Dirk went through his classes calmly for the rest of the day. This was especially so when he arrived at his enchanting class. It was here that he intended to complete his test.

All the students arrived and immediately got to work. Dirk took out his piece of leather and proceeded to sift through all the different frequencies with his dark mana. The mana resonated with the leather more and more every time he switched frequencies. He felt himself getting closer, and his mind concentrated every time he felt the sensation of mana making contact with the leather.

At some point though, Dirk found that the precision and concentration necessary for switching frequencies became surprisingly high. This was because he continually narrowed down a very specific frequency, so the difficulty in accurately obtaining it increased. However, this led him to think of something. He thought inwardly.

'Interface.'

[Awaiting orders.]

'Can you impart frequencies to mana? Like how I've been doing?'

Dirk asked. There was momentary silence before the AI spoke.

[Affirmative. Through observation of mana frequencies, a magical formula has been derived. Note: In order to impart unknown frequencies, your active assistance will be needed. Once a frequency is discovered, the immediate range will be saved for autonomous channeling.]

'Sweet. Work with me then.'

With a happy smile, Dirk went back to focusing on his piece of leather. As he began to resonate mana again, he could feel his AI assisting in the work. It made the resonation much more precise and thereby much more reliable. Dirk smiled before continuing to scour various frequencies, constantly narrowing down the correct one.

Eventually, after an hour or so of searching alongside his AI, the mana came close to binding. Upon resonating, a majority of the mana was left bound to the leather. It actually formed a half enchantment, but overall it was a failure. Dirk wasn't concerned as he continued to slightly change frequencies with his AI and form half enchantments.

Then, the moment came. As soon as Dirk started another enchantment, he could feel it. The dark mana he controlled streamed into the leather like ink, perfectly binding to it. He withheld his excitement as the AI locked in on a frequency and his mana formed the full rune. Finally, it was completed.

"So you've done it."

Dirk didn't notice the teacher standing in front of him, so he snapped out of his tunnel vision when he heard the surprised, deep voice.

The teacher carefully grabbed the leather out of Dirk's hands, looking at it. All the other students were staring at him as well not unlike when the first boy completed his enchantment.

"Well done. Now, all you need to do is enchant the blue leather, then you'll have passed. Take all the time you need."

The teacher set the piece of leather back on Dirk's desk with a nod.

However, Dirk wasn't paying any attention to him. His focus was turned inward.

Within Dirk's chest, he felt a strong fluctuation from his mana heart. More than that, he felt some changes to his mana sense. The mana around him became a bit more clear, and his mind seemed to sharpen. He felt reinvigorated and magically stronger. Then, some notifications appeared in his vision.

|Profile|

Name: Dirk Strider

Species: Human

Tier: II+

Rank: III+

Attributes: Fire - 71% (Lightning - 89%), Earth - 88% (Metal - 93%), Dark - 92%

Traits: Cybernetic Enhancement, Adaptable Genes, Pure Soul

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

Dirk looked at the profile in front of his face, specifically the new skill he gained.

Ever since Dirk had arrived in this world, he had a skill in the form of his AI interface. It was the same AI that was with him on Earth, and this AI was kept with him even after crossing over. However, Dirk had never known what a skill was. After all, the interface couldn't exactly be defined as a skill, more like a passive tool.

That was until he entered the academy. It was here that Dirk was taught what a skill was. According to the school, skills were abilities that the soul developed. Skills weren't simply applications of mana, like spells. Spells took mental energy and mana to form and use. On the contrary, skills didn't. Because a skill was utilized by one's soul, technically, it didn't consume any energy at all, such was the nature of a soul. However, because of the nature of some skills, mental energy is used in tandem, thus not allowing a skill to be used infinitely.

It was because of skills that a distinction was made between the soul and the mind. Each mage manipulates mana using mental energy. At first, mages had thought that mana was manipulated by the soul. But when skills were studied, they realized that their usage didn't require, or at least consume, any energy at all. That meant that the soul was beyond the concept of energy, but it also meant that there was another source of energy that limited one in controlling mana.

Thus, mental energy was discovered, and souls took on a new definition. At the same time, mages came to realize that skills were transcendent tools that defied the known world. However, even in Dirk's time, there wasn't much known about skills. This was because studying the soul was nearly impossible, and also because nobody ever talked about their skills. Another thing that limited their study was the fact that they were rare.

Skills weren't rarer than having three attributes, at least low grade ones weren't, but they were by no means common. There was no exact process or formula to gain a skill. It was rumored that to gain a skill, one had to know how to do something perfectly. Their very soul had to understand the way in which something was done, and not even the person themselves could know if they were able to do something perfectly. If they did, then usually, that person would gain a skill. And the skill would boost their prowess to a whole other level.

Skills were also classified by grade, not unlike how mana crystals were classified by tier, and even low grade skills were extremely useful. It minimized the amount of energy one had to expend by countless times. But although the skill itself took no energy to use, the results it produced did.

This was the case with Dirk's new skill. He gained a skill that would let him resonate mana. Technically, activating the skill wouldn't consume any energy, but controlling mana would. At the very least, resonating with mana would be effortless, while the actual enchanting process would consume his energy.

It was in this way that skills were limited. There was always a bottleneck. For warriors that developed martial skills, they were limited by their physical energy or anima. For mages, it was their mental energy or mana.

Getting all this information helped Dirk realize how amazing skills were. More than that, it helped him realize how amazing his AI skill was and how useful getting more skills would be. His AI was already a grade 7 skill and had many usages, although he didn't tap into a lot of them since he wasn't a supersoldier anymore. Now, he also had a grade 5 skill that let him resonate mana. Though, Dirk was surprised that the skill wasn't called enchanting, so he was led to believe that mana resonation had uses outside of just enchanting. He would have to discover them.

With that, Dirk decided to try it out. He picked up the blue leather, and expressing the desire to resonate the mana, he felt something within him activate. The dark mana he channeled outward changed frequency as easily as breathing, and Dirk was able to easily guide in the mana and resonate it with the leather. After the AI effortlessly found the precise frequency, it was enchanted. This was despite the fact that the blue leather had a slightly different frequency than the lower quality brown leather. The skill made finding the frequency much easier, especially alongside the ultra-precise AI.

He was thrilled after completing the enchantment, both by succeeding in his challenge and getting a new skill. He then handed the leather to his teacher, officially passing the test. With that, he was allowed to leave, so he did.

On the way home, Dirk twirled the knife he forged between his fingers, obviously in a good mood. While walking, he was wondering about the changes to his mana sense. He looked all around him at the elements in the atmosphere, occasionally pulling some out and into a ball above his hands. Controlling the elements felt smoother, and he felt like his mental energy was higher. This was all from the additional skill, so he became eager to start training and investigate the changes. Like this, he smoothly entered his home, but upon doing so, he was snapped out of his euphoria. He saw Ava, organizing supplies on the table.

"Oh, you're back early."

Ava's eyes widened a bit as she glanced over, but she quickly turned her gaze back to the table.

Dirk's good mood went away as he closed the door behind him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Just gathering my portion of the supplies so I can prepare tonight. We're leaving tomorrow, remember?"

"As if I would forget."

"I'll almost done anyway. I'll be out of your hair in a minute."

Ava let out a small sigh as she continued packing items into her bag.

Seeing her indifferent attitude, Dirk completely forgot about his earlier conversation with Alec during class. Even if he remembered, he didn't feel like apologizing in the slightest. He simply acted as if she weren't there as he prepared to do some training.

Sure enough, Ava wasn't long to leave. Dirk glanced at her as she walked out with her bag slung over her shoulder. He huffed before walking down to his magic workshop, taking a look at his mana heart.

Over time, Dirk's mana heart accumulated more and more. It was now an almost fully solid core of mana that rested within his actual heart. There was only a little bit more to go before it solidified fully, but Dirk had yet to actually reach that limit. However, now that he gained the new skill and took a close look at the heart, he felt like there was something he could do.

While training the mana heart, Dirk needed to contract and expand the heart in parallel with his actual heart. While he wasn't training though, the heart just remained in place. To reconcile this inconsistency, the book containing his technique recommended that he enchant the heart with a rune that would match the beats of the mana heart to the physical heart. Before, Dirk didn't have a clue as to how to go about this. But now, with the new knowledge and skill developed from his recent enchantment, he did.

"Interface."

[Awaiting orders.]

"Pull up that rune for me."

Activating his AI, Dirk had it search for the rune. The page in his technique book quickly popped up in his vision, and his eyes scanned the words and diagrams. After a few minutes of reading, however, his face turned distraught.

The rune on the page was rather complex. The rune that he formed earlier in the enchanting class was very simple, a tier 1 rune in fact, so Dirk didn't have a hard time with it. However, this rune looked like a tier 3. Such a rune would be used in a tier 3 spell, and not only was Dirk still only a tier 2 mage, but he was only learning tier 2 spell theory right now. Needless to say, even learning how to form the rune would be a challenge. Enchanting it would be another.

Dirk stared at the rune, analyzing it for a long while before deciding to try and form it. Because his mana heart was made from the earth element, he formed it from the same element. Earth mana streamed out into the air in front of him. However, it had trouble taking on the form of the rune.

Forming runes was both as simple and not as simple as matching a shape. The shapes of mana actually had meaning, and to form the shape, one had to find the meaning. If you didn't find the meaning, the shape would come out random or jumbled and have no effect. This was what teachers like Garel meant when they said that one had to comprehend their element. Comprehend the element, and forming the runes would become easier since one could find the meaning behind them.

This was the problem Dirk had right now. He had only formed tier 2 runes up until now, so trying to form a tier 3 was a step above his current ability. But he wouldn't not try it. This could be considered training as well. Though, he wondered why his technique would require him to form a tier 3 rune before bringing him to that level. Was this a test from the book?

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like he would be able to pass in a short amount of time. He was able to get some easier portions down, but the rest was a mystery. Luckily, it seemed that like he could complete it given time. He decided to work on it while he was away on this upcoming expedition.

After that, Dirk went on to simply train the heart. He began to contract the heart alongside his physical heart while concentrating earth mana on it. He also used his mana lungs technique, breathing in and out mana. Mana lungs had almost become like actual breathing now, and he was getting closer to the point where he could breathe indefinitely. He realized that mana lungs was not only a way to intake mana, but train one's mental energy. If his mental energy regeneration could outpace his consumption with mana lungs, then he could use it all the time without limit, almost like a skill. Thinking that far, he wondered if it would actually become a skill. He would definitely welcome it with open arms.

While training, he also thought about his destruction cycles. Dirk knew he was getting close to totally enhancing his blood, but it was definitely taking longer than expected. He didn't know if it was just because it was the blood or if destruction cycles got less effective over each rank, resulting in more cycles being necessary. Either way, he hoped it wouldn't take much longer, not that he didn't have the patience if it did.

A couple hours later, Dirk left the room with a splitting headache. Walking to the kitchen, he went on to make himself a meal. As the food cooked, he did some small preparations for his leave tomorrow. He pulled out his armor and weapons, going through his supplies as well to make sure he had everything. He checked everything off his list by the time the food finished.

He quickly ate and then headed to bed, falling into a deep slumber.

.............

"Hey Dirk! Over here!"

The next morning, Dirk walked over to the academy gates. Slung over his shoulder were two bags, one holding his armor and weapons while the other held all his supplies. He was dressed in comfortable and plain clothing, intending to be relaxed on this long ride.

Upon meeting with his party though, he was surprised. All of them were fully geared, armor and all. He looked at them weirdly, as did they to him. Alec spoke first.

"Hey, why aren't you geared up?"

"Why are you? You said it's two days to the dungeon, so we'll just be sitting in a carriage the whole time right?"

"Uh, yea?"

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather not sit around in my armor for all that time."

"..."

Hearing Dirk, Alec's face dropped a bit as he pondered. Why was he geared out to fight when they would just be sitting around for hours on end? There was no point, and the armor would make them much more uncomfortable.

Ava, Garet, and Casma were the same as him. They thought about it before realizing they would just look like a bunch of oddballs traveling with their gear on. Alec quickly spoke up.

"I think we should reconvene. Everyone be back here in 20. Pack your gear into a bag like Dirk, just don't forget anything. See ya!"

Saying that, Alec waved and quickly ran back to his house. The others also left, going back to their dorms to change. Dirk was left there by himself. He looked around and decided to take a seat by the academy gate to wait.

20 minutes later, everyone was back dressed out in comfortable clothing and with a bag full of their gear. With that, Alec led them out of the academy.

They walked down a few streets of the city. All around, there were hundreds of ordinary people along with quite a few mages or warriors. The shops they passed by bustled with activity and prosperity, especially the food shops. Those places released fragrant aromas that made the group want to stop and take a bite.

But they trudged forth, eventually coming upon a large building that was surrounded by a parking space. Dozens of wagons were stationed around this place, most filled with boxes of goods. There were also many groups of people standing around the wagons as if waiting to board them.

Upon arriving, Alec left the group to go talk to a man within the building. He later came walking out side by side with a merchant who took a look at the group.

"This is our group."

"I see. Well, you guys are surely on time, and I have plenty of space. Welcome aboard."

Alec introduced the man to the group, after which he nodded.

This was the transportation that Alec had arranged. Merchants were constantly traveling from city to city and town to town. Because of this, it was common for groups of people to hitch rides with them, especially dungeon divers. The place they were at was a place that specifically facilitated this kind of transportation. If you needed to head somewhere, you came here to find your destination and see when a merchant would be ferrying to there.

The only downside to this was the fact that it wasn't guaranteed to find a merchant going to your destination. If that were the case, one needed to go and hire a transport service, which always cost more. Thankfully, they were lucky enough to find one.

After settling things with the merchant, the group waited around his caravan. There were 6 wagons that he was moving, and they would be piling into one of them. The wagon was mostly cleared out, and the boxes that were in there had thick layers of wool over them. It could be used as a bed, and it wasn't that uncomfortable to sit on. This obviously wasn't the first time this merchant had catered to people like them.

They all threw their bags and gear into one corner, situating themselves within the covered wagon. After some time, the merchant came back to notify them that they were about to set off. It wasn't long after that their wagon started to move, and the caravan steered out of the parking lot and onto the streets of the city. They had officially embarked on their expedition.

Meanwhile, as they set off, a pair of eyes watched them from the surrounding crowds. It was Dirk's mother, Cecilia, and she watched them drive away with a sigh.

"He could have at least let me know. Oh well. If he's with Alec, he'll at least be with someone decently competent. That man's son is surely taught well."

Saying that, she turned and walked away. However, there was yet another pair of eyes that Cecilia was unaware of lurking in the area. This person, clad in ordinary clothes and not releasing even the slightest hint of power, observed Dirk's caravan with a smile. The next moment, darkness enveloped his feet, and he disappeared with a single stride.