Solo Leveling: Digispirit.

When they arrived at the island, the place was indeed deserted. Takuya simply walked toward the center of the island, and only then did the girl finally speak. "This isn’t a holiday trip for you, is it?" Cha Hae asked.

"It isn’t. Actually, can I trust you?" Takuya asked as he finally reached the center of the island. At his words, Cha Hae frowned slightly before answering.

"You offend me. Of course you can," the girl replied. "To tell you the truth, in the Guild, you’re kind of like the little brother," she added as she ruffled Takuya’s hair. This didn’t offend him in the slightest. On the contrary, he simply smiled. After all, everyone had told him that Cha Hae had been looking for him quite a lot while he was missing. She was a good person.

"Well, I’ll trust you not to tell anyone, but my power is kind of special. It’s actually somewhat connected to me," Takuya explained.

"Connected to you? What do you mean?" Cha Hae asked as she watched Takuya take a seat in the middle of the island.

"Yes. When I first awakened, I could only access a portion of my power, basically a partial transformation. Only after I fought through several dungeons, gained more experience, and finally became accustomed to my power could I bring out more of it. The Hunter Bureau treats it as a second awakening, but in my view, it wasn’t really one. It was simply my body finally becoming accustomed to the power I already had," Takuya explained.

"And now you came here because...?" Cha Hae asked, already knowing what he meant but wanting confirmation.

"Well, now I can kind of release even more of this power. My body has finally adapted to it. However, the ’awakening’—let’s call it that way—can be a tricky process. I don’t want to damage anything around me, so I’d rather do this alone here. That’s the real reason I came to this island," Takuya explained.

"So Master Choi was right. You really were planning to do something," Cha Hae said, mildly surprised.

"Eh? He knew I was going to increase my power or something?" Takuya asked, genuinely surprised this time. At that, Cha Hae spoke.

"He knew you hadn’t awakened a third time. That was almost impossible, but he didn’t completely dismiss the possibility. Even if something has never happened before, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future. After all, we live in a world of magic now," Cha Hae explained with a smile.

That thought wasn’t unreasonable. He mean, someone shooting fire out of their body was already absurd, but here they were.

"Also, he understands why you wanted to do this alone. Trusting people can be difficult. That’s why he sent me. He said that if it was you, you would probably be safer with someone you trusted nearby," Cha Hae explained.

"So I’m really that easy to read," Takuya said with a sigh.

"Being honest isn’t a bad trait, at least not around us. I know the world of Hunters is full of maniacs, but I assure you, I’m not one of them," Cha Hae replied as she rubbed Takuya’s head again.

"Well, thank you, big sis. Hahahaha," Takuya said, hoping to tease her about her attitude. Contrary to what he expected, however, she simply smiled.

"Anytime you want, little bro."

In the end, the surprised one was Takuya.

"This can be a little dangerous. I’m already an A-Rank, so I probably will reach S-Rank now if everything goes well," Takuya explained. At that moment, he took Cha Hae’s armor and weapons from his inventory, something he had carried just in case a sudden dungeon happened to appear.

Cha Hae nodded before dressing for battle and taking several steps back. She didn’t know exactly what could happen, but Takuya had clearly indicated that there was a possibility of him losing control. He had explained that this power possessed some kind of will of its own, so she wasn’t going to underestimate his warning.

Then Takuya said nothing. He simply took a deep breath and clearly formed the thought in his mind.

I choose.

VRITRAMON.

At that moment, even though he was in the material world, the screen appeared before him.

Vritramon selected...

Special Hybrid selected...

Fire Beast Spirit selected...

The Beast Spirit asks for an indomitable will...

The Beast Spirit has seen your previous trial. It is satisfied with your performance. You possess a fire that burns brighter than any other. However, can you control such fire?

Raw power without control is nothing but destruction. Can you control and rule over your instincts?

Opening Digital Dimension special access...

Summoning special guests for the trial...

Entities selected: 4...

Starting the trial...

In that moment, the ground beneath Takuya and Cha Hae shattered. Both of them fell, and it happened so suddenly that neither of them had time to react. The ground didn’t simply collapse—it broke apart like glass. In the next instant, they were falling into something that looked like a world made entirely of data, a black space filled with solid colors and lines stretching in every direction. Takuya could see codes floating around them. It was like being inside a computer program.

This was the first time he had actually stepped inside this place. He had seen it before when he traveled with the Trailmon, but he had never actually entered it. It was like a half-finished version of the Digital World, a rustic and incomplete version of reality. What he hadn’t expected was to be dragged into it alongside Cha Hae. Just why was she here? The last time, there had been four entities mentioned as well. Just what the fuck was happening now?

The problem was that he wasn’t alone. Cha Hae was with him.

"Where are we?" the girl asked.

This was like a dungeon, but she couldn’t make any sense of it. They were inside something, but she didn’t know what it was. A Gate didn’t work this way.

"Takuya?" she asked again.

He nodded.

"Yes. It’s part of my power. Let’s say it’s its essence. I knew something like this could happen. To unlock it, I had to face some kind of trial. This is my first time here," Takuya explained.

Now, one might think, You idiot, why would you tell her all of this?

The question was, why not?

He trusted her, so there was no problem. It was simple, but it was the truth. Besides, if everything went well, he would reach S-Rank, so there wasn’t much anyone could say to him after that.

Then, once again, the floor shattered. This time, both of them were prepared, and they jumped, but the space that broke beneath them was so enormous that they still fell through it.

As they fell, Takuya immediately transformed into Agnimon. Both of them saw a black space filled with floating numbers. The farther they fell, the more data they saw. Suddenly, they noticed several floating islands scattered around them.

Takuya used his flames to control his movement, grabbed Cha Hae’s hand, and guided both of them toward one of the floating islands. They landed safely and looked around. There were multiple islands around them, all of them resembling miniature cities or buildings, constantly moving through the endless digital space.

"What the fuck are we?" Takuya asked. He genuinely had no idea.

"If you don’t know, I know even less," Cha Hae replied, although she was clearly fascinated by what she was seeing.

"You are in the OceanNet," a voice suddenly said from behind them.

Both of them turned toward the source of the voice. To Cha Hae’s eyes, it was a monster. However, she didn’t attack. This was the first time she had ever heard a monster speak, but something about the small creature told her not to attack. For Takuya, however, it wasn’t strange at all.

In fact, he knew this Digimon.

"Veemon. It’s been a while," Takuya said with a soft smile.

"Hahaha, indeed. It has been a while, friend. How have you been?" Veemon asked.

Cha Hae didn’t understand anything that was happening, but for now, she chose to remain silent and not attack. For some reason, this small creature looked weak, but every instinct she had was telling her one thing.

Don’t you dare attack it.

"Good, actually. So, will you be directing the new trial? And why am I not alone this time?" Takuya asked.

"Well, actually, I don’t know. I’m just an observer. I don’t receive the instructions until your trial actually starts. That’s how it was the last time," Veemon explained. "What I can do is answer a couple of questions if you have any."

"I do, actually. Where are we?" Takuya asked.

"That’s simple, but I suppose you don’t want the simple answer. To clarify, you are in the surface level of the Digital Dimension," Veemon explained.

"The surface level?" Takuya asked, expecting Veemon to elaborate.

"Well, it’s quite simple. You and the girl are from the Material Dimension. That’s easy to understand, isn’t it? All of you there are made of this thing called matter. Here..." Veemon pointed around them. "This is part of the Digital Dimension, where everything is made of data," the Digimon explained. "You just crossed into its surface level."

At that moment, the two humans looked around the strange place.

"So this is a Digital Dimension? Not the Digital World?" Takuya asked.

"Well, both. It’s simply a way to explain it," Veemon replied. "This part of the Digital Dimension is the part that your dimension has access to. Through your devices, which contain digital code, you unknowingly access the surface of it. The data they produce is added to the data generated here, in this endless sea of information," Veemon explained.

"And the Digital Worlds? The ones I know?" Takuya asked again.

"Well, technically, they are cybernetic worlds, but let’s say they’re worlds too. They’re simply deeper. If we kept traveling, we’d eventually reach our true worlds and true space. Just as your universe has stars and planets made of matter, our world has the same things, but made of data. Right now, we’re in something like the world between worlds, a place that’s extremely difficult to access. You’re here only because you’re fused with an extremely ancient device," Veemon explained.

Hearing all of this, Takuya still felt reluctant to keep asking questions. After all, Cha Hae was here, and she had just been introduced to another entire dimension. He didn’t have a problem telling her roughly how his powers worked, but Veemon had just revealed that there was an entirely different world beyond the one she already knew about.

And, obviously, she had questions.

"Is this world where the Gates come from?" the girl asked. It was an obvious and important question.

"If you’re referring to the Gates and portals that open in your world with pocket dimensions inside them, then no. Sorry to scare you, girl, but that’s an entirely different dimension," Veemon answered.

The answer was worse than Cha Hae had expected. So there wasn’t just one source of monsters and Gates. There was another entire dimension as well.

Great.

More monsters.

"I have a question," Takuya said, pointing at Cha Hae. "If the trial is mine, why is Cha Hae here?"

"Well, you know the answer, don’t you?" Veemon replied.

"She’s going to be part of the trial, isn’t she?" Takuya asked.

At that, Veemon simply shrugged.

"Probably. I still don’t know."