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?"

His groggy and tired voice echoed out. Opening his eyes, all that he saw within his vision was darkness.

A darkness which he was able to quickly adjust himself to as he had long been accustomed to such darkness no thanks to his strict training.

"Hm?"

It was then that found that he was unable to move his body.

With wide open eyes, his mind immediately became alert. However, that did not last for long as his brows knit.

"Ren! Kevin!"

He shouted at the top of his lungs as he clenched his teeth tightly.

Jin felt boiling rage rise from within him as he remembered the events leading up to his awakening.

'Those bastards fucking drugged me, didn't they!?'

"What did you guys do to me!? Let me go this instant before I get mad!"

He once again shouted as he lied in his sentence.

He wasn't going to get mad if they didn't let him go as he was already mad.

'Just wait till I get out of here! I'll fucking kill you both!'

The loud shouts he let out were greeted with silence, as he felt his anger boiling over.

"Bastards!"

He shouted once more as the veins on his neck protruded and his face reddened. He could even feel some of his spit land on his face as he spat out those words.

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

Blinking his eyes a couple of times, he took heavy breaths.

"Haaa...haa…"

'Just you wait you fuckers.'

Jin inwardly cursed as he finally calmed down and observed the area he was in.

Suddenly, Jin realized he was lying inside of what appeared to be a small, rocky room that was covered in some sort of strange moss.

By the corner, there was a small section where water dripped down.

Drip— Drip—

The rhythmical dropping sound of the water falling brought calmness to his mind.

With a knit of his brows, Jin wondered to himself.

'What's going on?'

"Huh? My mana?"

It 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 his mana and his heart quickened.

Further adding to that, he couldn't feel his dimensional ring on any of his fingers.

Alarm bells instantly rang inside of his mind.

This…

This seemed a little bit too strange for a prank that Kevin and Ren would pull. Maybe not for Ren, but knowing Kevin well, Jin knew that something was up with the situation.

He would never go as far as this.

It soon finally dawned on him that this perhaps have not been a prank.

Thus, closing his eyes he stopped speaking and focused all of his attention on his body.

'Whether this is a prank or not, the first thing I need to do is make my regain the senses of my body.'

***

'I can feel something.'

Feeling a small electric current flow through my body, my eyes lit up.

When 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 fully feel my senses grow back as I slowly raised my hand in the air.

I rejoiced inside of my mind as I waved my hand in front of me and felt the air on my face.

'It's working! I cant finally move my arm!'

A relieved smile spread across my face as I took notice of this fact.

"Thank god..."

I quietly murmured d to myself.

In the 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 for my other arm as well.

Hope rekindled inside of my mind as I focused all of my attention on the muscles of my body.

As long as there was progress...

"Ugh."

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

There wasn't anything painful about it, but I felt as though a thousand feathers were tingling all over my body, trying to disrupt my concentration.

'This sucks.'

I thought to myself as I fell in and out of concentration several times.

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

'It appears that I am in a small room. The size shouldn't be too big considering the sound coming from the water dripping from the side, even then…'

In the midst of my thoughts, I heard an unexpected rustic metallic sound coming from above.

Clank—!

"Ukh!"

Falling to the ground, I felt a weird mucus-like substance fall all over my body, startling me.

"What's this!?"

As I smelled the substance, my face contorted and my head recoiled.

'It smells like rotten eggs.'

My stomach churned at the smell and I almost felt myself throwing up at the moment.

But…

Clenching my teeth, I stopped breathing through my nose and continued to focus my attention on my body.

Something told me that the substance was supposed to be my food…

I really hope it wasn't.

***

"W..what is happening?"

Flustered, Kevin continued to stare at the interface in front of him as his attention was currently drawn to the dots on the map.

The shock Kevin was experiencing was palpable as he covered his mouth with his hand unable to utter a single word.

He just couldn't understand how everything had turned out to be this way.

"…J..ust how is it possible for everyone to be here?"

He really couldn't understand it. Unless he directly opened up a portal for them, it was practically impossible for them to be here. There was definitely something weird about the situation.

However, Kevin wasn't one to remain flustered for long as he soon calmed down.

Taking a deep breath, he analyzed the map in front of him.

"If I want to, I can teleport to anyone right now."

Given that his skill enabled him to teleport to anyone he wanted, Kevin was tempted to just teleport his way toward where Ren and Jin were.

However, he soon shook his head.

"The two of them don't seem to be in any danger at the moment as their vitals seem to be okay. If I recklessly teleport myself to them I may put the both of them and me in danger."

If he suddenly appeared out of nowhere during a fight, disrupting their concentration and resulting in injury, how would Kevin ever forgive himself?

It was at that moment that a dot appeared next to them, and Kevin's brows knit together.

"...it also looked like they were with Emma at the moment."

Sort of.

Jin's, Ren's, and Emma's dots were all moving in the same direction, making Kevin sigh in relief.

"It looks like Emma will be alright."

With Jin and Ren with her, Kevin didn't have to worry about her safety.

That being said.

His brows soon knit as he stared at the two other dots.

Amanda and Melissa.

Just like Jin and Ren, the two of them were quite close to each other.

They weren't exactly as close as Ren and Jin were, but they weren't exactly too far. Perhaps only a few kilometers away.

Unfortunately, as the map Kevin was using wasn't clear at all, he couldn't tell exactly how far they were.

Regardless, Kevin was quick to make a decision.

"I'll go meet up with Melissa and Amanda first."

The reason for his choice was simple. Melissa alone was weak, and although Amanda was quite strong herself, she used the bow, making her short-distance fighting rather weak.

"After I join up with them, I'll join up with Ren and Jin."

Making up his mind, and swiping his hand to the right to get rid of the interface in front of him, Kevin proceeded to head in their direction.

"First target, Melissa."