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?"

eyes, all that he saw within his

as he had long been accustomed to such darkness no thanks

"Hm?"

then that found that he was

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

"Ren! Kevin!"

the top of his lungs as he clenched his teeth

him as he remembered the events leading

drugged

did you guys do to me!? Let me go this

once again shouted as he

going to get mad if they didn't let him

wait till I get out of here!

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

"Bastards!"

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

no response...forcing Jin to calm down and stare

eyes a couple of times,

"Haaa...haa…"

wait

inwardly cursed as he finally calmed down and observed the

to be a small, rocky

corner, there was a

Drip— Drip—

water falling brought calmness

a knit of his brows, Jin

'What's going on?'

"Huh? My mana?"

notice of the fact that there 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 mana

his

bells instantly rang

This…

prank that Kevin and Ren would pull. Maybe not for Ren, but knowing Kevin well, Jin knew that something was

go as

finally dawned on him that this perhaps have not been

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

need to do

***

'I can feel something.'

flow through my body, my eyes lit

I closed my eyes, I repeated the same thing and I felt my arm reconnect with me. It wasn't long before I could finally

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

working! I cant finally

face as I took notice of this

"Thank god..."

murmured d

again, but instead of being annoyed by the thought,

all of my attention on the muscles

long as there was

"Ugh."

easy as a weird tingling sensation circulated around my body, creating a

I felt as though a thousand feathers were tingling all over my body, trying

'This sucks.'

I fell in and

around me, enabling me to get a rough idea of where

that I am in a small room. The size shouldn't be too big considering the sound coming from the water

midst of my thoughts, I heard

Clank—!

"Ukh!"

a weird mucus-like substance

"What's this!?"