"Is that your deepest desire, wisher?" The man once again asked, seeing that Ivan wasn't responding.
"I…"
Ivan tried to speak but no words would come out of his mouth, he could only stare at the man with his mouth hung open while the man stared back at him. The man had a rather handsome face with eyes similar to Ivan's and white hair just like Ivan's hair as well but Ivan still could not recognize this person.
Heck, he didn't know a lot of people to begin with!
Seeing Ivan unable to say what was in his mind, the man decided to continue. While still floating in the air, Nexus energy began to leak out from his body before condensing into blue cards with golden edges.
These cards were just like Ivan's wish cards!
The man made the cards he had summoned to float around him like a lightless sun.
"If that is what you want, then wish for it!" The man said to Ivan in a commanding tone.
He stretched out one of his hands and a card flew out from the ring of cards and landed on his hand. He held the card in front of his chest and said something that Ivan wasn't able to hear.
Soon after…
Wooosh!!
The card shattered into tiny red, blue, and golden particles that drifted in the air and went in the direction of Glen and the bee-like monsters.
While still frozen and unable to react, the tiny particles swept through the swarm of monsters and shredded them into pieces!
Ivan was shocked at this sight, he looked at the frozen decimated monster parts that floated around Glen with wide eyes.
Before he could recover, the man's voice pulled his attention again.
"Wish for it if it's what you desire, make it happen if that's what you want!" The man voiced out, his voice now high enough to pass as a shout.
At the same time, three cards flew out consecutively and shattered into light particles which spread and attacked various monsters. The tough bodies of the monsters were light paper and easily shredded by the light particles.
"Wish for it!" The man yelled again as another card flew out and shattered.
Boom!!!
This time it did not attack a monster but scattered into the air as countless red energy barriers formed around every human in sight, protecting them from the monsters.
"TURN IT TO REALITY!" The voice of the man boomed once more as he turned his head and stared right at Ivan in the eyes.
Suddenly able to find his speech, he sprang up to his feet with a determined face. The man's demonstration of his ability had moved him and he wanted to learn.
"But how, how do I turn it into reality!?" Ivan called out in a desperate voice. He had been trying to understand his talent for a whole month now but had only managed to get a response from it once.
"How?" The man repeated Ivan's words as he stared at him with a raised eyebrow, he maintained the stare for a few seconds before stretching out a hand and taking another card.
"Watch closely" the man ordered as his eyes suddenly started glowing with red light.
"REVERSE!" He calmly said but for some reason, his voice sounded like a thunderclap in Ivan's eyes but what happened next was what brought Ivan the real shock.
Immediately after the man said the word, Ivan saw the world around him begin to flow back in reverse.
Pieces of collapsed buildings rose into the air, destroyed vehicles reformed in slow motion; everything was repaired to its original state after the man said those words and within just a minute, the place had turned back to how Ivan remembered it. Ivan the dead people came back to life with only the exemption of the monsters and that everything was still frozen in place.
Ivan saw the bodies of the old driver and his family coming back to life and the city returning to its original state.
"Wish for it, envision it, want it, make it your desire…make it a reality!"
The man's thunderous voice rang in Ivan's ears after the whole place was restored, he was giving Ivan a lecture on how to use his ability!
Ivan stared at the cards in his hands, thinking to himself if he could do the same thing.
"Can I…really do this?"
He wasn't able to get an answer to his question before time began to flow freely again but this time. Every single monster turned their eyes on him, and they charged towards him.
Ivan was spooked by the sudden change and didn't know what to do as he was swarmed by the monster as he wasn't able to even see the sky anymore, he frantically held the cards in front of him but nothing happened and the monsters were getting closer.
"Desire it, don't just think about it!"
That was the last thing that Ivan heard the man say before the demon-like monster that had been fighting Miss Elora previously appeared in front of him and punched him in the face, everything went blank.
.....
Gasp!!!
Ivan suddenly woke up and jumped to his feet in a swift moment, his breathing was rigid and he was covered in sweat. It took him a few seconds to realize what was happening.
He was currently in the infirmary and what he had just gone through was most likely a dream…no, it was a nightmare!
"Oh, you're up? Why are you out of bed and how are you covered in so much sweat?" A soft voice drifted into Ivan's ears. He looked over and saw that it was the same woman who had healed them when they came here the last time.
The woman stared at Ivan's erratic breathing and the sweat all over his body "Hmm, you had a bad dream while unconscious? Not like it's my business anyway" she said before moving to check his condition.
"You're perfectly fine now, although this time wasn't as bad as last time. I thought I remembered some people promising to stay away from dangerous situations. Seems like you have a talent for creating them" she said with a serious expression to which Ivan could only mutter a weak "sorry" while slightly lowering his head.
The woman stared at him for a few seconds before shaking her head "Come with me, you have visitors waiting for you outside" She said and led Ivan to the entrance of the infirmary. There, Glen, Ralph, and surprisingly Miss Elora were waiting for him.
Ivan could not resist staring at this young instructor of his with a confused gaze.
Noticing Ivan's gaze, Elora glanced at him with cold eyes before saying.
"Don't look at me, the tower master wants to meet you," she said briefly.
They left the infirmary and returned to the lobby where Glen and Ralph left to continue their own things.
Glen didn't make it into the top fifty so he still had to follow the normal training routine and attend classes while Ralph was planning to go check out the library and see what he could find there, they agreed to go look at the training room later after Ivan was back from seeing the tower master.
Agreeing on this, Ivan and Miss Elora took an elevator to the top of the tower where the office of the tower master was.
Arriving at the familiar office, they met James who immediately went straight to the point which would be Ivan's new training.
He also commended Ivan for managing to stand his ground against a new Mortal king Nexulyte, it turned out that the tower master was aware that Luke had reached an AP of over 10% and was now at the Mortal king rank.
This information left Ivan stunned for a while, he knew that the repeaters were strong but he didn't expect Luke who was ranked the lowest amongst them to be so strong. Then what about the others who were ranked higher?
Was he going to be able to have a peaceful life after his months of grace?
"I know what you're thinking, don't worry too much about it. With the new training routine I've prepared for you, I guarantee that you'll not be helpless when facing them after the third month" James said, pulling Ivan from his sea of worrisome thoughts.
His new training program was…
After morning training, he was to go straight to the Nexus chamber every day and spend the next three hours there. After which he would come to him for talent training, next would be weapon/combat training where his partner would be none other than Miss Elora.
"But tower master… " Elora tried to object but was stopped by a hand gesture from James.
" I'm not requesting this as the tower master, I'm asking for your help in this as your father, " James said to her with a gentle smile on his face.
Elora stared at the man in front of her, stunned by the sudden words for a good number of seconds before eventually turning with a faint blush on her face.
"I'll listen to Father," she muttered softly.
This revelation shocked Ivan, so these two were father and daughter?
Following this addition to his training, Ivan was to go to the training room where he would spend a good part of whatever was left of the day.
He was informed that the training room had one hundred levels and the further one went, the harder each level would get. Currently, the highest any trainee had climbed was the 30th level and that was accomplished by a trainee who had held first place on the ranking during the training last year.
This discovery came as a pleasant surprise to Ivan, fighting intent blazed within his eyes; he couldn't wait to go to the training room.
"And that's all for now. Elora, you can carry on with whatever you have been doing. Ivan, come with me. I'll take you to the Nexus chamber" James said as he rose from his chair.
(Hello!! Author here, I want to ask for your help. What's the best tool to use on someone you want to kill but don't want them to die quickly, so they can feel as much pain as possible? Fantasy weapons of course, for Ivan's use)