"Boss, we have expanded the territory. With the ten regions now conquered and swallowed into ours, our land holds over eight thousand people. We currently have ten individuals with a combat power of over 270, and more than one hundred who have reached a combat power above 200. We are growing far beyond what we had originally expected," Shadow reported carefully.
Seth was in the middle of training, his body tense as he endured the weight of both his cursed armor and the additional strain caused by the Pokémon Clefairy, which he had Red bring out specifically to increase gravity around him. The crushing force pressed down on every muscle, but Seth continued his exercises without pause, sweat running down his face.
"I see… how are the newcomers?" Seth asked softly.
It had been a week since he had claimed the position of region overlord, and in that time, remarkable growth had occurred. Everyone under him had gotten stronger; their abilities pushed far beyond what they had been before. Much of it came down to Seth himself, as he had personally forced them to train harder, pushed them to develop faster, and provided them with opportunities they never would have had otherwise. He was also willing to spend his resources to outfit them with proper equipment, weapons, and armor, each item serving to further boost their strength.
They had also expanded their territory as they had conquered nearby Terrtory, leading to their current region being the size of 11 regions combined.
"They have adapted well. Some came from territories ruled by cruel overlords, where life was nothing but suffering and oppression. Others arrived from regions that had never been strong enough to establish an overlord at all, leaving them vulnerable and unprotected. For many of them, the high tax was a small price to pay for the chance to live under your protection," Shadow explained steadily.
As he spoke, Seth rose to his feet. He unfastened the cursed armor piece by piece, letting the crushing weight slide from his body, and with a motion, signaled the Pokémon to stop increasing the gravity. The air seemed to lighten immediately, though Seth's muscles still bore the strain of the training session.
"How about the strength of the monsters?" Seth asked lightly, his tone calm but expectant.
"We are facing tier three monsters now, each carrying a combat power of around 225. Our people are more than capable of handling them," Shadow replied without hesitation. "Superman and Dragon Boy, in particular, are strong enough to one-shot these monsters even while remaining at Tier 0. As you requested, they've been holding back from tiering up until their combat power reaches 1,000." His voice carried a quiet confidence, reflecting both their progress and the discipline Seth had instilled in them.
Of course, those ten individuals who had reached a combat power of 270 required proper weapons to reach that level. After all, only a week ago, their combat power had been sitting around 90. Yet in the span of just seven days, they had pushed themselves so far that their combat power had climbed all the way to 450. Was that not shocking? The speed of their progress was nearly unbelievable, even for those who had witnessed it firsthand.
The main reasons for this rapid improvement were clear. First, they had trained relentlessly, putting in hours of effort every single day without pause. Second, they had been supplied with high-quality gear—equipment strong enough to bring out their full potential and push their limits further than before. And lastly, they had begun learning skills that directly supported their unique talents, giving them abilities that worked in harmony with their natural strengths. Together, those three factors had transformed them in a single week.
Since they had deliberately avoided eating monster crystals, all of their progress came from shattering their natural limits and steadily growing stronger on their own. Each breakthrough in strength was earned through sheer effort, not through shortcuts. The presence of healers made this kind of relentless training possible; injuries that would normally take weeks to recover from were healed in hours, allowing the fighters to push themselves again and again without fear of permanent damage. With their recovery so rapid, the cycle of training and growth never slowed.
As for their motivation, that was simple—Seth left them with no choice. He pushed them forward every day, forcing them to train harder and harder, never allowing a moment of laziness or hesitation. Discipline was absolute, and Seth made it clear that he wouldn't tolerate weakness from those with the potential to rise. The only people he didn't bother to pressure were those with talents ranked below A-tier; for them, he saw little value in wasting his time, leaving them to grow at their own pace.
[Name: Seth Williams
Race: Primal Human
Talent: Nexus (UR Rank)
Title: [The Honor One], [The World Chosen]
Tier: 0 Tier (1/1,000,000,000 XP)
Combat Power: 625
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Skills: [Nexus Eyes (LvL: 2/5)], [Sword Slash (Lvl: ?/5)], [Blazing Sword Slash (Lvl: ?/5)], [Blazing Sword Shield(Lvl: ?/5)], [Blazing Sword Strike (Lvl: ?/5)], Blazing Sword Pierse (Lvl: ?/5)],
Resistances: [Debuffs (Lvl:1/5)]
Equipped Gear: [Tier-D Great Sword], [Storage Ring], [Cursed Armor]
Mount/Pet: [None]
After glancing over his stats, Seth sank into deep thought, considering his next move. With his current combat power, he should, by all rights, be the strongest in the entire world… right?
"I will be setting off to the merchant. In the meantime, I will be leaving everything to you," Seth said lightly. Thanks to the steady flow of taxes he had been collecting from the people under his rule, he had amassed an enormous stockpile of monster crystals. It was more than enough to fund new purchases or investments, giving him freedom to plan ahead without hesitation.
As for the skills in his arsenal, most of them weren't system-given abilities but self-made techniques he had created on his own. One of those was modeled after the Goblin Region boss he had defeated, a move he called [Blazing Sword Slash]. Yet because it was not the exact version from the system but rather a technique of his own creation, it carried no levels for the system to measure. It was powerful, yes—but it existed outside the neat structure of rankings and tiers, belonging entirely to him.
"Boss, you can't. You're the one keeping this place together," Shadow said in shock, his voice rising with urgency. He was still just a kid, but a person's talent didn't only grant strength—it also reshaped the mind. Shadow's growth in combat power had sharpened him, made him think more clearly, and forced him to mature faster than normal children his age ever would.
"Just tell anyone who causes problems when I'm out that I will give them a slow death," Seth replied calmly, his tone flat and lazy. There was no hesitation in his words, no hint of compromise. Seth himself had gone through a series of changes. With the mind of a supercomputer constantly guiding his decisions, he had learned to favor reason over human morals. Emotions like hesitation or guilt no longer swayed him the way they once did. It was this shift that allowed him to kill humans without even blinking, when in the past the thought alone would have been unthinkable.
"Understood," Shadow said softly, his tone quiet but heavy with meaning. He knew those words alone were enough to scare many. Everyone in the camp feared Seth, and more than a few had begun to view him as something more than human, a figure closer to a god than a man.
That belief wasn't without reason. Seth had already fought someone who had wished to become an all-powerful god. That man had been granted the SS-tier talent known as The All-Mighty. Even at tier 0, the tier itself had bestowed upon him the terrifying skill [Perfection]. With it, he could erase limitations from anything he touched and, for a brief time, push any skill to its absolute maximum level.
Among his arsenal, one of his skills allowed him to move objects with his mind alone. The ability was devastating, and since no one had a way to counter such power, resistance was impossible. Against opponents who could only watch helplessly as their bodies were restrained or crushed, his talent made him nearly invincible. Yet despite all of that, Seth had faced him directly and kept moving forward.
What had happened was burned into their memory.