The next morning, Dirk was quick to wake up. He woke up even earlier than the few other groups who were camping in the haven.
Deciding to enjoy a refreshing morning, he left the haven and stepped outside. In just his plain cloth clothes, he felt the slightest chilling breeze, cold sand between his toes, and smelled the stagnant, dry air. On the horizon, the sun was only barely starting to rise. From here, it would only get warmer until those blistering heat waves returned.
Dirk stood there for around an hour, employing his mana lungs. He breathed in and out the ambient mana just like normal breathing. He barely felt the slightest drain on his mental energy. This signified his ever increasing proficiency and rising tier. It wouldn't be long until his mana heart would be finished, he believed that by then, he would really be able to use mana lungs like normal lungs.
As he was enjoying his little euphoric training session though, he was suddenly interrupted by wiggling in the sand. Opening his eyes, he saw the body of a dune worm surface from below the sand. Its long teeth raised into the air, its carapace gleaming under the rising sun.
It didn't seem to notice Dirk though, who stood there with statue-like stillness. Seeing that the worm was oblivious to him, he had a thought and smiled. Activating a bit of the anima in his body, he broke out into a sudden sprint, appearing beside the worm before it could react.
Then, bringing his leg back, he swung at it with a kick. His foot slammed against the worm's carapace, slightly cracking it. The force pulled the worm's 3 foot long body out of the sand and sent it flying like a ball. Dirk smiled as the worm flew for almost 130 feet, finally landing with a whimpering squeal.
"Hehe, goal!"
Dirk chuckled as he cheered to himself. Looking at the worm that writhed around in pain, he smirked. These worms were actually incredibly easy to kill for him. The others, like Alec, had a more difficult time than him. They couldn't accurately find the worms when they slithered under the sand, and when they popped out, they didn't have the reaction times to kill it before it either bit them or slammed into them. Luckily they had their armor, making up for their seriously lacking combat experience. Otherwise, Alec and even Ava would have broken legs.
Dirk couldn't blame them though. He often forgot, but they were all only teenagers at 13 years old. The fact that they were doing these kinds of things was already surprising enough. He couldn't expect them to automatically have exceptional skills. However, he also couldn't help but feel a little stifled. If he were by himself, he may very well likely be able to complete this job at the same pace, if not faster than the group.
But he wasn't by himself, and it had subconsciously become his responsibility to ensure each person's safety. Thus, he had to move at their pace. But he didn't mind this so much.
After living for so many years as a child, Dirk had become used to the slower lifestyle he had now. It was rather carefree, and he didn't have death constantly looming over his shoulder. It wasn't so serious and critical, and he could take his time with things. While he still trained himself to his limits and never slacked, it could be said that he was becoming a bit complacent. But Dirk knew that this complacency was temporary. If he so needed to, he could operate as he did in his previous life.
Only, there was no need to. Dirk had no threats or enemies. His only goals and challenges were in the form of training his mana and body and academics, like forging and enchanting. He knew that there was a wider world out there, but he didn't necessarily feel the need to rush into it. Instead, he felt like enjoying where he was now. He had more than enough experience with war, international politics, and living a life of constant battles. Others who had never seen the things he has might be eager to engage in that lifestyle. But him? For the first time, he could enjoy himself and others. He wasn't so quick to throw that away. Cause once he did, he knew he might never be able to go back.
Various thoughts rushed through his head. It was only a few seconds though before he shook it, bringing his gaze back to the worm that was beginning to dive under the sand again.
Waving his hand, a magic circle appeared. A single spike manifested next to his head. It was an earth spike, but unlike before, it had hints of metal in it. This was the effect of his mana heart becoming more solid and the metal element exposing its power. Dirk had been told that this metal element would come to strengthen his earth spells to a great degree in the future, but it was only now that he got hints of it taking effect.
Pointing his hand, Dirk sent the spike flying. It zipped over to the dune worm before nailing through its carapace and planting itself in its body. The dune worm thrashed as blood spilled, and even though it hadn't died, Dirk turned around to leave. As he walked back into the haven, the worm's death throes quieted before it eventually went still.
When he walked back to the camp, Dirk was surprised to see Ava up. The two glanced at each other before Ava turned away with a neutral face, as if he were a stranger. Thinking back to his morning rumination, Dirk sighed before walking up to her.
"Good morning."
"Uh-huh."
"..."
Dirk's mood worsened as Ava barely hummed in response. He had finally caved and spoke to her first, and that was what he got? Taking a breath, he calmed before continuing.
"I want to apologize."
"..."
He got straight to the point, causing Ava to be quiet and listen. She stood in front of him, gazing out into the distance, but he knew she was listening, waiting for what he had to say.
Dirk thought back to his conversation with Alec prior to leaving.
"I'm sorry for speaking how I did to you. I didn't realize that you might have your feelings hurt."
"...Alright. Thanks."
"I can try to refrain from raising my voice in the future. It was only that I wanted to make sure you had understood what I was saying."
"Huh? Wait, hang on. What exactly are you apologizing for?"
Stopping him, Ava questioned. He looked at her oddly.
"For raising my voice. Talking how I did to you which made you mad."
"Raising your voice? That's what you thought this was about?!"
Suddenly, Ava burst with hostility. Dirk's face fell as he realized he misunderstood something.
"Dirk, you've yelled at me before. You've punched and driven me into the ground. I've bled from wounds that you've caused! And you think talking a bit sternly to me was what hurt my feelings?"
"..."
Dirk frowned as Ava shouted. What she said made sense. But then what the hell was wrong?
He hated this. Ava was getting mad at him, and he didn't know for what. What did he do wrong? He's done nothing but help her and care for her wellbeing, and then she goes and gets mad at him?
As anger welled up within him, he opened his mouth.
"So? What is it? What did I do? I don't know what you want from me!"
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Dirk, you-"
Ava was about to go off again when, in the corner of her eye, she saw one of the other parties climb out of their tents. Realizing that they were probably being too loud, she turned back to Dirk with a sigh.
"Dirk... Nevermind. We'll talk about this later."
She turned and climbed back into her tent, preparing her bag. As she did so, Dirk stood outside, anger still flooding his chest. He wanted to grab her and force an answer out of her, but he restrained himself. That didn't stop dark mana from congealing around his fingers though.
Feeling his dark mana move, Dirk looked down at his hand. Last time when he had first gotten mad, this dark mana had turned into claws. Then, he hadn't been in the right mind to care about this weird reaction. But now, in the midst of anger, he found himself wondering.
Using his unyielding discipline, he closed his eyes and walked away, calming his mind. He then looked at his hands with apathy. The dark mana thinned as his mind calmed, receding back into his body. This caused him to think.
'Does the dark mana become active with anger? Garel had spoken about how emotion could spur the dark mana to move, as if it worked off of emotion. It seems like he wasn't wrong. For some reason, my dark mana only seems to want to come out when I'm emotional.'
Dirk came to this conclusion. He didn't know why, but emotion and dark mana had a link. Maybe this was why Garel was so volatile and emotional himself. In order to become a great dark mage, one would have to be an emotional person, as that would ensure the easiest employment of their dark mana.
But weren't his mother and sister dark mages? They didn't seem that emotional, especially not like Garel. Or maybe they just weren't emotional around him. Dirk hadn't seen Rita much since she had entered the academy, and he had never seen his mother in action.
But this led Dirk to think about something else. During his first kill initiation, he had lost himself in the desire to kill the goblin. He had such an overwhelming bloodlust, and it was so out of nowhere that Dirk only regained control of himself after the goblin was stabbed through the head. He had heard a voice beckoning him to draw blood, to end the goblin's filthy life. It was unlike anything he had felt before.
This led him to believe that something about him was different. Seeing how dark mana reacted with emotion, he felt that it might also influence emotion. Was Garel able to become a great dark mage because he was crazy, or did the dark mana make him crazy? Maybe it was both. But Dirk feared the latter.
For now, he assumed that the dark mana influenced his emotion, and that he needed to be careful. It wasn't a good thing to get lost in emotion. Dirk had learned that long ago. In an intense battle, that could get you killed.
Coming to that conclusion, Dirk shook his head. The dark mana on his hand fully dissipated, so he put it down and went to his tent.
...............
"Alright, looks like we're finally here. Now comes the hard part."
Alec spoke as he stepped onto flat, solid ground. Behind him were the sand dunes, and in front was the second half of the dungeon.
The group had already left the haven. After exiting, they walked forward for an hour before reaching the halfway point where the desert became flat. This was about 5 miles from the previous haven.
They had faced several dune worms, but all of them were dispatched with ease. Now, they didn't see anymore, but this wasn't comforting. Now, they would have to fight the hard enemies.
Alec looked around. There were scattered boulders, large holes in the ground, brown bushes, and rough dirt. Seeing the various visual obstacles, Dirk realized this could be much more dangerous than he thought. All these boulders and holes and bushes were places for these skinks to hide and ambush them. They wouldn't be able to see one from far away.
The others didn't really have these thoughts. They were only thinking about how the skinks could spit fire, and that they needed to keep their eyes peeled.
Alec spoke after they walked onto the flat land.
"We need to get to the next haven, and that's about 30 miles away. We should get there by nightfall. Unlike the dune worms, the skinks don't totally hide away. They're still a threat, and we won't be able to see them well at night. So we should try and move quickly. Thankfully the ground is flat, so we can at least walk faster."
He spoke as he stepped forward. In the distance he could see heat waves, and the hot ground warmed his soles. If it weren't for his fire attribute, he would be struggling in this heat.
This caused him to look at Garet. Luckily, since Garet trained anima, his body was at least tougher. That combined with the heat mitigation necklace made everything bearable. It was only Casma who complained about sore legs and feet. Unfortunately, she could only bear it and move forward. This was the labor a mage had to be willing to bear until they learned higher level magic.
The group carefully moved forward, Ava, Alec, and Dirk surrounding Garet and Casma in a triangle formation.
Before leaving, Dirk had equipped every part of his armor. The dark gray metal and black leather was a stark contrast to the surrounding orange desert. Dirk's eyes scanned the surroundings from under his hood. He had even equipped the mask. The reason was because of the enemies he would be facing. The skinks could spit fire, and although he trusted his senses, he didn't want to get caught off-guard and get burns.
He was an assassin prowling in the open desert while the bright sun beamed down. It almost looked ridiculous, but he couldn't care less. He was alert as he kept his eyes peeled, taking in every detail.
[Enemy detected.]
Suddenly, Dirk was alerted. His AI highlighted a bush, outlining the silhouette of something behind it. This was yet another useful feature of the AI. It could take in the most minute details, and in cases where something was camouflaged, it would pick out the abnormalities. The result was an enemy detection.
Dirk looked at the bush that was 30 meters away. Nothing was moving, but it didn't matter that he couldn't tell if there was something behind it. He stepped forward and extended his hand, grabbing Alec's shoulder.
"Hm?"
Alec turned around and looked at Dirk. Dirk put his finger over his mouth, and seeing this, the group stopped.
He then grabbed his bow, taking an arrow out of a quiver. Nocking the arrow, he pulled back. The string took rather substantial force to draw. The arrow was also tipped with some kind of metal Dirk was unfamiliar with. Nonetheless, Cecilia had assured Drik that the bow was quality, so he decided to trust her.
He aimed at the bush that still maintained its stillness. Once he was lined up, he loosed the arrow.
The arrow was almost entirely silent as it sailed across the 30 meters in an instant.
*Screech!*
Suddenly, as the arrow buried itself in the bush, a scream was heard. A fire skink raised its head as it howled. The arrow had pierced its abdomen.
The others in the group were surprised. They hadn't even seen the skink. Should they have kept walking, they would have been taken by surprise. Someone would have been burned. But Dirk spotted the skink in time. He saved them a bad injury.
Knowing that it had been caught, the skink screamed more and charged the group. It was shockingly fast as it traversed the ground with its long and sharp claws, leaving gouges in the dirt. Seeing how fast it was, Dirk realized he wouldn't even have enough time to draw another arrow.
He threw his bow to the side, taking out his hatchet. He couldn't even use his spear since its two pieces had to be attached. Alec also drew his sword while Ava rushed to the front.
But they were too late. The skink threw itself at Dirk who stood in front. Its mouth opened, and he could see a flame billow out of it. However, he didn't dodge to the sides or duck behind his armor. Instead, he proceeded to throw himself at the skink, diving out with his hand.
Just as the fire was going to escape the skink's mouth, Dirk's two hands grabbed its upper and lower jaws. Activating the anima in his body, his arms erupted with tyrannical strength. He yanked the skink to the side, pointing its mouth in another direction and totally diverting its aim.
The fire was spit out, a long tongue of flame shooting out a few meters and igniting several other bushes. The skink started thrashing about when it was finished with its fire attack, but with Dirk's hand grabbing its jaws, there wasn't much it could do.
The skink wasn't even in control of its body as Dirk slammed its mouth shut and pinned its head to the floor. After freeing up a hand, he equipped and brought down his hatchet.
*Splat!*
The hatchet plowed into the skink's spine. Its entire body immediately fell limp, its claws no longer able to thrash around. Dirk left the hatchet in the lizard as he expertly unsheathed a knife, bringing it around to its head.
*Slice!*
The knife pierced its eye socket, digging to its brain. The violent resistance faded from the skink's other eye, succumbing to the call of death.
He then let go of the skink's jaw. As his hand relaxed, he could feel the shattered bone underneath his fingers. His grip strength had broken the skink's jaw.
Alec stood to the side as Dirk removed his weapons, cleaning off the hatchet before sheating it. As always, Dirk made it seem so easy to kill these monsters. But he knew that he wouldn't be able to copy him.
After cleaning the hatchet, Dirk kept his knife and scanned around the skink. He could detect a dense fire mana source in its neck. This was the mana crystal, and the source of the skink's power.
Cutting through the rough flesh, Dirk dug around before plucking out a hot stone. This stone was bright red and the size of a marble.
"Only 139 to go."
Saying that, he stood up and tossed the stone to Garet, who hastily caught it and dumped it in the loot bag. This was their job item, a fire mana crystal. They only needed 140 of these red marbles to complete what they came here for.
After hearing him though, Alec frowned. He had a hard time imagining his group getting through this in one piece and without injury. He was also thinking that 170 gold wasn't nearly enough for everything they were doing. They had already spent quite a bit, and after dividing it among everyone, it may only barely cover expenses. It was a very small profit margin.
But unless they completed the job, they wouldn't get anything. Although Alec had never worried about money in his entire life, he didn't feel good about taking a loss. This was even more so for those like Garet and Casma who didn't have the backing he did. They were barely able to get the armor and weapons they had. It was now up to them to use those to make money for themselves and their families.