After the lecture, Amanda dragged him to the campus mall to buy what she needed. When he first learned the Imperial Academy had its own shopping mall, Robert was puzzled. But now he knew why. Gather thousands of the wealthiest youngsters in the whole empire in the same place and what do you get? Plenty of disposable income begging to be spent, that's what.

The items she needed weren't for sale because anything worth less than a thousand dollars wasn't worth stocking. Some articles were bundled together to push above that price point, like socks, sold in a pack of four. But some shops accepted teleportation orders, charging a hefty fee for the service. Amanda paid twenty-five thousand dollars to teleport in two one hundred pounds bags of sand and one bag of fine gravel. Then another forty thousand for the table to simulate the river.

Plenty of disposable income, indeed.

They went to a gathering chamber so they could test how to replicate a river. It didn't need to be in a gathering chamber but why not? Amanda needed to grow her star and she could afford the fees.

They assembled the table and placed the plastic sides that would stop the sand and water from sliding out of the table. He poured a layer of sand covering the table's top. Robert moistened the sand and inclined it fifteen degrees. At the top, Amanda started with a trickle of conjured water. The water went straight for a while, then started to snake on the sand. Water dripped on the floor.

Noah gave them a guide on the experiments they should do with the sand table.

"Stop the flow," Robert said.

They noticed the river dug a grove on the sand where the river flowed.

"What now?" Amanda asked.

"It's dripping water from below. I think I forgot to tighten the drain cap."

Amanda pouted. Robert gave the cap a good twist, tightening it until his hands hurt. He smoothened the sand for another run.

"The water would vanish in a while," Amanda remarked.

She was nervous. Robert had no idea why. They did another five tests, and each time the same happened. The "river" carved its bed on the sand.

"I don't get the point," Amanda complained. How will this childish toy make me learn how to heal with water?"

"It won't," Robert conjectured. "I think this is meant to teach you something you don't know about water."

"Let's increase the angle. Set it to twenty-two and a half degrees."

They adjusted it and ran the test. The water flowed faster, snaking more, and carving shallower grooves.

"The river lengthened," Amanda remarked. "If we measure all these snaking curves, it is covering more ground. I thought it would flow straight."

"The depth is about the same," Robert said after measuring with a micrometer.

"Should we mix the gravel?" Robert suggested.

"Let's run the pure sand bed a few more times." Amanda requested.

They ran several tests. In the gathering chamber, Amanda could conjure water indefinitely as she gathered wisps through short meditation sessions.

The faster the water flowed, the lengthier the river became. The distance in a straight line didn't change but the arms lengthened.

Mixing the gravel changed the river's behavior. It flowed slower on the gravel.

"Why does the sediment size change the river's speed?" Robert conjectured.

"I think I have a hunch," Amanda said, her mood brightening up. Don't reset the bed and smooth the sediment. Let me try something."

She simulated a seasonal river, one that dried out of the rainy season. Every time the water flowed, the shape of the river changed.

"Look at the mouth," Amanda pointed. "Do you see the pile of sand and gravel that's forming at the bottom of the table?"

"Yes."

"That's it!" She squealed. "I got it!"

Robert stared at the proud pupil as she savored her epiphany. He understood nothing but it wasn't his assignment. He was glad Amanda got what she needed from this. If it helped her advance, it was worth every penny and every minute they spent.

"Aren't you going to ask?" She inquired, almost demanding he did.

Robert laughed, drawing a pout out of her.

"So?"

"Will you tell me if I don't ask?" He teased.

"No," she said in a foul mood. "And now I won't tell even if you kneel and beg."

Robert grinned, suppressing a bout of laughter. He used his talent. After doing his usual things in the liminal void, he returned.

"Ok, then. What will we do next?" He asked in a completely neutral tone.

"I hate you." Amanda, the tsundere, said.

"Are we finished here? Should we put the sand table away?"

She sent a jet of water his way. Robert used his talent and returned, completely dry as the conjured water evaporated into essence within minutes.

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"What did you discover, Amanda?" Robert asked.

She grunted back.

"Do you think you are closer to figuring out the whole puzzle?"

"Yes." She replied without making eye contact.

"The river doesn't carry only water," he said. "It also carries sediment. Water can push things, but can also pull objects immersed in it."

"Uh-hum," she hummed in agreement. Then she glared at him. "No! I'm still mad at you!"

"Pff…"

"Don't laugh!" She berated right away.

"I'm not," Robert replied after he returned from the liminal void.

She let out a long sigh. "Yes, it's exactly that. The water can easily move objects immersed in it. I think I need to completely envelop the wounded area with water and then move things to where they should be."

Amanda waved a hand over the table and conjured a gallon of water. As she willed it, the turbid water flowed up and down, left and right, carving its way across the sand. It flowed upward, depositing the sand and gravel to form a pile as she let the conjured water disperse into raw ether.

"Uhm! This is very interesting!" Robert mused. "You can use the water to remove contaminants from the wound, then push the flesh to where it should be. You can also increase the pressure on the flesh and blood vessels to stop the bleeding. It will be easier for the body to knit itself that way."

"I would need a lot of control to make the water do all that."

"You just need to compress the water to match the blood pressure. If you are using the abyssal depths tempering, you already know how to do that."

Amanda blushed and looked away.

"You aren't," Robert feigned a gasp.

"I don't want to become heavy and bloated!" She protested. "And abyssal depths are good only for martial artists!"

"No. It minimizes the chance of knockback and keeps you from dehydrating. And it adds more momentum to all of your melee attacks."

"I will fight as a caster," she retorted.

"You need to at least hold your ground. You can't expect to return unscathed from every battle."

"Abyssal depths will slow me down," she repealed the idea.

"At baseline human movements, you can't dodge most monsters' attacks anyway. You would need something like hydraulic flex."

"Do you know how hard is it to create the hydraulic flex spell? Without being a martial artist?"

"You need a decent water body tempering."

"I know."

"And all Earth affinity body tempering techniques also increase your weight."

"I know!"

"Hey, what about the strongest water tempering technique?" Robert suggested. "If you can temper–"

"Do you hate me?"

"No," Robert replied straight away.

Amanda was so shocked she dropped her act.

"Just to make sure, are you talking about the thousand wet hells?"

"Yes."

"Hell, no. I am pretty sure that thing is a joke created by some sadistic maniac to gain money from stupid crazy battle maniac suckers."

"The technique works. All the problems people had with it were because they didn't do it right. Or they didn't have a dedicated healer. You do. I can heal you and remove the pain."

"No."

"I am sure Noah will agree. We just need to go slowly. Even if something unfortunate happens, the Academy healers can fix it. You won't feel any pain. So what's the deal? Why are you so adamantly against it?"

"No reason!" She lied.

"We can ask your father."

"I don't need his permission."

"Okay. I can't force you. Just keep in mind that I wouldn't do anything to harm you."

Amanda sighed.

“Hundred wet hells with stoneskin would make you nigh-impervious to physical attacks.”

“Alright. Alright. I’ll draft the report for Noah, you can gather in the meantime. We can deliver it to him and ask his opinion.”

*

*

The only hint that Professor Actus was smiling was the slight movement of his ears. But he surely was as he read Amanda’s report.

“I won’t say I didn’t expect it so soon but you impressed me nonetheless,” Noah said. “Your insights were spot-on. I think you will develop this spell in no time.”

Robert nodded along. Amanda described both of her affinities as “nurturing” in her previous assignment. No two Archhumans had the same approach to the same affinity. They viewed their affinity in a particular way and that shaped their abilities. Yes, there might be some similarities but they vanished once they captured a vestige and evolved their abilities. The divergence would only increase over time.

Amanda then asked about the tempering techniques.

“I think this is a sound plan. If Noah can consistently deliver normal-quality healing, then we can start with it. But it will be a lengthy process. During the first tempering sessions and when you go over more sensitive organs, we can get a veteran healer from the Academy to oversee the session. This will also be a good training opportunity for you, Robert. Healing can only be trained on the field, anyway.”

Academy rules forbade, for good reason, inflicting harm just for the sake of training healing spells. It was a sacrifice for overall mental health. The trade was frowned upon.

“As for you, Robert,” Noah said. “You should start training a mental tempering technique. I have here a manual to build the shell. From now on, you are going to build each of your spells and techniques from scratch. It reminds me.

“No Ether scrolls allowed. We will even discuss later on which spells you should ditch and rebuild. An ability you crafted yourself will be leagues ahead of those cookie-cutter scroll-made shells. If you want a spell from an Ether scroll, you can bring it to me and we will reverse-engineer it together.”

Robert expected that. Given what he learned about Noah’s extreme hands-on teaching methods, the professor would squeeze every ounce of advantage he could. Whether Archhumans should develop the shells by themselves or rely on Ether scrolls was a heated debate topic. On one hand, scrolls would always result in a weaker ability. On the other hand, the return on investment was higher with the scrolls. Time was money, and developing a new ability at one star was a lengthy process for the average Archhuman.

It was true that Robert developed drain essence in one visit to the liminal void. But he had a deep insight into what the Void affinity could do and spent years steeped in its energies. Yet, the result wasn’t perfect. The spell didn’t work as intended, despite the advantage it gave. It should rapidly pay back its cost in Essence, if not making a profit. Instead, he just had a weak curse that cost more than it should.

He took the book Noah offered and instantly went to the Liminal void to read it. Robert would never admit but he was salivating a little.

The book described three tempering techniques called “Mental Palace”, “Intellect Fortress”, and “Tower of Iron Will.” Differently from the body tempering techniques, these mental tempering techniques existed entirely in one’s mind.

Mental palace required the Arch to construct a mindscape, an image so real it was practically a pocket dimension inside one’s mind. Robert would need to imagine every grain of dirt, every blade of grass, every pebble in there. The better he could shape that place, the stronger it would become. At higher levels, he could even withdraw to his mental palace and live there at an accelerated time.

He laughed at the notion. He already had ninety-nine times more time than ordinary people. What if he doubled or tripled that? Yet, the mental palace was required for the other two.

Each of the other two techniques formed a bastion in Robert’s mind. He had to pick one.

Intellect fortress was a bastion of reason and thought. It could be a giant library, an observatory, or even a school. The intellect fortress resisted attempts at subverting thought. Illusions, brainwashing, suggestions, implanted memories, and logical fallacies could not exist within the intellect fortress for reason overcame these feeble attempts to distort truth. It also increased the Arch’s mental processes, speeding up thought and improving intellect.

If the intellect fortress was a place of learning, the tower of iron will was a military fortress. A bastion of self-reliance and stalwart wits, the tower of iron will could be besieged but would never fall. Possession, domination, emotional damage from your tiger mother’s disapproval, your ex’s gaslighting, and stun from psionic techniques, all those attempts would wash off of your tower of iron will’s ramparts.

Both bastions also made your Mental abilities cheaper.

Robert had a long way to go before he was forced to pick what bastion he wanted. He had to start with the mental palace first.