Liminal void, Team Actus's gym. Amanda's bed-cube.

* *

For the next hour, Robert served as an emotional support pillow as Amanda cried out and healed two weeks of (Steven He: EMOTIONAL DAMAGE).

He had no idea what to say. iRobert came with dozens of romance book scenes but he considered all of them cheesy and artificial.

"It is under control now, right?" He finally asked.

Amanda nodded.

"Then we find a way to remove him from your soul for good. We place an anonymous inquiry for someone with a talent, a unique spell, or a prime Vestige that can remove soul parasites. I will ask Yolania to do it for us."

"I'm feeling tainted. How can you not be disgusted to hold me?" She asked, unconsciously begging for validation.

"You are a victim, Amanda. And from what I understood, you fought hard. I'm not disgusted, I'm proud."

She started to cry again. Robert held her until she grew tired and slept. It was okay, they had ten hours until they had to return to reality.

*

*

They called Andronicus to help with the meeting. Since he was already bound by the oath, they had no fear of telling Andronicus the whole truth.

"It is a case most peculiar," the old teacher said. "What a nasty talent, these Seeds of Unholy Rebirth. Or better, unholy soul-theft, yes. That's a good name. This Damien fellow was a fool. He risked it all for vengeance and failed miserably. I bet he wished he was dead for good."

"I tried everything, professor," Amanda said. "Even trapping him in a shell like a remnant or a spirit. Nothing worked."

"Is there any way to help Amanda, professor?" Robert asked.

"I need to know everything about this man's talents and abilities."

They gave a detailed report of their interactions with Damien, both in the Puffbloom Islands and in Italy. Robert finished with one final tidbit of information. "He said one of his recent evolutions made the seeds immune to Holy magic."

"Perhaps the answer lies in the very affinity he unwittingly granted the both of you. The Unholy affinity deals with undeath and soul manipulation, though these are included in the forbidden discipline of necromancy. We could try to design a spell to remove Damien. I don't think it would be an easy task, however."

"We can check with the Empress if she has any treasure that can remove him," Noah suggested out of the blue. "Though this would require a gift of equal magnitude."

"Hells, no," Amanda shuddered. "I don't know what would be worse. Living with Damien or meddling in palatial politics."

"What could constitute a gift of equal magnitude?" Robert asked.

"It would have to be a unique treasure or an affinity treasure," Noah answered.

“What about a map containing twelve hundred uncharted realms?” Robert suggested. “It includes the passage locations and complete internal maps.”

“We cannot be sure if these realms are really uncharted. They might be missing from the maps available to the public but I have no doubt at least some explorers might have visited them. Private maps, especially those held by the Imperial Palace, have a lot more information.”

“I doubt it. Because these are realms that only connect to the Maze Corridors. The far end of the maze corridors. The other four hundred and something passages nobody had the time to reach.”

Andronicus perked up. “You traversed the Maze corridors?"

"All of it. Guess how many passages it has?" Robert teased the old scholar.

"Four hundred and ninety-six!" Andronicus chimed with a wide smile. "Is it true? The perfect number theory?"

"From what I observed, yes. I surveyed several realms in their entirety and found several with exactly a perfect number. Even if you claim that it's random when you plot the distributions, you can see growing clusters before and peaking at the early perfect numbers, then a low count after a perfect number, picking up when nearing the next. The count of realms with passages between twenty and twenty-eight is approximately the same as the realms with twenty-nine to one hundred and eighty passages."

Robert and the scholars' interest and geekiness were rising sharply as they became more and more excited. Amanda believed the trio were about to slip into a rabbit hole and discuss passage formation theory for the rest of the day.

"Ugh, go and get a classroom!" She complained. "Guys, the realms aren't going anywhere. Nor is the body-hopping necromancer inside my head!"

All three looked at her with contrite faces.

"Would the Empress be interested enough in my maps to grant Amanda something to purge Damien from her soul?" Robert asked Noah.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I don't think so, no. Sorry."

"It's not your fault," Amanda grumbled under her breath.

"Why not?" Robert insisted.

"As I said before, it's probable that the Palace scribes already have most of this information. And the knowledge by itself is worthless without the means to even confirm the data is accurate. Let's assume the Empress is interested and accepts the trade. Now, are you willing to guide imperial surveyors as they check all the data you presented? How many years will this take? And how many of your secrets will you need to reveal? Honestly, I am surprised Titania hadn't enslaved you yet."

Noah took a deep breath. Then, he turned to Amanda. "No offense intended."

"None taken, professor. I can answer that. Granny told me that Robert's mental defenses are too strong to overtake without turning him into a vegetable. And I'd be damned if I let her enslave my man!" She proudly boasted at the end.

Robert smiled. Amanda could be scary and imperious when she was angry but the knowledge that she was protecting him was heartwarming. She met his gaze and grinned. It was a feral grin, given that she was still angry. He likened her in that moment to a lioness inviting the lion to go hunt.

"Good, good," Andronicus waved his hand to get everyone's attention. "As Amanda rightfully said before, let's get back to the main problem."

Everyone nodded and the elderly scholar asked Amanda. "You said that neither you nor him can hurt each other's projection, right?"

"Yes. And we fought for hours. Not a single scratch. But my construct's active ability can affect him, whereas his weapon is useless. I don't know its power but I believe it's nothing useful in the current situation."

"That's very concerning. We need to look into the reason this inability to harm each other exists. I have a theory but it's not good news."

"Out with it," Amanda demanded. "I'd rather hear the bad news than keep on living in the dark."

Robert grasped her hand under the table.

"The nature of Damien's talent is to merge with the host's soul and take over completely. If he keeps on existing inside Amanda's and they can't hurt each other, then it means you two are merged but he lost the ability to take over the host's soul when his talent degraded. He might have also lost the immunity to Holy essence. Perhaps a Holy essence user…"

"I already tried!" Amanda bemoaned. "Veronica said I have nothing 'wrong' in my soul!" She did air quotes.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Andronicus reacted. "Then, it stands to reason that your souls have indeed merged. Solving this problem might be as complicated as ripping away part of your soul."

Robert was startled by something in what Andronicus said. It resonated with him but he couldn't pinpoint what. In his Mind Palace, iRobert and Angelo set to work on dissecting that fleeting intuition.

"Wouldn't that grant Amanda his talent?" Robert suggested.

"Fuck, no!" Amanda cursed and stood up. She was flushed and shaking.

"Amanda, calm down. Nobody in this room will betray or harm you," Noah said.

Robert cast Mind Shield on her. It had evolved recently and he used the concept of focus. The shield now helped combat distress, confusion, and other negative mental impairments, for as long as it lasted.

The young woman sobbed, shook her head, and slumped back in her chair. She felt violated, dirty, and tarnished on a fundamental level. "I don't want it!"

"Can we at least test?" Robert pleaded. She nodded. He used his talent and spent his time tempering Jade Mind and letting the imprints research and philosophize about the situation.

When his time was almost up, he went to the Gurglock Ocean and kidnapped one of the slimy fish-monsters. He brought it back to the meeting room. People were surprised but the monster was already brainwashed and tamed by him.

"Go ahead and put a seed in this monster," Robert said.

Amanda waved a hand and was shocked when she found the new talent. It was as instinctive to her as sowing any other seed. When she activated her secondary talent, she felt her primary talent trigger as well. "Hell, no."

Horrified, she learned in that moment the two talents shared a synergy. The "Seed of Unholy Rebirth" was indeed a seed and her Ultimate Farmer potentialized it beyond the limits of reason.

The Gurglock flinched and fell to the ground, convulsing. The seed started to drain vitality at an alarming rate, sending it to Amanda. Supernatural-quality healing washed over her body but without the warmth associated with healing. It had a touch of the grave.

The d

Gurglock lost vitality, and biomass, and was a step away from dying. Robert felt the mental taming link snap as the monster rose.

"GwFUwlwCKgwlWHATgwulwISwlgHAPPENING?" The monster gurgled, distressed, and more than a little scared.

"Mind Blackout!" Robert shouted and invaded the monster's mind. He found Damien inside the creature.

iRobert got to work on it immediately.

Robert stood up and wrapped both the monster and him in a resilient sphere. Then, he killed it with a series of Void Punches. He used raw Void essence to clear the gore inside the sphere and slotted this as a spell called Void Broom. He was sure Zaifyr would love the spell and even enchant it in one of his magical Roombas.

For all his trouble, Robert gained a new utility spell and a VHS tape with Damien's mental imprint.

"Was he–" Amanda was so distressed she couldn't finish the question.

"Yes," Robert said. Is he–" He also couldn't finish because Amanda didn't have a relieved expression.

"He's not gone. God, WHY is he not gone?!?!?!?"

"Does he seem weakened?" Andronicus asked.

"No. The feeling is the same," she replied. "Disgusting."

Amanda then explained what happened and the synergy between both talents.

"If Damien isn't getting stronger with the feedback from these seeds," Noah said. "Then it's all good. This new talent is good. You dealt a lot of damage to the monster and gained a lot of healing energy. So long you remember to finish the monster, it's alright."

"No. There's one problem," Andronicus said with an apologetic look. "If Amanda has Damien and Damien's talent on her soul, then she cannot ascend. Because ascension would evolve both talents. I don't think it would be wise to give Damien his power back."

Amanda wheezed and swayed in her chair. Robert leaned to support her.

"We should adjourn this meeting for later. Professor Actus, I believe helping Ms. Samson must be our exclusive focus from now on. Robert, please support her."

"Sure, professor," Robert said as an afterthought. Of course, he would support his girl. "I would like some time soon to discuss an unrelated matter. When can we meet?"

"Is it important?"

"I think so. It might even help with your research of a cure for Amanda." Robert turned to face the girl.

"I'll be fine, go," she said softly.

It seemed that this meeting drained a lot of her energy. Robert went with Andronicus to a corner of the room and opened a telepathic link.

"I can rejuvenate you," he sent. "But there are some caveats," Robert explained about his spell and what was required to make it work. He also explained how it worked on Pappardelle. "It will take two sessions, in two consecutive days. I promise not to pry into your mind."

Andronicus only smiled. "You are too young and naive yet. It makes me wonder why Samson actually let you go like that. A word of advice, you better grow stronger fast. If the world knew what you are capable of, they would wage wars for the glory of enslaving you. I'm afraid not even our Empress would be immune to this kind of greed. Of course, I agree. Regarding my mind, take a copy. I quite fancy living rent-free in your head and enjoying a library as big as what you have in there. Speaking of which, I might have a way to let you add more books to it. Let's call that my payment for your services."

In the next two days, Robert spent time with Amanda, finished crafting most of his orders, and restored Andronicus to the vigor and health he had at the age of twenty. Robert reverted more than a century of aging for the professor.a