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?"

groggy and tired voice echoed out. Opening his eyes, all that

to as he had long been accustomed to such

"Hm?"

that he was unable to

open eyes, his mind immediately became alert. However, that did not last

"Ren! Kevin!"

top of his lungs as he clenched his teeth

felt boiling rage rise from within him as he remembered

drugged

to me!? Let me go this instant before

once again shouted as he lied

get mad if they didn't let him go

of here! I'll fucking kill you

were greeted with silence, as he felt his anger

"Bastards!"

face reddened. He could even feel some

even then, he was met with no response...forcing Jin to calm down and stare at the

couple of times, he

"Haaa...haa…"

you wait

he finally calmed down and observed the area

be a small, rocky room that was covered

corner, there was a small section where

Drip— Drip—

water falling brought

knit of his brows, Jin wondered to

'What's going on?'

"Huh? My mana?"

was no mana inside of his body. Closing his eyes to see if there was something wrong, he realized that he truly couldn't feel his

his dimensional ring

instantly rang inside of his

This…

bit too strange for a prank that Kevin and Ren would pull. Maybe

would never go as far

him that this perhaps have

stopped speaking and focused all of his

not, the first thing I need to do

***

'I can feel something.'

a small electric current flow through my body,

same thing and I felt my arm reconnect with me. It wasn't long before I could

mind as I waved my hand in front of me and felt the air

cant finally move my

relieved smile spread across my face as I took

"Thank god..."

quietly murmured d

instead of being annoyed by the thought, I was happy as I closed my eyes once again and repeated the same process for my other arm

mind as I focused all of my

long as there was

"Ugh."

was anything but easy as a weird tingling sensation

but I felt as though a thousand feathers were tingling all

'This sucks.'

thought to myself as I fell in and out

note, my eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness around me, enabling me to get a rough idea of where I

size shouldn't be too big considering the

thoughts, I heard an unexpected rustic

Clank—!

"Ukh!"

the ground, I felt a weird mucus-like

"What's this!?"