Spirit Soul

Behind the wooden door, there was something Kyle didn't expect to see, at all.

The floor he seemed to be looking at made him look straight ahead.

Following what was visible to his eyes, he realized that there were no walls.

Before, Kyle had thought that the vivid and richly colored images were simply the wallpapers the floor had been covered with.

He could see that it was a vast black backdrop filled with glittering spots and silver stripes in addition to the image of a bright, shining sun.

These wallpapers were filled with rich images of outer space, and all kinds of planets.

It made Kyle recall his past life and the subject of astrology that was widely taught all over his home planet and the wide universe.

However, after a few seconds, Kyle noticed that the wallpapers were not what he had assumed.

His eyes grew wide when a shooting star brushed past the wallpaper.

Only then did he realize that what he was staring at weren't wallpapers that didn't exist but a hologram of outer space...or so Kyle hoped.

Unable to know whether he was truly seeing a hologram or reality, Kyle couldn't help but access both of his spatial rings. It was then that he saw that a few items and materials he didn't need had appeared next to him.

He had yet to take a single step into the third trial, but before he could do that, it was more important to figure out what was going on.

In order to confirm his theory, he randomly threw a few materials through the wooden door.

And he was surprised again because his worst thought had turned into reality.

The moment the materials touched the walls, they began to levitate in space!

Kyle had no explanation about what was going on, but there was a floor in front of him.

The ground's material had a bright brown glow to it and was made of seemingly simple oak wood.

Unfortunately, it was burst open and looked utterly destroyed, only for the walls to be literally space itself.

At least, that was what Kyle thought it was, only to hear a loud but dull noise from behind him.

The materials he had thrown into the space fell down from the ceiling of the room he was still in.

Seeing this, Kyle knew that the walls, or whatever he saw there was not the space itself.

This was reassuring, and he carefully approached the materials lying on the ground.

When he touched them, they weren't freezing cold at all!

That was a good sign because he had a premonition about the entire third trial.

"Am I in some sort of game, or what?" Kyle mumbled. Soon after, he heard loud noises coming from the floor's direction.

The ground was moving, and tore open to reveal what laid below it- the outer space again!

'I really am in a game!' He thought, certain that the Undead powerhouses were toying around with him.

This was not something to be happy about, but Kyle couldn't help but smile dryly.

Like the Lich in the earlier trial, there was nobody forcing him to do anything.

From the looks of it, he could also stay inside the small room as long as he wanted without anyone disturbing him.

At least that was what Kyle assumed owing to the fact that the Banshee had distanced herself from him.

He was still able to see the hues enveloping her, but the distance she maintained from him was huge.

She stood at the very edge of the floor, or to be exact, on the far corner of the room, which Kyle assumed to be further ahead.

Despite all of this, he was not sure what he wanted to do right now. Cultivating properly was not possible with the faint cultivation energies around him.

And simply wasting time and remaining idle was something Kyle hated to do.

As such, he would have to walk through the weird floor in front of him, which was not as easy as it looked.

The otherwise plain floor was burst open, and there were many more obstacles than he could think of.

There were even gigantic holes in the middle of the floor, over which Kyle would have to jump if he wanted to cross the floor.

As he stared into the holes they looked like a bottomless pit filled with stars. It was extremely dangerous because he was still not sure if he would be able to return the moment he fell into space.

Yet, after trying to throw materials through the open wall and ground, Kyle saw that the items and even plants he threw through it returned to the small room.

'So...if I fall through the space, will I also return to the room? Is the third trial some sort of jump and run task?!'

From his point of view, the entire floor was straight, with the sole exception being the spot at which the Banshee was standing.

Either, it was the end, or there was a corner after which the jump and run would continue.

If Kyle were to be honest to himself, this was exciting as long as he survived everything.

As such, he threw multiple plants into the space, on his left, right, above, and into the gigantic holes in the floor to figure out if there were any differences.

After that, Kyle made a few more tests, only to realize that it was safe.

Because of that, he took his first step on the wooden floor that shook slightly.

This caused Kyle's entire body to stiffen.

Yet, a moment later, he tried to convince his mind that he was just too nervous and that nothing would happen even if he were to fall into space.

Fortunately, his mind, and his body, were listening to him.

Thus, Kyle gathered all his courage as he forced his body to listen to him one single time before he did something insane.

He jumped straight into space!

Kyle couldn't believe himself, but now there was no going back. Just as he had jumped into space his sight blurred and darkness enveloped him.

As expected, he fell to the ground of the room he had been before a few seconds earlier.

This was the final piece of assurance he required to know that nothing would happen if he were to fall into space.

His heart was palpitating and beating wildly against his ribcage.

But Kyle was still alive, and that was the most important.

While calming down his heart, he was also forced to listen to Arashi's complaints. He couldn't say anything, but his Spirit Soul was extremely good at conveying what he wanted to say through emotions and transmitting images.

Thus, Kyle clearly knew that Arashi was calling him stupid, and other worse things.

That was not something he had hoped to hear, but in the end, it didn't really matter.

He knew that Arashi was right by calling him insane because he felt the same.

Nevertheless, now that he didn't have to fear being lost in space, Kyle could finally pay attention to solving the third trial.

His body and mind had calmed down and he didn't fear being imprisoned in space anymore.

With the assurance of his well-being, he approached the shaky floor before he set his first step on it.

Afterward, he took the second step which caused the wooden planks below him to shake wildly.

Trying to maintain his balance, he began to advance through the floor.

Slowly, he walked around the first obstacle that had obstructed his sight tremendously.

Only now could he see the entire floor properly, and not just the things he had seen through the narrow gap above the obstacle he had just walked around.

Seeing the wooden planks in front of him, Kyle couldn't help but smile drily, knowing that he had to make several jumps on heavily shaking planks.

They were separated by several meters of empty space and were lined across several dozen meters.

'They're trying to test my balance, control over my entire body, how I act in situations where my reflexes are grilled and… strategic thinking?'

Kyle was not sure about the latter but the remaining things were definitely what the third trial was testing.

However, at the same time, Kyle felt as if the third trial was not limited to what he saw right in front of him.

Probably every single decision he was taking was being observed and evaluated.

Fortunately, that was not something Kyle was bothered about anymore. He had come to a consensus with himself that he would follow his heart.

He had no control over the undeads so he would simply let the Undead powerhouses do whatever they wanted.

Somehow, he felt like they would create a ruckus because of him, or they had already created one.

And it would be a lie if he were to say that he couldn't see that happening.

He hoped that the Lich, Li would get a good beating, and it would be even better if he got the chance to observe it.

In the end, Kyle knew that this was unlikely, but the child within made him hope for that scenario to occur.

Right now, he didn't feel like someone who had lived for more than a hundred years.

Instead, he was just a young man, who was wrongfully taken hold of by the Undeads.

This hadn't bothered him until the Lich had been a true bully and clearly showed how weak Kyle was.

Li was no less than a tyrant to Kyle, asking him to obey every single order.

Suddenly, the ground below him began to shake again, and a moment later, Kyle almost fell.

Through this, he clearly understood that he was not supposed to be distracted and to pay his full attention to the tasks at hand.

'I should let the others do whatever they want, why am I even thinking about their opinion? Should I really be bothered about them?'

Ever since he had overcome his trauma doubts had flashed through his mind.

And, Kyle knew that he had to get the hang of himself and regain his composure.

Right now he was just convincing himself that everything was fine, but was that really the case? Kyle was not sure about that.

During the last few months, his plan was to become stronger in order to never lose his freedom again.

But now he was beginning to question the meaning of freedom, and if he was really trying to increase his strength only for himself.

What was it that he truly wanted to achieve? Was it really just the desire to journey through Shima to find miraculous places, and understand how they came into existence or was there more to it?

All of these thoughts were wreaking havoc in his mind.

And, and Kyle knew that they were more burdening than seriously helping him.

As such he had to get rid of them.

If he were ever to get enough time to understand what he truly wanted, Kyle would do so. But right now, he was just sick of the Razkadan Castle.

He didn't want to remain there, and as long as he was able to leave, he would be happy.

If strength was required for this, he would attain it.

If it was just about passing the trials in order to fulfill some sort of special requirement to be helpful for the Undead powerhouses, somehow, Kyle felt that he was willing to do it.

And that was even if they wanted to exploit him and make use of him.

It was weird...

Right now, all of this didn't matter as he knew for sure that this place he was in was not where he was supposed to be.

With that thought in mind, he rushed over the shaking wooden planks.

He took a huge jump over the empty space before landing on the second plank only to continue his advance.