Survive in the parallel world, please!

241 Survive the mana season, I beg you! part As soon as the first drop of the reddish liquid touched his tongue, it disappeared. Ryu’s body absorbed it as if by magic.

The blood herb allowed the patient to recover an incredible amount of blood, but it didn’t restore their health points and it did nothing to close the wounds either.

Ryu’s life was still in danger and Saba was well aware of the situation. They needed to perform a surgery to close his wounds, but doing so would reduce Ryu’s health points even more and force him to spend energy he didn’t have.

Anne, Sera and Athela waited outside the medical hut crossing their fingers in hopes for positive news, but time passed and no one came outside. At first they were worried, then impatient and after a while they fell asleep despite the heavy rain pouring down on them.

The wooden platform above wasn’t made with the intention of covering the rain, on the contrary, it was built with the idea of letting natural light in.

Lea and Risa, the only other humans from Ryu’s party, were also being tended on the medical hut. They were moderately wounded, sick and above all, they were extenuated after the long trip under the inclement weather.

The first one to recover was Risa, but as soon as she woke up they took her outside the medical hut so there wasn’t much she could tell the girls about their friend’s condition. Instead, she told them everything she could about their travel, from the moment Ryu found them.

Sera couldn’t believe the incredible adventure they had been on. At first she was mad at Ryu for leaving her behind, but after a while she pondered if she would have been able to survive that long. She was a powerful magician and her physical stats were nothing to scoff at, but compared to Risa and Ryu she was really weak.

Goblins were able to survive on their way back thanks to the help of Lea and the others, but also because they were able to rest before coming back. Ryu, instead, wasn’t able to rest nearly enough since he spend a long time traveling from the village and then back.

.....

If she had gone with him she would have been nothing but a nuisance and a burden for the group.

Anne, instead, sobbed uncontrollably and didn’t say a word.

While that happened, Ryu had long lost his consciousness. His mind was was drifting away on the blank pace. Despite being shapeless, Ryu was lost in the feeling of being afloat, he couldn’t tell the passing of time, all he could notice was how sluggish everything felt.

“I’m sorry” Those words muttered by Aruru brought him back to the time he was badly hurt in Ironwoods and he could have sworn he heard the same words. Although he had no memories of what happened inside his mind at that time, he could tell it was something similar because of the oddly familiar feeling he was experiencing.

“Am I still alive? Last thing I remember those idiots were trying to move me while I was...” Ryu couldn’t get to finish that sentence.

“It’s all my fault... you weren’t ready and I’ve put you through so much.” Aruru’s voice became faint, she sounded really sad.

Ryu couldn’t feel his body, but he knew something was wrong the minute he attempted to wake up and was unable to do so. But even though he was in a strange situation, his mind didn’t crumble and he didn’t fall prey to fear. He only wanted to get answers, but Aruru remained silent no matter how many times he attempted to communicate.

The blank space couldn’t be seen or felt with the usual senses, he knew it was way different than the physical world, but he also knew that whatever he did in there could have repercussions on his body. This meant that, as ethereal as it could be, there was a connection between the two planes of existence.

Ryu focused on whatever he could sense and he was glad to discover that sense presence, or something similar, was still working. At first, separating his own existence to that of the others was a difficult task, but after a long period of concentrating on that he acquired a new skill called sense of self.

There wasn’t a message or a voice inside his mind, there was neither any visual indicator that he acquired said skill, but somehow he knew it was available for him now. The skill seemed useless, but it provided Ryu some much needed information.

He felt himself as a small, wounded creature, hurt beyond recognition. He couldn’t see himself, he simply became aware of his own existence inside that blank space.

He dedicated himself to practice his new skill, without rest or sleep, there was nothing stopping him from doing so and in the end he was able to finally feel the presence of the woman who spoke directly to his mind, the one that claimed to be a goddess.

And she was a goddess indeed. If Ryu saw himself as a small creature it was only because of perspective. The woman was of huge dimensions, so enormous it almost smothered his own presence. Suddenly, Ryu finally experienced something, a warm feeling that surrounded him entirely. The more Ryu was conscious of her existence, the more that feeling spread around him. It was pleasurable, but also scary beyond what words could describe.

“Give up already, Aruru, your champion has fallen and there’s nothing you can do about it. You won’t be getting out any time soon.”

A voice resounded in the abyss.

“Did you come here just to gloat? or could it be you missed me too much? how long has it been?”

“Miss you? don’t make me laugh.” The male voice replied.

Hearing the conversation was like trying to listen to a tune hidden within the sound of a thunder. Ryu’s mind was unable to focus anymore and he fell into a deep slumber.

Days went by, then weeks, then months.

By the time the last human left the goblin city, Ryu was still inside the medical hut and no one knew about his condition.

Athela went back to Celarent, Sera went with her in hopes of finding a way to help Ryu, Anne headed north to look for Bob and Luke and Lea was eventually freed thanks to the major contributions she made to goblin society.

At that point the lights had already disappeared from the sky, giving an end to the strange mana season, but the world would never be the same as before.

Mana spread wildly and the most affected regions were those that usually had thinner mana density, such as the sacred empire. Mana seasons started happening at irregular times on different places, making it impossible to predict them or prepare beforehand. Inexplicable phenomena hit different cities, some of which were completely erased from the maps.

The landscape changed all over the world and new creatures spawned. Magical beasts roamed the land wrecking havoc wherever they went.

Yet Ryu was unaware of the changes that occurred while he was still recovering from his injuries.

Ryu woke up in a white room, it was so neat at first Ryu confused it with the blank space, but as soon as he put his hand in front of his face he knew it was the physical world.

He attempted to stand up, but his body felt encumbered and even breathing was difficult. It took him all his effort just to set his feet on the ground, he felt dizzy and tired already, but his survival instincts kicked in.

Waking up in a strange place like that gave him the chills, he didn’t know what kind of place it was, for all he knew he could have been made prisoner or even worse.

He patted himself trying to reach his soulbound card, if he was in a friendly place the least they could do was to leave it at hands reach. He gasped in surprise when he noticed he was actually completely naked and none of his belongings were nearby.

“Just my luck” he sighed in disappointment.

Suddenly, an image appeared in front of him. It looked like a progress bar and it had a message above.

>System reboot 1%

He blinked twice, thinking that maybe he was hallucinating, but the image didn’t disappear, not even after he rubbed his eyes. It wasn’t bothersome, but it was a strange sensation.

He laid on the bed pretending to be asleep as he regained his energy. He didn’t know if there were enemies nearby, but he knew that he was in no condition to fight even the weakest beast.

>system reboot 6%

The progress bar advanced slowly and it came to a stop after reaching the 10% mark. There was a strange icon on the top right corner, and Ryu curiously focused on it.

>Main Quest: Survive the mana season (completed)