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

was able to quickly adjust himself to as he had long been accustomed to such darkness no thanks to

"Hm?"

was then that found that he was unable

immediately became alert. However, that did not last for

"Ren! Kevin!"

shouted at the top of his

as he remembered the events leading up

drugged me, didn't

Let me go

again shouted as he lied

get mad if they didn't let him

till I get out of here! I'll fucking kill

loud shouts he let out were greeted with silence,

"Bastards!"

He could even feel some of his spit land

then, he was met with no response...forcing Jin to

a couple of times, he

"Haaa...haa…"

wait you

calmed down and observed the area he

inside of what appeared to be a small, rocky room that was covered in some

the corner, there was a

Drip— Drip—

dropping sound of the water falling brought calmness

his brows, Jin wondered

'What's going on?'

"Huh? My mana?"

was then that he 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 realized that he truly couldn't feel

to that, he couldn't feel his dimensional ring on any of his

instantly rang inside

This…

little bit too strange for a prank that Kevin and Ren would pull. Maybe not for Ren,

would never go as far

soon finally dawned on him that this perhaps have

stopped speaking and focused all

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

***

'I can feel something.'

through my body, my eyes lit

me. It wasn't long before I could finally fully

inside of my mind as I waved my hand

I cant

spread across my face as

"Thank god..."

quietly murmured d

end, it took me a total of four hours to get my arm moving again, but instead of being annoyed by the thought, I was happy as I closed my

my mind as I focused all of my attention

as there was

"Ugh."

the process was anything but easy as a weird tingling sensation circulated around my body,

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

'This sucks.'

as I fell in

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

shouldn't be too big considering

thoughts, I heard

Clank—!

"Ukh!"

weird mucus-like substance fall all over my body,

"What's this!?"