Standing Next To You - Chapter 213: It’s counterfeit

Five years ago, humanity’s strongest Tower Climber was betrayed at the peak of his conquest.Rael Arden, known only by his codename Phantom, was the silent genius who cleared impossible floors, crushed monsters with forbidden magic, and shaped the rules of Tower exploration. No one had ever seen his real face—yet his legend was feared across the world.But at the Tower’s summit, the teammates he carried to glory stabbed him in the back. For power. For godhood. For fear of what he might become.They thought he died.They were wrong.Reincarnated in secret, Rael awakens in a modern world that’s on the edge of collapse. Dungeons bleed into cities. Monsters evolve. The Tower is no longer just a gate—it’s infecting the world. And the very ones who betrayed him now rule from the shadows, hiding behind titles, guilds, and lies.But Rael isn’t alone. His soul split across hidden clone bodies, each designed to infiltrate, gather information, and prepare for war. As each clone reawakens, his power grows—and so does his rage.With him are three women tied to his fate:Selene, the shadow rogue who never betrayed him.Lyra, a curious researcher drawn to the legend of the Phantom.Aeris, the sword saint who still mourns his death… and may not be as loyal to the enemy as she seems.Now, Rael hunts the seven betrayers who destroyed his past.One by one, they will fall.But revenge is just the beginning.Because deep within the Tower, something else is waking—an ancient force that even Rael feared. And this time, the world may not survive unless the Phantom reigns again.

“The lifespan of a butterfly is between three days and a month, and most butterflies only live for a week.”
“Like them, I have only a few months to live, maybe less.”

–

The first time Hu Die met Jing Yu, he thought she was a world-weary girl who committed suicide.
The second time they met, he told Hu Die indifferently: “If you jump down again today, I’m not saving you again.”
Later, she told him: “Jing Yu, don’t feel sorry for me.”

Later, Jing Yu returned to the arena and won the glory that belonged to him.
Under the flashing lights, he suddenly remembered the girl’s voice, and said a nonsensical remark in front of thousands of people.

——”I’m not sad, I just think that at such a moment, it would be better if you’re here.”

“He is a whale swimming in the ocean. One day, a butterfly inadvertently broke into his frequency. That was the most beautiful moment in his life.”

- Description from Novelupdates

Noah, who was obsessed with the game 'Survival of an Extra'.He spent months chasing an elusive alternate ending.During one of his playthroughs, a glitch and a mysterious effect spirals the game into chaos, killing off characters one by one, everyone in the game slowly started to disappear.In the end, He awakened something he shouldn't have known about, his fate ended in one world and began in another world.Awakening as Noctis Nightryn, the Game’s protagonist and a “extra” Character of the unfamiliar world.He now had to find the cause of the bad ending he had triggered and prevent it at all cost, all while seeking an ending of his own to survive.Since the first day, he arrived to the world everything he knew about game started to differ. The main character were not the same as in the game.Noah realized this world was no longer the same game he knew—since his arrival, everything had already began to deviate, forcing him to make decisions he didn't know would lead to.

In the year 2090, technology has advanced to the point where Simulation Boxes, (Sim Box for short) are common place, allowing for the user to link up their brain's neural network to a full dive Simulation. While initially used for educational purposes, recently a large gaming company, Averon, released a fully fledged immersive MMORPG simulation where users can become anyone they desire, level up, choose their class, and become a hero or a villain. The name of this simulation is The Shattered World Online.

Eli Winters had no interest in playing it. His father, a jobless bum who spent his entire life playing games in the hope of becoming a famous player or streamer, was able to use the release of The Shattered World Online to gain wealth and fame, quickly becoming the number one player and a household name as the game took the world by storm. He immediately abandoned Eli and his mother in favor of being with someone from his guild, despite his mother having worked two jobs to support them and raise Eli by herself. Eli had nothing but spite for his father and the game.

When Eli's best friend convinces him to try out the game, his father's fame begins to interfere, culminating in him being singled out and shunned by his peers, and his father offering to pay for his university tuition in return for Eli hiding their relationship and quitting the game. Instead of complying with his father's wishes, Eli decides to prove to everyone how useless a guy his father is by challenging him that if Eli is able to surpass him in the game world he must delete his account and quit his streaming career. His father accepts the challenge believing his son to be useless at games - but Eli will soon show him just how ambitious a spiteful person can be.