THE STRONGEST NEXULYTE

Unbeknownst to Ivan, clearing the 29th level and moving to the 30th level had caused a commotion outside the training room.

Although the trainees were training like crazy since it was the last week they had to spend inside the tower before they graduated from training, they still kept track of what was going on in various parts of the tower such as the arena and the training room.

Currently, hundreds of trainees were gathered outside the training room and staring at the level list with wide eyes. Stay updated via mvl

Currently, besides level 29 was Ivan's name, which meant that he had successfully cleared that level, and level 30, which had Alaric's name, was currently lit up, which meant that someone was currently challenging that level.

Who else could it be aside from Ivan? He was about to beat the long-lasting record in the history of the training center!

"Wow! He really is a monster"

"He really caught up to the highest record, do you think he'll be able to succeed?"

"Are you asking me? Do I look like Ivan?!"

"Goodness, just how strong must one be to catch up to them? I've been stuck at level 10 for months"

"You tried, brother. I keep dying on level eight, the monsters on that level are just too brutal"

At a corner, Rose, Mari, Susan, Joseph, and Camellia, who were the members of Ivan's team, looked at the glowing level list with glowing eyes.

" Do you think he'll be able to beat that person's record?" Susan asked, her expression was a mix of nervousness and astonishment.

"Can't say; none of us knows how strong the monsters on the higher levels are, so it's not in our place to judge.e," Joseph shrugged.

"But considering his strength during our previous training, I can tell that he's at least twice as strong as he used to be. It's like he advanced to a new rank, such a freak" Camellia added, a small prideful look glued to her face.

Rose, who was staring at the list with a faint blush on her face, was startled out of her daze by Camellia, who suddenly hugged her from behind.

" Hehe, what's our lover girl dreaming about again? Can't be that you're planning to do something to him once he comes out, right?" Camellia teased.

Rose's face immediately turned bright red from embarrassment and she moved away from Camellia.

" W-what are you talking about? I wasn't thinking of anything. Hmph!" Rose said hurriedly before leaving the training room in hasty steps.

Camellia giggled at the girl's reaction.

After three weeks of being on the same team with them, all the members of the group were aware that Rose was harboring feelings for Ivan.

Sadly, Ivan was the only one who wasn't aware of this; he didn't even notice the girl's change of attitude toward him.

As for Rose, she didn't look like she planned on revealing her feelings to Ivan anytime soon.

According to Camellia 'The both of them were a lost cause'

On another side of the training room behind the crowd of trainees, Sommy and Miko could be seen staring at the list as well.

"He's really just like Alaric back then; I'm sure they would have been best buddies had they been in the same batch. You really picked the wrong person to target this time," Sommy said to Miko with a pitiful look on her face.

The petite girl clenched her fists upon hearing Sommy's words, her small face twisted in frustration.

"It's alright; you most likely won't see him again after our training," Sommy rubbed Miko's hair while comforting her.

"Hmph! I don't need to hear that; he should be the one praying not to run into me outside the tower," Miko snorted and stormed off.

" Sadly, you might never be able to catch up to him even outside the tower" Sommy looked at Miko's retreating figure and shook her head.

...

Back in the virtual space of the training room.

After accepting to proceed to level 30, a new monster appeared in the virtual space.

The appearance of this monster left Ivan stunned for a while, and even after the system notified them to start, it did not attack him as other monsters would usually do, or it would be more appropriate for him to address this new monster as a 'she.'

This was because it looked nothing like a monster and looked like an ordinary little girl instead.

She looked to be around ten to twelve years old, wearing a beautiful yellow sunflower dress, and had her black hair styled in a twin ponytail. The girl had big, round, blue eyes that stared at Ivan with innocence as she hugged a green zither with her little arms.

This…monster, looked too…strange to be considered a monster. She reminded him of the little girl who kept calling him big brother when he had been swallowed by that mist creature.

This caused Ivan to frown deeply, unsure of what to do.

After battling in the virtual space so many times, Ivan had gotten a kind of understanding about the monsters that appeared in it and that was.

Every monster that appeared had been encountered by a member of the tower or appeared from a mirror gate. To sum it up, every monster in the system of the training room existed.

Still unsure of what to do next, Ivan just stayed standing in place, but he had raised his guard to the maximum.

Something he had learned was that looks could be deceiving at times.

Ting!

Suddenly, a soft melody played out and was followed by another.

The little girl started playing the zither in her hand, producing a soft and pleasing melody that made one's mind calm down.

Ivan immediately went on high alert and made distance, the little girl didn't seem to mind; she started reciting a poem.

"Lighting casts shadows, too much light drives away shadows.

Creating and eradicating, is the source still there?

Which is real, and which is fake?

Dreams birthing revelation or misleading, illusions producing hallucinations or painting a picture of the truth.

Tell me, Wisher…what is real and what is not. What is the truth and what is not!"

The little girl sang in a sweet voice, causing Ivan's mind to enter an extreme state of calmness despite his struggle.

With a sudden hard pull on the zither, the string created a loud tone that shook the virtual space. At the same time, something that looked like a small door appeared in front of the girl before shooting toward Ivan at a shocking speed; it expanded as it got closer to Ivan.

Ivan was unable to react before the door swallowed him, next thing he knew was that he was in a white space.

Ivan looked around the white space that was definitely not the virtual space of the training room. He could not find the little girl anymore, and neither could he hear the sound of the zither.

Just to be sure that he hadn't been teleported out of the tower, Ivan tried to communicate with the system of the training room.

[Forcefully exit the training? Will be counted as failing]

[Yes/No?]

Ivan exhaled in relief. Good, he was still inside the virtual space and this was most likely the effect of the little girl's power.

"No" Ivan responded to the message of the system before he started to look around the white space.

"Just what sort of ability is this?" Ivan thought he had been walking for minutes, but all he could see was the white space.

Remembering the song of the little girl, Ivan speculated that he would have to figure out an illusion or something similar.

At this moment, Ivan finally caught sight of something that was hundreds of meters ahead of him; the thing was too far, so he wasn't able to see it properly, so he decided to approach it.

Upon getting close enough to take a proper look, Ivan's face twisted in a weird expression upon realizing what it was.

It was a little boy dressed in rags. The boy looked like he was 13 or 14 years old, he had dirty white hair and was shivering as if he was suffering a cold.

Eyes tightly shut, hugging his body, lying on the hard ground, tattered clothes, unkempt white hair, and a skinny body.

This was Ivan when he was still in the outskirts; this was before he met Glen and Ralph.

The image lasted for a few seconds before changing, next was the scene of the four Nexulytes who were in charge of looking over the borders of the outskirt beating Ivan.

They were laughing and chatting as they hit him one after the other, clearly enjoying themselves.

This lasted for a few minutes until the child Ivan passed out and they threw him out in the rain.

Ivan's fists tightened while he watched this, he tried to rush up to those scums but his body simply passed through them; he could only grit his teeth and watch.

The scenes kept changing and showed years of Ivan suffering in the hands of the four Nexulytes; he watched as the young Ivan developed a deep hatred for Nexulytes because of these four and how he had tried to escape many times.

The scenes kept changing until Glen and Ralph appeared, it continued until their journey to San Pluto and then to the Owen Tower.

After all of these, a new scene appeared. This scene was one that made Ivan's mouth hang wide open and his face showed a vicious expression.

It was a scene of Ivan belonging to a loving family; his family was killed, and he left for the outskirts, where he ran into those four Nexulytes.

But this time, they did not bully him. They took him in and showed him unconditional love and care, giving him everything Ivan never had while growing up.

In exchange, it was Ralph and Glen who made life miserable for him on the outskirts.

Ralph's mother wasn't injured during these scenes so the four Nexulytes were unable to do anything.

"This…this isn't real!"

Ivan muttered.

The scenes played out in such a way that it was almost as if that was what would have happened if Ralph and Glen had come from powerful families and were not poor.

Finally, the scenes ended with Ralph's mother bringing people from her tower to kill the four Nexulytes who took care of Ivan before chasing Ivan out into the border where monsters hunted him.

Everywhere turned white again.

The gentle voice of a young girl sounded through the air.

"You have seen that illusions are mirrors of reality. What should have been might not be but could be, what shouldn't be might be but could not be. Seek Truth in deceit, differentiate real from fake, find the source of the shadow, and ignore the light casting it…

Wisher, what is your judgment on this?"

The girl's voice said a bunch of words that Ivan could not find meaning to at all, but one thing he was sure of…