"But the real question," Noah continued, "is why a cult of deranged Void worshipers are after you, Robert."

Neither Robert nor Amanda kept a straight face. Noah's mask was unreadable.

"I have the Void affinity," Robert confessed.

"Okay. Great. That was something I had scheduled for the first lesson, but if we can get it ahead of time, then great. You know I am rune-bound to keep secrecy about your particular powers. Can you tell me all of your affinities?"

Robert nodded. That was something stated in the student guidebook. To help students reach their maximum potential, teachers were forced into a runic geas by one of the Empress enforcers to keep the students' private information secret even from her.

"Void, Life, Time, and Mental," he said.

"Nature, Water, and Earth," Amanda said.

Noah nodded, his ears shifting as if he was grinning. "Excellent. I didn't expect you to have four affinities, Robert. Were they all granted by your Prime?"

"No. I got a unique spirit in a passage we fell by accident."

Noah laughed. "Really? That's some serendipity. Was it hard to subjugate?"

"No, it bound to a shell on its own volition," Robert said, a bit uncomfortable.

"And why would it do that?"

Robert looked at Amanda for help. "Just tell him."

"It was a gift from an eidolon," Robert said without looking at Noah's mask.

"Why would an eidolon grant you a unique spirit? What did it ask in return?"

"Nothing, actually."

"Fair enough. Do you know what are its intentions?"

"It wants to invade our realm. It fancied itself a god."

Noah sputtered and chortled. "Well, let it try. Humanity is not as weak as they think. We know several eidolons who think themselves all-powerful but they are usually alone.

"Anyway," Noah stood up. "This is going to be a fun semester. We're already starting on a good note with this failed assassination attempt. Emphasis on failed. it would be a tragedy if they managed to kill someone as promising as you two."

"Not to mention you would be left without any students," Amanda noticed. "But how do you know this cult has infiltrated the Academy?"

"I caught one of them. It seems they had inside help. Also, the vetting process for new students was tampered with. I've been investigating it for some time. The fact you were my students was just a coincidence."

"I see. What happens now?" Amanda asked.

"It depends on you. There are many choices to pick from. You could do nothing and hope for the best, you could increase the security around yourselves, or we could take the whole semester as a field trip."

"We what?" Robert asked.

"Field trip. We leave the Academy behind, go into a passage, and set out to explore realms unknown. Hunt monsters, catch vestiges, go on a trip. It has the added bonus of spiting the efforts of this cult expended infiltrating the Academy. I really don't look forward to fighting them. Void Archs are one of the worst to fight against."

"Wait, really? We can go away for the semester?" Robert inquired.

"Sure, why not?" Noah shrugged. "I only have you two as students, and you will only have me as a teacher. Class is wherever we gather, be it here or elsewhere. We just need to come back for the tournament."

"This is insane."

"Think of all the opportunities to gather wisps, grow stronger, develop new abilities with more compatibility with yourselves, catch vestiges, we can even find new and unique affinities for ourselves," Noah waved a hand in the air to encompass the world. "Away from this politicking, from this coddling environment. Away from crazy cultists willing to use your fellow students as patsies in assassination plots."

"Won't these same cultists follow us?" Robert asked.

"Sure. But they will be out of their environment."

"And so will we!" Amanda protested. "At least here we have the Academy's protection."

"Such a fine job they did on the first day of the semester already. And I'm not talking about what happened at the cafeteria. That mess at the auditorium would be completely avoided if they hadn't spent days running around like chickens without heads because one four-star decided to be an idiot and died in a ditch in another world."

Noah snapped a finger. "And you will be under my protection. What do you fear, Amanda? Won't you have your strong, reliable, and very versatile bodyguard with you? Between him and me, what do you need to feel safe?"

"Wait, wait. Let's dial it back down a little. Why are you insisting on this field trip so much?" Robert asked.

"Because it is the best for you and for me," Noah confessed. "You saw it at the auditorium this morning. They are after me and my teaching license. But don't let it affect your decision. I know it won't offer the same luxury as your polished steel pyramid, Ms. Samson. But I assure you I'll do my utmost to make you as strong as you can get in a semester. With how many affinities the two of you have, you'll need every advantage."

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Robert raised a hand. "Can I talk with Amanda for a moment?"

Noah nodded. "Sure. I'll wait outside."

After he left, Robert broke the silence. "I think we should take his offer."

"Because...?"

"We both know we can't just ascend our talents at the first opportunity. Titania's advice was exactly against that. I think she's correct. My talent is too strong. And yours need a huge boost if you are to evolve it the way you want."

She laughed ruefully. "Fine. We will go, the three of us."

"Four."

"Oh. Right. Freddy."

"We need to convince him to use the Prime. I only fear what its ability might be and if it would be a good match for him."

"The Prime one manifests is usually the best for them."

"Will this field trip cause you any trouble? Back home?"

"Only if I show up dead. But then it will cause trouble for you too."

"Let's call Professor Actus back."

They called Noah back into the room and explained the issue with their talents requiring huge amounts of aura to evolve the way they wanted. They also disclosed Freddy's situation. Noah listened to everything carefully. Only after hearing everything carefully did he speak.

"Thank you for trusting me with all that. I never looked into the Taulusian hounds issue, I have to admit. But if Freddy really manifested a Prime, then they are intelligent, sentient, and sapient, no doubt about that. Do you have the Prime there with you? We need to learn what its talent and affinities are."

"I didn't want to find out and violate Freddy's—"

"Stop," Noah interrupted. "I understand where this idea comes from, and it is a noble sentiment. But what you have to understand is that Freddy isn't an adult. Not only he's not an adult, he doesn't have the wisdom or the knowledge to make a sound decision. You are his tutor, Robert. His step-parent, and legal guardian. From what you told me, he's reacting like a child who broke the cookie jar. It is my advice that you learn what this Prime does, and decide if it is a good fit for Freddy. If it is not, I will try to trade it for another with the ATA."

Robert shook his head. "They're scammers, honestly."

Noah laughed. "Yes, they are. When you are a weak mortal that shows up with a valuable Prime, of course, they will scam said mortal out of all value. But they won't just murder the mortal and take away the Prime either."

Robert stared at the V-shaped section of the chair seat he could see between his legs.

"Happened to you?" Noah guessed. Robert nodded. Noah winced away. "What was the Prime you traded for one with three affinities?"

Now it was Amanda's turn to laugh, a perfect impression of the trademarked Princess Julietta's mocking "Ohohohohoho!"

"Can you explain?" Robert asked her. Amanda nodded.

"Can I disclose what your talent is?" Amanda asked.

"Go ahead."

Amanda laughed a bit more, then breathed deeply to focus. "The ATA messed up the evaluation of Robert's prime. Robert's talent was dubbed by them 'one percent in real life'. The Prime said, 'every hundred parts you live, ninety-nine shall be spent in the liminal void'. They thought it meant Robert would live only one year after taking the Prime into his soul."

"I see. And what is its real talent, Robert?" Noah asked.

"I spend only one percent of my life in reality. The other ninety-nine percent, I am forced to stay in the liminal void, a transient dimension between reality and the real void. But time doesn't pass while I am there. I return in the same instant I leave. There's an almost imperceptible gap between me leaving and returning. But if I spend, say, three hours here in reality between visits, then the next time I go to the liminal void, I'll stay there for two hundred and ninety-seven hours before I return."

"Impressive," Noah said, stupefied. "And you can act normally during that time?"

"Yes. Though my biological functions are suspended. I only need to sleep because it is also required to refresh the mind. But if I sleep in the liminal void, I don't need to sleep in reality so I gain eight hours every day."

"Most impressive. I see why Titania advised you to hold your two-star ascension for as long as possible. I totally agree with her. You need to gather a huge amount of aura before you can even think about ascending. And so do you, Amanda. This means fighting strong opponents, gathering the power left by destroyed remnants, and going above and beyond what your peers are doing. Our objectives align."

"Amanda?" Robert asked.

"I..."

"Wait. Before you decide either way, let me ask you one thing. What tempering techniques do you use? Robert?"

"I use lavi flows, vitae infusion, biomass absorption for Life, and chronal shear for Time. I don't have a Void nor a Mental tempering technique."

"Void and Mental don't have any techniques for one-star."

"But I used a tempering bath we bought for the Void affinity. I already used two-thirds of the prescribed nine months of tempering. But only because I can heal myself."

"Yes, the Life affinity. It's great for self-healing. If you can heal yourself, I think I know a tempering for your Mental affinity you can use. It is painful as hell, though. And you can't dampen this pain with Life spells. Is that all?"

"I guess it is," Robert said.

"Now, Amanda. What tempering do you use?"

"Druidic attunement," she replied. "And water body."

"And...?" Noah tried to draw it out of her.

"That's it." She said sheepishly.

"No other Water and no Earth tempering?" Noah asked. She shook her head. "What about abyssal depths, adamant bones, granite body, stone skin, or marble muscles?"

"No."

"Why not?"

She declined to answer.

"Because they'll make you heavier?" Robert risked a guess.

Amanda whimpered. "No. Not just that. We were trying to hide the fact I had three affinities because people could find out what Prime I used."

"I see," Noah said. "Samson bought your Prime in an ATA auction six months ago. Near the time when that new passage to Faralethal opened."

Robert remembered the District Nineteen incident the people at the supermarket mentioned. It was in the news everywhere but Robert never paid much mind to the news.

"The solution is easy. We just need to get you a fourth affinity like Robert here did, and you can tell you picked Water or Earth instead of this one," Noah said.

"Easy, he said," Amanda chuckled ruefully. "Just find a unique spirit and trap it."

Noah nodded solemnly. "And we won't find any inside this campus. If you want to fulfill your ambitions and grow strong in a reasonable span of time, there's only one path."

"Amanda, you can grow all the food we need. We can hunt creatures to eat, and water is plentiful out there. We can carry thousands of gallons between us. So long we don't get lost, we have no reason to remain here."

"Fear not. I can't get lost even if I tried," Noah boasted.

"Okay."

"Great. Excellent choice, and as your teacher, I can assure you I'll do my utmost to fulfill my side of the bargain. We will depart tomorrow at dawn. Here are your assignments. Amanda, you will use abyssal depths and at least one Earth tempering technique of your choice. I don't want any of the soft ones. I recommend getting adamant bones and stoneskin as they provide the best defensive value. granite body is good for frontline tanks but you don't seem to lean that way. Marble muscles are for martial artists."

"I will do as you recommend."

"You can always add more tempering techniques later but you'll lose the time you waited. You are already starting at a disadvantage. You know that if you started with them six months ago, you'd be well into the first stage."

"Yes, Professor Actus."

She used his surname in an attempt to put some distance. Amanda was clearly inconvenienced while Robert seemed hopeful. The prospect of helping Freddy and growing stronger, and even gaining more affinities was very enticing.

"And you, Robert. You'll find out what this Prime Freddy manifested does right now."

Robert clenched his teeth. He knew it was the right thing to do but it still felt wrong. He summoned the aquamarine Prime with a wave of his hand.