Chapter 6.

Rey had been waken up by a bright light falling on his face. It was already afternoon and the sun was finally able to descend beyond the crown of a tree, thus interrupting the guy's sleep. Opening his eyes, he immediately covered them with his hand, squinting in displeasure.

"I fell asleep ... "

The second chagrin abruptly gave way to almost uncontrollable joy. In theory, he should have already been dead.

"You shouldn't hurry." - a little goofy, turning over the thought behind the thought, argued Rey with himself, - "But what if I was really lucky? After all, they cannot disconnect me from the game, besides, I am abandoned who knows where. It would be foolish to blame it all on the disease. If it had been that case, they wouldn't have been able to connect me at all. "

Rey no longer wanted to go anywhere until he was finally convinced that he would not die.

The guy moved a little to be in the shade of a tree and just began to watch how the sun, like a dumb judge, slowly but surely descends beyond the horizon. Thoughts flashed through his head one by one. Rey tried to find at least one argument that would confirm that he would die soon, but everything would indicate the opposite.

"This is definitely not due to the immersion capsule. It does not introduce the necessary drugs into the body, and with an additional load on the brain and nervous system, from staying in the game, I had to die in the morning. And that means ... "

He considered these things more than a dozen times, but only when the evening came, he once again thought over everything, looked at his hands and began to cry.

"Thanks…"

Aan adult cried like a child, but on his face there was a sincere smile. He had not yet fully realized his situation, but he was incredibly glad that he now had another chance to live. The one who has already accepted the inevitability of death was given the opportunity to start from the beginning, moreover, in such unbelievable conditions.

Rey was happy for a long time, but eventually he began to recover. He still had a lot to think about and it required a calm state.

"This body is immortal, besides it is not aging, this world is not known and free from the usual laws. The game will not last forever, but what does it change? "

Having once again smiled, the guy wiped out another tear and unwittingly caught himself thinking:

"Probably what I experienced was worth this moment. No, it was definitely worth it! "

Rey's grand reflections were interrupted by a rumbling abdomen. He did not eat anything for the whole day, but because of the experiences that had piled on him, he did not even notice it. Laughing loudly, he began to make plans for the near future:

"First of all, I need to find another kuring, I am not a hunter, therefore the ability to eat leaves for the first time will be a salvation. I should also pay attention to my own strength, I almost do not understand how my abilities work. Even at the cost of certain risks, it's worth trying to figure it out. "- thought the guy with a much more serious attitude. Slowly rubbing his chin, he still could not stop smiling blissfully and so peacefully.

The life of a man who has already died continued ...

***

Two hours later, a small brownish animal was already eating a leaf of a tree, which was held in its front paws, behind both cheeks. It was not difficult for a guy to find a kuring soul, these animals slept loudly at night in conditional security on the branches of trees, but during the journey in the form of a small animal, he could more or less understand how they chose their habitat.

Continuing to chew the leaf, Rey was thinking about the things that were going on:

"It's worth killing animals for the absorption of souls, which will help me to deal with abilities. I won't be able to cook the meat properly, it is better to eat the leaves, they even taste good. "

After eating, the guy did not immediately continue the journey, at first he returned to the already familiar clearing, where for some reasons were no animals. He wanted to get a better look at how the features of his race work. Previously, he did not pay special attention to this, because he did not consider it particularly necessary, but now that he has a potentially infinite life ahead of him, the faster he gets used to them, the better.

After spending all night experimenting and observing the souls inside him, he realized several things that he had not noticed before. The main thing was probably the fact that the number of souls that he could now hold in himself was already the maximum. The fact was that the soul of man occupied the biggest share of space in his inner space. This was explained by the fact that it was an order of magnitude stronger than the two souls of small animals, although not so useful. Even its color was slightly different and was a little lighter, although it, too, should be considered gray.

The souls themselves were comparable to the size of the corresponding bodies, but they were surrounded by the smoke that Rey had seen at their death. The space inside the guy's soul was the size of a small room, in the center of which was the human soul. Previously, he did not pay attention, but these auras, which surrounded the soul, do not intersect with each other, which led to the conclusion that there is simply no room for another soul. In fact, it seemed to him that even now the energy surrounding the human soul was shifted to one side so that the other two souls could fit. What to do with it, Rey did not know, because he couldn't manage the souls either. He could observe them and choose the right one, but somehow he could not interact with them.

"There's still too much to deal with."

The guy really had no idea how best he should act to quickly understand the principles of how his abilities work, but this only inflamed his research enthusiasm. Obviously, he had only one thing already known: to advance, you need more souls, which were a little easier to get at night, because he could only hunt kurings effectively.

***

The first rays of the sun penetrated through the thick foliage, illuminating an absolutely naked person, who leaned over the carcass of a dead animal and swallowed the soul that had just flown out of it. During this time, Rey realized something else, absorbed souls of animals reinforce the soul of the same type inside it. For example, after two absorbed souls of kurings, his own soul of this animal grew in size, as did the surrounding area with energy. He also grew up a little in this form, and his body became stronger. Rey was expecting this, after having an experience with tildas, but now he finally became convinced. He also learned that after a certain number of souls absorbed, his soul quinging ceased to become stronger. At first he blamed it on the lack of space in the inner space, but later changed his mind. The energetic envelope of the kuring soul could follow the example of the human soul and simply change the shape to a more compact one. And if you consider that the growth was not so big - about 30%, then the reason was different. Rey explained this in a very simple and logical way - the little ferret simply could not get stronger. Most likely, this was due precisely to the limitation of his body, which could not continue to develop. This did not embarrass the guy, because it was quite correct, besides the souls who did not go on strengthening, did not disappear either. After the absorption of four more souls of kurings, his thirst, accumulated over all time in this world, has practically disappeared. Such an observation brought Rey some satisfaction, not only because he found another way to survive, but mainly due to the fact that now the killing of defenseless animals has acquired a certain meaning. He understood that they are not real, but if he had admitted this, he could not have considered himself real, and he still was rather unpleasant to kill animals. He, who grew up in comfort and coziness, could not just mindlessly crush little kurings.

"I can probably be called an evil character in the game, because I need to kill living creatures in order to develop. Besides, they are so defenseless. "

Catching himself on such an idea, Rey became a little sad, but over time it seemed to him rather a joke. He definitely did not intend to live in the body of a kuring and eat leaves all his life, which means that he will have to continue to kill animals to become stronger. And about how to develop the soul of man, the guy tried not to think ...

Now he has just finished absorbing the soul of the eighth kuring. When it was inside the body, the soul, as he expected, turned into streams of energy, which completely deprived his feelings of thirst and the remnants of fatigue accumulated over a sleepless night. But besides that, he felt some change. What exactly it concerned, he did not immediately understand. The soul of the kuring inside it remains the same as the other two. Having turned into a kuring, he also did not notice anything new. He saw the difference only by checking the status, the ability [Master of Souls] rose to the second level.

"And what has changed?" - the guy's mental question did not receive an answer, and he himself unfortunately could not find the difference. Neither the size of the internal space, nor the appearance of the souls, nor the feeling of them have changed. For some time after watching them, he was a little disappointed. Having decided to postpone this question so far, Rey turned into a tildas. Now he was overwhelmed with energy and unsuccessful experience of the last flight, but now the guy was sure that he would not make the same mistake, and he also enjoyed flying and was not going to refuse such an opportunity.

Now Rey was standing on the ground, but he was sure that he would be able to soar. The guy understood the cause of past failures while he was in the air.

As expected, albeit slightly awkward, but he managed to take off. Gaining height, he went all the same - to the west.

Over the course of an hour, Rey gained some courage in the air and moved from a flight in a straight line to certain turns, which were supposed to improve his coordination in the air. To his own surprise, he remarked that it was not so difficult, and his fears were pointless. The control over the wings became better and better, and the feeling of awkwardness and uncertainty that had arisen earlier gradually disappeared. Half an hour later, he descended to the trees and, slightly slowing down, tried to fly between them.

When Rey was able to do this, although not without difficulty, he became even more confident, but he decided to finish it because of mild fatigue. He did all this in order to be able to escape in the future if the need arises, yet the bird's form was best suited for this. Plus it was quite fun.

Now he was flying around a small clearing in the forest, trying to figure out whether there are other animals nearby. Rey was about to come the same place where he had previously met a gray predator who reminded him of a lion, so he was careful. Making sure that no one was around, he tried to hang in one place. The smooth flapping of the wings grew slower and slower. The guy did not wait for landing and took the form of a man, deftly landed on thick grass. Going up to a tall tree, he turned into a kuring and climbed on it. Rey decided to move forward only in the form of a bird, because it was effective. He wanted to find the end of the forest or at least other animals.

"Interesting, was I accidentally thrown here? If you think about it, then there are almost no dangerous animals, besides that glade ... "

Rey had some suspicions, but he could not confirm them, so he didn't worry about it for long. He decided to spend this time to rest in order to find out what has changed with the growth of the [Lord of the Soul] level.

All that a guy knew was the name of the ability and he logically suggested that it allows him to absorb the soul. The only rule that he could understand was that the level rose after the tenth soul he had absorbed, although this could be a coincidence. As before, Rey did not notice any visual differences, but as he tried to move his souls, he sensed the difference. Though he could not move them inside himself, but something was still happening to them.

Focusing on the soul of the kuring, Rey tried to understand what was happening to her now, the whole soul trembled, but did not move from one place to another. The guy was persistent and after a few seconds, the soul with a faint glitter of light disintegrated into familiar streams of energy and disappeared into his body.

"Eh?"

At first Rey was surprised, because such an improvement in ability was strange. It seemed to allow the destruction of existing souls. After a little thought, Rey still admitted that the ability was very useful. It not only provided an opportunity to get the energy necessary for life, but the main thing is to replace one soul with another. Being pleased with the new acquisition, he waited a little longer, turned into a tildas and continued on his way.

"I wonder how many souls are needed to raise this ability to the third level? And how to improve [Multifaceted]? I suppose that the size of the internal space depends on it? "

Unfortunately, he could find out the answers to these questions only after practicing.

And now, the rising sun shone all over the tildas flying above the still endless forest.