Jack stared at the number of points he had. He now had 20 points. He remembered the patterns the slime does while fighting, maybe now he could start fighting the second level. Jack stared off into the darkness now seeing 46 small specks. Jack feels an even stronger connection with the specks as they shine dimly in the dark sky. Jack stared off into the screen and thought of what he should invest his points in. Jack also feels there is a connection between the specks in the void and soul manipulation stat. Jack decided to spend some points on it. Buying the first upgrade he didn’t feel anything special. Jack spends points on another 2 upgrades for soul manipulation. Jack now has 3 upgrades in it but he doesn’t even feel an ounce of difference between before or after upgrading it.

Jack eyebrows scrunch together, his jaw tightens. He grinds his teeth together as he almost died for those points. 7 points disappeared just like that for 3 upgrades. But maybe it would do something in the future, with the rest of the points Jack has. Jack upgrades all his stats by 1 and even bought healing. A wave of relief and strength seemed to wash over Jack. His muscles bulged, his belly became a little smaller while his legs seemed to look even stronger in some ways. You could see a more defined calf. Jack's eye sight seemed to also become better as he was able to see things further away and see things more detailed. This amazed Jack in many ways as his smile was brighter than ever.

Jack removed his hand from the waystone, his appearance stunned him, all that effort paid off in some ways. But Jack senses an unknown connection to something close to him. Jack looks around turning his head left and right he turns towards the sky but the connections suddenly cut off.

Jack seemed to become more curious as he tried to make sense of what happened. Nothing happened when he invested points into soul manipulation. It couldn't have happened now when he didn’t really do anything but look at his new improved body. Jack wished he had a mirror to see if he can find anything else that may have happened to his body.

Jack wanted to fight again to test his new strength against something new, he couldn’t continue to kill level one slimes as he already memorized their patterns so it wouldn’t be a hard challenge. Jack stretched before placing his hand back on the ruff waystone surface. He focussed on the next level activating the button. The air and atmosphere changed, His breathing became difficult but he had already been through this before. So he was ready. His face showed calmness as he stared at the blue slime that was presented in front of him now. It stood at the same height as the other slime but just a different color. Jack stared at it, just in case it did anything before Jack entered its area of attack which might be different from the other slime. Jack slowly walked towards it as he picked up one of the sturdy branches from the ground. I really need to get a new weapon Jack thought. He inched his way closer to the blue slime, it seemed stronger than the green one it might even give more points. Jack made it a feet away from the waystone, as he decided to rush in. It was only 1 level higher, how much stronger could it be. Each step Jack took left an imprint in the ground, as he was almost upon the slime. The slime made its move. Instead of jumping towards him or spitting any acid. It body morphed into a sharp attack. It frightened Jack as he decided to dodge, Taking a step towards the right. The slime adjusted to what Jack did and transformed a part of its body into another spike sending it towards Jack's face. Jack tilted his head to the left as it grazed the side of his face. Jack moved in step by step, he swung his branch towards the slime, but the slime morphed another part of its body again into a spike that landed dead onto the branch cracking it into half. Jack couldn’t decided how to attack the slime as he backed up. He stood there analyzing the slime, it made no extra movement and stayed in the same stop it was before, maybe the slime couldn’t move but Jack couldn’t see that as a weakness, Jack decided to attack one more time but with his fist. He moved in, lowering the top of his body. His legs were spread apart to get ready to shift his weight to one side of his body to dodge, Jack took a step forward making his way back to the slime, He stretched out his right hand trying to land a hit on it, But the slime transformed the part of the body into a small spike, somehow Jack stopped his attack mid way, as he swung his left hand towards the other side of the slime body. It landed, but it was a jello surface. Jack's attack rebounded backwards. But at least now Jack knows the slime doesn’t have such a fast reaction speed. He just has to stop one of his attacks mid way to and lead the attack with his other fist. This pattern continued as the slime got battered. It seemed to have been weakened a lot as Jack fist was now deteriorated because of the constant punching, which caused damage to his fist. His knuckles were rubbed off, as you could see flesh and blood leaking from his wounds.

Jack needed to work on his stamina as Jack was breathing heavily, his moves were still quite fast but was bringing a burden to Jack's body. Jack now only needed a few more attacks to defeat the slime, as he looked at the slime with determination as he made his way forward. Sending out another punch landing on the side of the slime. The slime let the attack go through as he sent a spike straight towards Jack's chest, Jack moved backwards but he wasn’t quick enough. The blue slime pierce through his flesh as blood was dripping out of his new wound. The pain was agonizing, Jack held his chest with his hand. More blood was slowly flowing through his fingers as he couldn’t stop the bleeding. Every movement made his wound ache. Jack desperately needed to end this fight. Jack moved in as he poured his soul into this attack, when Jack poured everything into this attack something unexpected happened like a calling. Strength began to flow into Jacks body. A sudden boost was all Jack needed, His attack was much faster as it landed dead on the slime. Leaving a gaping fist size hole within the slime, the slime slowly turned into particles that went up into the air.

Jack rushed towards the waystone even if he needed time to rest. Jack's vision was slowly darkening as Jack made it towards the waystone placing his hand on top. His body felt a lot heavier than it was before. The screen showed up as Jack put points into heal. His strength and stamina recovered but Jack still fell to the ground passing out. Jack was unconscious but the island seemed to increase in size but only a little. Another 3 specks appeared in the sky making it 49. But unexpectedly Jack had a smile on his face even though he almost died again.

I wish I could become even stronger and escape from this forsaken place……as those words drifted through his mouth. As all you could hear in this dead silence was Jack's words. He woke up shortly with a refreshed body, He now knows how to attack the blue slime and its weakness with its slow reaction speed. His gaping wound on his chest was now healed completely with zero scars at all. This amazement Jack but what left him in amazement was what happened in that battle. He felt a new sensation of power that could help him in battle. Maybe that's why soul manipulation didn’t do much. It depended on how many specks he had in the sky the more there was the better the effect from what happened earlier. Now all Jack needed to know was how to activate this new power. Jack now knows the specks in the sky are either the monster souls or something related to that aspect.

Jack clutches his fist, his blood pumping as he has finally found a way to increase the chances of living in this place.