"Metal! Mana!"

After Dirk almost bellowed his words, Cecilia quickly understood what was going on. He needed metal mana, and fast.

However, there was one problem. Metal mana was specialized mana. Technically, it was still of the earth element. But it was also different. Cecilia knew of earth mages who could transform earth mana into metal mana, but they were high level mages. Dirk wasn't at that level yet, so he could only utilize metal mana in its purest form.

So he needed a source of pure metal mana. Unfortunately, when Cecilia looked through the pocket ring on her finger, she couldn't find anything. But she was able to quickly think of something. Without speaking to Dirk, she was suddenly shrouded in darkness, disappearing from the room.

As Dirk waited, Cecilia zipped through the academy. She was like a ghost as she flickered through various buildings. Her eyes would momentarily scan several offices and rooms that were owned by high level mages. When she didn't see what she was looking for though, she disappeared once more.

At some point though, she found what she was looking for. It was a large, pudgy-looking man with several fancy rings on his fingers. He was currently fooling around with a potion of who knows what, looking at it with a loving gaze.

However, when Cecilia appeared in front of him like a ghost, the man was scared witless. He hugged his potion while pointing a knife he summoned from his pocket ring.

"W-who?!"

"Master Sheng. It's me."

"O-oh. Miss Strider. I thought you were Garel."

Seeing the apparition take on human form, the man, Master Sheng, sighed in relief. This man was the one who Garel frequently stole potions from, so seeing a dark mage suddenly appear near him, he naturally had his assumptions.

But it was only Miss Strider. As Master Sheng had dealt with Ryker before, he naturally knew his wife. In fact, to those that knew her, she had a fearsome and even dreadful reputation.

Cecilia wasn't in the mood to chat around though. She got to the point, a serious light in her eyes.

"Quickly, I need a source of pure metal mana."

"Metal mana?"

"Yes. Anything metal mana can be drawn from. Preferably mana crystals. And I need it now!"

"R-right, right. Let me see."

As Cecilia looked at him with a dangerous glint in her eyes, Master Sheng stumbled around before looking through his pocket rings. He quickly sifted through the thousands of highly valuable items within those rings on his fingers. As an alchemist who worked not only for the academy but for the entire Horizon Empire, he had accumulated extraordinarily vast wealth. It wasn't appropriate to ask what he had, but what he didn't have.

And he didn't disappoint. Master Sheng quickly spotted a gray marble. He quickly took it out, the marble appearing between his sausage fingers.

"This is a Tier 6 mana crystal from a metal specialized monster."

"Thank you. I'll be back."

Without even asking, Cecilia snatched the marble and disappeared. Seeing her vanish, Master Sheng sat back with a few beads of sweat dripping from his forehead. The exchange had taken no more than 30 seconds, yet the cold darkness that came from Cecilia made him shiver. It was as if she had a blade pressed against his neck the entire time. Such an aura, Master Sheng couldn't fathom how it was developed.

........

After getting the mana crystal, Cecilia took no more than 3 seconds to appear back at Dirk's room. However, she didn't put the marble into the bowl. Instead, she directly crushed the marble. From it, metal mana exploded, filling the air with metallic sharpness.

Dirk noticed this immediately. Without him even doing anything, the mana flooded into his soul, filling the rest of the void. In fact, he found that because this metal mana was so incredibly dense, it filled the void even more than normal. The metal mana went on to spill into the basic earth mana portion of the void, infecting it with metallic gray. Now, the two halves of the void were brownish gray and dark gray.

Dirk knew that when mana reached a high enough density, it turned from gas like to liquid like. The metal mana he took in was liquid, while the earth mana was gas. Due to that, the liquid metal mana overtook some of the lesser density earth mana, infecting it with its attributes.

Even then, there was still a ridiculous amount of metal mana flooding the room. But Dirk couldn't absorb it all. When the void was filled to the brim, no more was allowed in. After that, his soul closed itself off.

With that, Dirk's awareness was cast back into his physical body. When that happened, he focused on his mana heart. It had originally disappeared, but when the void in his soul was filled, it came back. Dirk saw as the mana heart was formed once more above his physical heart. It beat according to his body's rhythm under the influence of the rune he enchanted it with. After a few minutes, it had reformed completely, only this time, it was stronger than ever. It was also half earth mana, half metal mana.

Dirk opened his eyes. Surprisingly, he wasn't tired. He felt rejuvenated. Quickly spotting his mother, he smiled.

"Thank you, mother."

"Oh, don't you mention it. I'm just glad my baby has advanced. Congratulations!"

Cecilia clapped and moved over to Dirk, giving him a bear hug. Dirk was happy as he hugged his mother back.

"So? How'd the advancement go?"

After enjoying skinship for a bit, Cecilia separated and took a seat in front of her son. Dirk sat back against his own chair.

"Thanks to the metal mana you gave me, very well."

"Mm, good. Although, I have a question for you. Did you perhaps become aware of your soul?"

"Hm?"

Hearing this question, Dirk was surprised. Deciding there wasn't a need to hide this though, he nodded.

"Yes. During the advancement, I felt an awareness of my soul."

"So you really did... Tell me about it."

"I saw my soul, an ocean of mana around me, and the void in my chest when my advancement occurred. It was weird..."

Dirk recounted his experience, describing all the weird things he saw and even some of the elemental comprehensions he gained. Although, he didn't mention a word about the dark being he encountered a couple weeks prior. That was something he felt like he should keep to himself for now. That information involved his so-called 'Pure Soul' trait, after all.

Hearing his description, Cecilia was first surprised before becoming stunned. She looked at her son with unconcealed shock, prompting Dirk to stop recounting his experience.

"...I can't believe you were actually able to do that. You actually entered it. You call it the Mana Dimension? It's called many things, but that's not a bad name for it. Still..."

Cecilia rubbed her temple as she pondered. Eventually, she just sighed.

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"Well son, you're far more amazing than I thought. That Mana Dimension, I've only entered it twice, and I'm a Tier 6. You, as a Tier 3 and teenage boy, were actually able to enter it. If others knew of this, they'd call you a freak... Because of that, you're not to mention a word of this to anybody. Understood?"

Cecilia looked at him with a stern face. Dirk nodded. He wasn't planning to anyway.

"Good. Anyway, it looks like your advancement went better than alright. You filled the void in your soul entirely. If you've noticed, the void that opened up in your soul is identical to the mana heart you've formed in your chest. Until now, the mana heart inside you was an auxiliary core that only existed in your material body. Now that you've made your advancement, this core, this mana pool, has been created within your soul. Now, no matter how much mana you expend, you will always regenerate it according to how your mana pool was formed. Even if your mana heart is totally consumed, it will fill itself back up given enough time and mana. Before, if you spent that mana, you would have to actively re-accumulate."

"Mm."

Listening to her, Dirk nodded in agreement. He had already encountered a situation where his mana heart was wasted. He had to totally reform it, condensing and forming over long periods of time and given lots of effort. Now though, this mana heart was a part of his very soul and would refill by itself. It would never permanently disappear. It was a true and proper mana pool.

This was why one wasn't considered a true mage until they reached Tier 3.

Knowing this, Dirk was a bit proud. He was now an official mage at Tier III-. Compared to anima training, this felt like a much greater and more recognizable achievement.

Unconsciously, Dirk found himself smiling like a child. Seeing this, Cecilia felt her heart melt. She went over and scooped Dirk up in another hug.

"Hehe, such a talented son! You've made your mother very proud. Here, why don't I take you out to celebrate? I think it's time I showed you around the big restaurants in the empire's capital city. It'll be a date, just you and me."

"Okay."

Hearing the offer, Dirk readily nodded. He had gone into the city very few times. He wouldn't mind exploring it and experiencing its delicacies.

With that, mother and son left the academy. Dirk walked with his mother hand in hand as they strolled through the bustling city streets. When night came, Cecilia brought him to a restaurant building that towered into the sky. After getting seated on the top floor of this exorbitantly expensive place, they were served while overlooking the vast city all around them. For Dirk, this was a majestic sight he had never experienced before, even in his previous life.

With his mother, he enjoyed every second, feeling all his problems and worries vanish.

..........

......

The day after Dirk made his advancement, he decided to take a break from practicing magic. Instead, he decided to do some physical training. He had neglected his destruction cycles as well, so he went and did one, destroying a large percentage of his blood.

Dirk frowned as he felt a burning and stinging pain through his veins. Over time, Dirk went and did his destruction cycles over various areas in order to destroy all his veins and arteries, thus enhancing them all. Each time, his pale skin would show black lines formed from the destroyed blood vessels. On top of that, destroying his blood would leave him weakened. He would feel dizzy for the rest of the day.

Over time though, the destructions cycles got progressively easier. This was half because of his genetic enhancement and half due to Dirk getting close to finishing. Once he was done, he would move on to the next section of destruction, destroying his muscles.

Dirk wasn't sure if he was looking forward to this. On one hand, it would grant him even greater strength. But the process to get there was definitely fraught with extreme pain and weakness. If Dirk destroyed a muscle, would he still be able to use it? The answer wasn't likely a good one.

That was a bridge to cross later though. For now, Dirk just enjoyed the feeling of magical strength.

A day later though, Dirk was surprised to see Ava show up at his house. She had finally emerged herself. When the two looked at each other though, both could feel the difference in the strength of the other. In Dirk's mana sense, Ava looked like a deep ocean. And in Ava's mana sense, Dirk looked like a powerful mountain. Since his earth mana far surpassed his other elements, that's all Ava saw.

"You advanced?"

"You did too, apparently. Congrats!"

Ava chuckled as she nudged Dirk's shoulder. Both of them were already close to advancing. If Dirk wanted, he could've advanced much earlier, but now they ended up advancing together. It was a double happy occasion.

"Alright, I know celebration is a normal thing after advancing, but I'm wondering when we're going to go on another dungeon dive. We've been holed up for way too long. I say we go and find another king to kill. What do you think?"

As Ava walked in, she directly laid out her wishes. Hearing this, Dirk couldn't help a smile from surfacing. He had actually been thinking the same thing. Both of them wanted to test this new strength of theirs.

"I'm as ready as you are."

"Great! Let's go pick out a job then, shall we?"

"Sure."

With two smiles, Dirk and Ava left the house. They quickly arrived at the mission building where they sifted through dozens of job postings on a large wall. The ones they looked for were similar to the difficulty of their previous dive, perhaps a bit harder. The main things they were looking for were suitable kings to kill. They didn't care much for the job itself.

Soon, they actually found a good job in the higher difficulty range. The job was to kill a king, and the requested item was its Tier 4 water mana crystal. While the high Tier of the monster concerned Dirk and Ava, what they were happy about was the fact that this king wasn't strong in body. The previous lizard king they faced had a strong body filled with anima. This monster didn't though. Like people, monsters had both anima and mana, and some had both while others had only one.

This was a water monster with Tier 4 strength and no Rank. With Dirk and Ava's dual mana and anima strength, they felt confident in taking such a monster on. After all, the lizard king they faced had Tier 4 magic as well. While it seemed to be lesser than this monster, it also had a strong body, making the battle much more difficult.

With these factors, Dirk and Ava accepted the job.

That day, they prepared all their gear. With Dirk's pocket ring, he could carry practically all of their items, including armor and weapons so long as they packed light. After some careful organizing, all the items were stuffed inside of the ring besides the stuff on their bodies.

This time around, Dirk got rid of his bow. His weapons of choice were his spear, hand axe, and knives. While Dirk could find stronger bows and even learn special skills with the bow, he didn't find it worth it. Dirk liked his ranged weapons, but the bow was just too in the way and specialized. With his melee weapons, Dirk could tackle any situation. As for long range attacks, he had that covered with his magic. Rock arrows would handle things even better than regular arrows.

Thinking a bit, Dirk also decided to go to his mother to get a second hand axe. With two axes, Dirk would be more confident, and Cecilia didn't reject him. It was amazing, but she had many axes for him to choose from. As Dirk chose his axe, he pondered why his mother would have so many weapons. It seemed to be a hobby of hers, hoarding weapons.

With that, Dirk and Ava were ready. The morning of the next day, the two set off. Their destination was a large town, not unlike the town of their previous dungeon dive. This time though, there were three days of travel to this town. Not only that, but Dirk discovered an unsettling addition to this caravan he was riding with.

As Dirk and Ava boarded their wagon, they were actually joined by a few other people. There were two men and one woman, all of whom were older than Dirk and Ava by several years. They also weren't people of the academy, looking like free warriors. The three of them piled into Dirk and Ava's wagon. Luckily, the wagon was at least large enough to comfortably fit them all, otherwise Dirk would be very annoyed throughout the ride.

Without much wait, the caravan quickly set off. As if they were used to this, the three extras got nice and comfortable. They chatted a bit with familiarity and occasionally glanced at Dirk and Ava, chuckling at the cozy young teens that were with them.

"Hey, I'm Dean. What're your names?"

Suddenly, one of the men asked. Dean was a tall man with a charming disposition. Only, he looked a little rough around the edges with his scarred armor and blood stained sword that laid beside him.

"I'm Dirk. This is Ava."

Dirk answered. Usually he wouldn't feel like talking to other people, but with the recent advancement, he was in a good mood. He wouldn't mind being a bit more social.

"Well hello, Dirk and Ava. Let me introduce you. The lady right here is named Hannah."

"How do you do."

Upon introduction, Hannah waved sweetly. She seemed like a nice woman in her 30's with short hair and a short height. She was small, and Dirk didn't sense any mana from her, leading him to believe that she was definitely an anima trainer. As for how strong, that was a mystery until he could figure it out himself.

"And this guy here is Jax."

"Hey."

The man beside Dean, Jax, nodded to Dirk. Dirk nodded back. Jax seemed a bit more reclusive, wrapped in a thick mage's robe. Dirk could also sense a dense earth mana within his body, indicating that he was around Tier 4.

Of these three, Jax was the only mage while Dean and Hannah were anima trainers. While Dirk couldn't determine the strength of the anima trainers, they shouldn't be any stronger than Rank 4. In a fight, Dirk was confident in killing all of them, though it would take significant effort. At the very least, they couldn't kill him without paying a deep price in blood.

Dirk quickly thought about this, but soon caught himself and shook such hostile thoughts out of his head. He nodded to them.

"Nice to meet you all."

"Mm. So can I assume you're traveling to dungeon dive?"

"Yes."

Dirk nodded. The next moment though, he asked a question he had been curious about.

"What about you three? Dungeon diving?"

"Oh, no. We're the guards for this caravan."

"Guards?"

Hearing this, Dirk was surprised.

"Yes. It's not likely, but on this road there's a chance of running into bandits and such. This is because this road runs through a forest, thus giving people unsavory ideas. But it's never usually anybody extremely powerful. Some Tier 4's and Rank 4's are enough to deal with trouble."

"...I see."

Dirk nodded slowly. Inwardly, he was already frowning. He really didn't want to run into any trouble, but with his previous encounter during his last dungeon dive, he wasn't feeling optimistic.

Like that, the caravan set off. Meanwhile, an invisible pair of eyes watched them do so, curling up with sinister intent.