In the middle of a dense green forest, Michael's eyes fluttered open. He sat up and bewilderedly looked at the trees around him. He took in the somewhat familiar view of the tree crowns above as well as the brown soil under him. Yet somehow, it felt different this time.
Didn't I die? Wasn't this infinitely long nightmare over? Did I fall asleep and dream of my death? Countless thoughts surged through his mind in an instant. No, something must have happened.
He looked at the sky to see the confirmation of his imagination. One of the constants of his life. The thing he stared at almost every day. The big gray number in the sky displaying the remaining participants. But something was clearly wrong, as he could not find the big "3" from his sitting position. And suddenly, Michael was as awake as never before in his life.
In the brink of a second, he flew over the trees to look at the sky. No number.
He closed his eyes and opened them again. No number.
He flew to a higher altitude to see the whole planet. No number.
It's gone. Michael thought. Does that mean... Eulers trial is over? Did everyone else die, and I survived??? Is this real life? Is this reality? Is it finally over?
Michael took one deep breath, trying to feel the strong spiritual energy of the planet, but instead had a coughing fit. This air only has a tiny portion of spiritual energy. The air here is so dirty. This is not the Immortal Spirit Farm!!
As Michael continued his thought process, while also testing and confirming that this situation was not a dream, a smile formed on his lips and became brighter and brighter. He was so overwhelmed with positive emotion that he started to dance like an uncontrolled drunk with too much energy at an electro rave. He swung his arms around uncontrollably and jumped side to side with his legs while shaking his whole body. From an outside perspective, it looked like he was about to die of a spastic seizure.
While moving his whole body, he suddenly spotted something and stopped dancing at once. Just about 100 meters away from him, a woman was lying on the ground, unconscious. She had long golden hair and emerald eyes. She wore golden attire accentuated with jewelry. Her face looked stunning, and in combination with her curvaceous body, she looked like the most beautiful person Michael had ever seen. She looked around 20 years old, with a height of around 1,70 meters.
Is this... a person? A real human being? The first person I met after I escaped this torture. This is another proof! This is real! I am not alone anymore! This world is populated!
Michael walked closer to the woman and was about to wake her up to start his new life in the real world when he suddenly looked at himself and shook.
He still looked exactly the same as he did before escaping Eulers trial. 1,80 meters in height, no hair on his entire body, including his shiny head, and no clothes on his clean-looking body.
He instantly jumped back and created some distance. That was close. I need to make a good impression on my first real social interaction since my previous life.
So to do just that, he let his hair grow back instantly. Now he only had to take his clothes out of his storage ring, put them on, and he would look like a normal human again. But as he tried to take out his clothes, he suddenly realized... My storage ring is gone? What can I wear now? I guess I need to make something out of the trees.
So he made himself provisional clothes from leafs and twigs. He wore it and looked like a human from the Stone Age. No, I need to make something better. This looks like I just came out of my cave. I need to find something to...
"Hello, can you tell me where we are?" He heard the voice of a woman and turned around. Now in front of him stood the same woman who had been lying on the ground before. Even though she laid in the dirt, she did not look dirty at all and gave off an otherworldly vibe. He was shocked that such a beautiful woman could exist in any world.
"Ähm... ah... I don't know. Do you know?" "No, that was why I was asking you. To be honest, I don't really know how I ended up he... Wait, this forest is... Wait one second." The woman, who looked lost and surprised at first, suddenly flew away at unimaginable speed and left Michael wordless.
What was that? This conversation was the worst one of all time. But it doesn't matter, my first out of many conversations with real people. I can train myself later. First, I need to refine my clothes.
As Michael turned around in search of material for his clothes once again, he heard a familiar voice say, "It really is where I came from. It is just as they said. But then why...?" She looked somewhat happy but also lost in thought until Michael interrupted, "Where you came from? Just as they said? Please explain yourself," Michael said.
"Ähem, excuse me for leaving so suddenly, you might not believe me, but I just got back to my home planet after spending too many years to count somewhere else where I didn't want to be." After saying that and quickly looking at Michael in his Stone Age dress, she continued. "Oh, sorry, you probably don't know what planet means. It is basically a big..." "Stop!!!" Michael shouted. "I know what a planet is. I may look like a Neanderthal, but I'm a human of the modern society. But that is not important, I'm more interested in what you said before. You were not on your own planet just before this. Why?" Michael asked, as he had an unimaginable thought in mind.
"I got stuck in a trial. I had to be the last alive to return here, but something unexpected happened, and I got here anyway."
Michael raised his eyes at that. "Somewhere completely different, and you could not get out?" "Yes, as I said." "We.. Wer... Were you at Eu Eu Eulers trial too???" Michael asked.
The woman widened her eyes as well and looked at Michael in astonishment. "Yes! Were you there as well?" she said in a low voice, taking a step forward. Tears started to form in Michael's eyes. "So you were one of the three last survivors?" He also walked closer. "Yes, did you also suffer all those years?" asked the woman with tears in her eyes. "Yes," Michael replied in a bearly audible voice as they slowly walked closer to each other, until standing right in front of each other.
Both of them immersed in the memories of the time they spent in the nothingness of Eulers trial, looked into each other's eyes, and saw the same hopelessness of the last 1 billion years while also seeing the glint of happiness of it all being over.
At the same time, they took each other in an embrace and hugged while crying the long, dried-up tears of all those years they spent inside their lonesome world. They hugged and cried.
As they cried, they thought about all the times they wanted to die and couldn't. Michael thought about his attempts to kill himself and his hopelessness of the long, lonely wait of 1 billion years. All culminating in this moment where he was free again.
The golden haired woman went through a similar fate as me. Judging by her crying, it was just as hard for her as it was for me. This is someone like me, someone I can intrust my deepest feelings to.
They nourished from each other's embrace for a long time, while crying their eyes out.
The moon was already up and shined on the dark forest where two people first met but knew each other's pain more than anybody else ever could. They slowly let go of each other, as they had spent all the tears of the past.
"What is your name?" The woman asked after spending the whole afternoon in silence. "I'm Michael," he answered. "My name is Guang Jinzi from the Guang family. You can call me Jinzi." Guang Jinzi said. "Are you also from Chuxue, or why are you here?" she continued. "Chuxue? Is that a country? I'm not from this planet at all. I come from a planet called Earth and didn't even know about other intelligent life outside of Earth until the trial. And also, I always thought the other participants were aliens, but it turns out another human made it to the end."
Now it was Guang Jinzi's turn to be confused. "Chuxue is the name of our planet, and I also never knew of other worlds before Eulers trial, but what is an alien, and what did you mean by another human? Shouldn't this trial be only for humans, or did you think they would let spirit beasts participate? This does not make sense."
"You don't know what aliens are?" Michael looked at her dumbfounded. Shouldn't everyone think about the possibility of aliens at least once in their lives?"Aliens are basically lifeforms from other planets than your own. Since the genetic development on different planets that harbor what is necessary to produce life should be different, there should logically be other lifeforms than humans on other planets. So regarding the trial, it should be obvious that aliens are the main source of this trial. How else do you explain all that talk about cultivation and the apparently different planets and participants from all over the universe?" Michael explained.
"I just realized," Michael continued, "since we are from different planets, that means technically you are an alien to me and I'm an alien to you. But at the same time, we are both humans. Isn't that impossible? And how do we speak the same language? It doesn't make any sense. I'm confused."
"Can you please stop talking about aliens, lifeforms, and languages?! I believe that there are only humans and beasts. That is all I ever heard about. Also, there is only one language, nothing more. I will only change my view once I see one of those aliens you are talking about. Lastly, cultivation is practiced on this planet as well. It has nothing to do with aliens. Can there even be a world without cultivation?" Guang Jinzi hmpfed.
Michael took a deep breath, not wanting to anger the narrow-minded beauty. "It seems like our conversation got quite out of track. So any more questions, tips, or tricks for me living on your home planet?" He tried to change the topic.
"Yes, first of all, don't talk about other worlds or aliens if you don't want to make people believe that you are crazy, and yes, I have a question. How did you end up here? I got my invitation to the trial right here in the forest from an unfathomable cultivator. The trial said that you would return to where you came from after completing the trial. I got back to the exact spot where I came from, so why are you here if you didn't come from this planet?"
At her words, Michael thought back to his scam mail invitation as well as the explanation of Eulers trial. "You are right. How did I end up here? I should be on Earth, so why am I not? I thought that the collapsing dimension or whatever the error message said was the reason I ended up not on Earth but here, but why are you at your starting point then?"
"Well, anyway, my life before wasn't so great either, so I just have to accept being here for now. I would like to see my family, but I have no idea how to get to Earth."
At the word family, Guang Jinzi's eyes widened. "Oh, I completely forgot my family is in danger. I need to save them now. I only accepted the invitation to the trial after the elder cultivator promised me the power to overturn the situation in my family if I survived the trial. I need to go and save them."
"Wait," said Michael. "I want to meet you again. After all, you are the only person I can relate to and who understands me. Also, I want to get revenge for myself and let the creators of the trial suffer just as much as we have. Where can I find you?"
"I will go for now to save my family, but after that is done and they are all safe, I don't mind taking revenge with you. Just remember, we know what despair is, and we know what is needed to be happy. Revenge is good, but it is important to enjoy your own life. If you want to find me, go to the Dingjian continent and search for the Guang family's main branch. It should not be hard to find me if you ask others from the continent." Guang Jinzi said.
"Oh, don't worry," Michael answered. "I know exactly what to do. Revenge is just something that can be done on the side. The most important thing is to enjoy our new life, since we know how hopeless life can be. I will look for you after having some fun and exploring this world. If I come looking for you next time, I hope we can travel together."
"I would like that as well, you are, after all, one of two people who suffered the same fate and came out alive." Guang Jinzi said and continued, "I will wait for you at my family grounds. Until then, remember: The experience we gathered is like a lantern in your back. It always only illuminates the part of the journey that we have already completed." And with that, Guang Jinzi flew away into the night sky.
"Wow," Michael couldn't help but say out loud. "What a first conversation," Michael said, and for the first time in forever, he laid on the ground with a smile on his face and fell asleep.
10 minutes later:
"Hey, wake up." Michael continued sleeping. "Wake up!" Michael wanted to keep sleeping, but the voice was very loud. He continued to lie down with closed eyes. "Wake up you stupid, drug-addicted, bald, pervert!!!" an annoyed female voice yelled.
Michael shot up in shock. "What do you mean drug-addicted, bald, pervert?" He looked around the dark forest but could not see any human life. "Where are you, and why do you call me that?" He yelled.
"I mean what I see. You join my world, plant drugs, get high, try to destroy me, lose hope, get bald, throw away all your clothes, and ask me about the rules infinite times. What else are you?" Someone said seemingly directly into his head.
Michael jumped in surprise at what the female voice said. "You, you are Siri, the world spirit?"
"Yes, that's me, your awesome world spirit, but my name is not Siri. I'm Iris, remember that." Iris said, "And you don't need to talk out loud, just think about what you want to say and concentrate those thoughts into your sea of consciousness."
"Ok, ähm, Iris. How did you get that name again? Is it really just Siri spelled backwards? Whatever, does not matter. First, why did your voice change? Why can you talk freely? And most importantly, why are you here? And where are you? You the planet?", Michael asked still out loud.
"Don't talk out loud!" Iris yelled and continued. "And yes, Iris is your stupid name backwards, and yes, I gave it to myself after you named me. And this is my real voice. Before Eulers trial, I was just freshly born as a new world but got forced to work by some stupid cultivators who called themselves the "Eulers trial council", and I had no choice but to recite the rules to whoever would choose my world. They even put up rules as to what I can and can't say, while also changing the way my voice would sound while communicating to my participant." Iris said.
"They also promised me that if my world wasn't chosen, I would be free to exist as a new planet somewhere far away from the trial. I was very happy at the prospect, since my planet is only good for planting and growing seeds, I thought nobody would choose me." Iris stopped at that moment. "Then somebody had the very great idea to choose me to grow some plants. And with that not being enough, this stupid person constantly asked for the rules and made me work day and night."
"Hey, I'm sorry, I thought you were just some kind of robot voice. How could I know you had feelings? I was just bored, so I wanted to hear a voice, even if it was just a robotic voice reciting the rules. Also, I wasn't stupid for choosing you. I survived after all." Michael replied.
"I'm a true world spirit. I have feelings and even a real body. I have eyes, ears, and everything else a normal human has. After I was born, I modeled myself after a female human after all."
Michael suddenly widened his eyes as he thought back to what Iris was saying in the beginning: "Does, does that mean you could hear and see everything I did? Even now... Did you see everything I did today?" He stuttered.
Iris laughed "Yes, I saw your humiliating dance and the failed conversation opener. I also saw all the embarrassing stuff you did during the trial. It was, honestly, quite funny to watch. Especially the drug phase, ahh that takes me back. I remember laughing nonstop as you talked to your self-made wood statues."
Michael got bright red at remembering everything she saw. "I did what I had to do to kill time and survive. The drug idea got me through the first phase of this trial. I regret nothing! Äh, maybe I regret it a little after knowing somebody saw it all. Anyways, why are you here and where are you, Siri?"
"Hey, call me Iris!" Siri yelled but became awkward at answering the question. "Well, you see, as the dimension of the trial collapsed, I thought you... I mean, we... I... I thought I would die, so I took some risk to get us out of there. The formations around the planet binding us to it got destroyed by the collapsing dimension, so I wanted to teleport us out. And well, the end result is quite... unlucky, I would say. Let's just say I couldn't get us out together, so I merged myself into your sea of consciousness to teleport us out of the collapsing dimension. The planet you call Immortal Spirit Farm is now a world within your sea of consciousness. My spirit body can enter and exit your mind whenever I want, but the world itself is stuck. But although it is stuck, it can still be used as a farm if you plant seeds inside. The plants that come out will be the same as if you grow them outside. So I still "saved" you, and you can still use my world, so don't be too angry." Iris said in a guilty voice.
Michael was dumbfounded. "So to get this straight, you "saved" me from the collapsing dimension, and without you, I would probably be on Earth right now. You somehow managed to plant yourself in my mind, and you are stuck inside it and only your spiritual body can leave. At the same time, the world is somehow still usable to grow seeds, and I can retrieve the grown plant?"
"Mostly correct, except I only tried to save myself, not you," Iris argued.
Michael couldn't believe it. The Immortal Spirit Farm itself tried to save him, without him even needed to be saved. Without the intervention he would probably be by his familiy now.
But just as he was about to snap at Iris he realized: That's right, my life before Eulers trial was boring aswell. To just go back to such a live... Isn't it better like this? A fresh start without responsibilities and chores. A life where I myself can decide what I want to do, and a life where I can finally have fun. I can return to my family later, for now I will enjoy myself.
As Michael had those thoughts in mind he finally got back to Iris not wanting to make a big deal of his fortune or misfortune.
"Yeah, whatever. Since I'm free and you wanted to save me, sorry yourself, I will just skip the part where I get angry at you for completely altering my future life and get to the other stuff. So how do I get something physical inside and outside of this world?"
Iris sighed with relief after hearing that he didn't mind too much. "It depends. Everything that has awakened a sentience like normal humans, spirit beasts, and others, can enter through contacting your spirit with their spirit. Normal seeds, plants, and normal objects need to enter there directly. Meaning, you have to eat them, then, after they are inside your body, I can put them into the world. If you want to retrieve them from the world, you have to, well, you have to kind of choke them back out through your mouth, get them out through one of your other body openings."
Michael coughed at just thinking about that. "So I have to eat seeds and choke out plants for this to be useful. Don't even think about the other body openings. I think I would rather just not plant anything."
"Well, one advantage I have is that there is still a fraction of the time-altering formation around me. Time within the planet moves faster, so you can harvest a lot faster. I don't know the exact time difference, but it should be more than you need to consider gagging up some plants. And I can even alter the time difference after finding out what the difference really is."
"You can alter time? How do you know enough about formations to temper with a formation as complex as this?" Michael asked.
"I didn't stay idle these past 1 billion years either. I too cultivated my spirit, learned techniques, and mastered formations. Otherwise, how could I even do something as ridiculous as merging myself into your sea of consciousness? I especially focused on formations since they even kept someone like you from escaping. Although I have to say it was quite stupid of you to not escape those formations with your power. You just had to punch the right target with all your might, and you would have destroyed the formations, becoming free." Iris said, remembering how she was screaming at Michael to finally punch the formations to destroy them while she could not get through to him.
Michael nearly fainted at that. "I just had to hit empty space, and I would have escaped? Ah, it doesn't matter. I'm free now. I totally don't want to punch my past self in the face for that. ahhahahah." "Just punch your current self," Iris interjected smugly. "Just shut up!" Michael rebuked.
"Ok, back to the important part. The last part can be forgotten and never be brought up again." Michael continued, "Let's say I would want to grow crops and choke out the plants. Who takes care of the plants? Since I am definitely done with gardening."
"Well, technically, I could do it, but I won't. I have better things to do. But there shouldn't be a problem, just ask around. Your girlfriend told you this is a world of cultivators remember? The spiritual energy within me is much higher than anywhere else on this planet. You can connect to their spirits and let them enter the world. They take care of the plants and cultivate themselves to new heights. It's a win-win."
"Yes, you are right. The person I just met and is not my girlfriend and should not be called as such: Jinzi, mentioned that this is a world filled with cultivators. I wonder how different this world will be from my home. And regarding your idea, we can try it, but hopefully I won't even need new plants. I really don't want to gag them up."
Iris responded with a laugh "Don't worry, I will be there to watch you. How about you explore this world now? I was also bored with your constant lazing around during trial time. Go ahead and find something fun. I want to see Goldie's world."
"Goldie?" Michael questioned. "Yes, the gold-haired girl you just hugged for half a day while crying. Her name is weird and hard to remember, so I call her Goldie, since I can't call her your girlfriend."
"Yeah, her name is weird, but I won't forget it. Guang Jinzi is, after all, the person who went through the same shit as me. So I can't forget her name."
"Oh yeah, how precious. You and Goldie are so sweet together: Oh my god, I'm about to cry... No I'm not. I might have to watch a love drama while being with you."
"If you hate it so much, why don't you explore by yourself."
"Hmpf, I would, but even if I go out in my spirit body, I can't stay too far away from you."
"Really, what is your range?"
"About 100.000 km."
"So you could go alone."
"Whatever, it's a hassle. I stay with you. But not because I like exploring with you."
"Ok, I understand. I understand that you fell in love with me at first sight and can't accept your own feelings. It's fine, I can explore with you if you can't bear to part ways." Michael said in a melancholic tone.
"You!" Iris screamed in his head, and Michael suddenly felt a fist strike his head from above, but as he turned up his head, there was no fist to be seen. "Did you just hit me?" he asked in his mind. "Yes, and I will continue to hit you if you don't get going." Iris fumed in his mind. "Ok princess, I will get going now." "Better," Iris said angrily.
And so Michael finally moved after returning to the world outside of Eulers trial. He is now in complete freedom. And with his new companion within his mind: The Immortal Spirit Farm, he was about to start his real adventure. But just as he took a few steps into his new life, a loud voice resounded through the forest: "Halt!!"
Michael turned around and thought. Really? Even more dialog? Is this the second part of the trial where I can't have time alone?