Klein opened his eyes to find himself lying face down on soft, lush grass, his hazy mind struggling to piece together the incredulity of his situation. The throbbing pain pulsed persistently, agonizing through his skull and filling him with a disorienting sense of discomfort.

Gazing upward with bleary eyes, he noticed the sun shining brightly in the strikingly blue sky. Its rays were warm and inviting, casting a golden glow upon the world around him. An unsettling uneasiness gnawed at Klein's mind, clouding his every thought.

Five years of effort went downhill, just like that.

"Where the hell is this place?" he muttered, desperately searching for any recognizable landmark, any semblance of familiarity that could anchor him to a sense of normalcy. All he found was an expanse of dense greenery, towering trees with massive trunks, and hedges.

Then he noticed his state, or rather, the lack thereof.

"And why am I completely naked?!" he exclaimed, frustration rising as he frantically scanned the area for any trace of his clothes. In his confusion and desperation, he instinctively turned to his personal assistant and spiritual motivator. "Xin?"

"Running low on power," his assistant responded.

"That... doesn't happen often," Klein muttered. "Well, you're free to charge up with my mana."

"It appears the dimensional travel messed up your brain. You're slow to grasp the trouble you've gotten yourself into."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, his voice laced with a mixture of fear and confusion, his eyes searching Xin's interface for answers.

"Look inside yourself. Your core, it's... not there."

Klein's heart raced, a surge of panic overtaking him. He screamed out before Xin could finish her sentence, jumping to his feet. He pressed his trembling hands against his abdomen, desperately trying to grasp his energy with his will.

It was hard, as if pulling a heavy anchor from underwater with bare arms. The very fabric of the obstacle fought against him. But he persisted, driven by a determination born out of desperation.

A cold sensation spread across his abdomen as Klein finally managed to draw in a trickle of his mana. It was a small victory amidst the overwhelming uncertainty, yet it brought a glimmer of hope.

His mana source seemed to be obscured by a dark sphere, a mystifying barrier that hindered him from drawing any more energy. The odd thing was that Klein could visualize the dark sphere in his mind's eye, its ethereal presence shaking ever so slightly under the pressure he exerted.

"Isn't that the dimensional orb?" Klein mumbled, still engaged in a tug-of-war with the dark sphere to reclaim his energy. He was primarily losing. "Xin, run a scan on the sphere."

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"Hmm, what sphere are you talking about? I can't sense it." Xin paused for a moment. "Hold on... How peculiar! I can't sense it, yet I'm pretty sure something is there, but obscured from view."

"Can you do anything about it?"

"Not in the state I'm in right now," Xin added in a sad tone. "I'm pretty useless right now. Moreover, with the little charge I have left, I can barely do basic calculations."

"Wait a minute then," Klein said, still grappling with the sphere. "I'll charge you manually."

Sweat formed on his face as he set his jaw, preparing to draw unyielding mana. With every ounce of his willpower, Klein pulled trickle after trickle of energy, desperately attempting to regain control over his power.

The energy burned through his channels, sending an icy anguish as it inched toward his brain. He was so consumed by his task that he failed to notice the damage it was inflicting upon his channels.

It wasn't until Xin's scream resounded in his mind that he snapped out of it.

"Klein! Stop! That's not mana you're working with!"

Alarmed, Klein released his hold on the energy, his breathing ragged as he struggled to comprehend the gravity of the situation. He hurriedly turned his attention back to the mysterious black sphere, which looked exactly the same as the dimensional orb where he used to store all his belongings.

"This certainly isn't what immortality feels like!" he yelled, his exasperation pouring forth in his words.

"I think it will be best if you lie down and think everything through," Xin advised.

"Sure." He trudged towards a tall tree and settled down underneath its protective branches, his mind spinning with a whirlwind of thoughts and questions, desperately attempting to make sense of his situation or find a way out.

"Xin?" Klein mumbled. "Please tell me this is only temporary. I'll gain my power back."

"Of course you will," she said confidently. "Just make sure you do not die before that. Even a normal man with a pistol can kill you now."

He sighed.

[Connecting to user...]

A disembodied holographic message manifested before Klein's eyes. Although such information from Xin wasn't unfamiliar to him, the words eluded him completely.

"Xin, what was that?"

[Downloading system... 1%... 5%... 68%... 100%]

[Preparing System Interface... Please wait...]

"[Xin 2.0 U̠p̈̚ĝ̽̓r̴̨̦͕̝ā̤̓̍͘ḑ̴̞͛̒ỉ͔͖̜͌ṇ̤͛̒̍g]," his assistant transmitted darkly.

"What are you saying?" Klein examined his surroundings.

More notifications came as his assistant grew silent.

[Unable to determine the complete specification of the user...]

[Status Window]

**Klein Frost**

**Human [Initiate - Level 1]**

**Physique:** Integrating (12%)

**Attributes:**

[Strength: 10]

[Speed: 10]

[Mind: 10]

[Spirit: 10]

[Will: 10]

[Recovery: 10]

**Unused Points:** 0

**Comprehensions:**

**Achievements:**

Klein stared at the text suspiciously. There were some grading systems to measure a mage's capacity, but this clearly wasn't like that. For all he knew, this looked more like a video game interface than anything else.

"Don't ask any questions," Xin added before he could speak. "[Xin 2.0 Upgrading... 17%]"

"Upgrading? How? Why?"

"Remember the time you tinkered with my system to allow it to run on mana? Looks like that is changing into a different kind of energy."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Can't say, but it can't be worse than what happened to you."

That was something he could agree on. He sighed, looking up at the blue sky filled with stray clouds.

"Hey Xin, how far away do you think we are from home?"

"Don't know," Xin replied. "Given the blackout, I was completely down. Not that I was ever capable of computing such a question without context."

"But you can guess," Klein pressed.

"That won't be very accurate."

"Humor me once. How far?"

"At least a few dozen light-years to a few million light-years," Xin responded. "My hunch leans more towards the border spectrum of the distance."

"That's a very broad guess."

"You suspected it too," Xin interjected. "You just feared admitting it."