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Serum: C88
🕑 Added 2022-03-16 00:01:00 +0000 UTCWhen the whipping started, Dirk was instantly jolted awake.
He hadn't been asleep. But for the entire month prior, he had been in a state of limbo. Not even the fights or the beatings could shake his mind. He just idly went through the days, not having any particular purpose as if he were a wandering zombie. His mind never seemed to think of anything. He was merely existing.
But now, his dull eyes sharpened. As soon as that whip streaked down his back, his mind was jostled. He let out a pained roar. He had forgotten how horrifying the pain was.
But he was quickly reminded. The whip didn't stop, tearing into him over and over again. Dirk felt the whip's power shoot through him, intentionally causing more pain. It used dark magic, and that dark mana shot through his skin and nerves like thorns, tearing him apart.
Deliha laid down 40 straight lashes. After that, Dirk was reduced to a groaning mess on the floor, hanging by the shackles on his hands. His back, arms, legs, and even abdomen was nothing but torn skin.
Seeing his sorry state, Deliha called someone. It was a dark mage, and he was ordered to heal Dirk.
Using magic, Dirk's body was restored within a few minutes. It worked even faster than the potions. Dirk wasn't thankful though. Despite the wounds being gone, it was like he could still feel the pain.
Deliha walked over to him.
"Come on, don't give out just yet! I'm thinking we can do 60 lashes a day. That'll make 100 days of fun. What do you think? I have a dark healer on standby too, so don't worry about not being able to take it. Oh, but you'll still need to go to classes! Unless you want to add to the count, of course. I don't mind."
Deliha laughed, sending a swift kick at Dirk before walking away. Then, she whipped him 20 more times. Only then was he sent to Fingers to heal.
Dirk was numb as Fingers gave him a potion drip. He laid on the stone bed with a blank stare. He couldn't seem to think.
With time though, the numbness began to subside. He fell into a deep sleep, only to wake up 8 hours later. It was time for class.
Thinking about how horrible the whipping was, Dirk decided that it was in his absolute best interest to go to class. He dragged himself there, walking through the tunnel and arriving at a large room.
There were a few dozen others there with him. All of them were dressed much better than Dirk. Dirk still had bloodstains on him. His shorts were obviously in a poor state having been soaked by blood a few times over. Still, he had nothing to his name, worse than a homeless man.
He sat in the class, and by a rude instructor, he was taught about certain magics. There were spells for every element that the instructors wanted them to specifically use, and they had to learn all of them. Dirk was given a list of fire spells, earth spells, and dark spells.
At first, Dirk didn't seriously concentrate on learning the spells. The only thing in his mind was the horrible session of 'physical education'. But when he thought about the monthly evaluations, he knew that if he performed badly again, he would likely be put through more. So he decided to scan the spellbooks and start analyzing them.
When he did, he was surprised at what was shown. For the earth spells, there were ones that were surprisingly lethal. For example, disc blades made of rock, rock bullets, and serrated arrows. There were also tactical spells like one called Earth Worm that would create snakes of dirt and rock that could wrap and bind people, holding them down.
It was like this for every element. There were concentrated fire spells that could focus the volatile element, centering all that power on one person and reducing collateral damage to a minimum. Things like fire needles, fire whips, and more. Finally, the dark element had its plethora of spells. There were curses that could make people weak, blind them, and torture them with pain. There were also special ones like movement techniques that seemed like dialed down versions of void walking.
Dirk even found some specialized spells for the metal element. These spells focused heavily on creating blades that could pierce through any defense, making for clean and efficient kills.
It was natural that the spells assassins used were for killing, and Dirk quickly got over his shock seeing the lethality of it all. He picked up on all the runes, and there were only a few spells that had runic pages. Even then, the runic pages weren't complex, meaning Dirk could trace them in a short amount of time.
Like that, Dirk was able to brief himself on the magics. The only thing he found though was that whenever he went to perform dark spells, the surrounding mana was resistant to his calling, completely disobeying him.
Suddenly, Dirk thought back. When he had faced that dark being, the dark element incarnate, he was told that he would never wield the dark element as long as that being existed. At first Dirk thought that such a thing was preposterous. But when he went to wield the element, he was unable to so much as create a rune.
Eventually, Dirk found that only the dark mana within his mana pool was obedient. Of course, it was a small amount of mana, so with just that much he couldn't do a whole lot. Eventually, he had to give up on using more than a few dark spells at a time.
With that, Dirk moved on to the next martial arts class.
Here, Dirk learned plenty of lethal fighting techniques. Of course, if there was anything Dirk was a master in, it was killing someone with his bare hands. But he found that there was a bit more to it in this world of magic.
Dirk only had one anima technique given to him by his anima manual. It was one that allowed him to activate anima throughout his body, using it actively instead of passively. Even at the academy, they didn't teach anything other than martial arts.
But here, Dirk found that there was such thing as external anima techniques. These techniques would channel the anima in the body and pass it through anything it touched. For example, one could shoot their anima through their hand and into another person's body. Naturally, because anima is destructive to matter, it obliterates anything it gets channeled into.
It was a technique that released pure destructive power. Of course, just releasing this power was easier said than done. There were certain levels to this technique.
They called them warrior classes. The classes from weakest to strongest were: Pawn, Knight, Rook, Bishop, and King. A Pawn class warrior could actively activate the anima in their bodies and strengthen it. Dirk would be considered a Pawn class warrior. A Knight class warrior could move the anima outside their bodies, creating something called Aura. This Aura could be ejected and used to damage and destroy material. It was crude in its utilization, but effective.
After that, each successive class refined control over their Aura, forming concentrated attacks that could be launched distances and even hardening their Aura into something tangible. Dirk was surprised by this information. He thought ainma was an energy that was only supposed to reside within the body, strengthening its base attributes. It turns out that there was a lot the academy didn't teach.
Which brought Dirk to a question. Why didn't the academy teach these things? They certainly had the knowledge if an assassin organization had it.
Suddenly, Dirk thought back to what Garel once told him. He spoke of the Empire taking advantage of the academy students, only teaching them certain things when they pledged to join the military. Now Dirk was understanding what he was talking about. The Empire only gave this in depth knowledge to the people who would work for it. It made sense, so Dirk didn't blame them. Still, he wished that he had at least known what he was missing out on.
With all this knowledge introduced to him, Dirk realized that the martial arts classes here would be very beneficial to him. Learning actual fighting techniques was redundant since he was already a master, but training his ability to utilize anima and create Aura would be extremely valuable. It would increase his lethality many times over.
After the martial arts class, Dirk moved on to two others. The third class was one that taught about assassin protocol, or assassin 101. It taught techniques and skills related to sneaking and planning. Most of it was academic knowledge that drilled into people how to go about their future jobs. What were the steps to take when attempting to steal something from a high security estate? What preparations did you need to make when attempting to assassinate a similarly strong enemy?
Dirk also knew a lot about this stuff. After all, he had personally executed plenty of such operations. In fact, there wasn't much that these people could teach him in the way of any basics. The only stuff he didn't know about was magic related.
For example, there were magic alarms, material enchantments, and magic traps that one had to watch out for. And these weren't simply deactivated with the snip of a wire. Depending on one's Tier, some magic traps or alarms were impossible to deactivate without tripping. And when Dirk was taught all about these traps and alarms, he was surprised by their complexity. They used both powerful hardware in the form of enchanted material and intricate software in the form of base enchantments. There were many runes to learn and many different elemental enchantments to study. After all, one could face any kind of elemental obstacle. You had to be prepared for everything.
Finally, after that third class came the fourth class. This class taught about various preparatory items. There were many poisons and potions to learn about, as well as auxiliary gadgets with surprising mechanical complexity. Dirk was impressed when he saw wrist arrow launchers and magical smoke bombs.
If the third class talked about all the protocol, steps, and preparation, this class gave the know-how on those steps and specific preparations. It was thorough, and there was a lot for Dirk to learn even with all the knowledge he had.
Those four classes took 2-3 hours each, making it a 10-12 hour learning day. There wasn't much rest in between, but these people didn't care. They only wanted results when the month came around.
Dirk went through all the classes, his mind being distracted from the horrible situation he was actually in. When they were over, Dirk walked to the cafeteria and got some food, filling himself with nutrients.
Upon walking out of the cafeteria though, Dirk froze. A woman was standing outside, her arms crossed and a large smile on her face. She eyed Dirk as if he were a toy.
"Day 2 of 100. Ready for another round of physical education?"
Deliha sneered at him, and Dirk suddenly felt his skin sting. He didn't move, only staring at Deliha with unwillingness.
She smiled even more.
"Follow."
"..."
She spoke and turned, walking toward the town square. Dirk didn't move though. When she turned back around after a few steps, she huffed and shot out her hand.
*Pak!*
"Agh!"
Dirk let out a grunt as her chain spike pierced through his arm. After that, he was yanked forward, dragged along.
Then, he was chained to that same cold metal pole. The ground that had previously been soaked by his blood was dry, but it wouldn't be for long.
His heart rate increased as Deliha grabbed the whip. He really didn't want to feel that pain again.
But he could do nothing. After she sinisterly smiled, screams ensued, the surrounding onlookers staring at his suffering with fear.
........
.....
Dirk's routine turned into two things. Learning and whipping.
He would wake up, go to classes for the day, eat, and then get dragged off by Deliha to get whipped. After he was reduced to a bloody mess, he'd be sent to Fingers and get healed.
Nothing ever remained of the wounds. His skin always healed over, becoming perfectly smooth as always. His muscles also healed. Any broken bones were mended by his nanites and healed by the potions.
And although he lost tons of blood each time, Dirk was never in an anemic state. Due to the enhancement he was forced into by Garel and that experimental potion, Dirk's blood regeneration was high. He could regenerate it all while passed out in Fingers' medical room, especially thanks to the potions.
Truly, the potions were high quality and expensive. But Dirk wasn't appreciative. It only made his suffering worse. There were no days off, and he had to bear the whipping each and every time.
Two weeks passed like that. Sometimes Deliha would come around before he went to class, making the classes harder to focus in since he would just barely be healed enough to remain conscious.
The only solace for Dirk was that the pain of the level 3 whip became bearable after a while. Only, even that was taken away when Deliha noticed his tolerance rising. She was quick and happy to increase to level 4, showing him a new world of pain.
Dirk was increasingly beaten down. The days became harder to continue through, and Dirk constantly felt weak. Even when he was perfectly healed, his mind was occupied by the pain that he knew was waiting for him. His back, his limbs, and any part of him that was torn apart by that whip hurt whenever he thought about it. It was the phantom pain. It never seemed to go away.
Perhaps deep down though, Dirk knew it was his mental state. Every since he stepped into that alleyway, it was like all his confidence and willpower came tumbling down. He knew it was stupid of him to allow himself to become so pitiful. he knew that it went against everything he stood for.
But when he thought about how unfair his situation was, he couldn't help it.
He was supposed to be the son of a noble, someone who enjoyed luxury and privilege. The only things Dirk should have to worry about are school and magic. For a while, the only things he did were forging and studying. Along with dungeon diving and being with Ava, that had been enough. Dirk was content. He was finally experiencing a life of productivity and happiness.
So of all the situations Dirk had to be thrown into, why did it have to be this? Why did his mother have to be a former assassin? Why did it have to be him who was taken? Why did he have to get dragged into this torturous hell? He already lived the life of a cold killing machine, one who was nothing more than a dog to do someone else's dirty work.
So why? Why did this have to happen again? Dirk shook his head whenever he thought of blaming his mother, but he couldn't help think about it anyway.
And the daily whippings didn't help. At first, Dirk never considered Asura's offer. But after a while, Deliha's smile became so hateful and irritating. He hated her laughs. He hated being stabbed and dragged by her chain spike. He hated her pretentious degradations. Whenever his mind wasn't being overwhelmed by pain, he was thinking about how much he wished to kill her.
But the thought of pledging himself to Asura was worse. He had said that he wouldn't be broken, and that meant that he wouldn't accept the offer no matter how tempting it was.
Still, the urge got worse every day. His heart was constantly filled with hate. When Deliha appeared in front of him after classes, the only thing he could imagine was putting a bullet through her skull.
This continued for another two weeks. At this time though, instead of being taken for a whipping, Dirk was taken to the monthly testing area. Like that, he took the four tests once more.
And this time, his score was much higher. 1300. It wasn't fantastic, but double what he had before. And what mattered was that he was going to classes.
Deliha didn't care though. After he was done, she took Dirk to the town square like always. And as a reward for doing so well, she gave him an extra 20 lashings.
It was at this point that the hate in Dirk's heart deepened. Across the course of another month, Dirk kept thinking about how much he hated getting whipped every day. He hated Deliha, but above all, he hated Asura for bringing him here.
The third month after Dirk's arrival came around, marking yet another test. On this, Dirk got 1570. It wasn't much better, and because of the small improvement, Deliha went even harder with her lashings.
Then, the fourth month. Another test, and another set of lashings.
After this fourth month though, Dirk was finally feeling a little hope. 90 days had passed, and Dirk only had 10 more days of lashings.
"Day 100 out of 100. Who would've thought you'd actually survive all of this?"
Deliha smiled a bit as Dirk was chained up as usual. Thinking, she went to the level 6 whip. Over the course of three months, Dirk's tolerance had risen even more. They had moved up to level 5 already, but only used it for a couple weeks.
"Since it's your last day, and technically I've gone beyond 6 thousand lashings, I'll change things up. 30 lashings with the level 6 whip."
"..."
Dirk was silent. Right now, he didn't care about anything else. He just wanted to get this day over with. After today, he wouldn't have to suffer through this again.
Then, it started.
*Crack!*
"Ahh!!"
Dirk let out a scream. No matter how many times he had gone through this, when Deliha used a higher level whip, it was as if he had no pain tolerance. The metal cat-tails on the whip shot dark mana through his body, searing his nerves directly.
When the 20th whip came around, Dirk collapsed. A dark healer merely repaired his body though before they continued. And when they were done, Dirk was a mess on the floor.
Deliha let out a soft breath.
"Haah. That was nice. Well, it's sorry that this is our last day together. I rather enjoyed it. Get him out of here."
Deliha waved and walked off. A couple guards grabbed Dirk afterward, taking him to Fingers as they had dozens of times already.
Even Fingers was already expecting Dirk. As soon as Dirk was laid down, a needle went into his body, infusing a potion. That level 6 whip had not only torn his skin, but ripped his muscles and broken several bones. It was all healed though with the potions.
As Dirk's body was repaired at a visible speed, he slightly smiled and closed his eyes.
'It's finally over...'
Like that, he passed out. For the first time in a long time, he actually looked forward to tomorrow.
