The first thing Ace heard was the whistling of wind. The first thing he felt was the gnawing chill of that extreme gale. It was cold. Really damn cold. The thick fluffy snow beneath him certainly didn’t do wonders for him either. He struggled to open his eyes. Everything inside of him wanted to lay motionless and shiver his life away in the cold. But he made himself blink his eyes open and sit up straight to take in the world.

Even in his delirious state, he was astonished at the view. It was as if someone had teleported him to the middle of an untouched mountain range.

Soaring peaks of jagged stone decorated the skyline of his new reality. Cliffs that dropped off at right angles were a standard sight. Not to mention, everything was covered in a wall of snow and ice, including the insanely wide frozen river in between the valley Ace found himself in.

None of these features compared to what existed far above him in the clouds. Concealed by the white clouds that filled the sky was an archipelago of unmoving islands. The bottoms were gleaming white crystals that shone with a brilliance greater than any light but the sun. And, though Ace could hardly make out what was on top from his position, he could make out the soaring trees that stoically blotted out the sun. Quite literally, the only source of light were the glowing crystals that lit up the entire environment to amazing effect.

Unfortunately for Ace, the hungry cold brought him out of his stupor and returned him to the reality of the situation. He was alone and the coldest he had ever been. There was currently a definite chance of death unless he found warmth in the next hour. He didn’t know much about the new world he was in, but he did know that he wanted to live.

Now wide awake, he ignored the mystical surroundings around him and focused on making his way down the mountain to get to stable ground near the river where he could cover distance faster and without the risk of falling to his doom.

Despite his deadly situation, a stroke of luck had come his way, as only 100 feet or so separated him from the river.

So, with a sigh and a steeled resolve, he got to his feet and began to descend the treacherous terrain.

The first few steps were when he started to understand how impossible the task would be. Every time he landed a foot down, it immediately sank knee-deep into the snow. On top of spending valuable time to gain negligible distance, the cold took a chunk of his lifespan away every second. His fingers and feet were already numb, and the rest of his body was only marginally better.

Ace came to terms with the fact that if he continued down the mountain, he’d be a corpse before he was halfway to the river. He tried to quell the panic that was setting in. There was a lingering sliver of hope that he was still in a game, but it had all but evaporated as his passing drew closer. I need to find somewhere warm right away, or else I’m fucked. But was there actually a warm place in the winter hellscape he found himself in? Hopefully, there was; if not, he might as well lie down and wait for the embrace of death.

However, he still had one idea left. A crevice. If he could squeeze himself into a crevice protected from the cold, it might be warm enough for him to survive, if only for just a little longer. There were a bunch of fissures on the mountain large enough for him to slip through, and the nearest one he saw was considerably closer than the river.

So, Ace gathered his strength to change course toward the crevice he saw. Every step he took brought his energy down, but not his determination to carry on with it. You know, I really should be grateful that I arrived here with long pajama pants.

Yet, the arduous undertaking did end eventually. Ace outstretched his pale hands and numbly clamped them on the icy ledge that was the entrance to the crevice.

It took every bit of Ace’s remaining power to pull up on top of the ledge without slipping and clamber his way inside the fissure. He crawled a few feet inside before slumping against the wall and wheezing, grasping for any extra air. The fissure was so cramped that Ace could only sit with his knees tucked into his chest. Not that he complained, the additional warmth from the contact was appreciated.

On the lines of warmth, the shelter was warmer than the open air by a great deal. Not to mention, it was utterly shielded from the gale-force winds outside. The stone was still freezing but was preferable to the snow he had waded through to get here.

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Regrettably, freezing was still too cold, so Ace picked himself up and headed deeper into the unknown. Thankfully, it wasn’t entirely pitch black, as certain patches of rock shined with a faint gray that illuminated a path forward for him to follow. Not that there existed many options. There was only one, straight ahead.

The further he went, the more the crevice seemed less like a crevice and more like a cave. The walls on either side gradually widened, and the ceiling expanded upwards. The cave ended, and a sight that left Ace dumbstruck greeted him.

In the center of the chamber, at the end of the tunnel, was a pond of clear water. On the periphery was a layer of… vibrant blue grass. Ace rushed toward the grass and brushed his hand along the grass. It was similar to Earthen grass, except softer and effortlessly moved.

Ace took a moment to lay on the grass spread eagle, and it was all he could do not to weep in joy. After his respite, he got up with a grunt and examined the rest of the area. Not that there was much else to examine; little bits of twigs and some smaller rocks littered the ground, but there wasn’t anything else.

And, while sight might not have discerned any new information. Feeling did. The chamber felt different. It was warm, too warm, nearly perfect temperature for him. It felt like a strange energy was hiding just beyond his grasp, like a 6th unknown sense. And around the weird grass, he felt the tingling sensation the hardest.

I’m actually in an Anime, what the fuck. Ace knew precisely what it was: mana, qi, or essence, whatever one wanted to call it. It was the type of shit ripped out of a Xianxia book. To be fair, he didn’t know, it was merely an educated guess based on all the crazy things that had happened to him. A realm of souls, teleported to a new world, a chain of floating sky islands, and now a tingling sensation outside his senses in a room filled with mystical spirit grass.

Yeah, he wasn’t a moron, at least, he thought he wasn’t. Okay, magic is real. Time to access some magic power, I suppose.

Ace awkwardly settled down onto a section of grass and sat down criss-cross applesauce style. I mean, it’s not the lotus position, but it’ll do.

If this world was anything like what he had grown up reading, there would be meridians and a core/dantian. Meridians would serve as a place to put mana from the environment into. Then, it would be utilized to direct the movement of mana throughout your organ system and core. The core was where mana would be stored for later use and transformed into something more. Or that was total bullshit.

People who were able to command mana are called cultivators. These people could release mana from their bodies in the form of elemental power, like fire, water, air, and other such things. That was the kind of power Ace needed to survive and thrive in the death trap he found himself in.

Ace went working to seize the energy on the edge of his reach. First, he tried to clear his brain of any distractions whatsoever; only paying mind to the energy outside his control. He breathed in… and out, in… and out.

Time passed, and Ace’s attention was solely on mana. He beckoned the energy closer. The tingling turned to pins and needles. Ace invited the mana to come near the locked gates of his meridians. Did he know where his meridians were? No, but maybe the mana did. Pins and needles morphed into knives attempting to break his skin. His thoughts deviated, and pain sowed seeds of doubt in his mind. Should he keep at it? He did. Ace invited the mana in. The doors did not open welcomely. It was as if a herd of rams had just slammed Ace in an effort to enter his meridians. Unimaginable pain swelled from the epicenter of his very being.

Ace screamed in anguish.

That was when the trance broke, and the real world came crashing in. He heaved with tears of pain, sweat dripping from his body in gallons.

“I’m never doing that shit again, fuck that!” Ace exclaimed, already lying to himself.

He let out a drawn-out sigh and turned his scrutiny toward the results of his experiment. He could feel the energy permeating the air was… more agreeable with his presence. Ace automatically sent out what he would describe as a spiritual touch at the mana in the air. It responded in kind, attaching to his touch.

It was not a hard thing to do; it was second nature, like riding a bike, once you learned how to do it the first time, it came instinctively.

Anyway, back to the mana talk.

Ace retracted his spirit tendril and brought the mana back into his body through the meridian he’d opened earlier. A singular meridian. All that pain, for a single one, was almost laughable.

The cooperative mana went through the slim meridian and flowed smoothly through the twisting pathway and into a core structure in the center of his heart. It was the size of a pebble and shone in his senses with a bright black glow. Yeah, a bright black, sort of a contradiction with itself.

The small quantity of mana nestled on the bottom of his dantian/core and sat there waiting to be used. I think. I don’t know what else I would do with it, not anything concrete.

Ace took a peek at what his meridians were made of. It was about the thickness of a yarn string and was light blue. It started at the tip of his right index finger and passed through his arm and lungs before connecting with his dantian in his heart.

On the topic of the other numerous meridians; there were, from what he could see, hundreds extending outwards into organs like the brain, lungs, liver, kidneys, intestines, skin, and every major organ.

The significant differences between the opened meridian and non-opened ones were the color and ability to hold mana. Unopened ones were a sickly gray and clearly couldn't hold mana yet.

Ace scrunched his face, already anticipating the pain of unlocking the unopened meridians.

Exploration done, Ace removed his spirit sense and returned to reality. He was beat and deathly tired. Surviving whatever the fuck had happened in space, a wintery abyss, and now figuring out how to use magic would do that to somebody.

So, with a celebratory fist pump, Ace curled up on the soft grass and expectantly waited for sleep to overtake him. He didn’t have to wait for long.