THE STRONGEST NEXULYTE

Immediately after they arrived on the other side, the first thing that they noticed was the strong aura of death and decay that was almost suffocating; an ordinary human would die immediately from the pressure if they were to come here as their organs would be too weak to breathe.

The next thing that they noticed was that they were inside a similar metal ring that was identical to the one around the mirror gate in the real world; tiny devices flashing with light could be seen all over the metal ring, and ahead of them was a middle-aged man who seemed to be in his forties.

He had rough dark hair that fell backward and a large scar on his face running from his lower jaw to the side of his forehead, with eyes sharp as those of a hawk staring intently at the five of them.

The man proceeded to press a few buttons on the metal ring, allowing it to break into three pieces and creating a passage for Ivan and his group members.

Coming out, the five of them took a brief moment to take a better look at the place. Just like on the other side in the real world, the base here was also located in a forest with huge towering trees; a space of over 2000 meters was cleared and turned into a base fortress that was twice the size of the one in the real world.

Not only was the base bigger, but the number of people here was also twice the amount of people on the other side of the mirror gate: more people were in charge of patrolling the perimeters, and they all had hard expressions that showed that they were ready to swing into action at any moment.

Clearly, the situation here was more intense than it was in the real world; they were, after all, inside the dreamscape.

Another thing to take note of is that no one here was in black uniform as the five of them that just arrived; everyone was in their black protective body suits, and some who had mechanic talents were already in their half-cyborg forms!

The entire base was giving the feeling that they were expecting to fight the next moment.

"You must be Ivan," The man with the scar grunted, pulling the attention of the five to himself. Ralph, Glen, Clint, and Karin immediately stood straight as a senior official addressed them; only Ivan remained at ease and casually nodded.

The man shot him a glare, clearly displeased by his lack of respect for him. He snorted before turning his back to them and started walking.

"You can address me as Sir Peter, as I am in charge of this operation, and you\'ll all be under my command; follow me," Sir Peter commanded; the five of them immediately filed up behind him and followed.

They followed Sir Peter to a small tent built with sturdy black materials and stood in front of the small table. While Sir Peter took a seat behind the table, he opened the drawer under the table and brought out a piece of paper before passing it to Ivan.

"Here\'s your mission: you can go to the equipment chamber and request a land carrier for your team; you are expected to be back within a month at least; make sure to report back to the base in case of any unexpected changes." Sir Peter said dismissively.

Ivan took the paper and took a glance at its content.

...

Clear region 17 and leave a marker at six sectors.

Eliminate all habitats in Region 17.

...

The content on the paper was just two sentences and was quite easy to understand, but Ivan doubted that the mission would have been as easy as it looked. Turning to look at Sir Peter, Ivan asked what a marker was and an explanation of sectors and regions.

"You\'ll receive the markers along with your supplies, and as for the regions, you\'ll understand after going through the first 16," Sir Peter replied impatiently.

Ivan nodded and left with his team; Sir Peter looked at them with a mad look in his eyes.

"Arrogant rookies, let\'s see if you can stay arrogant for long."

...

After leaving the tent, they asked a few people before finding their way to the equipment chamber.

It turned out to be the biggest structure in the base with a lot of people in half cyborg forms working on various machineries, these were all Nexulytes with support mechanic talents!

Immediately after getting there, someone approached them. It was a young woman with a rose of blonde hair and a pretty face; she was in a half-cyborg form as well and was holding a massive wrench formed by Nexus energy; she was a support-type mechanic Nexulyte.

"What are you looking for?" The woman asked while staring at their faces, a skeptical look on her face.

It couldn\'t be helped, the five of them were the only ones in black uniforms in the entire base.

"We\'re here to get a land carrier and our supplies for a mission," Ivan replied and handed the paper over to her.

"A mission?" The lady repeated, and she took the paper; her eyes immediately showed understanding after reading the content.

"So you\'re the ones in charge of Region 17; where are the rest of your crew?" The lady nodded her head before asking.

"This is all of us," Ivan replied with a straight face.

"What? This is all of your team? It will take weeks for just a few of you to clear a region!" The lady exclaimed, she stared at them as if they were crazy.

"We are already aware of this; we were given a month to finish the mission," Ivan informed her.

" Oh, I see. Is there a reason for that?" The lady asked further and Ivan told her that it was their first mission.

" So that\'s why, follow me then," She uttered, not asking them any more questions as she led them to a section of the chamber and stopped in front of a land carrier.

It was another A-22G3!

*This will be your land carrier, an A-22G3. Wait a moment," the lady said before quickly disappearing.

While she was gone, Ivan and his team took the chance to observe the land carrier.

It was a tank-like vehicle with very long metal legs instead of wheels; it was an impressive sight.

The lady returned soon and passed a storage device to Ivan.

"Inside this storage device are the six markers, your supplies that should last for a month if used wisely, and two extra markers in case you lose any of the other six or they get destroyed, so be sure to handle them with care." The lady advised them.

"How do we use the markers?" Ralph asked from behind Ivan. Neither of them had seen a marker before so they had no idea how to use it.

"Just insert it into the ground after clearing the place; it will send us a signal and visual footage of the area of a hundred meters around the marker." The lady explained.

They all fell silent and stared at each other as seconds ticked by, looking at Ivan and his team, who were still looking at her even after a minute had passed; the Lady wore a confused expression.

"What? Aren\'t you going to head out?" She voiced out in confusion.

Ivan, Ralph, Glen, Karin, and Clint all looked at her before turning to look at the A-22G3 before looking back at her.

The lady wore an astonished face as she thought of something and asked in a low tone.

"It can\'t be that… none of you know how to run a land carrier?"

…..

In the end, they were assigned a person who would help them control the A-22G3, but the person wasn\'t considered a part of their group, so he had no obligation to follow Ivan\'s orders and help them with their missions.

It was a young man in his late twenties named Elliot. He had spiky black hair, and he had the mechanic talent; he was at the True King rank.

They quickly set out for their mission.

Exiting the base, what welcomed them was a world of huge trees with enormous branches. The sky was blood red like a blood curtain had been drawn over the world; the suffocating aura of death and decay made the place look gloomy.

"So, which training center did you all come from? I graduated from the Owen branch in Motuni." Karin suddenly said.

"A branch of the tower is there too? The three of us are from the Headquarters!" Glen immediately engaged her, trying to distract himself from the bothering thoughts in his mind.

"Really? I heard that the training center there is very intense, tell me about it!" Karin burst out with excitement, the land carrier was soon filled with the voices of the two as they chatted away.