[Greetings! You have died.]

  I… what?

  Last thing I remembered was that bear attack. Don’t tell me I—

  [Yes! You heroically sacrificed yourself in order to—]

  Wait… No. No! It couldn’t be. I really fucking died?!

  I… I cared about that life! I didn’t want to reincarnate again. I was supposed to save that girl!

  I can’t believe I’d actually invested myself in my new life already. It’d only been a few days, but dying like this… I’d barely even scratched the surface of that world! How had I managed to—

  [Never mind! It appears your mortal body is still alive!]

  I…

  What?

  I took my head out of my hands. Once again considered trying to strangle the smiling blue screen in front of me.

  “Why did you tell me that I was dead then?!”

  [Well, technically, for about 10 seconds, you were! Luckily, your companion was able to get your heart going again! Your body is now under the effects of a powerful stimulant!]

  The powder she’d brought with us… so Amara had managed to pull me out of there? And survive?

  I was still alive?

  It was so much to process. To think I’d gone from feeling so happy and satisfied to landing myself here once again within minutes, and that somehow everything wasn’t quite lost yet…

  “So… what’s my condition? Am I going to recover?”

  [Hard to say! You lost a lot of blood! Fighting monsters in the EXTREMELY dangerous forest outside of your guild was an… interesting way of conducting training!]

  I glared at the screen. “Putting me there was an interesting way of being my spirit guide.”

  [Well, it seems to have woken you up! You seemed quite distraught to learn that you’d died!]

  “Are you… patting yourself on the back? Like, good job, you almost made me miserable for dying?”

  [Mainly, I’m impressed by your candor! You devoted yourself to training. Also, jumping in front of that creature WAS brave!]

  Wow. A genuine compliment from this thing. I might cry.

  [Even if that bravery landed you straight back here!]

  Oh. Never mind.

  [Anyways! Take a look at your progress!]

  The screen floated towards a corner of the huge room. I followed in my ethereal, skinny, adolescent body, able to see the prize at the edge of my vision before I was even close.

  The plant that represented my soul, the one that shone with resplendent, starry, nebulous origins like nothing I’d ever seen…

  It’d grown.

  It’d been tiny and feeble the last time I’d seen it. A tiny stem and a couple of budding leaves.

  I think I’d called it ‘sucky’.

  Now it grew perhaps a foot into the air. Those same leaves had grown too, and there were more of them. Four now, instead of two. The plant seemed to gently sway before me, and it was only upon noticing as much that I felt a gentle breeze within the vast room.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Staring at this thing hurt in a way. You’d think making progress would be a good thing but.

  It’d been so pathetic before.

  Had I made more progress in growing my soul in the last few days than I had in twenty five years of life on Earth?

  Had I really been worth that little?

  Or had I simply cared that little?

  I reached forwards, moving to brush my hand against one of the leaves, but paused. I remembered I wasn’t supposed to touch it.

  That said…

  “My soul ties me to my current body, right?”

  [Yes.]

  “So… am I just here until my body wakes up or dies?”

  [That’s correct! It’s a somewhat frequent symptom with transmigration vessels. The body can eject the soul upon near-death, and likely won’t reacclimate until you’re ready to become conscious again.]

  “So you’re telling me that I ended up here because my heart stopped, and my new body got confused?”

  [That’s more or less correct!]

  This was pretty bad. I didn’t have any way of guaranteeing that Cael’s body would wake up, let alone when. How was I supposed to just sit here in limbo? I didn’t want to wait around just for that body to end up dying, just for me to get forced into another world and another life when I was just getting started in this one!

  Maybe it was for the better, though. Maybe I’d get put in a far easier body. A far easier life.

  …no. I didn’t want that.

  I didn’t realise how much the prospect sickened me until I thought about it.

  I needed to recover.

  Maybe there was a way that I could…

  [So, did you want me to make you a new bed? I still have a preset saved from your last visit, seeing as it was so recent!]

  I ignored System. Carried on thinking.

  [I could get you a soda. Maybe download Netflix? I assume you’d rather pass the time in comfort and peace.]

  No.

  I thought up the training room from Cael’s world. Pictured it as clearly as I could.

  It looked similarly dilapidated when I was finished. I’d conjured everything from the dirt and grime to the broken stone in the walls.

  I pulled out a sword and took position.

  [Might I ask what you’re doing?]

  I took a stance. It wasn’t correct and I knew it. I still didn’t understand how to use a sword anywhere close to the way that Cael’s body did.

  It didn’t matter. I’d learn.

  “If I acclimate my soul to Cael’s, if I make my soul stronger, will it help me to recover?”

  [Possibly! I’ve never seen someone attempt something like that! Bodies tied to strong souls DO heal faster!]

  Then this would have to do. I took my stance and started training.

  Step, thrust, pivot, block.

  Arch, turn, parry, thrust.

  If it didn’t work, at least I’d have a stronger spirit in my next life. I wouldn’t spend all my time waiting here and rotting away.

  And if it did work? If I did manage to pull through and survive this, and become Cael Soulgrave again?

  I’d become strong enough here that I’d not only beat Damian Voss, I’d find a way out of all my debt issues and save Amara from her family. Maybe then, I could carve myself out a real life and a real purpose.

  Training went well. ‘Well’ here didn’t mean that I’d managed to perform my movements with anywhere near the fluidity or grace that Cael possessed, but it did mean that I was able to memorise a lot of his training regimen.

  Not only that, but the way fatigue worked here seemed to be different to what I understood.

  I could get incredibly tired. My muscles could ache, my lungs could burn, and my heart could pound like it was about to burst from my chest.

  But I wouldn’t fall down. I wouldn’t run out of energy completely.

  I could train for as long as I wanted.

  I didn’t need to sleep here.

  I didn’t need to stop.

  I wondered if that applied to me mentally as well. Was I just as capable of studying for hours and days as I was of training endlessly?

  That sparked a new curiosity in me. While I had so many things I wanted to test with physical training, and the sheer breadth of arenas and battlegrounds I could likely concoct with a room like this was surely staggering—

  There was a massive library at arm’s length waiting for me to peruse it.

  I started making a mental list as I summoned the library from my mind, forced it to appear right in front of me.

  Basics on magic. I needed the basics down. Then, everything practical I could learn about mana and energy, some history of the world I was on—ask System for the world’s name—bloodline abilities, skills, what else…

  I could learn about some major families if I got time, plus more about how the world worked. Some of this would be useless if Cael didn’t wake up, but screw pragmatism. I’d manifest the future that I wanted.

  I was going to wake up.

  I had to.