Jack felt like the whole world was collapsing in on himself as his body wouldn’t stop shrinking and shrinking. It wasn’t painful, per se, but the disorientation more than made up for the lack of pain. Even with his eyes now closed, his stomach still tossed and turned. His other senses began to rapidly morph as new smells and noises began to overload his brain. The scent of a freshly cut lawn became prevalent, the air became humid, and the slight swaying of grass sounded like a forest’s leaves rustling in the wind.

  His mind became turbulent with useless thoughts of panic while he kept shrinking with no end in sight. How small was he going to become? What dangers lurked at that size? He pushed those thoughts away, deciding to just go along with the changes and sort everything out later.

  Almost too suddenly, the world became still, and the changes finally stopped, leaving the blades of grass nearly twice his height as he looked up. His stomach shifted, and instead of dropping, it felt as though it clung to his lungs, similar to how it had felt when he rode the elevator in the hospital.

  Then he fell to the ground, clutching his roiling insides. It was as if his intestines had gained a mind of their own and were slithering around like a snake. He didn’t fully understand why this was happening and could only tell that something new had been added around his naval, requiring the shifting of other organs.

  After ten more seconds, it stopped, and Jack regained his composure. No more bodily or mental afflictions happened for the time being, and he could finally relax for a second and orient himself. He laid flat on the ground, looking up at the grassy world that was now towering impossibly above him. He was now around an inch tall, about half of the long grass in the park area.

  He managed to clamber to his feet. His head swiveled around to adjust to the new height, and he was staggered at the new perspective. He didn’t immediately see any bugs, thankfully, but it was quite an alien scenery. Everything was almost wholly bathed in shade due to the tall, sturdy green grass stalks. The ground was exceedingly bumpy, much more than he would have ever imagined it to be from the size of a human. The air was almost moist and crisp, as if he was relaxing on a lawn while sprinklers filled the surroundings with water.

  Jack sighed and tried to adjust to the new world; the scenery was already drastically different, which wouldn’t even pose the most significant challenge. After a scary thought, the worst difficulties would be from the bugs. With his current size, he was vulnerable to nearly every bug besides a few smaller ones. He could hardly picture how deadly and monstrous any and all insects would be now. Then, as if his thoughts had spoken them into existence, he heard something coming from above.

  Like the propellers of a helicopter, there was a loud whooshing, thrumming noise that sounded as though it was coming closer. It wasn’t as loud or mechanical sounding as a helicopter. But, if he wasn’t careful enough, the loud vibrations would cause damage to his ear that might not be reparable.

  He slowly turned and looked into the air behind him, barely constraining his panic when he saw a monster about the size of a large two-foot-long cat hovering above a piece of grass. It had two ginormous eyes full of hundreds of smaller, almost rectangular lenses that all aligned seamlessly. There were two flimsy-looking wings on its back, moving in a vigorous figure 8 motion that were responsible for all the noise he had heard.

  Its body was a little iridescent colored and had not even a hundred hairs, enough to cover the body but give it the look of an old man’s balding scalp. It also had six skinny, crooked legs that didn’t seem like they would be able to hold any weight. Small wart-like growths also grew and covered vast areas of its body. Worse yet was the smell; it was like a hovering garbage bin was spreading its putrid musk all over the area.

  Jack gagged and wanted to run, to say fuck this and get the hell out of there, but he couldn’t just run and catch the monster’s attention. Instead, he tiptoed as quietly as possible while only the soft squelch of the dirt was heard. There was a denser section of grass a little ways away, so he moved behind it, using the stalks as cover from the beast’s gaze, and stood still, scarcely daring to breathe. His body wasn’t fully covered if something knew where to look, but it was enough for the hideous abomination in front of him to not be able to easily see and eat him.

  The monster probably wouldn’t be able to cause significant harm to him besides mentally. However, just looking at the size and ugly appearance was enough to give him pause. Time would tell whether this was the right call, although he couldn’t think of what else he could have done.

  Its wings were still beating, just enough to make the beast hover while clinging to the blade of grass. Yet, only a second later, they sped up more and more, blowing small bits of dirt around below it. The legs slowly lifted off the taller grass, and it flew away, almost like a small drone mindlessly being controlled. Jack let out a deep breath he hadn’t known he had been holding, drooped to the floor in defeat.

  What The Fuck was that monster? Are these the things we have to kill to pass the trial?

  As his mind started spiraling to dark places about the possibility of that being a bug, a guiding light popped up out of nowhere for Jack and everyone on earthen.

  Hello Again, Humans, The Trial Has Officially Begun, The System Will Give You Crucial Information.

  It Will Also Give You Knowledge Pertaining To Certain Skills.

  You Have Been Shrunken Down To 1 Inch; Due To This, You Have The Ability To Gain Great Power.

  You Have Also Been Granted A Soul Space.

  Reminder, 75% Of All Native Monsters Need To Be Killed To Pass The First Global Trial.

  Happy Hunting, Humans.

  - The Coalition Of Connected Worlds.

  The promises this system contained stirred Jack’s soul. Although this trial would be arduous, the survivors would make it out better than ever if they managed to live. He could get stronger, and with what he saw in his previous life, the word stronger seemed to be an understatement.

  Jack didn’t really have any big goals in this life besides surviving and thriving. If there was anything he deeply desired from the bottom of his heart, it was power. Not just power for the sake of power though, as that could get ugly. He wanted power to have the freedom to do whatever he wanted. He wasn’t the noble type of person to want power for the sake of saving others, but if he wanted to use it that way sometimes, then so be it.

  Somehow, just saying those words resonated with the core of himself, and his mindset began to change. He needed to devise a plan of action as he wasn’t going to sit idly and let himself fall behind others.

  First, he needed to figure out what the soul space was and how to use it. Second, he needed to explore and find shelter and food, which meant returning to the city would be mandatory. Third, he wanted to meet up with others since having people to rely on and help kill bugs with him would be necessary.

  Of course, these were just shallow, and quickly thought up goals that he had made while sitting with his back against a piece of grass. But, hey, it was always good to have a plan, and the thing about plans was that they can be changed. First thing first, he needed to quickly figure out this soul space that was granted to them by the coalition.

  With his vast knowledge of fantasy literature, Jack did the only thing that came to his mind. He shouted out loud, “Enter soul space!”... The stillness that resided in the air and environment was tangible, and he promptly cringed from the awkward lack of a reaction. Yet, as he stood thinking about other ways to get into his soul space, a new development unfolded.

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  A feeling unlike anything Jack had experienced before engulfed his mind. Images of foreign knowledge flittered by, like new memories not yet experienced. They seemed to attach and blend together, forming a cohesive video-like guide on how to enter his soul space.

  Once the stream of knowledge came to an end, Jack felt like his brain was bloated and had increased in size. It wasn’t painful or uncomfortable; it felt bizarre, like memories of another person’s or entity’s experiences were now his own, not unlike what had happened with Ray’s memories, except without the pain. However, thanks to what had happened, he now had an increased understanding of how the system operated.

  Jack followed the information he had received since he wanted to experience his soul space firsthand. He moved from a slouched sitting stance into a meditative position to relax, then his eyes closed, and his breathing changed. A slow, uniform, and repetitive rise and fall of his chest allowed him to clear his mind and touch deeper within himself.

  His mind roamed with thoughts surrounding one goal, to feel further than his physical flesh, to feel his own soul. Jack started to feel a dulling of his senses as he continued pushing his mind forward, trying to reach a place that was yet to be discovered. Only once he truly felt deep within his chest did he notice an oddity that wasn’t there before the trial started.

  A thin membrane of unknown material and origin caused his wandering consciousness to gently bounce off it. He slightly recoiled from the unforeseen force but realized this was precisely what he sought. Jack gathered his mind and thought of pushing straight through the membrane, piercing it like a toothpick through a soap bubble.

  The imagined scenario played out deep within him, and the second that the bubble popped and his mind went further, everything shifted. No longer was his eyesight black from his closed eyelids and no longer were his senses dulled. Instead, when his eyes opened, he found himself in a new place, his soul space.

  Jack moved his head and took in his surroundings; he wasn’t surprised when the room he found himself in was very bland. The room was akin to the main room in a log cabin; each wall was textured with rounded wood logs, and the floor was flat with golden-colored wood planks. He was sitting on a cushioned mat that resembled something a monk would sit upon during periods of deep meditation.

  Only one thing stood out, and it was far from normal when it came to what should be in a log cabin. Directly in front of him was a desk with several strange things occupying the space above it. At the center, an ethereal, ghostly form of a human floated that bore strikingly similar features to his own. He immediately concluded that this was his soul.

  However, he noticed some things that were a little off about it. Instead of a pure white color that someone would expect, his soul had a tint of a deep, dark burgundy haze that perforated and swirled around. Apart from the color, within the “head” of his soul, three small marble-sized orbs linked to each other, orbiting a larger tennis-sized orb.

  The three smaller orbs were grey and seemed unoccupied, but the larger orb differed. Its mixture of colors resulted in a vibrant purple, teal, and blue galaxy. The orb itself seemed majestic as if it contained the essence of the universe itself, yet that wasn’t all he saw in his soul. Near his chest was another orbit containing ten similar but slightly smaller orbs that floated there, chained in a circle.

  Jack pondered over everything, trying to understand what these orbs actually were. No answer came to him, so he decided to look at the other things on the desk. To the left of his soul was a blue holographic screen very similar to the one that appeared whenever the coalition made an announcement.

  Quests:

  Global: Kill 75% Of Monsters On Earthen: 102 / 15,917,743,120,320 Killed; 0 / 1 World Dungeon Cleared.

  Humans Alive: 8,102,892,130 / 8,103,015,875.

  Reward: Initiation Into The Coalition Of Connected Worlds, 1 Skill Choice Based on Performance.

  Local: Not Acquired.

  Personal: Not Acquired.

  This system quest screen was simple enough, and Jack read over the global quest. A brief flash of concern struck him as he saw the number of bugs humanity needed to kill. Most of them were probably bugs like ants. However, he knew of some bugs that would be almost invincible unless he somehow gained a lot of power.

  That didn’t even include the possibility of mammals being considered a monster, either. If mammals were considered monsters, Jack could only hope they would get teleported to the world dungeon. He speculated about what the world dungeon actually was, but since it had the prefix world, it must be something that would come later in the timeline of events. The rewards would be obtained later, and since one reward was performance-based, Jack would use it as motivation to surpass the standard.

  There was one other holographic system screen to the right of his soul that gave him some very needed information.

  Status:

  Name: Jack Blackwood

  Race: Human

  Specialization: None

  Unique Skill: All-Seeing Eyes of Knowledge

  Level: 1

  Vitality: 6

  Strength: 4

  Endurance: 5

  Dexterity: 6

  Mind: 7

  Core Skills (0/3):

  Supporting Skills (0/10):

  Giddiness threatened to erupt from deep inside him as he read over the blue system window. Jack was well acquainted with what he saw thanks to various progression-type systems he had read about, although some differences were present. Whatever the specialization meant was unknown, and all the mentions of the different types of skills seemed peculiar.

  A sudden thought approached Jack as he quickly looked back and forth between his soul and the system’s message. He could infer that the supporting skills were the ten orbs in the chest, and the core skills, as well as his unique skill, were the orbs in his head. Anything else besides that inference remained a mystery, a mystery that he would work to figure out.

  With the new determination to find an answer, Jack turned towards his unique ability. Considering the name, he had to be able to use it to gain more information somehow. Therefore, he moved his head closer to the orb that contained his unique ability and tried to look deeper inside it while centering his whole focus on it. Suddenly, he stumbled backward, almost falling before catching himself as something appeared before his eyes.

  All-Seeing Eyes Of Knowledge:

  A Unique Ability That Allows The User To Call Upon The Vast Records Stored Inside The Coalition’s Archives.

  Upon That Call, Certain Desired Information May Appear.

  Activates When The User Focuses His Intent And Full Attention On Wanting To Know Something.

  Warning! This Ability Is Limited To Knowledge Encompassing The Trial. Become Stronger To Remove Limitations.

  Jack was rendered speechless upon reading what had materialized in front of him. It was almost precisely like what had appeared in front of the artifact earlier and what he saw to the right and left of his soul. He realized that this ability, which seemed connected to his soul at a fundamental level, was likely the cause of his previous life’s strife.

  Feelings of rage like magma trying to push through the earth threatened to overtake his calm and collected mind, but he shoved it down as best he could and took deep breaths. Jack was now living a new life, a life in which the confines of mortality didn’t seem to apply anymore. To add to that, what once plagued him day and night now seemed to be the most tremendous boon he could have ever asked for.

  He calmed down and pondered more about the ability. The limitations it contained didn’t really seem to be anything detrimental, and it even said they would be removed once he got stronger. Again, his determination and need to get stronger were reinforced as more and more reasons appeared.

  Setting aside unnecessary thoughts to the back of his mind, he now wanted to try the ability. What better way to use it than on the ability orbs within his soul.

  Jack squinted and focused every ounce of his concentration on the skill orbs as time seemed to slow to microseconds around him. Once five seconds had passed, he almost squeaked a little when two system windows popped into existence, one on top of the other.

  Core Skill Orbs:

  Core Skill Orbs Store Skills Deeper In One’s Soul, Resulting In A Higher Rate Of Understanding And Growth.

  You Get One Skill Orb Every 50 Levels As Your Soul Grows And Expands.

  Warning, Removing A Core Skill Removes Part Of The Soul And Requires A Certain Loss In Levels, Stats, And Potential.

  Supporting Skill Orbs:

  Supporting Skills Have The Standard Rate Of Growth And Are Stored Shallower In This Soul.

  These Skills Will Take Longer To Upgrade As The Understanding Required To Upgrade Is High.

  Removing A Supporting Skill Can Be Accomplished Easier, But Once Done, The User Can Never Learn The Same Skill.

  Based on the information he read, the skills that he placed in his core slots would most likely be permanent. Of course, unless he wanted to prevent his future growth, which was something not on the table. Supporting abilities, alternatively, were something that he would likely play around with to get the exact skills he wanted.

  However, there were still downsides to removing these skills, and that didn’t even take into account if the knowledge given by his unique skill was entirely accurate as it was limited right now. This meant that Jack would need to carefully select the skills he wanted to use and upgrade. At that moment, a sudden thought came to him that he should have considered earlier: How in the hell do I even get skills?