Four days later... Friday evening, inside the shared sea of subconsciousness.
*Aiko's POV*
Aiko was sitting on a massage chair, her body covered by a small blanket, staring at the unconscious man before her.
This has been going on for the past four days, and to some extent, she was starting to get worried. She had never harbored such feelings towards another person, especially not a man.
But Tsunami was different.
Their lives were connected, and she was unsure if she could go unharmed if something bad happened to him.
Shortly after her death, back on Earth, she had found herself in soul body form and witnessed the most embarrassing sight of her life. Although her soul body was in a deep sleep state, and she couldn't move, she could still perceive her surroundings with her spiritual sense.
It was strange at first, but she later found it more like a cinematic experience, sit back and enjoy the show.
She witnessed all events, from the horrific confession to Tsunami's movements in their shared sea of subconscious... to Tsunami's activities in the physical world.
But her spiritual sense only perceived the first two without any issues.
After crossing the gateway between worlds, a chasm appeared between Nathan and her, blocking her access to Tsunami's physical world experiences.
So, she waited.
And it paid off.
Shortly after Tsunami departed from their shared mansion, she awoke and roamed around the estate.
Aiko had a luxurious lifestyle in the past; although she couldn't be considered extremely wealthy, she was well-off, having accumulated just over $10 million from her job, investments, and covert operations.
So, the size of the estate did surprise her, but her shock wasn't anything like that experienced by Nathan.
After familiarizing herself with the place, she accessed her system.
***
Name: Aiko Summerfall ♀
Honorary Title: -
Favourite Rank: -
Potential: 0
Main Pathway: 0
Minor Pathways: 0
Favourite mark: Red Star
Class: Noble
Soul Core: 0/2
Holes: 0/11
Blessings: -
Suppression: [Inactive]
Roaming Time: 1 week
Streaming: [Pending connection]
Evaluation: 80
Available Pleasure points: - 960
Transaction cost: 10 points
Transaction weight: 10kg (22 Ibs)
Record: [Stop]
Bloodline Purity: 80%
Partner Status: [Alive]
Override: [inactive]
Ongoing Status: [Orientation]
Favourite artifacts: [Ghost Cloak] [Hand break]
Attributes: [spirit walker] [Flower of Evil] [Temporal distortion] [God's Favourite]
Alternative: [Inactive]
Evaluation Description: [ For any of the 27 orthodox pathways, you will be tested, and an average score of 80% on your performance is required to ascend the divine path.]
***
Unlike Nathan, she had time on her hands, so she thoroughly went through every aspect of her system.
She discovered that if she willed, Nathan's stats could also appear before her.
Aiko slowly read through both of their stats and narrowed down their differences to four aspects.
Their names, attributes, available pleasure points, and favourite marks.
...
She later discovered the presence of Katarina, the mansion's AI assistant, while doing a second-round sweep inside the mansion.
Through it, she unveiled an interesting feature of the mansion. The host in the physical world was under 24/7 surveillance.
She could tap on the streaming function on her system and see Nathan's activities. The only catch was that the streaming function cost pleasure points.
And she was already in debt.
She had spent six hours following Nathan's movements in the palace, which cost her sixty pleasure points, while the remaining nine hundred points were spent to keep watch of Nathan's physical body during the past four days of his unconscious state.
Though she couldn't do anything about the physical world, the fact that she could monitor the outside world through her system played a big role in preserving her sanity.
Especially after her ordeal back on Earth, her trust issues skyrocketed to an unparalleled degree.
She didn't sleep or move an inch from Nathan's master bedroom throughout the four days.
She was initially unsure if spirit bodies needed sleep or experienced fatigue. But if there was one good thing about the current situation, it was that she got to test just how far she could strain her spirit body without collapsing.
And it worked.
From her experience and analysis, she concluded that the spirit body had more endurance and tolerance levels compared to a physical body.
It could most likely sustain seven straight days of hellish treatment before needing recuperation.
...
From her monitoring, Nathan was nothing like her, and being connected to him in life and death was a big liability.
Her worries came through just a few days ago when Nathan nearly died- Again!
'That goddess really did me dirty.'
Aiko was surprised by the mysterious, dangerous power that Nathan unleashed when he was overwhelmed and on the brink of death.
He was able to massacre all ten of the masked men and even managed to injure one of the shadow guards severely.
'Maybe it relates to the former prince's secret.'
...
Another good development over the past four days was that Nathan's spirit body was healing steadily.
Ever since he passed out after the massacre, his soul body retreated to this room in the mansion.
Aiko discovered that the master bedrooms had a mysterious power connected to them, and that each of them was sent to a different one whenever their soul bodies were under threat of nonexistence.
She briefly wondered why, then, there were three master bedrooms but only two hosts?...
No logical answers were found.
The healing property of the master bedroom drastically eased some of her worries, while hoping no further bullshit occurs in the physical world.
...
Other than Nathan's predicament, her lack of clothes was something that kept bothering her. She had scoured the entire mansion multiple times but found nothing suitable for wearing.
Not even male clothes...
She was somewhat pacified by the fact that she was the only one inside, and Nathan- well, she thought he was a harmless brat.
However, the lack of clothes still concerned her, because she discovered that a thick, unending forest surrounded their mansion, and she wanted to explore it a bit.
Although the sea of the subconscious was supposed to be accessible only to the two of them.
The forest kept giving her an eerie feeling...
And there was no way she was going to run around and about in a forest being naked.
...
After taking another look at the system, she deduced that the transaction cost and transaction weight had something to do with moving material between their spiritual sea and the physical world.
If that were the case, then she would have to wait for Nathan to bring her something or bring herself something when it was her time to roam.
She was skeptical and unsure how that would work, and felt slightly uncomfortable walking in a man's body, but Katarina assured her that when the time arrived for the switch, she wouldn't be disappointed.
She never trusted AI systems in her past life, but now...
....
To her left, spatially, she was surveilling the outside world through her system. To her right, she was tracking Nathan's situation. Her sense and perception of time and space were far superior to Nathan's.
She didn't know when the switch was bound to happen, for it was only written- one week roaming time.
Maybe it was a Monday, perhaps it was a Sunday; she could only wait.
Katarina, the AI assistant, only provided information related to the mansion's capabilities. On the other hand, the favourite hole system became more and more unresponsive as days went by.
Most likely an effect of their orientation period approaching its end.
Nevertheless, Nathan was too weak, she was too weak, and they had many enemies plotting schemes against them.
Since most of the power in this world originated from dual cultivation, she wanted Nathan to go all out and dual cultivate with any woman he could get his hands on.
The more, the better.
And the faster they became strong, the faster their safety and survival would be guaranteed. From her perspective, the body was just a physical shell, a tool that could and should be used.
Provided it drew one closer to their goal, anything can be on the table.
And to prevent Nathan from becoming a simp over those bitches or getting controlled by them.
She resolutely decided to train him.
The title for the only virgin favourite would soon become vacant.