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?"

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

himself to as he had long been

"Hm?"

that he was unable to

became alert. However,

"Ren! Kevin!"

his

boiling rage rise from within him as he

fucking drugged

guys do to me!? Let me

once again shouted as he

if they didn't

I get out of

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

"Bastards!"

on his neck protruded and his face reddened. He could even feel some of his spit land on his face as he spat

he was met with no response...forcing Jin to calm down and stare at

a couple of times,

"Haaa...haa…"

you wait

down and observed the area he

realized he was lying inside of what appeared to be a small, rocky

was a small section

Drip— Drip—

rhythmical dropping sound of the water falling brought calmness

his brows, Jin wondered

'What's going on?'

"Huh? My mana?"

suddenly took notice of the fact that there was no mana inside of his body. Closing his eyes to see if there was something wrong, he

he couldn't feel his dimensional

instantly rang

This…

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

go as

that this

stopped speaking and focused all of his

need to do is

***

'I can feel something.'

through my body,

me. It wasn't long before I could finally fully feel my senses grow back as

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

I cant finally move my

across my face as I took notice of

"Thank god..."

quietly murmured d to

get my arm moving again, but instead of being annoyed by the thought, I was happy as I closed my eyes once again and repeated

all

as there

"Ugh."

anything but easy as a weird tingling sensation circulated around my body, creating a wave of

painful about it, but I felt as though a thousand feathers were tingling all over my body, trying

'This sucks.'

as I fell

slowly adjusting to the darkness around

size shouldn't be too big considering

my thoughts, I heard an unexpected rustic metallic sound coming from

Clank—!

"Ukh!"

to the ground, I felt a weird mucus-like substance

"What's this!?"