Jack tried to push the door open but it wouldn't budge no matter how much much strength he applied.
"Why won't it open? It doesn't have any keyhole..."
Jack looked around the door but he couldn't find any way to open it.
"Maybe it's stuck after such a long time since someone even went through it. After all, it seems a bit rusty."
Jack gave one last look at the door and turned around.
"Well, there's no use in thinking too much about it, I should just go to the last corridor and see if I can leave this place. At least I've got something interesting about another race from the door."
The moment Jack turned around and was going to make his first step, the ring on his left hand started glowing a deep golden color and he heard a low rumble behind him as the glow of the ring died down.
He turned around almost immediately and looked at the door again. But it seemed like nothing had changed.
Jack frowned and started walking slowly towards the door till he was in front of it and tried to open it for the last time. And just as he suspected, this time the door opened just with the minor of pushes.
Jack felt a slight dizziness and he found himself again in a misty place. But there was a difference this time. He felt his feet were floating so he looked down and tried to take small steps only to find something weird.
"There's no ground. Am I flying, floating or is it just my perception of the environment?"
Jack tried to move but he was finding it weird and was still trying to get used to this new way of moving when suddenly a silhouette appeared in the front not too far away from him.
"Another silhouette? Don't tell me it's the same guy again. I don't like him at all."
Just when he finished murmuring the shadow shot like an arrow towards him with what seemed the intention to kill.
"What the freak??!!"
Jack's danger senses ringed like never before, and with barely any response time the only thing he could do was bring his arms forwards and try to block to at least mitigate as much damage as possible.
But he underestimated the power of the punch of the enemy shadow.
"Argh!" Jack was sent flying (if he was not already) very far. And he felt all his organs shake and blood threatened to flow out of his mouth but he kept it in.
"How was that even a normal punch? What kind of superhuman could even punch like that? If it was not because I reacted quickly and tried to block that freaking shadow would have turned me into minced meat."
Jack looked carefully ahead full of wariness and he saw the shadow was far in front of him still. Not moving even a centimeter, like it was evaluating something.
Just when Jack was thinking he should attack now that the shadow seemed "pondering" the dizziness he felt when he entered this place came again and he was back on the corridor in front of the door.
"Why am I back here?"
Jack was feeling lost, and he didn't understand anything about what happened back there and why he came back here just after receiving a punch.
"Wait a second. Why am I not feeling too much of a discomfort?"
Jack checked himself and he looked perfectly fine even though he just received a punch that almost made him cough blood on the spot. But now he was physically perfect and only a slight headache and slight discomfort was all he felt.
Jack at the door again and tried to open it one more time.
"I wanna know what secrets you are hiding."
The dizziness came again but it was not as bad as the past two times.
"If I keep getting through that door again and again I will end up getting used to this."
And there he was again. Flying amidst the misty place as he was still trying to get used to the movement when the shadow appeared in the front one more time. But this time Jack was prepared for the clash.
"Come on, bring it one more time. See if I don't destroy you."
The shadow shot towards Jack like it was provoked and punched forward again. But this time Jack didn't opt to block, on the contrary, he answered with another punch. Adrenaline bumped through his whole body and he didn't seem to notice the weird pattern the blood was taking through his arm that made the veins on it noticeable at a glance.
Both human and shadow clashed and a huge shockwave resulted from the confrontation. It seemed like the outcome was a stalemate but if one looked carefully, the person would see that Jack advanced maybe a couple of steps while the shadow seemed like it retroceded a couple of them.
Jack grinned and laughingly said. "I win."
But just as he was feeling complacent the shadow moved again and a kick came his way to the stomach.
"Fuck!"
Jack was hit on the stomach like no human had been hit before that he felt like he might just die when the dizziness came again.
And back he was again on the corridor in front of the door with no apparent injuries. But this time it was different. Jack's whole face was pale and he was sweating all over. He understood everything now. Even though every time he came back from the misty place he didn't carry any physical injuries, he was affected mentally. And this time he felt like his mind and soul were being disturbed like never before.
"I can't go in again, if that shadow continues fighting me like that I will die for real. What is the use of the physic if I become retarded or even worse, soulless?"
Jack was gonna give up on this place when he though of something.
"Wait a second. The guy from the last chamber gave me a method to practice mind sense. Since it has the word 'mind' on the name I wonder if it would also strengthen my mental strength and maybe even my soul."
Jack sat down cross-legged in front of the door and started to practice the method that was in his mind when he noticed yet another problem.
"This technique is called 'Bloody Tyrant Technique'. What a beautiful name. And I don't understand any word... It says I should concentrate my qi on my brain and make it flow through a special pattern through all my body. But I don't know what this qi thing is, is it like in those series back on Earth, like an energy or something like that? Argh..."
Jack continued trying to use the method, but he didn't even manage to get the 'qi' to his forehead when some words seemed to come to him from a corner of his mind.
"Qi is the beginning and the end. Qi is everything and nothing. Qi is life and death. Qi is love and hate. Qi is myself."
Just when Jack murmured those words under his breath his veins started pulsating again and he could feel a slight warmth flow through his body following a certain pattern with his brain as the core.
Jack seemed to lose the track of time and space and it seemed like he and the qi on his body were the only things that weren't affected by any laws of the universe on that empty corridor.
And unknown amount of time later Jack opened his eyes again and he felt completely different from before. He didn't know where he was different exactly but his mental strength improved quite a lot and his soul seemed to have also gained some improvement but not so much as his mental strength. It seemed like the soul was really difficult to improve. If only he knew...
Jack looked at the door again and some twinkle like stars on a dark night could be seen on those black eyes that had gained yet another level of depth. It was time for another try.