[Congratulations, Chu Yin, on becoming Seth's heart. Your heart now beats with the power of Nexus, and as a side effect, your talent Omni Ice has been buffed, giving it what it needed to take that one step into Ur tier.]
Chu Yin's eyes widened in shock at the notification that appeared before her vision; even Quar's eyes were wide with shock and disbelief at what he was witnessing happening before him in real time.
But before he could act and do anything to stop what was occurring or interfere with the process, he froze completely in place as if his body had been turned to stone. He felt a gaze fall upon them from somewhere impossibly far away, a presence so overwhelming that it paralyzed him instantly.
Far away from their location… and I mean far away outside the universe itself, deep within a dark void that existed beyond all reality and comprehension, in the center of which one could find a blonde-haired man floating in the emptiness.
His body was restrained with massive chains pierced through his flesh in multiple places, binding him in this prison. The darkness that surrounded this space didn't come near this man at all, for he possessed an aura so bright that the darkness itself feared and avoided him instinctively.
This made this place the only place in that entire endless darkness where any form of light could exist, creating a small bubble of illumination. No light could touch the void beyond this small area.
That very man who was on his knees with his body restrained and broken, arms dislocated from how outstretched they were by the chains pulling them apart, slowly raised his head after remaining still for what felt like an eternity of time.
Beautiful were the only words that could be used to describe his pupils and eyes when they finally opened. They were a beautiful golden color that seemed to glow with inner light and power, which pierced through the void around him effortlessly, and saw past the vast multiverse itself as if the distance meant nothing.
His gaze ignored everything in its path, passing through countless realities and dimensions, and landed on a laughably small universe among countless others that filled the multiverse.
Its gaze alone shattered the barrier that had been entrapping Seth and Chu Yin like it was made of fragile glass, breaking it into countless pieces that scattered into nothing. The sheer pressure behind its gaze, the weight of that attention, was enough to cause that whole galaxy to tremble in sheer fear and horror at the power it represented and what it meant.
"Nexus? What an interesting ability." He said softly, his voice barely above a whisper.
His gaze then slowly turned and shifted towards the person who seemed to be looking back at him across the impossible distance that separated them… that being Chu Yin, who was glaring towards his direction with defiance burning in her eyes.
Slowly, he smirked with amusement, a smirk that hadn't been seen on his face in who knew how many eons or millennia had passed.
Chu Yin wasn't in control of her body right now in this moment, for thanks to his gaze falling upon her and seeing her true nature, it forced her past life self and current self to quickly fuse together into one being against her will.
"Run!" Chu Yin cried out urgently, her voice snapping Seth out of his shock at the overwhelming pressure bearing down on them from above.
Wasting no time at all and not questioning her command or asking why, Seth took one step forward in the direction of their escape route. Just one single step, but it was like the space between himself and the door leading back to the Milky Way Galaxy was suddenly just one step away instead of the impossible distance it had been moments before.
This allowed him to instantly appear before the door without actually traveling the distance between, quickly grabbing the handle and opening it with desperate speed, and rushing inside to the safety of their home dimension.
"Looks like the puzzles are coming together, even after everything." He said softly to himself, his voice carrying deep amusement at what he was witnessing. He shifted his gaze effortlessly to other locations across reality, looking at Mary, Shiro, Michael, Lisa, and so many more people spread out across the universe in different locations, and many more beyond the universe itself in other realms and dimensions he could perceive.
After observing them all for a long moment and seeing how the pieces were moving, he closed his eyes slowly and returned to his rest, waiting patiently for the day these chains would finally be removed from his body, and he would be free once more.
"What was that? Contact the merchants and ask them what galaxy he is from. We need to erase him before he gets too powerful." Quar yelled angrily, his voice echoing through the space around them with barely contained fury.
He was unable to believe he had allowed Seth to just escape from his grasp like that after having him trapped and at his mercy. But how was Seth able to unleash that powerful pressure that had shattered his barrier? That shouldn't have been possible for someone at tier 1, no matter how talented they were.
"How many of our manpower should we send?" a Dwarf standing nearby asked respectfully, his voice steady as he waited for orders from his leader.
This question caused Quar to frown deeply as he fell into deep thought, considering all the implications and calculating exactly what would be needed to handle this threat. Seth was a troublesome person to deal with and eliminate; honestly, after witnessing his abilities firsthand in combat, he was sure that Seth only needed Nexus Barrier to shake off the entire universe if given enough time to grow and master his powers.
The fact that only 1 skill of his was so powerful and versatile, and it came with multiple sub-skills and abilities built into it, was putting immense pressure on him to act quickly before Seth became unstoppable.
There were two types of Ur tier abilities that existed in the universe, fundamentally different in their nature. The first type would be something like Absolute Dodge, which was purely a defense ability without any attacking power whatsoever built into it. This was cool and useful and all for survival, but it focused purely on defense and avoiding harm, limiting its capability and versatility in other areas of combat or utility.
Above that level in terms of versatility was something like Reality Smithing, which he himself possessed as his talent. For this type of Ur tier talent, the user could do it all without any limitation on what they could accomplish. If he wanted Absolute Dodge for himself, he simply needed to craft something that gave him such a power and ability, and it would function the same way as the original talent.
"I will craft weapons, Nexus nullifying weapons for you all." He said coldly, his mind already working on the complex designs and calculations… yes, he could just craft something specifically designed to counter another Ur tier talent and its abilities, no matter how powerful they seemed.
Blacksmiths were the most powerful beings in existence when it came to versatility and adaptability, and he wasn't ranked amongst the top 10 blacksmiths in all of creation for no reason or through luck alone.
"Have… all of my children go forward, I will see if my brothers and sisters want to join." Quar said calmly, his voice steady and controlled despite the anger he felt burning inside him. Three generations had passed since the first king had made his wish, and after that point in the family line, the nearly 100% guaranteed talent inheritance would disappear and become unreliable for future offspring.
As one could see throughout their long history, Talents could go through mutations during the inheritance process from parent to child. Dwalin's talent was mutated from the original version that his grandfather possessed, and this mutation held a chance of making the talent stronger or weaker than the parent's version, depending on countless factors.
Although it was extremely rare for an offspring to have a talent that was stronger than their father, who had made the original wish and received the power directly from the universe.
Back then, during the first generation of their empire, the first king had hundreds of wives, all carefully chosen and married in hopes of passing on his valuable talent to as many children as possible to build their power.
Out of his hundreds of wives that he had taken over his long lifetime, only 87 of them gave birth to children who successfully inherited the talent from their father. Meaning that the first generation alone had 87 Ur tier talents spread across the empire and holding positions of power.
With the King Generation, which was the second generation of descendants who were the children of those original 87, over 1,000 Ur-tier talents could be found throughout the entire galaxy in various positions.
And the current generation, which included the current king's offspring and the children of his siblings, the number had skyrocketed into the millions of Ur tier talents serving the empire. So with this massive army of incredibly powerful individuals in mind, you could see why the Dwarf king couldn't trust Seth and felt so threatened by his potential? Who in their right mind would pass up on the chance to have so many Ur tier talents under their empire and control, especially when they could potentially turn hostile?