There are no truly intelligent souls whose thoughts are actually complex. In such circumstances, there was no madness or depression at all—just quietly staring in a fixed direction in the darkness, using the counting learned from humans as a way to pass the time, counting one by one. He didn’t know when he had learned to speak—maybe it was when conversing with the Dominator. Remarkably, he hadn’t made a single mistake in his counting.

When he reached six billion, finally, something changed. In the darkness, he heard a voice ask him, “Do you truly wish to escape this endless journey of life?”

He didn’t know how long it had been, but for the first time, he heard another’s voice. The soul was happy, after all, he hadn’t been forgotten. The voice was not the Dominator, so the lonely soul answered cautiously, “Yes!”

That voice seemed to be laughing, and after laughing for quite a while, it said to him, “You tell the master of life that you want to break free from his control, to become a being that can transcend reincarnation—what do you think he would say?”

These things, Henry Brooks’s soul did not understand, nor did he know why the voice was laughing. Still, he accompanied it with a couple of awkward laughs.

The voice stopped laughing and asked him, “Why are you laughing?”

Henry Brooks’s soul didn’t know either, so he simply replied, “You laughed, so I laughed too.”

The voice fell silent. The soul didn’t know what had happened, but in his simplicity, he didn’t care, and continued counting.

When he reached eight billion, the voice sounded again: “Do you know where this place is?”

“I don’t know!” If someone spoke, the soul would answer; if no one spoke, the soul would count.

“This is the place where the master of life imprisons souls. Here, faced with endless darkness and loneliness, any soul with intelligence would surely collapse from such terrible torment. Without extraordinary perseverance, the only outcome is for the soul to quietly dissipate. Only you, with no other thoughts, have actually passed such a long time by counting one by one. I admire you.” The voice sounded very pleased.

“Oh!” These things didn’t mean much to the soul.

“I am like you, also someone who wanted to defy fate and transcend reincarnation. In my previous life, I failed and was thrown here by the master of life to be punished. The punishment is for the soul to dissipate.” The voice sounded very happy: “But, because of your persistence in counting, I was able to listen to your voice over these thousands of years and not fall into despair. If even a simple soul like you can do this, how could I do worse? Haha! Fortunately, you were here, and I was able to get through this terrible fate. Thank you!”

“No need!” Having someone to talk to was much better than only hearing his own counting. But then, he was startled by what the other said: “Thousands of years?”

“You’ve counted to eight billion, which is about several thousand years.” The voice was very cheerful: “Very soon, the master of life will have no choice but to release you. You are the second one to make it out of here.” The soul was very happy, but still didn’t stop counting.

The voice seemed to be thinking about something. After a long while—by then, the soul had counted another two thousand numbers—it finally spoke: “I’ll be leaving soon. I’ll try to help you with your wish. If you get the chance to reincarnate again, remember what I’ve told you—it will help you with your wish.”

“Okay!” Even though this person would soon be gone too, the soul didn’t sound particularly surprised or regretful. After all, the endless counting here had trained him to remain calm no matter what.

A very awkward passage was recited by that voice, and after one time, he was told to remember it firmly.

How could that be possible! To remember it after hearing it once—he didn’t have that ability. The voice recited it again, and this time, he caught a bit of it. But still not all. The voice was not impatient, and recited it again. Still no, again, still no.

Even Henry Brooks’s soul himself felt he was a bit too slow. But finally, after who knows how many times, he was able to recite it from memory. The voice was very pleased, said a few words of farewell, and then disappeared.

Time passed as always. But now, the monotonous counting became monotonous recitation. The soul, afraid of forgetting the awkward passage, recited it over and over again.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, when suddenly a great light appeared. The Dominator shouted angrily, “Didn’t you want to be human? Go, then!” Before the soul could figure out what was happening, everything went black and he lost consciousness. Gradually, as he regained awareness, he was already inside Henry Brooks’s body.

He had experienced this before. The energy required for a soul’s reincarnation was immense; even after awakening, it could take days, months, years, or even decades to fully awaken. This time, being reborn as a human, it seemed about twenty-some years had passed.

Just as Henry Brooks finished piecing together his memories, the smile on his face hadn’t even faded when Instructor Hack’s large face appeared in front of him again. A booming voice, accompanied by thunderous anger, erupted: “Henry Brooks! Damn it, what’s so funny?”

The smile instantly turned into a crying face. He didn’t know why, but as a soul, during the long imprisonment, he hadn’t really experienced any major emotional changes. Yet, upon awakening, he couldn’t help but display a very human-like personality.