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?"

echoed out. Opening his eyes, all that he

adjust himself to as he had long been accustomed

"Hm?"

found that he

immediately became alert. However, that did not last for long as his brows

"Ren! Kevin!"

at the top of his lungs as he clenched his teeth

boiling rage rise from within him as he remembered the events

bastards fucking drugged me, didn't

guys do to me!? Let me go this instant before

again shouted as

mad if they didn't let him go as he

I get out of here! I'll

out were greeted with silence, as he felt his

"Bastards!"

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

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

eyes a couple of times, he took heavy

"Haaa...haa…"

wait

down and

was lying inside of what appeared to be a small, rocky room that was

corner, there was a small section where water dripped

Drip— Drip—

dropping sound of the water falling brought calmness to

of his brows,

'What's going on?'

"Huh? My mana?"

no mana inside of his body. Closing his eyes to see if there was something

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

instantly rang inside of his

This…

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

would never go as far

dawned on him that this perhaps have not been a

he stopped speaking and focused all of his attention

thing I need to do is make my regain the senses of

***

'I can feel something.'

electric current flow through my body,

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

my hand in front of

working! I cant finally move my

smile spread across my face as I

"Thank god..."

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 eyes once again and repeated the same process

as I focused all of my attention on

as

"Ugh."

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

thousand feathers were

'This sucks.'

myself as I fell in and out of concentration several

to the darkness around me, enabling me to get a

room. The size shouldn't be too big considering the sound

the midst of my thoughts, I heard an unexpected rustic metallic sound coming

Clank—!

"Ukh!"

mucus-like substance fall all over my body, startling

"What's this!?"