Ryan was in immense pain. His head felt like it was splitting apart from a terrible headache, and his body felt so weak that he didn't even have the strength to open his eyes or lift his arms. As he tried to feel his body, Ryan questioned himself, "What happened to me? Why am I in this condition? Didn't the surgery go well? Does everyone feel like this after surgery?"
Ryan's heart sank as he recalled the accident he had suffered while riding his motorbike to work. It was the rainy season, and his vehicle had slipped on the wet road. Since he wasn't wearing a helmet, he had struck his head hard on the ground. All he could remember were loud shouts, the roar of vehicles, and then darkness. Now, the pain in his head and the weakness in his body felt unbearable — he assumed this must be the result of the surgery after that accident.
When Ryan finally managed to open his eyes with great difficulty, he was completely shocked by the scene before him. He was lying in the middle of a jungle, with only a dirt path in sight. As his eyes adjusted and he looked down at himself, he was horrified to see that his body had shrunk. He now looked like a malnourished ten-year-old child, his skin clinging to his bones. When he reached up to touch his aching head, his fingers brushed against something solid and sticky tangled in his hair. Looking at his hand, Ryan realized it was dried blood.
Panic surged through him — he had no idea what to do. Taking a deep breath to compose himself, he immediately lost that composure as a fresh wave of pain shot through his head. Unable to move much, Ryan lay on the ground, thinking hard.
It slowly dawned on him that he might have been transmigrated. Virtual reality wasn't this advanced, and no surgery could shrink his body like this. His situation was dire — a wounded head, a starving body, and no water or food. He could already feel the thirst burning his throat and the hunger gnawing at his stomach.
Ryan racked his brain for solutions but couldn't think of anything. His last hope was to gather whatever strength he had left, stand up, and venture into the forest, hoping to find water, fruit, leaves — anything to eat or drink. Judging by the state of his body, it felt as though it hadn't had water for four days or food for seven.
The pain and thirst were overwhelming. Desperately, Ryan prayed, "Please, God, let me have some water to drink."
To his astonishment, a ball of water appeared right in front of him and dropped to the ground. Ryan froze in disbelief, thinking this must be a dying hallucination caused by thirst. But when the water splashed on him, he felt the drops on his skin. He touched the ground and found it wet, unlike the dry, hard soil around it. That meant this was real.
However, he could feel his energy fading fast — death was near.
Suddenly, as if a switch had been turned on, Ryan realized something. He understood that he had gained the water by making a wish. The knowledge of how it worked came instinctively, as though it had always been a part of him.
Ryan was shocked by the details of his powers. In simple terms, it was a form of omnipotence — anything he wished for could come true.
But even though it was a powerful ability, it came with limitations. The first was energy. Every wish consumed his own vitality, and a human body could only contain so much. Thinking he could instantly become a god was just fantasy. Even creating something like a building was impossible. With his current state, he could only manifest small things.
The second limitation was recognition. His ability could only manifest things that were publicly known and acknowledged by the world. For example, if Ryan wished for a mobile phone, it wouldn't work, since no one in this world had any idea what a mobile phone was. But he could manifest a sword, since everyone here knew what a sword was.
However, there was a loophole. If enough people — say, three or four towns — believed that a mobile phone was a device that allowed people to talk across distances, even without ever seeing one, then he could manifest it. It wasn't enough to fool a single village; widespread belief was required.
Third, knowledge cost him less energy, while creating a physical entity out of nothing required far more. For every wish, he could roughly sense how much it would cost and whether he would be able to fulfill it. If he tried to forcefully complete a wish beyond his limit, he would die from lack of energy before the wish could be realized.
And how did he know all this without experimenting? It was simply instinctive, just like knowing that arms could be used to eat or throw rocks, and legs could be used to walk or run. It was as natural as breathing.
As for how he had gained such a power, even Ryan had no idea. All he knew was that he was simply born with it in this world, just like his arms and legs. At first, he thought it might be a scam or an illusion, but the instinctive certainty told him it was truly his.
Trying to stay calm, Ryan thought back to why the only water had appeared without any container. It happened right after he wished for it. He also realized the water had no container because he had wished only for "water" and nothing else.
This time, he made a more specific request in his mind: "Give me drinking water in a cup, appearing on this ground, standing."
A moment later, a cup made of leaves filled with water appeared before him on the ground.But Ryan was already close to blacking out due to the sudden drain of energy.