He was transported again to the endless space where the copy of him was waiting. The replica smiled and said “Good job enduring that. The answer is still within you and you haven’t fully grasped it but you have made amazing progress.

The next lesson is on understanding what space feels like.

Consider a possibility. If you were space what would it feel like to be you; being everywhere, having everything, being a part of everything, everything having you, everything being a part of you.

Space obviously doesn’t have a mind but since you have one and it is the only way you’ll understand space; you have to understand what space would feel if it was you. This is the only way you’ll understand how space works, how space exists.”

Sensing that he could move his body, Jade raised his hand and asked a question “When I was in the void, what would have happened if you removed my sense of time?”

The replica smiled and answered “You would have just become a fact. Change is the herald of time. Without a past, future, present or timeline in the void, you would just… be. You would be real and that is all you would be. Space and time are essential for beings like you to continue to have an effect on reality. Such an experience would freeze everything in your soul and undo all the effects you had on reality, but your soul would still be there”

Jade nodded and the replica said "You will start by being space with time then you’ll be space without time and finally space without matter and energy. Do note that space is infinite”

Jade’s vision returned back to his lab and his perspective started expanding, he thought ‘Ah shit, here we go again’.

He lost the feeling of having a body as all his senses merged into one and was expanded consistently. His range of perception became as big as the earth and he felt everything within it even though he currently was not on earth.

Things were moving around in his body which was now space. At first it felt like they were intruding but later it felt like they were a part of him, like they were symbiotes. He could feel the gravity of the earth, its subtle effect on space.

His perception expanded until it covered the sun. He could feel the high amount of energy jumping around on the star chaotically; he could feel the radiations from it shining in every direction.

After further expansion Jade’s mind was forced to absorb the feeling of being the space of the entire Milky Way galaxy. He could feel how the matter and energy weighed on the space, how the black holes affected it, how wormholes were formed, why they were formed and how they formed a complex structure, framework or society that was space.

The feeling of being space was honestly not bad to Jade, he lost his sense of self but he gained the whole universe as he expanded further and further, infinitely. He entered alternate dimensions, realities, souls, minds, universes and other abstract concepts beyond the reach of man’s understanding, but space was still expanding eternally, endlessly and hungrily.

As he expanded his perception of time waned as everything seemed to stop; space without time. Jade’s perception wondered through this frozen universe inspecting everything from the level of stars, black holes and wormholes to the level of atoms and quarks. He inspected societies and the individual minds that made them up, he inspected realms and the souls that made them up, he inspected energies and the forces that made them up. Space was so interesting; it allowed for the existence of so many things, unlike Void which was nothing, space had a state.

The matter soon began to fade away like the color of a cloth leaving only space. Jade was extremely shocked by what he saw, he would be a fool not to recognize it… it was Void.

Space expanded infinitely and eternally, it was a resource that was always abundant in the universe, so much that the universe was considered space itself. But the truth of it was that space was infinite Void, infinite nothing, that’s why it could be infinite, because it was nothing.

Jade realized that when he experienced Void, his was shrinking. He shrunk until he was nothing, until he was Void. While he was Void he created concepts that ended up being nothing, they ended up being Void. Space was a result of Void, all Void creates Void which results in space, which is a collection of Void, because all Void wants to be more than Void.

Just like the Void Jade became, pure space was just a bundle of Void that begets more Void. Matter, energy, force, soul, minds, etc were concepts that were not Void that filled up the Voids and gave space more color, more life, it made space more than space, it made space the universe, it gave space a state. Space treasured this state so it congregated more Void on the concepts, making them weight on space. Space could only contain everything because it was nothing, infinite nothing, infinite Void.

Jade’s perception returned back to his lab and he sat down on the floor again, meditating on the answer of what space was. The answer was quite controversial. Void was a lack of space but space was an abundance of Void; space was an abundance of a lack of itself. Space could be like this because it was nothing, because it was emptiness.

Jade thought ‘This lesson was much easier to learn than the first one; it didn’t make me insane. Although if I had not gone through the first lesson I would have learnt nothing from this’

Jade’s perception was transferred to the dark space where his replica was. The replica said “Congratulations on understanding what space is. Even if you still have ways to go it will be very beneficial for you”. Jade replied “Thanks, I guess” and he was back in his lab.

When Jade came back he could sense the Voids that made up space all around him. They seemed to be tiny black dots in his perception, points where there was absolutely nothing. There was a lot of Void in the air because it was a gas, it had disconnected molecules. There was little void in solid and liquid matter and the void in plasma and energy moved around chaotically due to their nature. Voids didn't last long as they existed for time periods less than Picoseconds before being filled up but they were there.

Jade could feel his energy interacting with the void, his energy seemed to have changed, he could feel it, his energy could become Void, it could become space. Jade knew something had changed in his soul, either he got a new soul ability or the form of his soul had changed or both. But he couldn’t check because of the Soul Parasite.

Jade focused on his energy and noticed that it wasn’t just that his energy could become Void, it was partially Void. It was constantly creating more of itself, increasing infinitely like space in his energy organ. His energy organ was becoming its own universe as the Void energy contained the things inside it, which Jade could not properly sense, like space and formed its own complex state space and dimensions with them. Jade knew that this change would have huge effects on his stats.

After he finished assessing his new state, Jade’s IP said

‘You have completed the Hidden Quest: Space’

[Fathom Space in its entirety – reward: title: Vast One, 1 [Pantheon Medallion] – status: complete]

[Title:

Vast One: The title of beings that have completely understood space. Position, Dimension, State Space and Void are all the aspects of space and you have grasped them.

For getting this title you get 1 [Pantheon Servant Crystal: Fixed Space]]

‘You have completed the Quest’

[(Superior) Primordial Human:]

[Improve all stats to the absolute ‘Pinnacle’ Rank before evolving beyond the (Superior) Primordial Human (Homo primum superus) race – reward: all evolution options become Celestial grade races – status: possible (complete).]

[Improve one stat to the unreachable ‘Transcendent’ Rank before evolving beyond the (Superior) Primordial Human (Homo primum superus) race – reward: an ‘extinct’ evolution option becomes available and all evolution options become Celestial grade races – status: possible (complete).]

[Complete an impossible quest – reward: you get an evolution ticket – status: complete.]

‘You have acquired 1/2 evolution tickets’

Jade’s eyes widened in surprise as he read the notifications again and again, he was now so close to evolving. He just needed one more evolution ticket and it would be over, he would stop forgetting.

Jade asked his IP ‘What is this Pantheon Servant Crystal and Pantheon Medallion?’ His IP answered ‘The answer to those questions cannot be revealed now’.

Jade thought ‘I have two options. I can either kill normal creatures until I get enough en-code to completely fill all my en-code stats and exchange that for a ticket. Or I can kill a Rank 20 monster… IP, show me my stats’.

[Previous State:

Strength: Pinnacle

Agility: Pinnacle

Stamina: Pinnacle

Durability: Pinnacle

Intelligence: Pinnacle

Senses: Pinnacle

Energy: Intermediate (high)]

[Current State:

Strength: Pinnacle

Agility: Pinnacle

Stamina: Pinnacle

Durability: Pinnacle

Intelligence: Transcendent

Senses: Pinnacle

Energy: Transcendent]

Jade smiled as he thought ‘Two transcendent stats. I’ve made a lot of good choices. Now it’s time to study, experiment and create.’

…