Chapter 2: Discovery

John once again woke up to the same scenery again.

'I guess it wasn't a dream anyways… What's wrong with that blue ass hand! I'm still confused with what's going on… wait, where are the other three Retards? Also, my bag and phone magically disappeared… the hand must have stolen it away!'

He decided to make the searching for the three of them a priority, and observed his surroundings in greater detail.

'There are big ass birds flying in the sky in the distance, but I don't actually see any animals coming around this area, why is that so? Well, I guess I'll think about it as I progress.'

'Pant.. pant… searching for them as a top priority might not be a good idea…'

He spent approximately 5 hours trekking through the dense forest, and was starting to get exhausted and thirsty. Luckily, there is a river nearby.

'Lucky!'

He ran towards the river and discovered that the water was crystal clear. Just being around it gave him a sense of ease and vitality. However, he didn't know whether the water was drinkable, as he was used to drinking purified water inside his household, as compared to the untreated water here. Furthermore, everything was foreign and scary to him.

Rustle rustle..

As he was contemplating, he saw bushes shaking in the distance, and to his surprise, a monster came out! It was looking around its surroundings in anxiousness as if it was afraid of encountering something. It was a 3m long bipedal animal with spikes running down from its head all the way to its tail, with small twig arms. Its body was covered in long spiky blue scales, threatening to shred anything that comes into contact with it. There were occasional blue flames spurting around its body as it trudged towards the river and started drinking from it. It looked like a small blue fire T-rex on steroids.

John remained still and observed the animal for a good 10 minutes before it was satisfied with its drink and walked off back to where it came from.

'Holy shit! That monster looked extremely cool and dangerous. There was even fire coming out of its body! Maybe the concept of magic exists in this world? I was almost tempted to shout PokeBall. No matter how I look at it, it looks like I have been transported to another world. Where is my starter town! I'm supposed to be reincarnated as a baby, have genius talents and rule the world with my power, yet I'm still the same as before, and was unwillingly spawned inside a forest… I should try casting some magic later on.'

Grumbling to himself, he also walked towards the river. He took a second glance at the spot the monster was on, and started drinking it. He figured that if the monster could drink it, he could too.

Sluuuurp!

'Woah! This water is so refreshing! I bet I can drink this forever!'

He continued drinking until he had his fill, and plopped down to the ground. Right as he started getting comfortable, he heard some rustling in a nearby bush. He became alert and concealed his body behind a weird looking bush.

"Oh my god, I finally found water!" as a humanoid figure rushed towards the river and started gulping furiously.

John took a closer look and was pleasantly surprised.

"Kano, is that you?"

The figure turned around and replied hesitantly, "...that voice, is that you John?"

The two of them started bursting into laughter as if they were relieved that they were not in this alone, and that they got to meet up with each other.

They caught up on what happened to them ever since they got middle-fingered by the azure hand, and found out that there were two similarities. Firstly, they awoke around the same time. Secondly, there were no monsters in their vicinity.

John wanted to continue their conversation, but he suddenly felt a searing pain in his stomach.

"Ugghh!"

He clutched his stomach and dropped down to the ground, while Kano rushed over.

"John! What's wrong?"

"T-the water… it's p-poisonous.."

He muttered out those weak words as he attempted to combat the pain in his abdomen.

'What? It's poisonous? I filled my entire belly with that very water? Ahh so be it, I'll have a little tummy ache like John is having and I should be fine.'

Very soon, Kano dropped down to the ground and started squirming in pain alongside John.

'What the fuck! I never had such a bad tummy ache before! This is a fresh experience!' Kano thought as he gasped for air.

After 5 minutes of what felt like an eternity, the searing pain in John's stomach slowly subsided, and his expression started to soften.

'I thought that it would've been fine to drink the water since that monster drank it too, but I guess I was wrong. I should be more wary of the unknown.' John took a mental note to himself.

'Hmm but it's kind of strange, why am I feeling stronger and much more energetic?'

Curious about his current physique, he started moving around and testing his movements. As expected, he felt his physical abilities become slightly stronger.

'Perhaps because it's a magical world and everything that exists here consists of mana, to my body that completely lacks mana, it was like poison to me. However, I felt my body become noticeably stronger as the pain in my stomach slowly subsided, so my body might have actually adapted to mana. That's a possible outcome. However, this thinking is too optimistic. I'll need to see how Kano reacts to it to confirm my theory.'

With that said, he sat down beside Kano and watched him as he suffered excruciating pain and rolled around like a worm.

Five minutes turned into ten minutes turned into an hour. John became increasingly worried as Kano's stomachache duration was unbelievably long compared to his own, and the sky was starting to turn dark. It took two hours until Kano's condition finally stabilised.

"Owowow… that was quite painful," whined Kano as beads of sweat trickled down his face.

"How are you feeling? Do you feel yourself becoming more energetic and powerful?"

"No… in fact, I feel weaker than ever before…"

'Damn it! I cannot prove my hypothesis right because his symptoms deviate far too much from mine. Maybe it's because he couldn't adapt to mana which is why he suffered for such a long duration?'

John started to panic as the night fell and their field of vision started to become dark.

Growl…

"Fuck! Was that a monster?" John cursed as he turned to the direction of the growl.

"Relax, I'm just hungry haha."

"Holy, you scared the shit out of me. True enough, I'm also extremely hungry."

"By the way, it's starting to get cold here. Do you know any sort of survival techniques? Like tent building, making fire or whatever nonsense."

"I'm a pampered high school kid just like you, and I'm not a Bear Grylls enthusiast, so I regretfully inform you that I do not know how to do any of those."

"Ahhh. I see. Then what should we do? Simon and Wang Yan are still missing. We gotta find them. I also want to know what happened to our families and other friends."

"That is true, but we need to do something about our conditions first. After all, both of us almost got poisoned to death. I'm already exhausted from overthinking so let's find a shelter to hide in. Hmm, I'm thinking of hiding inside that tree."

John pointed towards a big hollow tree that was 30 meters tall. There was a hole that was accessible and big enough for the 2 of them to fit in. He knew that there were barely any, if not no monsters around the area, so he strutted towards the tree confidently.

"As you wish, Mr. John."

The two retards entered the hollow tree trunk, and as they got comfortable with their positions, they immediately fell asleep. It was no wonder as they had just experienced a whole different world and had not much time to process and absorb what had happened. A good day's rest was what they needed.

'Ugh, it's so bright.'

The glaring morning light shined into Kano's eyes, forcing him to cover the ray with his hands.

'Humuhumu, the scenery is good, the air is fresh; all I need now is a good meal and I'm ready for the day!'

Kano leaped out of the tree trunk, and realized that John was nowhere to be seen. He breathed in a great amount of air, and exhaled.

"Yo John! Where are you at?"

Soon, a running sound could be heard, and John was found panting.

"Stop shouting! We're in unfamiliar territory, so we should be more careful with our actions! Monsters may be attracted by noises, so you need to be quieter. Anyways, I found some fruits here and there from some of the smaller trees nearby. I already ate them; they're delicious and there's no side effects. Have a bite."

'Ahhh, what a good friend I have right here! He brought me food and even warned me for my safety. I shouldn't take his kindness for granted.'

"Also, while you're eating, don't disturb me for a while. I'm trying to do something, and it might help us out later."

"Roger!" replied Kano as he started munching down on the fruits.

As he was eating, he observed John sitting down in a lotus position, with his hands resting on the knees making a weird hand gesture.

'What is he up to?'

Right as he thought that, a strange green aura started to condense around John, and it looked like he was sucking the aura in.

'Holy shit! That's cool as fuck, how did he do that?'

Kano continued munching on the fruits and observing John. After approximately half an hour had passed, Kano finished eating and John also coincidentally finished what he was doing.

"Yes! It actually works! I must be a fucking genius!"

"What did you do this time?"

"I attempted to do something called cultivating. I basically tried to absorb the surrounding mana and bring it into my body, and it worked! I felt myself getting stronger in real time as I absorbed the surrounding mana."

"Bruh that sounds like the wuxia novels that you always read! Teach me, teach me!"

"Sure, of course I'll-"

Right as John was speaking, Kano felt a burst of pain radiating in his stomach yet again.

"Uugghh!"

"Kano, what's wrong?! Shit, was it the fruits that I gave you? Fuck!"

'Why do I keep getting tummy aches? I don't understand. Whatever, I'll just bear through this pain and deal with it.'

After another 30 minutes of squirming around and sweating buckets, Kano finally calmed down.

"How does this keep happening… oh wait, Kano, I'll need to test something on you. Sit in a lotus position now and place your palms on your knees facing upwards."

Kano listened to John's instructions and did as told. John then folded Kano's fingers into that weird sign that he did earlier and backed away slightly.

"Kano, I'll need you to focus on your breathing. Try imagining your body as a container. What you're trying to do now is to inhale clean air, and exhale impure air. When clean air is inhaled, try to condense it and force it to spread throughout your body. As you exhale, imagine expelling dirty content out of your body."

John continued giving detailed explanations, metaphors and visual cues until Kano managed to grasp a fizzy concept about cultivation.

Zziiing..

Green aura started to condense around Kano as he began his cultivation process. However, one minute into his cultivation, he stopped and began to falter as he couldn't keep his body upright.

"Shit, this confirms my suspicion."

"Huff, puff… about what?"

"That you cannot cultivate."