Autophagy

Around him were apartments, countless of them, expanding in every direction infinitely. They all had the same design, that gray, soulless concrete covered every direction Song Lei's eyes could perceive.

The sky was also the same. When he lifted his head to look up, he saw countless gray clouds covering the supposedly blue sky. They were, once again, expanding in every direction. It looked like a volcano had just erupted and the ashes had gathered around to create these clouds.

Turning around, he saw that seven particular apartments had been demolished. The rubble covered a huge landscape, forming what seemed like a small mountain in the middle. Before Song Lei could view it more carefully, a voice from behind woke him up from his daze.

"Hey..." Song Lei heard an awkward voice. The voice sounded like a mix of countless different people's voices. Whenever he tried to focus on it, it made his head hurt.

"Just like I guessed," The voice said again. Song Lei turned around to see who it was.

"Umm..."

When he looked at the humanoid being in front of him, Song Lei got confused. The figure looked like there was a veil between them. It was blurry and dark. The problem was, Song Lei knew that there wasn't such a thing. The person in front of him looked like any other person. However, whenever Song Lei tried to focus and properly see the person, his head hurt like crazy.

"It hurts, right?" The person asked again. They raised their hand and pointed towards the apartments that had been demolished. Song Lei lifted his head and looked towards there. Countless red-colored strings came out of the apartments around that were still standing. Those strings weaved and curled around, forming abstract shapes. Eventually, however, they all arrived at the top of the little mountain that had been formed by the rubble.

Song Lei couldn't see where those red strings united as the mountain was a little too high.

"You need to go there," The person said. "And don't worry. You have time."

Song Lei nodded. He didn't exactly know what the person was talking about, however, he knew that it was something important.

As Song Lei was still trying to see what was on top of the rubble mountain, he saw a ginormous dust cloud covering the whole horizon, coming towards them.

"That's..." Song Lei pointed towards the dust cloud to ask.

"That represents the approaching end of our time together," the person didn't wait for Song Lei to finish asking. "For now, at least."

"Who are you?"

"Hmm... For some reason, I don't want to tell you," the person said. They raised their head and looked directly towards Song Lei. "That would ruin the fun and wouldn't help you in any way."

"Then, why am I here?" Song Lei asked. "Aren't you the one who brought me here?"

"Ha? No no. I don't exactly have the ability to do that. You were the one to come here. We both have our own reasons to be here."

"I see..." Song Lei muttered.

"Well... It's a bit awkward to say nothing," the person said. "So how about this? Make sure that you don't forget the number 1407."

'God... This number again!?' Song Lei shouted in his head.

"Yeah, right? It comes up a lot in certain places," the person said.

"Wait... Did you just read my mind?" Song Lei asked. Behind the darkness that was blocking Song Lei from seeing the person, he knew that they were smiling.

"Maybe..." The person muttered. "Well, it's about time that I went on my way. I have to reach the top of the mountain, the heart of this city. Just like you," they said as they pointed their finger towards Song Lei. They then raised their foot and stepped forward. It was awkward. Although the person had just taken a casual step, the distance between them had instantly widened by more than ten meters.

"Wait! At least tell me if I know you! Are you someone I know!?" Song Lei shouted.

"Not exactly," The person said. Although they didn't say this loudly, it sounded like the person was just next to Song Lei.

Song Lei wanted to continue speaking with this person, however, the dust cloud was approaching them at incredible speeds. They at most had ten seconds in their hands.

"See you!" Song Lei shouted, having nothing left to say.

"Yeah, later..."

Hearing the last words of the person, Song Lei was swallowed by the dust cloud...

...

"Huff... Huff..." Song Lei opened his eyes. He was still standing in the middle of his room. His body was drenched in sweat and fluids that he had never seen before.

He looked around and saw the clock hanging on his wall. From what he could see, he had spent five minutes after starting the upgrade process of his skill. This was, of course, considering that he hadn't spent more than a day.

"Ugh... I need to clean up," Song Lei muttered as his face soured up because of the smell that was being emitted by his body. Quickly running to room 1401, Song Lei entered the bathroom and took a long shower. It was incredibly hard to make the smell go away. Fortunately, he had all the time in his hands. After showering for nearly an hour, Song Lei went back to his room.

'Well...' Song Lei muttered inwardly. He looked at the puddle of filth in the middle of his room and decided to clean it as soon as possible. After finishing that, he sat on his bed and brought up his notifications that he had been ignoring for some time.

[Your skill "Tri-force I" has been upgraded to "Tri-force II". Every stat +1. This is the maximum level of this skill you can achieve with orthodox methods.]

[With the help of your skill "Tri-force II", your soul is about to awaken. Please get ready.]

"Uhm..." Song Lei didn't know what to say as he read the notification. Just as he was about to dismiss the notification, he felt an awkward emotion swelling inside him. "What..."

Suddenly, he felt his body bloat. He lowered his head to see if that was the case, however, it definitely wasn't. His body was as lean and muscular as ever. That feeling of bloatedness wasn't something physical. Song Lei didn't know what to do. This wasn't a particularly negative or positive emotion.

He just felt full. His entire being was filled with random emotions that he couldn't get a grasp of. Not knowing what to do, Song Lei laid down on the bed and hugged a pillow.

"What is going on..." He muttered out loud. As he was waiting for the feeling to go away, the quake demon got up from its place and walked to Song Lei's side. Song Lei was ready to put up a fight, however, he didn't sense any malice from the quake demon.

As he expected, the quake demon climbed on the bed and started licking Song Lei's face with its deformed tongue. What was weird was the fact that Song Lei wasn't feeling disturbed because he was being licked in the face by an abomination dog.

Little by little, Song Lei felt the bloatedness going away. After half an hour, it was completely gone.

Suddenly, Song Lei felt a lock breaking in him. His sight suddenly expanded. He was now able to see 360 degrees around him. He was also able to slightly see behind the walls if he were to focus as best as he can. Even then, however, his sight would at most go ten centimeters behind the wall and whatever he saw would be incredibly blurry.

He also felt as if he had gained a new limb, covering every part of his body. He could move this new limb freely. He could also make it extend out of his own volition.

[You have successfully awakened your soul!

A new attribute has been acquired: Control

You are now able to control your soul.]

"Ugh..." Song Lei held his head, doing his best to make his sight go back to normal. Fortunately, he was able to do so in a short amount of time. Of course, suddenly gaining 360 degrees sight made him incredibly dizzy. It wasn't a state that he could maintain for more than half a minute without fainting.

After making his sight go back to normal, Song Lei tried to check out what it felt like to be able to control his soul.

'Woah... This is so awkward...' Song Lei muttered inwardly as he moved this new limb around him. 'Wait, what does it look like from the outside?' Song Lei asked himself. Running to a mirror, he stared at his reflection.

Around him was a gray, almost completely transparent substance. It covered all of his body. It looked like gas. It constantly fluctuated, making Song Lei look like he was on fire, albeit gray-colored.

'Doesn't this look really cool? Song Lei asked himself. 'So this is my soul...' He could also make the gray substance move on its own. He could form little shapes out of it or make it accumulate around a certain part of his body.

'Wait....' Song Lei said in his head. 'What happened to my face!?'