After breakfast, Robert dropped Camille back at the animal shelter. She was wearing new clothes, a blue and silver qipao he bought for her in Seoul.
It was late afternoon in America as the two places were thirteen hours apart. The Sun was already hiding behind the tall buildings.
"Woof! (What? It’s dinner time again?)" Poochline woofed.
"You just ate, you glutton," Robert replied.
"Camille, woman!" The afternoon shift worker called from inside. "Where have you been, girl?"
It was still that same day. But the two skipped the afternoon in America to spend the night in Korea. Robert winked at Camille and put a finger over his lips.
"Oh, you know, around," Camille sounded mysterious and excited.
"I have to go," Robert said, grabbing Poochline again. "I'll bring Poochline sometime to play with his friends."
"Woof, woof bow growl, (yes, because all I ever wanted was to meet my jail buddies again)," Poochline barked sarcastically.
Robert glared at the striped dog.
"Woof, howl (because I am always ready to take one for the team)," Poochline changed his tune. He'd have winked if dogs could wink.
Robert used his primary talent and went to his dorm at the Academy campus.
*
*
Back at the animal shelter.
"So, who was that secret agent guy?" Camille's coworker interrogated, crazy thirsty for some tea.
"The guy who adopted Poochline," Camille replied.
"Wow, someone actually took in that troublemaker? You must hate the guy!"
"Come on, Poochline isn't that bad," Camille protested. "He said he wanted the dog who loved humans the most.
"Sure, sure," the coworker rifled through adoption applications. "Here! Robert Blaze… Robert Blaze… Oh! Oh! Damn, girl!"
"What's wrong with you?" Camille asked.
"I knew I'd seen that guy somewhere!"
"He grew up in this city. It's not hard to believe–"
"No. Not that. He's a student at Imperial!"
"Yes?" Camille started to get worried. "Does he have a gir–"
"He's one of the favorites to win the Imperial Academy's two-star tournament! The guy is a huge deal!! Check this out!"
Camille went around the corner. She watched replays of Robert's fights.
"Yes, that's him!" Camille gasped. "What are these three armored monsters here?"
"They are calling them Demonic Minotaurs," the coworker said. “Crazy shit two-star beasts with an enrage timer. A friend of mine, you know him, Mornn? He was saying that a single Minotaur could wipe a two-star party easily. Especially with that power armor.”
“Uh-hum!” Camille hummed absentmindedly as she watched clips of Robert fighting.
"Who's this girl?" A jealous Camille asked when a scene of Amanda hugging Robert after a victory played.
"Uh, ho, ho! That's THE Amanda Samson!" The coworker snickered. "Damn, Cammie! It seems you have some serious competition, girl!"
"No way!" Camille gasped in shock. "He swore to me he wasn't seeing anyone. And she's, like, his boss!"
"Nuh-uh, no way they are just boss and employee. Hugging like that? No way they aren't an item," the coworker stirred shit. "Check the comment section!"
Terrible idea. Like, the worst ever. Camille suffered from a severe case of instantaneous heartbreak. The shippers and haters in the comment section were overdosing on the copium.
*
*
Unaware of the fickleness of human opinions and impressions, Robert worked hard on his tempering techniques and on farming essence.
With the losers' bracket underway and some contestants dropping from the brackets, the four that would fill the round of sixteen started to appear. Robert was sure some of the ones in his rogue's gallery would make a comeback with a vengeance.
Fairy-Robert had to surpass them. He had to get stronger. He had to slaughter the Gurglocks to steal their power.
Thick beams of Void energy pierced the ocean, killing all in their path. Thick streams of essence rose from the thousands of infected monsters below, fueling Robert's ongoing spells and ticking their proficiency up.
Stage one abilities advanced four times slower than stage zero. And some had requirements other than essence to develop. Like how healing spells required a wound to heal.
Mind palace was the worst offender. It used almost no essence but demanded a lot of time and attention to detail.
While he moved around to avoid over-hunting, he filled the gaps on his map. The planet had fewer passages, less than one percent when compared to Earth. But since it was still exclusive to Samson, it meant a lot. Explorers would take decades to see what lies beyond all of them.
He felt amazing. The power was inebriating. Fairy-Robert often caught himself on the verge of descending into a fit of cackles. He would circle his essence and temper with the jade mind technique.
He was astonished at how easy it was to descend down the slippery slope of villainy. He was already committing genocide of one species (or many. The Gurglock ecology and lifecycle were poorly understood). What was another?
He needed something to keep him grounded. He went back to the Academy.
*
*
Amanda spent her days locked in a Water gathering chamber, going around dozens of planters, checking her plants for any beneficial evolutions, discarding them, and planting more plants.
The project was so intensive she started to feel talent fatigue for the first time this year since they bought her Prime Vestige.
She had achieved great results in what, to others, seemed like a short amount of time. It was in no small amount due to her talent boosting the quality and growth speed of her plants. The talent, coupled with the mandatory casting of plant growth to grant the plants the concept of evolution, was the reason she could do it through a generation of plants in minutes instead of months.
She collected and labeled the seeds from promising specimens and stored them in her ring. She had literal cubic meters of vacuum-packed seeds in there.
Amanda knew that her efforts were only as good as her discipline in documenting and storing the seeds.
Stolen story; please report.
She disposed of the plants, composting them and storing the fertilizer in her ring, along with the dirt and the planters.
As a last act, she swept the gathering chamber with water she conjured, depositing the orb of water in the trash.
She wanted to see Robert.
*
*
Robert's apartment intercom rang. It was Amanda. He opened the door and invited her in.
"Hey, how are you?" She asked. "I brought some snacks."
"Woof! (food)" Poochline said as he approached to beg some nourishment out of Amanda.
The girl squealed. "Who is this gentleman?"
"Woof! (It is I, the one and only Poochline)," Poochline woofed.
"Woof! (Showoff)," Freddy woofed.
Freddy could speak "dog" the same way a human could speak "caveman". But conversations with Poochline were often one-sided. Freddy believed it would be the same way if a human attempted to communicate with a chimpanzee pet.
Cotton and Coal chirped and purred when they smelled Amanda and came to get some pets and scritches from her.
In one remodeled corner of the living room, the three demonic Minotaurs chilled on a massive couch. They had huge customized earphones on and were listening to Mozart.
"Wow!" Amanda squealed and laughed as she played with Robert's illegal roommate and their pets. "This place is so lively!"
"Woof! (Is this female your mate too? Is she Camille's rival?)," Poochline woofed.
Freddy slammed a paw against his snout. To the Taulusian, the only saving grace was that
Robert sputtered and glared at the dog. Poochline looked at Robert and breathed through the mouth, tongue lolling down the side of his mouth.
"Woof! (Feed me, female human)," Poochline woofed.
“Who wants some treats?” Amanda cooed. “Treats!”
"Woof! (Me, of course!)," Poochline woofed as he jumped up trying to catch Amanda’s hand.
Freddy choked on his pride but didn’t react. He surely as hell didn’t want treats. Damn, if he wanted some, he could take them out of his storage ring. No need to beg and grovel and drool on the ground like this simpleton.
Unseen by all of them, one of the demonic Minotaurs raised its hands and pretended to be conducting an orchestra.
*
*
Amanda and Robert went to the kitchen to have some tea. Genuine Eight-trigrams Sublime Mt. Tai Oolong Tea, from China.
“My dear Robert, a citizen of the world now!” Amanda cheered as she elbowed Robert in the ribs. “Hey, you should take me to Paris for dinner!”
Robert coughed suspiciously. A two-star Life archs was practically immune to diseases, especially respiratory ones, unless they came from Grandpa Nurgle himself. “Sure. What time is it in Paris? It’s… six hours of difference, right?”
“Yes, we should add six hours. It means that it's a bit past lunchtime in Paris now. Come on, let’s go! Wait. I need some clothes. Can’t just go to Paris in the Academy uniform. Robert, take me to my room.”
Robert had to use his primary talent first, to clear the accumulated hours, which he spent on his imprint. Upon his return, he grabbed the offered wrist and dove into the true void, emerging inside Amanda’s room. Despite not having a maid or room service, the room was clean and impeccably organized. Robert was impressed by Amanda’s living ethics.
“Well, I’m going to change. You may stay there if you want,” Amanda teased.
“If it’s all the same, I’m going back to my apartment. I need to make sure Poochline has everything he needs. And also see if the Minotaurs are okay.”
“Yeah, sure. I mean, it’s better if you go, anyway,” she said with some doubt in her voice.
Robert vanished with a faint pop. Amanda sighed and shook her head, fearing that one day, her half-truth teasing would backfire.
“Wait, I should’ve told him to come back in… damn. Come on, Amanda. You can change into something suitable for Paris in half an hour!”
*
*
Robert returned to his apartment. He then realized he left in a hurry without asking Amanda when she would be ready. But what was she thinking? Yeah, he would stay and watch her change clothes, just like that. Damn.
“Cotton, Coal, come over here!” He called.
Poochline came too. Robert looked around and saw Freddy squeezed between two Minotaurs. They were still listening to Mozart. But why did Freddy decide to go there? Robert approached.
“Hey, buddy? Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, fine,” Freddy barked.
“Woof! (Let’s play, let’s play)!” Poochline woofed.
Robert taught his puffblooms how to play tag with Poochline. He also taught Poochline that he shouldn’t bite the furballs. Just pawing or bopping his snout on their floating fur was enough to tag them. Cotton and Coal couldn’t use any essence powers on Poochline and couldn’t float above the couch line.
With that, the three critters started to run (and float) amok around the apartment. Robert made a mental calculation. Did he have anything that could be knocked down and broken? Because they would surely wreck the place. But he couldn’t let them outside unsupervised because some asshole prick would attack them. Even if they were watching, so long the stupid young master thought they had plausible deniability, they would still stir up shit.
Robert went around the apartment, critter-proofing it. When he finished doing that, he went to Amanda’s living room and waited there.
*
*
Amanda wore a dark yellow dress that highlighted her skin tone with a wide-brimmed hat and high heels. Her braided hair hung behind her. Robert went with his symbiote in suit mode. The two might be overdressed but it was the prerogative of the powerful to do as they pleased. And late two-stars were called elites for a reason.
They spent a lovely afternoon visiting most of the tourist attractions in the city of lights. A bit before dusk, they took a table at the rooftop cafe of a department store. The sun set and the city came alive with light. Even the ruins of the Eiffel Tower were illuminated.
“Too bad they never rebuilt the tower after it was blown up by those terrorists,” Amanda said with a wistful sigh. “That flying Arch with the blue suit was so close to disarming it!”
“That famous reporter died in the blast, didn’t she?”
“Yeah. Bad luck. People still say to this day they were dating.”
“People spread the wildest rumors,” Robert said.
“Yeah. Can you imagine what they’re talking about you?” Amanda’s tone became accusatory all of a sudden.
“I have no idea,” Robert said honestly. “What are they—”
He was cut off by Amanda. “Do you have any big news you might want to share with me, Robert?”
“What? Big news? What are you talking about?”
“I bet you would save that girl from the animal shelter from an exploding elevator,” Amanda conjectured bitterly.
Robert stopped. “That’s not big news.”
“More than a few people beg to differ.”
He cycled jade mind to keep his cool. That was his personal life and he owed Amanda no… stop. That was the wrong way to address the situation. He couldn’t return the same energy to Amanda. He knew how she felt. She knew why he couldn’t reciprocate. It would be ridiculously easy to fall in love with Amanda but the relationship wouldn’t go anywhere. They were too far apart. And he didn’t love her in that way.
“Don’t you have anything to say?”
“I met this girl at the animal shelter, her name is Camille. She was really genial and we hit off. I took her on a date, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing.”
“And?”
“That’s it. I dropped her at the shelter after the date and went home.”
“It’s not what everyone is saying!” Agitated, Amanda protested.
“I have zero control over what the gossip mill spins about me. I told you what happened. We went on a date, it lasted for a few hours, then I dropped her home. We didn’t discuss a second date or anything. I didn’t even get her number.”
“Wow. Talk about a dine and dash,” Amanda continued to ooze bitterness.
“Have I done anything wrong? Camille didn’t seem to think so.”
“Camille had her head so up in the clouds she couldn’t see the ground,” Amanda said. “Or think straight!”
“Wait, what do you know about that? Did you talk to Camille?”
“Of course not! Pittersville is ten hours away from the Academy!” Amanda roared.
“Who, then?”
“Her friend started to spread the wildest rumors. The Intelligence people caught on to these rumors because most of them say that you are forming a harem!”
“That couldn’t be far from the truth.”
“And this harem allegedly includes me.”
Robert couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Don’t laugh!”
“I’m sorry for laughing.”
“Do you like her?”
“Camille? Not enough to keep dating her. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. We hit off, and we had good chemistry, but not for a single moment did we talk about going long-term. We just had a moment, one afternoon, and now we’re back to our worlds.”
“Worlds,” Amanda scoffed and laughed ruefully. “Because she’s a mortal she’s not good enough for the Vo– sorry.”
“Absolutely not. It’s not that. If that was the problem, I would give her one of the Primes I have with me.”
She shook her head. “It would make things worse.”
“Maybe that’s why I didn’t do it.”
Amanda paused and looked at Robert as her expression changed. “What Primes do you have with you? Didn't we leave all of them with Noah to sell? No. I don’t care.”
“I don’t know what I have with me. I haven’t asked them yet.”
She pointed a finger at him, “You won’t bribe me with that, Robert Blaze. My wrath is not that cheap to appease!”
“I understand you are angry. I can see it. Would you please tell me why?”
Amanda spent a few minutes in silence. Se formulated a good reason why she would be mad, to hide her true reasons. Those would remain locked in her heart of hearts.
“You are a public figure now. People will start to recognize you in the streets. And if you keep winning the tournament, which you will, that notoriety will only increase. Many, many girls will approach you. Many Camilles. All of them will melt in front of you, especially if you take them to Seoul for a night of delights. You should take care of your public image. Celebrities doing that spur-of-the-moment stuff is what triggers these scandals. And they won’t stay quiet. Not like Camille. Can you believe she broke up with that gossip friend of hers?”
She wagged a finger at him. “That’s how you know you have a keeper, Robert,” Amanda clicked her tongue at him. “Tsc.”
Robert relaxed. “Wow. Just, wow. Amanda, I didn’t think about that, at all,” he blew a big sigh. “Here I was, thinking you were upset with everything, and you are just looking out for me. Damn, now I feel bad for not telling you anything from the get-go.”
He wouldn’t say that he was afraid she would get jealous. But if Amanda was extending this olive… not a branch, that was the whole tree, he would gladly accept.
She wouldn’t admit that she was burning with jealousy. Amanda almost sent a hit squad after that Camille bitch. And the friend. Maybe she would revisit her “no assassinations” policy and send someone after the gossip.
The mood lightened. Down on the streets, some musicians were playing a nice song on the violins.
“So, do you think I should give Camille a Prime so we can date?” Robert asked in jest.
“Absolutely not!” Amanda roared as she slammed both hands on the table.
Robert’s drink tipped and spilled on his suit. Serendipity rose by fourteen percent.