The First World Sphere - Chapter 23: Gareth (1)

After being torn from the only life she knew, 16-year-old Margo is forced into a new home with strangers who call themselves her parents. Haunted by memories of her past and consumed by feelings of isolation, she struggles to adapt to her unfamiliar surroundings. School offers little relief—until she meets Lucien, a mysterious boy who appears just when she needs a friend the most.Gabriel is everything Margo needs: kind, attentive, and always ready to whisk her away from her troubles. Each night, he invites her to secret places—an abandoned playground, a fog-choked garden, a crumbling train station at the edge of town—each more unsettling than the last. Yet with every chilling rendezvous, Margo feels more alive... more seen.But something isn’t right. Gabriel never comes to school during the day. Her adoptive parents never see him. And when they catch her talking to thin air, their concern deepens into fear. They say Gabriel isn't real—that he’s a figment of her imagination. Margo wants to believe them, but Gabriel feels real. More real than anything else in her life.As the nights grow colder and more twisted, Gabriel’s true nature begins to surface. Shadows move where they shouldn’t. Time warps in his presence. And the places they visit seem to echo with whispers from another world. Margo is forced to ask herself: Who—or what—is Gabriel? Why does he only want her? And what will happen on the final night he asks her to come with him?As the line between reality and delusion begins to crumble, Margo must make an impossible choice: stay in a world where she feels loved, or return to one that barely feels real.But one thing is certain—some friendships never let go.

I lived a mediocre life. Trapped in the simulation of everyday mundanity, the 'Matrix' you might call it. The world killed my dreams, hurt my innocence, but I moved on just fine, struggling everyday to keep living.Until it came out of nowhere, without warning: The Apocalypse.I fought to survive. I lived alone in a world where all dead humans turned to undead. But, there was only so little the average human could do against creatures with superhuman strength. So I died. It was the end.Or was it?“From one cage to another.”I opened my eyes to a world where normal reasoning was as good as garbage. A world ruled by men with superhuman strength. A medieval world with swords and... No magic. Just swords and weapons. But still, that medieval world was not so medieval. It was a crazy place, a world that I couldn't fully understand.So I decided. I'll live because I lack the resolve to end myself. I'll live because i'm a coward. I'll live because in the end, I'll die of old age anyway. But before I die, I'll figure out the truth and secrets of this world. Just for the sake of it.And what's the best way to see the world in its entirety? Of course, it's to stand at the highest summit. And that's exactly what I'm going to do. So watch me rise.

Born naturally defective but possessed by the spirit of a divine dragon. Inheriting the divine dragon’s will and power, growing scales and magical claws, imperial waters containing the breath of the dragon, travelling through clouds and summoning rain, an invincible physical body. In this world and era, countless men dream of slaying dragons. Li Mu Yang has always lived a hard life.

With the revival of spiritual energy and the breakdown of the order of species, it is a difficult test whether human beings can still stand at the top of the biological chain.

(There is already an old book, The Strongest Descends in the City, you can read it.)

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