The Author's POV

'How long has it been?'

I wondered to myself as I dully stared upwards.

By now, all I could see within my vision was empty darkness. Nevertheless, I continued to keep my focus on my body.

As long as I could move my body...

'The body strengthening method requires me to suffer quite a bit in order to practice it, and at the moment it is of no use to me. However, the very first part of the exercise does not require me to do anything of the sort, since all I need to do is feel my muscles in order to feel the nerve connections to my body which might actually be able to solve my paralyzing problem...'

Focusing my attention on the muscles of my body, I shut my eyes and thought about the martial manual Han Yufei had given me.

With the aid of the chip inside of my head, I was able to somewhat recall most of the most important points of the first technique, body hardening.

'This is my only hope.'

There was only one goal I had at the moment, and that was to move my body again.

Only that way could I figure out what was actually happening to me.

'Now that I think about it, what exactly happened?'

My memories were hazy since all I could recall at the moment was seeing the portal swallow me up with Jin. Everything was sort of a blur as, after that, I had no recollections of anything.

Actually, thinking about it, there was indeed something else.

'I do faintly remember having my body carried somewhere. Did I perhaps pass out during the incident and got taken prisoner by the demons?'

Suddenly, different scenarios began to appear in my mind as my heart slowly sank.

'If that's truly the case, it makes sense as to why I'm here and my mana is sealed.'

Not only that but to have also taken my dimensional space…

The situation was a lot more precarious than I had originally thought.

'What happened to Jin?'

When my thoughts paused there, I suddenly recalled that Jin was beside me right before everything happened, and my eyes immediately darted to my right and left.

I was only able to see darkness at the moment.

I didn't give up though.

As I closed my eyes, I tried to focus on my hearing to see if there was anyone else nearby.

'If I can hear his breathing…'

Drip— Drip—

After a few minutes, I realized I was all alone inside of this space as the only sound I could hear was the sound of the liquid dripping from the side of the room. Its rhythmical drops messed up my concentration several times as my face contorted.

Struggling to hear for the next minute, I eventually gave up.

'Fuck, just what in the world is happening?'

I became frustrated once again as I stopped whatever I was doing and concentrated on practicing the art Han Yufei had taught me.

An impending sense of danger washed over me.

***

"Ugh…"

Jin's mind was currently in a haze at the moment as he could hardly think straight. While his stomach churned, his head throbbed.

"...Where am I?"

out. Opening his eyes, all that

to as he had long been accustomed to such

"Hm?"

then that found that he was unable to move his

immediately became alert. However,

"Ren! Kevin!"

shouted at the top of his lungs

rise from within him as he remembered the events leading up

drugged

guys do to me!? Let

once again shouted as he

going to get mad if they didn't let him go

till I get out of here! I'll fucking

he let out were greeted with silence, as he felt his

"Bastards!"

face reddened. He could even feel some of his spit land on his face as

with no response...forcing Jin to

his eyes a couple of

"Haaa...haa…"

you wait you

down

Jin realized he was lying inside of what appeared to be a small, rocky room that was covered in

corner, there was a small

Drip— Drip—

the water falling

a knit of his brows, Jin

'What's going on?'

"Huh? My mana?"

his body. Closing his eyes to see if there was something wrong, he realized that he

he couldn't feel his

instantly rang inside of

This…

Kevin and Ren would pull. Maybe not for Ren, but knowing Kevin well, Jin knew

would never go

dawned on him that this perhaps have not been

his eyes he stopped speaking and focused all of his attention on his

or not, the first thing I need to do is make my regain the senses of my

***

'I can feel something.'

small electric current flow through my body,

my arm reconnect with me. It wasn't long before I could finally fully feel my senses grow back as I slowly raised

waved my hand in front of me

cant

face as I took notice of

"Thank god..."

quietly murmured

moving again, but instead of being annoyed by the thought,

mind as I focused all of my attention on the

long as there was

"Ugh."

as a weird tingling sensation circulated around my

wasn't anything painful about it, but I felt as though a thousand feathers were tingling all over my

'This sucks.'

fell in and out of

were slowly adjusting to the darkness around me, enabling me to get a rough

be too big considering the sound coming from the water dripping from the side,

thoughts, I heard an unexpected rustic metallic sound

Clank—!

"Ukh!"

felt a weird mucus-like substance

"What's this!?"