Eric slowly opened his eyes. He felt completely rejuvenated, but his body was still sore.

  He sat up and stretched. Just as he was about to leave his bed, he suddenly heard a feminine voice, which was also energetic and bright: "Hey you! Are you finally awake?"

  Eric was immediately wide awake and glanced everywhere within his room but didn't find anyone else.

  “Who is speaking?” he asked while feeling that he had heard the same sentence somewhere else before, maybe the past speaker was male.

  A reply came out of nowhere, now laced with a teasing tone: “Your soulmate!”

  Eric snorted and jumped out of his bed. He quickly raised both hands into a defensive posture.

  After glancing around and seeing no one appear, he finally decided to take the matter into his own hands.

  He growled with a threatening tone, “Show yourself, God! I’ve dealt with your kind in the past. Don’t think you can escape from me!”

  The voice turned mute, as if too scared to face the Dark Eric, and no longer replied.

  Eric snorted in disdain. This goddess had escaped far too quickly before he could teach her a harsh lesson on messing with the Final Dark Evil Boss of the Universe.

  At this moment, the goddess spoke: “Alright, I lost.” She yielded to the Ultimate Boss. “I was thinking of teasing you more, but you already knew it was me. Come inside so we can chat.”

  Eric shrugged. He lay back onto his bed and entered his Mind Space. He’d already guessed who was speaking, the voice was also appearing directly inside his head, almost as if he himself were thinking aloud.

  After entering, Eric saw the same little girl sitting in the same cross-legged posture. The good thing was she was finally wearing clothes, though it was only a thin men’s inner vest with half pants- his favorite casual wear.

  Eric sat in the same posture in front of the girl.

  He stayed quiet for a short moment and asked, “Alright, explain yourself. Who are you, and why are you living rent-free inside me?”

  The girl smiled. She still wanted to be playful with Eric, as she understood him the best, but gazing at his serious attitude, she decided it was better to first clear up all the confusing matters.

  She coughed. “Okay, let’s get the serious talks done.” She smiled. “First of all, let me clear this up- I have your past-life memories from Earth and the current one that you are aware of.”

  Eric raised an eyebrow but didn’t really mind, as it was just a story of one evil guy, that’s all.

  Maybe his browser history and bookmarks were already out in the open, but he was shameless enough to ignore it and was not worried about it at all. In his past life, he used to openly chat about perverted things with girls, so it was nothing embarrassing for him.

  The girl continued with a smile, “When your soul or rather, 'you' left Earth, for some reason or rather, I’m certain it was just a weird accident, and due to that accident, ‘you’ got injured. But instead of healing back, part of you mutated, and I happened to be born within you. I know it’s complicated, and I’m making it very simple despite its complexity, but that’s all I managed to figure out. I’m clueless too, and only managed to estimate the cause.”

  “I don’t have any outside knowledge or information, since I’m just a part of you, but at the same time, I’m not. I only know what you already knew.” She explained what she’d managed to piece together after waking up last night.

  Eric glared at the girl threateningly and warned, “Don’t you dare tell me you’re my daughter now, and I’m your mother! Let me inform you- I’ve always used protection! Ahem, don’t you dare tell me I have to take responsibility for you!” After all, this girl was clearly suggesting she’d come from him. He had to make this clear before anything else, and this was also an indirect question for her to explain herself better.

  The girl giggled and shook her head in denial. "I am, in fact, a separate entity, just not human, and I don’t follow the rules of the physical world." She paused and continued with a thoughtful look. "From what I’ve managed to gather, I’m stuck inside this place forever, and it’s also my home, which I’m very comfortable with. I’ll also die when you die. I can share your senses and watch and experience everything through you. It’s like you’re the ocean, and I’m an aquatic animal residing in it- just an analogy. We’re also not connected like siblings or descendants; in fact, I don’t have real blood or even exist. That’s why I said I’m not human the way we know ‘human’ to be. In short, I can’t live without you, and I can only continue living rent-free. I’m helpless!" She shrugged.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Eric thought for a moment and understood. In simple terms, she could be called a unique entity born from him, remaining connected like a beautiful tumor, ahem, but many things still needed clarification. So he asked, "Tell me everything you’ve managed to understand about this place, and how much influence you have over me."

  The girl nodded and glanced at the empty 'sky' and started explaining, "This place you call 'Mind Space' is just a dormant space inside you. It has no real use. It came into existence and became accessible for you to enter after my birth. I am sharing your senses through this place. In a sense, this place is what connects both of us. I will inform you when I have a better understanding of it." She then smiled, "You can consider me as your imagination, but I am also a separate entity with my own thoughts and feelings."

  "I also have an unfair advantage in terms of observation over you. In a sense, you can consider me as software. I can not only observe your physical body and soul in depth, but I can also hear your elaborate thoughts as if there is a microphone or a loudspeaker placed beside my ears. I cannot control nor do anything to you- just observe. I will need to study more about this place before I can say anything for certain."

  Eric stroked his chin and thought that this girl was like an A.I.

  The girl pouted, "I am not Artificial Intelligence!"

  Eric rolled his eyes, "I mean- Accidental Intelligence!" He shamelessly changed the full form of A.I., and it matched with her condition perfectly. This also showed that this girl could really hear his thoughts, which he didn’t mind, and the girl was completely honest about it too.

  "I understand so far, so is there anything you can do?" Eric was fine even if she was useless. Just having a cute little A.I inside him seemed like lots of fun.

  The girl slightly blushed and nodded. "This space is like my home. I can manifest anything here, but it will cost your energy. I won’t go into details before I figure everything out about this place. I’ve also noticed that I can store everything you saw outside in perfect photocopy condition and probably send that information to you through this Mind Space. We’ll need to do some experiments later, if you’re not against it."

  Eric nodded without hesitation. He was least worried, not because he had any assurance, but because he knew there was never any assurance in life! He was a wild adventurer and wasn’t too concerned about survival at every step. In short, he wasn’t someone who feared death or accidents; he faced them all with hidden excitement.

  In fact, if this experiment succeeded, Eric would be winning a big lottery!

  He never truly liked studies or too much theoretical knowledge. But knowledge was also extremely important for everything. Now, he could just store it in his dark mind like a hidden library, and when he needed it, his A.I. partner would quickly send him all the details! This way, he could focus on creating chaos and destruction without worrying about being burdened by excess knowledge. Brilliant!

  This ability of the girl had earned Eric’s full approval.

  Eric now looked at the girl with much fondness and love. To which, the girl blushed shyly, as she could hear everything Eric was thinking.

  "Right, can you come out of my body, or can someone pull you out of my body?" Eric no longer wished to lose his personal A.I. He was ready to fight gods if they decided to snatch away his girl!

  The girl thought deeply and then shook her head. "I am like your imagination, though I’m not. For others, it probably will seem that way. Setting that aside, I’m far more deeply attached to your soul than you realize. If I’m separated, we’ll both die, or at least I certainly will. It’s no different than splitting a soul in half."

  Eric nodded. "Is there anything else? If not, I’ll go now." He wanted to leave and discuss all this later. It was already past morning when he woke up, and he’d missed his regular exercise routine yet again.

  "Right, two things. First- I have great control over this place and can even speed up time here, but it’ll cost you energy. Second- you don’t need to come here to talk. Just think or speak in your mind, and we can converse seamlessly. Also, check out the book you borrowed from the library yesterday. Just glance at each page for a split second, and I’ll copy everything. And- give me a name!"

  Eric was amazed again. He’d experiment with the book later. Now, about a name...

  Eric thought deeply, and in the end, he declared, "Alright, your name shall be Riya!" It was the name of a little girl who had committed suicide in his past life after being mentally abused by her father over a long time. That name had just appeared in his head at that moment, as it was the shortest he could come up with quickly. He, in fact, didn't know why Bella Noll had named him 'Eric', she should have named him with just a letter, like K or L! She was just too blind to see his mastermind brilliance.

  Riya knew about the little girl from Earth. She didn’t mind the name, and it also sounded nice. So, she smiled and nodded, "Okay, get going, Eric. You’re starving more than you think."

  Eric left the Mind Space and reopened his eyes. Soon, he was hit with an intense hunger pang like never before. No, he had endured far worse hunger in his past life, but the experience never got old. It felt like someone was drilling holes into his stomach.

  He dashed to the washroom to rinse his mouth, then headed downstairs for lunch. He was that late waking up.

  After Eric finished eating what amounted to five days' worth of meals, he noticed Hannah, who was flying everywhere like a butterfly.