[Woah! Nice man, you unlocked Mental Speech. Now we can get into it for real!] Roger sounded unbelievably excited, as if Jake were the first person he’d ever spoken to.

[Is that weird? I remember you telling me not to try yet, but it was way easier than trying to gather Spirit. I still haven’t done that! How long have I even been trying?] Jake sounded more than slightly miffed. No matter how long he had tried, nothing worked, and he was sick of it.

[Totally weird, man. Only reason I figured out how to talk to you is cause you’re, like, all up in my Insight already. It was way easy. You’re pretty much forcing your Insight out of yourself to talk! That takes control, man.] Roger sounds genuinely impressed, which brought no small amount of joy to Jake. At the moment Roger was literally his world.

Jake recalled all the moments in his life he remained calm in the face of danger. They were a great deal more than he could count, though whether that was from the sheer amount or his currently limited mind, he wasn’t sure. He simply knew many people had found his mental infallibility quite impressive in life.

[Well thanks for the compliment. But there’s one question that’s been nagging at my mind for a while now. Why do you have the name Roger now? By the sound of it, that wasn’t always your name.] Jake was satisfied to finally be able to ask that question.

[Oh, that’s simple man. When I found you, I also found a bunch of loose Insight hanging around you. I gathered it up, and the name Roger stuck out. It was so choice, I stuck with it. Why, was it important to you? I can change it if you want.] Jake felt oddly touched at the offer, but also wistful.

[No, that’s ok, it was the name of my first mate when I was alive. You can keep the name though, it suits you. Besides, it feels like he’s living on through you in a way.] Jake sincerely meant the last part. If anyone should have Roger’s name, it’s the being that saved his life.

[That’s awesome man, I’m real glad you think so. By the by, now that you can talk, what’s your name?]

[Jake. Jake Ryder Lockstead.]

[Nice name, Ryder, I really dig it. Mind if I call you Ryder by the way? I dunno why, but it feels right.] Jake wasn’t surprised at this, Roger used to call him Ryder as well. Well, Captain Ryder, but it was all the same to him.

[Not at all, go right ahead. By the way, Roger, how do I gather Spirit? I haven’t been able to figure it out yet.]

[That’s so weird man, you’ve been trying for like a month straight I think. You gotta absorb it through your bubble, man. Just picture it, like, passing right through, like the wall isn’t even there. It’s gonna be slow at first, but you’ll get it. I believe in you, Ryder.]

Jake was in shock once again, no surprise. He had absolutely no idea he had taken a month trying to figure it out. Perhaps time flow was something he didn’t have a natural skill for? No, more likely he was just so engrossed he didn’t notice how much time went by. Being stuck in absolute darkness probably made it easier to lose track.

Basic Reason increased to 5/5

Basic Reason upgraded to Complex Reason 1/10

Just like that, Jake felt his mental faculties increase ten fold. Suddenly, he remembered how to do basic algebra and that tomato doesn’t belong in a fruit salad. It became ten times easier for him to deduce what he had been doing wrong.

The entire time, he had all his Insight tightly clumped in his center, for fear something would steal it from him. Now, he passively let it float out until it filled his entire bubble. Upon doing this, he immediately retracted it all back. The sheer presence of Spirit made him think he was about to die.

Inferior Insight Control increased to 2/5

After a moment, he realized he wouldn’t die and cursed himself for his momentary lapse. This time he deliberately spread it out evenly across his bubble, unflinching when he felt the massive amount of energy again.

Inferior Insight Control increased to 3/5

He tried cautiously thinning a small section of his Vigor bubble and was pleasantly surprised when he felt the Spirit around him begin to trickle in. After what felt like a few seconds, he felt his bubble was mostly full and strengthened it again. He then called up his status.

Dark Spirit +7

Spirit: 7/10 (Dark 7)

Skill Unlocked: Inferior Spirit Gathering 1/5

Status

Name: Jake Ryder Lockstead

Race: Insignificance (0/1)

Class: N/A

Vigor: 2/10

Spirit: 7/10 (Dark 7)

Insight: 10/10

Skills: Complex Reason 1/10, Inferior Insight Control 3/5, Inferior Spirit Gathering 1/5, Mental Speech (Innate)

[Awesome work, Ryder, I felt that little trickle. That might not seem like much now, but you gotta know that’s just the start. Things are gonna get really interesting now. Next, you should probably try and fill yourself up with it. That’ll let you finally sleep.] Jake was surprised to hear that. He hadn’t even realized he hadn’t slept yet.

[Do I actually need sleep though? If that’s the case, it would probably make more sense to not reach it.] This felt like a true statement, but when the system said nothing, he had a feeling it was probably untrue.

Reluctantly, he repeated the same process while holding his status open to make sure he didn’t overdo it.

Dark Spirit + 3

Spirit 10/10 (Dark 10)

Inferior Spirit Gathering increased to 2/5

Complex Reason increased to 2/10

Skill Unlocked: Sleeping

Jake couldn’t believe his non-eyes. Sleeping was a skill. That seemed more absurd than anything else he could’ve imagined. Though he supposed it only made sense, considering he hadn’t been able to do it before then.

Jake somehow instinctively knew how to do it after the skill unlocked, so he immediately tried it. He hadn’t expected just how quickly it would happen.

* * *

Jake opened his eyes in a blank white expanse. He looked down at himself in momentary surprise, shocked to see his body again. Though, he supposed, if he was asleep, it would only make sense that he would have his body in his dreams. The only alternative was that he was now truly dead, and he didn’t like that dead seemed more likely.

Jake tried calling up his Status and was relieved but also oddly disappointed when it came up.

Status

Name: Jake Ryder Lockstead

Race: Insignificance (0/1)

Class: N/A

Vigor: 2/10

Spirit: 10/10 (Dark 10)

Insight: 10/10

Skills: Complex Reason 2/10, Inferior Insight Control 3/5, Inferior Spirit Gathering 2/5, Mental Speech (Innate), Sleeping (Innate)

He was surprised to see Sleeping was now Innate, as it was still a bit unclear what it meant. Would those skills now always be with him? He supposed that only time would tell.

Jake then began looking around and soon after came face to face with a massive wall of darkness. This was probably the Dark Spirit he had collected from Roger. Looking at it then, he remembered something important.

He pulled up his Status again and looked at the description of his race.

Insignificance: A well of Insight within a bubble of Vigor with any Spirit clustered at the center. Without any form of defense to speak of, even gathering life energies near one would kill it almost instantly. Roughly 3 mm in diameter and largely unnoticeable. Due to their small capacities and size they are unable to make any real impact on their surroundings.

Race Change Goal(s): Create 1 Spirit Gem of any kind.

Progress: 0/1 Spirit Gem(s)

He had no idea what a Spirit Gem was, but he assumed it had to do with the wall of Dark Spirit in front of him. He reached out and tried bringing some to his hand. It almost immediately moved, shrouding his hand in darkness. That would be useful if he could do it while awake.

Jake sighed, grateful for the ability to do so, and pulled the rest of the Spirit into his hands. He knew from past knowledge that gemstones were made with immense pressure. At least, that’s what he’d heard from scholars during his little time on land, and he hoped that logic would carry over.

He began squeezing it between his hands, but quickly stopped when he noticed it wasn’t working. Every time he squeezed it, it would simply ooze between his fingers. It was clear that wouldn’t work but he wasn’t sure what would. Perhaps he needed to use his control over it, as he had before.

He tried doing this in combination with active squeezing and was satisfied to see it was no longer oozing. Encouraged by this result, he continued on, pressing and molding it into as small a sphere as he could manage.

When it finally stopped shrinking it was about the size of an orange. Satisfied, he released it into the air and watched as it began expanding and losing its shape. He quickly grabbed it out of the air and compressed it back down. He would stay there as long as it took until he got it.

He desperately needed to do this, he was tired of living in Roger’s literal shadow. He wanted to see the ocean again, he wanted to explore, he wanted… his family. He wanted to go back home, see his family again, squeeze them as tight as he could, and protect them like he used to.

Jake reopened the race description again, this time focusing on Spirit Gem. He was sincerely hoping that he wouldn’t always need to go through so many layers to find what he needed every time. However, he was satisfied when it did in fact bring up a description of the Gems.

Spirit Gem: A small, perfectly round, hollow sphere made of Spirit. The smallest version, an Inferior Spirit Gem, increases Spirit Capacity for the specific Gem Affinity by 10. Larger versions can be made at higher levels of the skill Spirit Gem Creation.

Well that seemed to be of no help, considering he didn’t even have Spirit Gem Creation. He tried focusing on the skill name, but no info came up. It was either too many layers deep or he couldn’t see it if he didn’t have it. He assumed the latter.

Luckily, on the second look over the description, something did stand out. Hollow. He’d been making a solid object the entire time, when it seemed he actually needed an empty vessel. It was just like a boat, it needed some hollow space in order to actually be effective.

Complex Reason increased to 3/10

Invigorated by both his newfound reasoning and the hope he could actually do something, he began tightening the inside of the orb in his hands. It was a complex and daunting process; anytime he pulled too hard the outside would loosen, but it also grew easier with progress.

Once the inside was as hollow as he could make it, he began to compress it down. It was nowhere near as small as it was before, now the size of a melon, but he could tell it was working. The outside of the orb was tightly packed with Dark Spirit, allowing for just as much Spirit to be compressed inside.

Satisfied with what he made, not to mention much more confident, he released it into the air. It briefly jittered, nearly dashing his hopes, but remained relatively stable otherwise.

Inferior Dark Spirit Gem successfully created; Dark Spirit Capacity +5.

Spirit -10

Spirit 0/10, Dark 0/5

Skill Unlocked: Inferior Spirit Gem Creation 1/5

Race Evolution now possible!