Joe’s eyes snapped open as he gasped for breath and shot upright. His pupils dilated as he frantically touched his torso in several places.

  ‘I’m alive,’ he thought, releasing a shaky sigh of relief

  Joe had feared the worst when he lost consciousness, but for now he was still breathing. At least, he believed he was. What gave him pause was where he had awakened. He was surrounded by a blank white space. In every direction stretched nothing but an endless void. He could not even tell whether he was standing on solid ground or floating in place.

  The sight reminded him of where his consciousness drifted when he fainted in Evergreen Forest. The only difference was the color. That void had been pitch black, while this one was pure white. There was another distinction as well. This place felt different. When he had passed out before, the darkness had threatened to swallow him whole and drown his consciousness. This white void was the opposite. The light was not invasive but warm and soothing. It wrapped around him gently, almost protectively.

  Joe felt a strange connection to it, as though he had been here before. The thought made no sense, yet the feeling persisted. It was unfamiliar, but somehow it felt like home.

  He stood and realized the pain he had endured before losing consciousness was completely gone. His body felt renewed, much like when he had first arrived in Suveny. When he touched his face and traced his fingers along his skin, there was no discomfort or roughness. The blisters he had suffered were gone.

  ‘So weird…’

  Joe assumed this place was another layer of his consciousness and that his body here was not real, only a manifestation of his mind. It shared too many similarities with the dark void to be unrelated. If that was true, then there were only two possibilities. Either his physical body was still alive and waiting for him to wake up, or he was dead and this place was the afterlife.

  It was quiet and peaceful, seemingly the perfect resting place for a soul.

  As pleasant as that sounded, Joe desperately hoped it was not true. He did not want to die. There were still too many dreams he wanted to chase and fulfill. He had been alive for less than four hours in his second life and had only just begun to form bonds. It was far too early for it to end.

  He had made more progress in this new life than he ever had in his first. He cared about it too much to let it slip away. The world was dangerous, but he still wanted to live in it and explore it. He had barely scratched the surface of what it had to offer.

  Joe refused to die.

  Unlike his first life, this one was worth fighting for.

  ‘I’m still alive,’ he told himself firmly. ‘There’s no way I’d die that easily, not after everything it took to escape the Lord of the Woods. I need to keep living for my comrades who sacrificed their lives for me.'

  Joe's was distracted from his thoughts and his eyes perked up when he saw a pair of notifications at the edge of his consciousness. He wasted no time and summoned all of them to his vision.

  [Skill Acquired: Dash]

  [Skill Acquired: Heat Resistance]

  Knowledge of the skills immediately flowed into his mind when he read their names. They were simple abilities. Dash made him run faster and reduced stamina expenditure while sprinting. Heat Resistance reduced the damage he sustained when exposed to intense heat. They were basic skills he must've unlocked while sprinting toward Suveny, he had simply been too distracted to notice them until now. Joe was pleased to have both of them at his disposal for the future.

  He scanned the empty expanse, unsure which direction to take or how to escape at all. Choosing at random, he began walking north.

  As he moved, he was reminded of a survival novel he once read, where the protagonist was stranded in a desert and fought endlessly to reunite with his family. The character had spent months wandering before escaping. While it had been entertaining to read, Joe hoped his situation would not mirror it. He did not have time to waste.

  If this was part of his consciousness, he had no idea how time here translated to reality. He hoped it was a place where time stood still, but his experience in the dark void suggested otherwise. Olivia had been able to communicate with him then, which meant time continued to move beyond his perception.

  After ten minutes, nothing changed. It felt as though he had not moved at all.

  Joe broke into a sprint.

  Even after running for nearly an hour, he felt no fatigue. It was similar to running while enhanced by soul energy mixed with Olivia’s power, yet different. This time, he did not feel as though he was consuming a limited resource. He felt like he could run at this pace forever.

  He felt free, as if nothing in the universe could stop him.

  Time lost meaning as he continued. After more than five hours, Joe finally came to a halt. He was not even slightly winded. This strengthened his belief that this was purely a state of consciousness, one where stamina simply did not exist.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Though his form was not real, it felt as though it was fueled by something akin to soul energy. In fact, he felt stronger than he ever had in a physical body. His movements were lighter, effortless, turning running into something almost trivial.

  The power flowing through him reminded him of soul energy, but it felt purer and more raw. It was similar to Olivia’s secret trick, only focused entirely on spirit energy. The sensation fascinated him, and he wondered what it truly meant.

  When he stopped and looked around, there was still no sign of progress. It was as though he had been running in place the entire time. He tried to take his pouch and set it down as a marker, but his hand passed straight through it. The reminder stung. It was not real. None of this was.

  Not even his body.

  Frustration welled up inside him. He was wasting time, and there was no telling what could have happened to Olivia while he was trapped here. Joe tilted his head toward the white sky and shouted, “Let me out of here!”

  The void answered.

  Joe suddenly felt as though he were plummeting from an immense height. He screamed as the sensation overtook him. Seconds later, he slammed into something solid, though he felt no pain. He scrambled to his feet and froze.

  Ten meters away stood a massive gate. Resting against it was a gigantic white boulder that covered nearly half its height.

  ‘What the…’

  Joe took a few steps forward. He had barely covered four meters when the boulder began to move.

  He stopped and watched.

  From the pale stone, two enormous arms burst forth and pushed upward. Massive legs formed beneath it, followed by a head that rose from the top. Holes carved into its surface shifted and deepened, shaping crude eyes.

  The boulder was no longer a boulder.

  Standing before him was a towering white golem.

  Joe’s eyes dilated in shock.

  The creature unleashed a thunderous roar that shook the void itself. Without hesitation, it charged. Despite its size, it was terrifyingly fast. Its right fist slammed down where Joe stood and the surface beneath it shattered on impact.

  Joe leaped back moments before his body would have been crushed by the golem’s fist. He had reacted instinctively, moving with agility that far surpassed what his original body was capable of. That alone reinforced the idea that his current form was powered by pure soul energy.

  He felt weightless as his body drifted through the void. The explosive shockwave from the goblin’s punch blasted him farther back, aiding his attempt to create distance. Joe landed lightly, sliding across the emptiness before coming to a stop ten meters away from the creature.

  ‘Is that really a golem?’ Joe thought, eyes wide as the creature wrenched its arm free from the crater it had carved into the void. It straightened to its full height and stared down at him with translucent eyes that allowed him to glimpse the massive gate behind it.

  Joe had read many novels that featured golems. There had even been a series with a golem protagonist who fell in love with a human girl. He had never been much of a romance fan, finding them overly dramatic and unrealistic, but that book had been recommended by the one girl who had spoken to him in his previous life after learning he loved novels.

  The fact that he could not even remember her name stung. She had been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise bleak existence. Remembering her only reminded him of how poor a friend he had been, and how little he had deserved her kindness.

  As for the book itself, it had been devastating. She had not warned him about the tragedy, so he had gone in blind and come out broken. Joe hated sad endings. He read novels to escape the misery of reality, not drown in it. She had called the story beautiful, but Joe saw no beauty in a golem gunned down by tanks, treated as a monster, even as it protected the woman it loved.

  He knew a relationship between a golem and a human was impossible for obvious reasons, but he had still hoped for a happy ending. Instead, he had read about how the woman cradled the golem’s cracked stone head and confessed her love as its crystal eyes dimmed. It had been too much. The scene alone had discouraged him from ever picking up another romance novel.

  Technically, it had ended happily. They had shared a kiss beneath the full moon, the golem content that its feelings had been returned. But that final kiss, followed by the light leaving its eyes, had been unbearable.

  Just thinking about it made Joe’s heart ache, despite his body being nothing more than a construct of his mind.

  The creature before him was nothing like the golem from that story. Though its appearance mimicked a golem, one formed from pure white light, its nature was entirely different. It was violent, hostile, and had tried to kill him without hesitation.

  For some reason, it clearly did not want him approaching the massive gate behind it.

  That only made Joe more curious about what lurked beyond.

  ‘I guess there’s only one way to find out’ He thought, a grin spreading across his face.

  He had been itching for a fight ever since arriving in Evergreen. If Olivia had not been there, he would have challenged the Lord of the Woods without hesitation. Now he finally had the chance to test his strength in combat, and he could barely contain his excitement.

  This would be his first real fight since the incident in fourth grade. Joe hoped he would feel the same rush he had back then.

  He exploded into motion.

  Joe sprinted toward the golem, closing the distance in an instant. The creature tracked him and slammed its fist down, but Joe dodged, his current body granting him flexibility far beyond his original form. He landed on the golem’s arm, its hand still buried deep in the shattered void.

  Joe dashed along the arm at blistering speed, racing toward its head. The golem reached out with its left hand, but Joe slipped past its grasp and continued forward. In the blink of an eye, he appeared before the creature’s face.

  Joe drove his right fist into its visage.

  Cracks spiderwebbed across its head as fractures spread through the white surface. The golem staggered back, releasing a shrill screech.

  Joe landed lightly, but his eyes widened as the creature retaliated instantly. It unleashed a sweeping kick. Its shin slammed into Joe’s side, and he felt his ribs shatter as he was hurled across the void, his body tumbling uncontrollably.

  His momentum stopped thirty five meters away.

  Joe clenched his teeth as pain surged through him. He was not surprised that the beast could hurt him despite his intangibility. He had damaged it just as easily. While the void itself was harmless, two living entities within this space could still wound one another.

  He forced himself upright and glanced down at his side. He had raised his arm to block the kick, but it had been crushed by the sheer force of the blow. His ribs were completely destroyed.

  Joe lifted his gaze back to the golem.

  His grimace slowly turned into a grin.

  The feeling swelling in his chest was nothing like the satisfaction he had felt when he beat that annoying kid bloody in fourth grade.

  This was better.

  Far better.

  It was pure, unfiltered excitement.

  ‘So this is what a real fight feels like.’ Joe thought, his grin widening. ‘This is fun.’