Tap, tap, tap. Spoosh!
Tanaka ran as fast as he could, trying to get away from the goblins chasing him. His left leg burned with pain, but he had to keep going. He could hear the hollering of the green goblins getting closer and closer to him.
Tanaka slid his way around a corner. He didn't know where he was going, but he did not want to take his chances with the goblins that had fire for hair. After all, he was nearly killed by a slime.
"Oof!"
Thud!
A goblin tackled Tanaka, and they both rolled on the ground, stopping right by the edge of a large hole. "Raah!" The goblin screeched as it leapt forward, all while swiping its arm at Tanaka's face. Tanaka slid to the side, placing his foot in the goblin's path. The goblin tripped on Tanaka's foot and then fell into the hole. Tanaka quickly resumed his escape as he could hear more of them approaching.
He made his way towards an opening but stopped when he noticed a crevice to his left. He then quickly decided to go through the crevice, hoping that he could lose the goblins that way.
Tanaka squeezed his way through the tiny passage. "Argh!" howled in pain as the wound on his leg slid past the hard rocky wall. However, Tanaka couldn't wait; he could already hear some of the goblins trying to follow him down the crevice. Tanaka willed himself through the pain. Pushing until he was out on the other side.
He panted heavily, stopping to catch his breath. Looking back, he saw that the goblins were having a hard time getting through the crevice. 'Phew! That's a relief. Guess they're too muscular, haha.' Tanaka wiped the sweat off his brow and turned to leave.
He looked around, seeing that there were multiple paths ahead for him. Tanaka carefully walked in front of one of the entrances. He didn't sense much mana coming from this path. He repeated the process for the other entrances and found one that didn't have any mana coming from.
"Yes! Found one!" Tanaka exclaimed. He started limping his way down this path.
'It's better if I avoid any places with mana.' He looked back the way he came, seeing the goblins who were filled with mana now. 'Somehow, they managed to absorb the mana from those stalactites. I will definitely need to learn how they did that once I find a way to gather food for myself.'
And as if on cue, Tanaka's stomach growled very loudly. He sighed, once again longing for some of his mom's cooking. Tanaka shook his head and limped his way through the cave more eagerly. 'I'll find a way to survive. I have to.' Tanaka steeled himself for the journey ahead.
...
Sometime later, Tanaka found himself deep in a part of the cave that was darker than ever. He tripped with every other step taken. His breathing had gotten shallower. The damage he'd taken earlier was taking its toll on him. On top of that, He was now shivering. Before he'd been transported here, he was wearing his school's summer uniform. And now he went through the cave whilst hugging himself tightly in an attempt to retain some of his warmth.
Sploosh!
Tanaka could hear water running somewhere down the path. 'Finally, a place to rest.'
Tanaka stumbled his way out towards the water. He kneeled down and quickly cupped his hands together. Tanaka hurriedly brought water to his lips, gulping it down. 'Mmm. This water tastes heavenly.' Tanaka thought. He then drank some more, guzzling it down like it was the greatest drink in the whole world. 'I've never been that thirsty before in my entire life. Gosh!'
He proceeded to slouch down and huffed out in relief. Then he looked around, still not able to see anything around him. It was as if his surroundings consumed all light. He then closed his eyes and listened to the water running. It felt very therapeutic for Tanaka. He lay there for several minutes, and then he slowly got up.
'There's still something I've gotta do.' Tanak thought as he took off his black school shoes and his grey socks. He then placed his legs into the pool of water and began to wash the wound on his left leg. It stung, but Tanaka knew it needed to be done. 'I'd rather not risk getting sick. Not when I can't go to a hospital or use any medicine.'
Tanaka then got out of the water and removed his khaki button-up shirt, and then tore it up. He then fixed it to his leg as an impromptu bandage. He secured it and then went and put his socks and shoes back on.
After that, he removed his white wife-beater vest and then quickly washed it in the pool of water. He then rinsed it and hung it on a stalagmite nearby. Tanaka got up and stretched his arms and legs. He made sure to get them to make a satisfying pop sound. He figured he might as well indulge in a few pleasures where he could find them. After all, he might not wake up tomorrow.
'Now that I'm thinking of it, I need to find a spot to sleep around here. Somewhere safe and out of the way. I wouldn't want to be ambushed in my sleep.'
Tanaka searched around the cave with great difficulty. The floor in this part of the cave was quite uneven, with many stalagmites having formed on the ground in some areas. Coupled with the extreme darkness, it made his search a bit of a nightmarish ordeal. After searching for what Tanaka estimated was two hours, he finally found a small area in an even darker part of the cave.
'It's completely pitch black in here. Even if I place my hand directly in front of my face, I still can't see it. Well, at least this part of the cave has a very narrow entrance. '
Tanaka then crawled along on the ground searching for a patch of even ground he could sleep on. Once he found a spot, he quickly dusted himself off and then lay down. He used his arms to rest his head on.
'Wow, this has been quite the day, huh? Although I don't know how long it's been since I actually arrived in this world or if it's nighttime yet, huh.'
Tanaka thought for a moment before a thought struck him, 'Wait? How did I even get into this cave system anyway? Did the slime bring me here?' Tanaka then felt a shiver run down his spine as he thought of the possibilities. 'There's no way it laid its eggs in me, right? I've heard some spiders do stuff like that.' Tanaka quickly became very fearful of going to sleep. He wasn't so keen on tomorrow coming if it meant he'd wake up with a slime breaking through his chest. He'd even lost his appetite now, not that he even had anything to eat.
Tanaka then shook his head and calmed himself. 'I should probably try thinking more positively, otherwise I might have a nightmare. Wouldn't want to wake up screaming and alerting all the monsters to my position. He sighed once again. 'At this rate, I'm going to worry myself into an early grave. Let me just go to sleep before my appetite comes back.'
Tanaka then snuggled himself into the fetal position to keep himself warm. He then somehow managed to get himself to overcome his restlessness and finally fall asleep.
...
After he woke up, Tanaka quickly realised he'd gotten himself into a conundrum. In his search for a spot to sleep on, he'd forgotten to take note of the direction of the entryway to this section of the cave. He spent the next several minutes searching around the floor and walls of the cave to get himself out of there.
The good news was that he'd seemed to recover his pool of mana sleeping last night. He then, as quickly as he could manage, excitedly made his way back towards the area where the water flowed. He then looked around the dark cave until he just barely spotted his white wife-beaters.
He chuckled as he thought to himself, 'Even if this part of the cave may not be as dark as one I was just in, it's still difficult to navigate my way around the cave. So I placed my shirt on the stalagmite in order to find. Haha, especially since that stalagmite is special.
Tanaka then made his way to the stalagmite. He removed the wife-beaters from the stalagmite to find that they were still damp, so he just decided to place them on another stalagmite nearby.
He then returned to that stalagmite, with a massive smile on his face. He could still feel it within the stalagmite, even if it was faint. This stalagmite was just what he needed to get stronger.
'Time to test out how to use my mana!'