Serum: C182

Weeks pass…

Gianna woke from her slumber as the ground started to shake. Many others did as well, all of them exiting their raggedy residences in search of the cause. 

It sounded like there was thunder and lightning striking down. Pebbles on the ground vibrated as massive booming symphonies drowned out terrified screams from nearby children. 

Gianna looked over toward the mountain where the mine was located. There, she could see the land splitting open under the peeking rays of the morning sun, rivers of rock and dirt flowing down toward the base. 

Everyone started running away, elven guards emerging in full armor only to realize a natural disaster was befalling them. 

Then, they all watched as the entire landmass started to cave. 

The landslides came to a halt, reversing as the top of the mountain collapsed in on itself. It dropped hundreds of meters before dipping below ground level, kicking up a dust storm in its place. 

Then, it all stopped. The ground settled and the children’s cries stopped. 

The guards shouted elvish commands, several dashing off to investigate. 

Gianna stood there, worriedly looking toward where the mines had been.

…

…… 

“Well, it’s certainly not Exos’ enchanting. But it’s workable. How many more of these?”

[Just two.]

“Alright…”

Dirk sighed as he followed the lines in his vision, engraving the metal of the cubic shell and modifying the magical pathways. 

Obsidius was activated around Dirks hands, forming the Living Gloves. Within those gloves Dirk held a hammer and chisel, the only tools that allowed him to modify the metal around him without draining his stamina excessively. He also had to simultaneously use the Living Flame to heat the metal and make it malleable. 

His system had worked, and now, he had almost completed his project. 

The entire cube around him was modified with his engravings and enchantments. There was already some turbulence in the gravity around him, occasionally pulling rather than pushing. Sometimes he’d get yanked up in the air before getting flung across the cube. For a time he thought the core was actually alive and pissed, but that wasn’t likely so he just ignored it. 

Now, he was about to be finished. 

“What time is it?”

[0440.]

“Morning. I think we can get this done before everyone wakes. Don’t want to kill everyone when I do this.”

Dirk said that finishing the second to last enchantment. His enchantments would hijack the gravitational formations and turn them against the core. It was a simple yet effective oscillatory reversal formation. It would gather power from the repulsion of the core, and once it hit its power storage limit, it would release it all back at the core. But one release wouldn’t be enough power, so Dirk designed it so that the two formed a push and pull relationship, the power of the shell gradually accumulating momentum using oscillation until it eventually led to a catastrophic breakdown of momentous proportions. 

If that wasn’t enough, he had another idea to compound off of it. But he sincerely hoped he wouldn’t have to use it, even though he figured he would. 

Finally, the last enchantment was made. That’s when the entire cube flashed around him, the gravity suddenly multiplying and slamming his body into the floor.

“Ugh, that’s some powerful stuff.”

[It would be a good place to train.]

“Yeah, if I wouldn’t also get killed. I need to get the hell out.”

Dirk’s body bulged with anima as he started bear crawling his way out, throwing himself through his doorway. 

That’s when the inside of the cube flashed white, having gathered enough power to release. 

All the accumulated power reversed the gravity and brought the full force of its compression right back into the core. Dirk could see all the surrounding Earth mana getting ripped through the metal shell, forcefully filtering, before slamming into the core like billions of tiny hammers. 

It wasn’t just the mana in the vicinity either. With how much was coming down around him, Dirk felt like the entire mountain was getting sucked into the core. Either way, the more power the shell had, the more pressure the core would be under. 

But it didn’t last forever. After releasing all its power, the gravity reversed again, slamming back into the shell, the force of that power charging it even faster than before. 

Once it was full, the reversal came, the gravity and mana slamming into the core. The power was drained rapidly before reversing again. Then it charged again, before reversing again and hitting the core again. 

Again and again this process repeated, and with every reversal, the power output and accumulating sped up. This was Dirks oscillation at play. While he might not know much in the way of gravity manipulation, Dirk had a Skill entirely dedicated to oscillating and resonating his power. He easily applied it to this situation, which allowed him to generate power well beyond him. 

The oscillation sped up, going faster and faster as the charge and discharge time of the shell was reduced from seconds to fractions of a second. And it only continued, the catastrophic breakdown in full swing. Now, its power was so far beyond what Dirk could control that he’d die instantly if he even attempted to step inside the shell. Even the earth mana within his mana core was pulled out, like air out of his lungs, and went into the shell. 

Dirk could practically hear the oscillation. It went from a heartbeat, pounding through his body multiple times a second, before speeding up so fast that it seemed to vibrate. 

The earth mana started to stagnate in the atmosphere, the gravity reversing so fast that it moved through a miniscule distance. Then, Dirk’s neck tingled as he started floating. 

“Oh shit.”

[You have any experience in zero gravity?]

“A bit. Not this kind of zero gravity though. Take a look around.”

[Huh…]

Spyte appeared, the cat floating with Dirk as the two looked at their surroundings. 

The earth mana no longer simply vibrated. Dirk could actually see the waves along its length as it changed frequencies, gaining more and more energy as its curves shortened and hastened. 

Then, the stone walls comprising the cave started to change. Dirk saw their forms morph, stone turning into metal and metal turning into crystal.

Suddenly, Dirk let out his own mana into a ball above his palm, manipulating it and matching the frequency to the external earth mana’s frequency with his Mana Resonance. That’s when something amazing happened. 

The earth mana transformed into different materials, going through a variety of stones and materials like metals and even glass. Dirk knew that mana could take on different forms like this, but this was the first time he was creating it using resonance and frequencies. Of course, it was supplemented by the overwhelming power of the core, but this was still a way of material creation he had never seen before, and one that was so incredibly easy compared to the normal way he did it. With this, he wouldn’t actually have to spend any mana in order to create something like a metal arrow. He could form it out of atmospheric mana simply by resonating the mana to a specific frequency. 

“Spyte, tell me you’re recording these frequencies.”

[As if I wouldn’t be. It’s fascinating… This changes so much. Your forging, your combat, your cultivation…]

“I know. But…”

Dirk frowned. The frequency was only speeding up, and at some point, he started to see the cubic shell fracture. 

“Shit. Prepare the spell.”

[On it.]

Dirk suddenly put out a hand, fire exploding on his palm and shooting him back to his doorway in the cube. 

Then, Spyte transformed. The M6888 Experimental Arc Cannon, a railgun had hadn’t pulled out since making spells for it, appeared in his arms. 

Once he was in front of the doorway, he stuck the 6 floating barrels through it, aiming at the spherical core in the center. 

The railgun’s golden circuits sparked to life, glowing along the black body as spell circles appeared one after another between the 6 barrels, stopping once 8 appeared. The barrels also started to rotate, thick arcs of lightning zapping across their surface. 

Dirk had modified the one spell he made for this weapon as a contingency. If the shell ended up breaking down before the sphere, then he’d take action. He needed the sphere to give in, otherwise it would remain rooted inside the mountain. 

He figured he’d have to do this, the only downside being the absurd danger he was about to put himself in. But if he didn’t take action now while the sphere was under the most amount of stress, this chance would forever escape him. 

However, even when the spell completed and his railgun was primed, he didn’t fire. 

[What are you waiting for?!]

“Not yet…”

Dirk waited, feeling the changes in the core. 

It was already on the verge of Tier 8 power before. Now, with the pressure he had given it, it was taking that final step. 

Dirk could feel the power within that sphere grow. Earth mana trickled down on top of it like beautiful stars sinking into a black hole. That Earth mana sat firmly at the Tier 8 level. 

It just needed a bit more time…

Dirk kept his senses on both the shell and the sphere, listening to his instincts. Even as more fissures appeared in the shell, he didn’t panic. 

The opportunity presented itself quickly. 

The sphere fluctuated once more, Earth mana screaming in resonance as the core was elevated to a whole new level. It sparked as if with life, the Earth mana resonating to a very specific frequency. This caused the surrounding metal to get speckled in darkness, warping it into something far stronger. 

This compounded with the shell, since when it gained strength, it was able to exert more power onto the sphere. 

It seemed that its transformative phase made it vulnerable though, as right when the shell was about to collapse, the outer surface of the core cracked. 

The sound it released was so powerful that Dirk’s ears outright burst, his entire mana body getting hit by an acute shockwave that threatened to kill him, disturbing his entire body and making his blood burst out of control for a moment. 

Yet, even when his heart stopped beating and his cardiovascular system failed, he maintained his perfect aim, not so much as faltering. 

Between that crack, Dirk saw a brilliant crystal reveal itself within. And then he fired right at the crack. 

A massive spike was created within the barrels of the railgun, the barrels multiplying their rotational speed in the last second to apply the most amount of power possible. 

And the projectile was fired, lightning arcing across it as the projectile drew a space-distorting line through the air. 

The shell collapsed right after, all of it shattering into fragments and surging toward the core. 

Only to be repulsed the instant after. 

Dirk positioned himself right when he could, and yet one of the fragments still flew over. Like a knife, it sliced straight through his shoulder, taking his arm clean off and shattering everything nearby from his collarbone to the side of his ribcage. 

He was lucky it stopped there, the shock of the moment still allowing him to move. 

His arm disappeared into his pocket ring as the entire cave was blown open. The core fell from its position in the air. Landing on the ground in the center, the center crystal still surrounded by some of the dense outer metal, yet a large portion of it being revealed. 

Dirk couldn’t actually focus on the crystal within. The runic formations within were so powerful that they threatened to give him an aneurysm from a glance. 

So he focused on moving, using the adrenaline surging through his body to stay functional. 

He went around and threw all the surrounding material from the fragmented shell into his Obsidius’ pocket space. Then he approached the core. 

Obsidius still couldn't retrieve it when the little guy tried, but now it was at least mobile. With his one remaining arm he brought out a chain and a metal cradle he had made earlier just in case this happened, pushing the core onto the cradle before chaining it to his body. This proved incredibly difficult since the core turned out to weigh over 1000 pounds. Dirk’s guess was that it was close to 1500. 

With enough anima though, he could move that weight. After chaining it to the cradle, he started climbing back out of the cave post haste. 

That was because the entire mountain started shaking. It was going to collapse right on top of him if he wasn’t quick enough. He could see it in the earth mana, a massive void now present with the core gone. 

Now he was really on death’s door. Thankfully it was a familiar place, so he continued on even when his entire body threatened to shut down. 

……

…

“Yes, the mine has been destroyed. The entire mountain collapsed.”

“How did this happen?”

“We don’t know. The only explanation is that there was a Heart Core at the center of the Geode Vein, and that it was taken from its shell. Such a thing is the only possible culprit for this phenomenon.”

“Dammit!”

The elf on the other end of the orb slammed his fists in rage.

Dirk watched from the corner of the room, completely invisible. 

At the desk in front of him, one of the Rank 6 elven guards was communicating with one of his superiors, explaining the recent situation with the collapsed mountain. 

Since the entire mountain was gone, they couldn’t mine anymore. It wouldn’t be worth the investment to start it up again and retrieve what was left of the vein. 

But this meant that they had lost the most valuable part of the vein. All the slaves would also need to be dealt with. They couldn’t just be idle. 

The superior shown in the orb rapped his fingers in thought. 

“...Prepare to move all the slaves. We’ll send them to another camp where they can be useful.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll send you the location later. For now, maintain order.”

With those words, the superior ended the call, leaving the guard to sigh. 

And from the darkness, Dirk rubbed his chin in thought before leaving the room. 

It had been a day and a half since the collapse. 

Dirk survived, but only due to no small amount of effort on Spyte’s part to keep him alive. With an entire arm gone, his cardiovascular system having failed, and the fact that he had to dig his way out of an actively collapsing mountain, there hadn’t been much in his favor. Spyte used every possible Skill and Trait in order to keep him functioning long enough to make it out before expediting his recover. 

Now, his arm was reattached, bones were reformed, his cardiovascular system was generally fucntioning again, and he wasn’t at risk of death. However, the toll it took on his body was massive, and the most he could do was use Stealth to spy on a conversation. If he actually had to fight one of the guards, he would die. 

Thankfully with Spyte being able to exert some control of his body, the two of them were able to get both a potion and a refueling potion into his stomach. All the stress made him pass out right after, but it greatly helped her work. For hours Spyte was working overtime to piece together every destroyed organ, vein, artery, and repair his arm and nerve connections. Even now she hadn’t completely finished. Dirk’s extremities were almost numb, hardly any blood being moved to them. His heart was also weak, gradually strengthening as his circulation returned to normal. 

It would be some time before he could fight again. Now though, his next challenge had presented itself. 

As the elven guard had been told, a location for the transfer of slaves was given to him. With that, they no longer wasted any more time after another day. The camp was scrapped and all the slaves were prepared to move. 

They were stuffed into huge wagons before getting hauled off. As for Dirk, he couldn’t join them while also moving the Heart Core. Because of this he ended up going missing while they were counting the slaves. Fortunately for him they couldn’t care too much about one slave that might’ve died somewhere. Because of that he was able to simply slip behind the convoy, following them in secret.

To do this, he brought out the Wasp in a secluded area, the Horizon Empire’s cutting edge magical aircraft. 

He took one back when Pandora first introduced him to the hangar deck of the Sky King. Now, it would be saving him a lot of time and pain. 

There were two seats in the Wasp, one in front and one behind like a two seater aircraft. Dirk put the Heart Core into the back seat, strapping it down as best he could so it wouldn’t move around and shift its weight. 

Then, he jumped in the pilot seat. There were few controls to make sense of, and the power control was obvious. He hit that before the entire aircraft started to boot up. 

Air was kicked up around him as he closed the canopy. Dirk’s reflexes wanted to kick in and start flipping switches, but there were none present. Instead, besides the power button, there were two control handles, which he grabbed and shifted around. At his feet were also two pedals. 

Dirk moved around the handles. They could be pulled in, pushed out, and maneuvered up, down, and side to side. When he moved them, he could see air mana get pushed along the wings. It seemed these aircraft worked not by adjusting rudders or flaps, but by using air to push the plane around. 

Dirk nodded, and then, hit one of the pedals. 

The downward force multiplied, the Wasp rising. Dirk kept his hands still so it didn’t sway, but he still felt a bit unsteady. 

He did his best to get used to it, using Spyte’s help to get a grasp on the intensity of its controls. She formed an overlay in his vision simultansouely that tracked his movement like a gyroscope, giving him greater clarity in regard to his positioning. 

Then, when he was ready, he looked down at the control panel and grabbed another lever, shifting the direction of the air propulsion so he would move forward instead of up. 

While doing that he pressed the pedal more, increasing power and flying straight. 

He smiled, playing with the handles to get a feel for it. He didn’t have a whole lot of experience in fighter craft or controlling drones, but in this thing, it felt like riding a bike. 

With that, he flew off slow and steady, maintaining a stealthy position behind the convoy and high in the sky. 

And so they traveled, Dirk hoping and praying something happened while the opportunity presented itself.