Chapter 196: Bewildering Dream??

While still asleep, Nevis dreamt that he was not a human but a ship in the middle ocean, a ship so strong and sturdy that the mighty waves of the ocean weren't able to submerge it. It didn't matter what kind of hardship he faced as a ship as he always came out of it alive and stronger than before. The entire ocean tried to submerge him, and when it failed to do so, the world itself turned over the ocean to bury him, but he still came out on top of them. As a ship, he endured through all hurdles, and in the end, he became so powerful that even the entire ocean turning over didn't end him.

Right when he submerged from the ocean and stood under the bright sun that seemed to have focused all its attention on him, making him glow ever so brightly, the dream ended, and Nevis woke up.

"Where am I?" His eyes snapped open, and he saw that John and Iris were sitting around him. They were openly displaying how good their relationship was. She was resting her head on his chest while he didn't feel anything off about it, as if it was something natural to do. His hand was on her face, going up and down, caressing one side of it gently.

"Outside of the Monster Tower."

Before Nevis could start thinking that he had died and was in heaven, John gave him a reply, saving him from the mental trouble that the misunderstanding would have caused him.

At his words, Nevis turned his face away to take in the unfamiliar surrounding. His eyes were red, and his head was throbbing, intense headache were assaulting him and making him feel as if someone was nailing his head. His head was throbbing; intense headaches were assaulting him and making him feel as if someone was nailing him in the head. He wasn't unfamiliar with pain, but he was to this kind and intensity of pain. He rubbed the bleariness in his eyes. When he raised his hands, he found out that for some reason, he was so exhausted that such a basic action felt harder than running for a mile.

Although he was a bit muddled, he vividly remembered what happened before he lost his consciousness. He was beaten black and blue by the three apes and was going to die! But then again, how did he get here? Why did he wake up outside of the monster tower when he should have died?

"How come I'm here?" Nevis asked, the expression of bewilderment vivid on his face.

"Don't you remember?" Came the voice of the fairy from beside him.

Nevis, who just noticed that she was also here, moved his eyes to look at her and shook his head.

"I don't?" He was a bit confused but he was sure that he had no recollection of how he got out of the mess that signaled the end of his life.

"Really?" Melody's eyes raised, a glint of suspicion flashing in her eyes.

"Yes," Nevis nodded his head and sat up. "Did you save me?'

"You saved yourself; that's what she told us." John butted in.

"What?" His words just confused him even more.

He grabbed his head in his hands and muttered, "Why can't I remember what happened?"

Was he always so forgetful?

Maybe it's selective amnesia?

Only a doctor can tell what's wrong with him, though,

John and Iris had no words to give to him.

However, Melody did know what happened to him. It's just that his superpower was released after he had lost his consciousness, meaning he didn't know that the shockwave that spread from his body destroyed everything in its path.

"Don't think too much about it," she said. "You will just give yourself a headache."

Easy for her to say, but hard for him to follow.

He had many questions bothering him senseless. How did he defeat the three apes? The dream he saw; was it trying to tell him something? What happened during the time he was unconscious?

The good thing was that he didn't feel any different than before, excluding the fact that he felt fatigued and extremely tired.

"Anyway, you should be happy!" The palm-sized fairy said to him in a pleasant voice.

"What do you mean?" Still a bit out of it, Nevis didn't quite get what she tried to convey.

"Congratulations! You've earned the right to enter the castle's treasury and pick up one treasure to take back home." Her words caused his ocean-like eyes to widen, happiness vivid in them.

His face was flushed red with happiness. He didn't know how it happened but he was glad that it happened, that he got the chance to pick up an item that would change his life forever. He clutched his fist and shouted out in joy, tears of happiness flowing out of his clear eyes and trailing down his cheeks. John and Iris patted his shoulder, garnering his attention, and then they also congratulated him.

After a few minutes of sitting on the grassy ground near the lake and enjoying the wonderful scenery in each other's company, John asked, "What about the others?"

"Vincent, Varth, and Leilani, how far have they climbed?" Iris added.

"Fairy, can you tell us?" Nevis asked while looking at her.

"I can't, but you can see for yourselves," she said, raising one of her tiny hands and opening her palm. It was empty, but a moment later, a black crystal appeared above it. It was three times the size of her body, and when she injected a bit of her mana into it, it shot out a beam of energy towards the clouds above their heads. Though, it didn't go so high, as after reaching a certain height, it took the form of a screen that projected a tower made up of 31 floors.

It was a map of the monster tower and showed three red dots on it. The first one was on the 29th floor and the second one was on the 13th floor. The last one was on the 20th floor.

"The dots show the number of participants inside the tower and the floor they've reached. However, there's no way of knowing who is who."

They blinked their eyes in understanding and kept on looking at the map. Suddenly, the dot on the 29th floor and the 20th floor flickered and then vanished at the same time, making them wonder what just happened.

"It's either that they died, gave up, or chose to climb up." To answer their confusion, Melody explained to them.

Iris prayed that it wouldn't be the first one of the three and the boys also hoped for the same as her. Before they could think of anything ill anymore, a red dot appeared on the 30th floor. However, no dot appeared on the 21st floor! Did that person give up or did something wrong happened to them?

They didn't want to even think about something bad happening to their teammates. Gladly, they didn't need to as a vortex opened up in the center of the lake, and out came Leilani.