A few hours later, I was lying on my bed with my laptop resting on my stomach.
I had decided to continue the RPG I started yesterday for tonight’s stream. Before choosing one of the FPS games, I needed to watch a few videos and at least try out the controls.
For now, however, there was something more important than games.
This world.
I had walked around the streets that morning, shopped at a market, and visited an ordinary café. At first glance, this world didn’t seem that different from my old one.
People went to work.
Cars drove along the roads.
Streamers made money by playing games.
However, the Nexus Frontline trailer had reminded me of one very important detail.
In this world, people with supernatural powers and monsters capable of destroying cities actually existed.
I first typed "Nexus users" into the search bar.
Thousands of results appeared.
Pages belonging to official organizations, news articles, fan sites, conspiracy theories, and videos made by children claiming they had just awakened their Nexus...
I spent some time sorting through them and looking for sources that seemed reliable.
According to what I read, a Nexus wasn’t a supernatural core of power that awakened inside a person.
At least, that wasn’t exactly how scientists described it.
A Nexus was a connection between its user’s consciousness and an unknown source of energy. How this connection formed still had no definitive explanation.
However, there was one fact everyone agreed on.
A Nexus usually reflected its owner’s personality.
The Nexus of someone who liked being in control could develop into an ability that restrained or controlled others. The abilities of angry and aggressive people were usually focused on direct destruction.
Protective people, on the other hand, were more likely to gain defensive or healing abilities.
Of course, this wasn’t an absolute rule.
A person’s desires, fears, past trauma, and even the feelings they refused to acknowledge about themselves could influence the form of their Nexus.
"Your personality becomes your power..."
It wasn’t a bad system.
It was also possible for one person to possess more than one Nexus.
But it was extremely rare.
According to the statistics, the vast majority of Nexus users awakened only one connection. People with two Nexuses appeared once among hundreds of thousands, while those with three or more usually became important enough to enter the history books.
Then there was Noctis.
He didn’t even have one.
"What a fair fucking world..."
I lowered the laptop slightly and stared at the ceiling.
Noctis didn’t have a Nexus, but I had the System.
I wondered whether the people of this world would mistake White Snake for a Nexus ability. If they saw me healing quickly, they might assume I possessed a hidden Nexus.
Perhaps concealing the System’s existence would be easier than I thought.
At least until someone tried to measure my Nexus.
I added that to the list of problems I would need to solve later and continued my research.
The monster infestation map I opened soon dampened my mood.
Humanity didn’t control the entire world.
Some areas were marked in dark red. These places were known as Lost Zones, where the concentration of monsters was too high for humans to establish settlements.
There were abandoned cities, destroyed countries, and lands that no human had entered for decades.
The yellow areas hadn’t been completely lost, but they regularly suffered monster attacks. The cities there were surrounded by enormous walls, while Nexus units—or rather, Protectors—remained constantly on guard.
The city I lived in was located within one of the safe zones.
Even so, looking at the map made me realize there was no guarantee it would remain safe forever.
"So just streaming and making money won’t be enough in this world."
I might genuinely encounter a monster attack one day.
By then, I would need much more than a few stat points.
My research soon led me to an official page called the World Nexus Association Global Power Ranking.
The ranking took combat records, Overlap levels, the threat ratings of defeated monsters, and each user’s estimated impact during a large-scale disaster into account.
The name at the top didn’t surprise me.
1. ICE KING
The man in the photograph appeared to be in his mid-thirties. He had a short beard touched with white and blue eyes that almost seemed to glow.
The entire city behind him was covered in ice.
The rooftops, the roads, and the body of an enormous monster suspended in the sky all looked as though they had been frozen by a single attack.
According to his profile, Ice King had cleared three Red-Level Lost Zones entirely on his own. The true limits of his Nexus had never been revealed to the public.
What little I could see was already enough to understand why he was considered the strongest in the world.
"If I ever have to fight this man, I’m running away."
I thought about it for a moment.
"No, I’m moving to another country before the fight even starts."
A woman occupied second place.
2. PUPPETEER
Her real name wasn’t listed anywhere on the profile. In her photograph, she had long dark hair and a thin black band covering her eyes.
The information about her Nexus ability was also extremely limited.
Mental attacks.
Perception manipulation.
Suppressing or amplifying emotions.
According to some reports, she could control the behavior of both humans and monsters.
However, the exact mechanics, range, and limits of her ability were classified.
Knowing that someone capable of controlling the human mind was ranked second in the world didn’t make me feel safe at all.
"Maybe she’s actually ranked first and made everyone list her as second."
That possibility didn’t seem unreasonable.
I continued scrolling down the page.
Third.
Fourth.
Fifth.
Each name possessed an ability more absurd than the last. There were people capable of shattering mountains, fighting alone in the middle of the ocean, or sealing off an area several kilometers wide from the outside world.
With every profile, I understood a little better just how little I knew about the balance of power in this world.
When I reached seventh place, my finger froze over the scroll wheel.
The surname on the screen was familiar.
Far too familiar.
7. LUCIAN EVERNIGHT
Codename: NIGHTFALL
The man in the photograph had long black hair swept back from his face. His features were sharp, and his dark blue eyes stared coldly into the camera. On the shoulder of his black uniform was an emblem of wings surrounding a silver moon.
In the section where his Nexus ability should have been listed, there was only one word.
Classified.
My heart began beating faster for a reason I couldn’t explain.
The instant I looked at the man’s face, something stirred in the back of my mind.
A dark room.
A broad back walking away.
A pair of cold eyes.
The images shattered before they could fully form, and a sharp pain stabbed through my temples.
"Ah..."
I pressed one hand against my head, unable to tear my eyes away from the screen.
Lucian Evernight.
The Nexus user ranked seventh in the world.
My father...
No.
Noctis’s father.