Amanda ran to the platform.

Robert, foreseeing what would happen, moved in lockstep after moving the couch back to his ring. When she lost her balance, he gently grabbed her by the waist and shoulder, doing a half-spin, and dropped the couch, laying the swooning lady on it like it was choreographed.

Then she threw up. Robert dodged as he used haste on himself.

"Shit!" She cursed and bemoaned. A blob of water splashed on her face, then down along the couch, depositing her ejecta on the workshop floor.

"You shouldn't use magic right now," Robert warned.

"I want—"

"To go back to Earth? I can do that," Robert interrupted her. "Now, stay there and rest, okay?"

She took a pillow out of her ring and hid her face in it.

"Don't smother yourself. I'm going to talk to Noah."

Amanda mumbled something.

Robert walked to the platform. Along the way, he wondered what did he do wrong to cause such a reaction. Was Amanda suffering from some eating disorder? Low iron intake? Did his stimulation of her bone marrow trigger this? Was it the fact she was on her period? Diagnosis only showed him the wounds afflicting the patient, not the micronutrient deficiencies. He knew of one spell who could get a reading of the blood composition but it was locked under the Blood affinity.

He needed to look into obtaining a set of medical equipment. And perhaps a medical certification too.

"What happened to Amanda?" Noah asked as Robert reached the platform.

She was very excited and felt sick because of the blood she lost. She needs to rest. Can the item you forged wait or does it need to make physical contact with her right now?"

Noah looked at the metallic box. "No, it can wait. Get the insulating gloves you used to enchant the crystal. They will let you handle the item."

Robert went to his workbench and opened a drawer. After donning the runic gloves, he went back to the platform. He looked inside the box. All of the crystals had vanished, leaving a silver object in the middle. "Is this it?"

"Yes. The forging was a success," Noah said.

Robert took the item and placed it inside his ring. "I'll monitor her and make sure she keeps whatever she eats next in her stomach."

"Good. I'm exhausted," Noah said. "Forging that item drained more than I care to admit. Can you handle things here?"

"Sure, go meditate, take a nap, gather, whatever, teacherman. I got this."

"Great. Although gathering wisps is not an option right now. The Ether here is dangerously low. We might need to move. Do you have room in one of your rings for the workbench and crystal rack?"

"I can make room, yes. But I sent the puffblooms to the next island to see if they could bring some Ether with them. They should return in the afternoon."

"Great idea!" Noah said with a thumbs up. "Leave everything as it is now, then. Let's see how much Ether can two puffblooms puff."

Noah walked to the door on the other side. Robert returned to Amanda's side.

"I'm taking you to your room," He said and gently turned her sunny-side-up before picking her up in a princess carry. He noticed that Amanda was crying but said nothing.

*

*

In the apartment Amanda picked for herself, Robert tucked her in bed and went to the kitchen to cook some soup. While he chopped the ingredients and dissolved the roux, he thought about her sudden spell of dizziness. Was it because they drew a pint of blood during her period? No. Probably not. Despite popular belief, the amount of blood lost because of that was minimal.

One thing came to mind. When he thought about that, it was like he'd received an electric shock. Robert turned the heating plate off and ran to the bedroom to confirm it.

"Robert?" Amanda's feeble voice came from underneath the blanket. She had pulled it over her head.

He almost pulled the blanket off. But he gave up on that idea when he saw Amanda's uniform on a chair.

"Show me your face," He demanded. When she complied, he sat on the side of the bed and placed both hands on her cheeks. "When were you going to tell us that you were cursed by Damien?"

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Most ongoing effects didn't end when the caster died. The sustained ones did, without a fault, unless they were supplied essence at the time of the casting to pay for the upkeep. Or if they parasitized the target's essence or body for the upkeep costs.

"I'm working to erode it. I'm almost done," Amanda said with a pout. With Robert still holding her cheeks, it made her mouth movements resemble a fish.

"And you didn't think losing a pint of blood would weaken yourself enough to let the curse surface."

She turned her eyes away from him. "Would you let go of my face, please?"

He released her cheeks and sighed. "I'm responsible for your health. You must tell me such things!" Robert protested. Before she could answer, he stood up and walked away. "I'm making soup for you. Stay put and rest."

*

*

After making sure Amanda ate the soup and kept it in her stomach, Robert paid Noah a visit. He explained what happened and why she became sick.

"Let's go at once!" Noah stopped Freddy's lessons with a sense of urgency. "I have some elixirs that might help her. Why didn't she say something? No, why didn't I see it. I should've checked both of you!"

"It's not your fault, professor," Robert said as they ran down the stairs. It was another thing they did wrong. After staying for almost a year in that tent together, they craved some personal space and went too far on the other side. They each took a whole building.

"Even if it is not, it is," Noah explained. "An eight-star monster can appear, crush us with its pressure alone, eat us, and it would still be my fault. It is not a matter of responsibility but where society will pin the blame."

Robert let out a nervous chuckle. Surely there was no such thing as an eight-star monster. Even the Empress, humanity's strongest Archhuman, had only five or six stars. They went out on the street and jogged to the building Amanda took.

"I'll leave you with a thought," Noah said. "Humanity was introduced to the interspace two hundred years ago with the rift cataclysm and the first passages. Do you believe we joined the game earlier or later? Just a hint: The Taulusians fought creatures from the rift for a thousand years before we first met them."

"Are you saying we're mere children pretending to be strong in the game?"

"We are strong. But our main strength is not our raw individual power. It is our ingenuity and ability to cooperate. Other sentient species are much less advanced than us. Few other species delved as deep into the interspace as us. And yet, our best estimate says we only saw ten percent of all realms in this labyrinth. But yes, humanity is young compared to other species."

They entered Amanda's apartment and Robert led Noah to the bedroom. Amanda sat up when she saw them. Noah pulled a chair and sat next to the bed.

"Professor," she called. "I'm sorry."

"Shh. It's all right," Noah said. "We all do foolish things one way or another. You see, I denied the world my handsome face when I donned this cursed mask. The ladies wouldn't leave me alone otherwise."

She mixed laughter with a coughing fit. "I'm sure they were crazy after you."

"Now, let me take a good look at you," Noah cooed. "What an insidious curse. It remained dormant until you had a moment of weakness." He grunted. "And today was meant to be a special day for you. Here, drink this."

The teacher took a vial of sparkling golden water.

"That's an expensive elixir," She said as she took the open vial and quaffed it in one go.

"Don't worry. The Academy is paying."

Amanda's skin glowed with golden light. A black aura gathered around her, then evaporated into flakes of ash that disintegrated as they floated off of her.

"There, all good now. You should stay the day in bed to recover. You should sleep. Tomorrow, you and Robert will go to the Netherecho so she can gather all the essence you can."

Noah tried to stand up but Amanda moved to stop him.

"About the—"

"Robert has it. He'll give it to you once you refill all your essence. Don't worry. Just focus on recovering your strength."

Amanda slid back under the covers. "Okay," she mumbled. Her tone said it was not okay but she had little choice on the matter.

"I hope you find incidents like this as motivation to train harder, and not as signs you should give up," Noah said. "You are stronger than you believe, Amanda. Differently from others who become stronger in the early game, you are a late bloomer but a heavyweight when you do bloom."

She grumbled. Noah looked from Amanda to Robert and then back. "Both of you are late bloomers. Archs with a single affinity can focus everything and get strong really fast but then they plateau. I'll leave you to rest. Class is dismissed until Amanda makes a full recovery."

Freddy appeared and jumped on the bed, lying next to Amanda and resting his head on her stomach. She scratched him behind the ears. Distracted, none of them noticed Noah leaving. The teacher motioned with his head to Robert so they walked out together. Robert closed the room behind him. When he looked next, Noah had another golden vial.

"You drink this, right now," Noah said with a tone that allowed no refusal. "If Damien cursed her, there's no reason he didn't curse you too."

"What curse did he put on us?" Robert asked before he downed the golden elixir.

A strong Holy essence infused Robert's body. He felt a comfortable warmth spread around him, then a burning pain in his solar plexus as the light latched onto something. The same darkness that afflicted Amanda left his body. The power of the elixir then fixed most wounds and problems in his body but drained a lot of his essence and even a good chunk of biomass in the process.

"I don't know and now there's no way to analyze it now. But either it was some parting gift that would kill the recipient or worse. Who knows, maybe Damien would be reborn in one of your bodies."

"You are joking, right?" Robert asked.

"No idea. We didn't have any information on his talent whatsoever. Only that he was a strong three-star, that his main affinity was unholy, and that he could raise others as undead. But if you always assume the worst, you can't be caught by surprise. It's stressful, though."

"Right," Robert huffed.

"Welcome to the adult swimming pool. Where there's no bottom and you'll drown if you aren't careful. What I said to Amanda is the truth about you. If you think you're as strong as you are now, you haven't grasped what your talent and affinities can do. OH," Noah's head spun around as he sensed something. "Your puffblooms are back, and they brought friends."

Robert couldn't believe it. How did Noah sense the return of his bonded monsters before him?

"When they get in range of your bond, tell them to lead the other puffblooms around the island to spread the Ether, then send them each to lead a group to other nearby islands to bring more. Amanda will need it."

It wasn't like Noah would share his secrets with his students. While the teacher was under a geas to keep the students' information private, the same couldn't be said about Robert.

"I'll do as you ask, Noah," Robert replied.

The thin Ether on the island worried him. Another way this realm could screw you over with a false sense of safety. But that scarcity was human-made.