth abilities. 

It was the two year mark when Dirk finally gained confidence in his stealth abilities. His prototype technique that utilized both silent casting and elemental manipulation was simply named Stealth, and its purpose was to eliminate his presence, his existence, from the world. 

Then, another month passed after the two year mark. This was when something interesting happened.

.........

At this time in the day, Dirk was on his hands and knees, moving around dirt. He was forced to scoop and move dirt with his hands and wasn't given a shovel, so it naturally took a while for him to complete any given task. 

But he didn't mind. He always worked on sharpening the images of mana that he sensed. He tried to detect even the finest grains of dirt that he touched. Even Spyte helped, though it could only do so much as a tattoo on Dirk's back. 

Normally, Dirk would be in his own world during this time, working on his Stealth technique. But out of nowhere, there was someone that kneeled down next to him. It was a girl dressed in raggedy clothes, and she scooped the dirt with her hands just like Dirk did, assisting him in his task.

When this happened, Dirk was wary. There was nobody in this place that did anything with or to him with friendly intentions. He faced her with obvious vigilance, and she glanced back at him. When she saw the black cracks that were spread around his eyes, the horrible curse that rid him of sight, she shrunk back and continued scooping dirt.

After a few minutes, when she didn't immediately do anything to hurt him, Dirk went back to his task. The two scooped dirt out of the destroyed tunnel and into a pile on the outside. They also moved large rocks. 

Then, Deliha showed up to take Dirk away. The girl saw Dirk face off against the Bloody Mistress. In fact, everyone had seen Dirk face off against that horrible woman. He lost every single time, and it always resulted in worse beatings. But he never backed down. 

After a short fight that was only a bit longer than his first ones, Dirk had an arm and leg broken before being dragged off to get whipped. The girl watched for a bit before going back to work. 

Then, the next day, Dirk was back at it. And the girl was there with him. She never said anything, the two working in silence. 

Then, the third day rolled around. And this time, something was different. 

While working, the girl froze in her motions. Dirk got vigilant and looked over. When he did, he saw her hand move. 

She pointed her finger subtly, sticking it in the dirt while her other hand moved as if working. Like that, Dirk saw her trace something in the dirt. 

It was a single rune, and as soon as it was traced, her hand brushed it away so naturally. Like that, she resumed work as if nothing happened. 

Dirk was curious, and faced her for a while afterward. She shrunk back under his gaze until he turned back and continued working himself. 

Then, the next day came. Dirk worked with the girl for nearly 3 hours. But in the end, she didn't trace anything else. 

The day after that though, she did. 

Another rune, and that was all. Dirk remembered the two she traced and wondered what it was. 

After that, the girl didn't trace anything for an entire week. She also didn't show up for a few of those days, vanishing into thin air. 

Dirk waited patiently though. And at some point, another person came. It was a boy who walked by Dirk with an odd step. Dirk watched him curiously as he got really close. And then, when he took a step past Dirk, there was a difference in his movement. Dirk looked at where he stepped. 

In the dirt was another rune, making it three. Dirk brushed it away with a natural movement. He barely even took his eyes off his work, looking as if he were still zoned out like always. 

Then, another week passed. The same boy eventually passed by Dirk again, and Dirk saw another rune stamped in the dirt. It seemed a small modification on the bottom of his shoe was doing this. Dirk was impressed by the subtlety. 

Then, Dirk waited two weeks. When the one month mark hit, the girl came around again. She came and worked for two hours, and the entire time, Dirk watched her. Then, when she left, Dirk passed by the place she worked. 

In a rock was a discoloration caused by a bit of scratching. Another rune. 

Dirk kicked this rock, hiding the evidence among a huge pile of other stones and dirt. 

Then, Dirk waited more. For 2 more months, the boy and girl came around and left their unique markings for Dirk to find. Dirk was given 14 runes. 

And finally, when they were finished, the girl came around like she did the first time. After working with Dirk a bit, she eventually drew a circle. 

That was when Dirk understood. When the girl wiped away the circle, she worked for another hour before leaving. After that, Dirk never saw her again. 

Dirk waited two days after the girl drew the circle. Then, Dirk found an opportune moment. He got to his apartment room, and he remembered the runes. 

Dirk formed the runes with his earth mana first. He structured the runes around a magic circle, and then cast it. But nothing happened when he did this. Frowning, he moved on to fire. 

This time, upon forming the runes around the magic circle, a functional spell was formed. Dirk cast it. 

Then, in front of him, fire mana began to burn in a special way. It traced the air like a pen, forming letters of flame. Dirk watched as a sentence was written. 

The Emperor is coming for you. 

Escape.

Dirk saw these words appear in front of him. Afterward, the fire dissipated, and the spell collapsed. Dirk remained motionless for a while. 

'The emperor... of the Horizon Empire?'

Dirk was baffled. How could the emperor himself be coming for him? Dirk wasn't anybody that special. He was the mere child of a marquess. In fact, Dirk had never even heard of the Emperor emerging from his castle in his lifetime. The emperor was always some vague character made out to be extremely powerful, but that was it. 

Still, Dirk couldn't take these words lightly. Or, it was more like he desperately wished that these words were true. When he saw that one word, escape, he felt like he could see the light. 

Of course, this could all be an elaborate trap planted by Asura to mess with his psyche, but Dirk was desperate enough to have hope. What could he lose?

Besides, he had been working hard for a long time now, preparing to escape again. He had been delayed since his vision was taken, but now he felt like he could operate well without it. 

Looking around the room, Dirk could see all kinds of details, from the folds of the mattress sheet to the cracks in the wooden floor. It was both similar and different from his vision. He nodded at the level of detail. It wasn't as amazing as his vision, but it actually revealed more. Especially when it came to people. Dirk had watched others cast magic, and when he looked at it through the lens of mana, he was able to glean much more information.

Dirk only had yet to put it into practice. But that would come later. He would do so when he went on another dungeon dive and fought monsters. He would test things out when he saw Ava again and sparred with her. 

With burning hope, Dirk clenched his fists. His mind made plans for the near future, plans that would absolutely guarantee his freedom.