I Revived My Maid, Now She Hungers for My Blood

The thought flashed through Pandora’s mind, but she kept her face carefully blank. Amanda just smiled, electing not to answer the question directly.

“Alright.” Amanda’s voice yanked Pandora back to the present. “I’ve fulfilled all three of your requests. Wizardry knowledge—accessible via the key and potion combo. The Witch bloodline—I won’t interfere. As for the Red Moon, It means you no harm; you just need to accept that.”

With that said, something shifted in Amanda’s gaze. The lazy, drowsy, teasing vibe vanished, replaced by a piercing depth. “So, as your Mentor, my end of the bargain is fulfilled. Now, it’s time to discuss... what you, as my Apprentice, are going to do for me.”

Pandora straightened her posture. There was no such thing as a free lunch. As the bearer of the Alchemy system, she grasped the concept of “Price” more intimately than anyone. Even if her own Mentor handed her a mountain of benefits without asking for anything in return, her instincts would be blaring warning sirens. The other party actually bringing up a demand? That was a good thing. It meant the relationship was equitable; the interests were mutual.

“Looks like you were already bracing for this.” Amanda observed Pandora’s reaction, a flicker of approval in her violet eyes. “Good. I’ll get straight to the point. The concept of the ‘Orchard’—you haven’t forgotten that, have you? You’re one of the Apprentices spawned from an Orchard. Actually, the vast majority of Demon Hunter Apprentices these days are plucked from one Orchard or another. And at their core, these ‘Orchards’ are nothing more than individual Fragment Worlds.”

Pandora nodded, keeping quiet and letting Amanda continue.

“So...” Amanda’s gaze sharpened a fraction. “Have you ever wondered where the Demon Hunter Academy gets these Fragment Worlds to convert into Orchards in the first place? They hardly just fall into the Academy’s lap naturally.”

Pandora’s eyes narrowed slightly. She had absolutely wondered about that. She’d even dug through the Academy library for answers. The records, however, only detailed the superficial traits of Fragment Worlds. Things like how the rules and laws of physics could vary from one to the next; how every Fragment World possessed a “boundary,” and crossing it dumped you into the Void; or the protocols Wardens had to follow, their regular reports to the Academy, and so on.

It was all... knowledge geared toward the “Warden” role. But when it came to the actual origin of the Orchards—these Fragment Worlds—the archives were virtually barren. It was as if they had just always existed, as if the Demon Hunter Academy had just always owned them.

Catching Pandora’s look, Amanda nodded in understanding. “Of course the Academy library wouldn’t carry that kind of intel. Under normal circumstances, this is strictly ‘Need-to-Know’ for full-fledged Demon Hunters. Honestly, I shouldn’t even be breaching this to you right now. But...”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

A willful, rebellious little smirk crept onto Amanda’s face. “Who’s your Mentor? That’s right. Me. In my book, the Academy’s so-called ‘taboos’ are more like suggestions.”

Pandora listened in silence.

“Back to my original question,” Amanda said, her tone leveling out. “The essence of an Orchard is a Fragment World. And those Fragment Worlds? They used to be perfectly functional, ultra-micro worlds. Well, technically speaking, they aren’t really ‘worlds’ anymore. They’re ‘fragments.’ But at least on the surface, they still operate like a normal ‘world.’ If you step inside one, aside from noticing the boundary and the claustrophobic size, it’s not all that different from a regular plane of existence. After all, they were originally carved out of normal worlds.”

Pandora chewed on that.

“The Demon Hunter Academy locates them out in the Void through certain methods. Then, they establish Train anchors that link directly to these worlds. That is the ‘Capture’ phase.” Amanda raised a hand, tapping a manicured fingertip against the air as if connecting invisible dots. “Theoretically, the second the Academy sets up that Train anchor, the Fragment World becomes Academy ‘property.’ As for whether the natives of that Fragment World agree to it... well, that’s irrelevant.” Her tone was perfectly flat. “There’s no grand cosmic court out in the Void arbitrating tedious property disputes. And generally speaking, no one raises any objections about it.”

“Unless,” Amanda pivoted, “they’ve already been ‘Captured’ by another faction. Say... the Wizards.”

Pandora’s focus sharpened instantly. One of her core power sources was that of a Wizard. The word carried a very specific weight for her. It wasn’t just the label of an extraordinary system; it was the banner of a colossal, incomprehensible super-faction that stood practically toe-to-toe with the Demon Hunters. She’d always been intensely curious about the group known as “Wizards.”

Amanda, however, had no intention of unpacking the ‘Wizard’ topic. She just waved a hand dismissively. “Wizards love poaching Fragment Worlds just as much. But that’s a topic for another day. If you ever cross paths with them, you’ll figure it out.”

She steered her attention back to the “Orchards.”

“In short, establishing the Train anchor is step one. After that, it boils down to a simple question—” Amanda tilted her head, looking at Pandora as if posing a riddle, though she clearly intended to answer it herself. “How many steps does it take to drop an ingredient into a potion?”

Pandora didn’t bother answering; she knew Amanda would continue.

“Three. Pop the stopper, drop the ingredient, cork the stopper. Upgrading an Orchard works the exact same way.”

Amanda ticked the steps off on her fingers. “Step One: Purge the Fragment World. That usually means wiping out any indigenous, unstable variables, forcibly stabilizing a shard that was otherwise barreling toward an unknown demise.”

“Step Two: Replace the natives. Subject the original inhabitants of the Fragment World to... ‘appropriate processing’.”

“Step Three: Set up the Warden Base. Establish the Academy’s foothold in the Fragment World and dispatch a dedicated overseer to run the place.”

“Step Four: Establish regular Train schedules. Ensure a stable, consistent connection between the Academy and the Fragment World.”

“Step Five: Deploy the children. Funnel the pre-cultivated kids into the Fragment World via the Train, let them simmer and grow inside it until it’s time to kick off the culling.”