So he gathered cars—dozens of them. With his strength, he crushed them down, compacting metal and steel until, eventually, he had formed a single massive sphere. By the time he was finished, it was enormous, the size of a building, a weight no normal human could hope to move.
Seth wrapped his arms around it, muscles tightening as he began to lift. The ground trembled under the strain, and slowly, impossibly, the massive ball rose.
All around him, mouths fell open. The survivors stopped what they were doing, staring in disbelief at the sight. Seth stood there, effortlessly holding a weight that defied reason.
For a time, things settled into a rhythm that could almost be called peaceful. There wasn't much left to do beyond the daily routine. People began to tier up at their own pace, slowly climbing the ladder of strength. Among them, the children blessed with S-tier and SS-tier talents rose the fastest. Their growth was extraordinary, their potential undeniable, and Seth made them his primary focus. Training them meant building cornerstones for the future.
In total, there were only five individuals with such rare talents. Each one stood out like a beacon, their abilities shaping them into powerhouses far above the rest. But the fact that there were 5 here showed that SS tier talents were not that rare, and there might be millions out there.
[Fire Dragon Lord] – An SS-tier talent that grants the power of a dragon. With each tier advanced, the user gains further aspects of draconic transformation. At the highest levels, they may ascend into the Fire Dragon Emperor, a dragon with the might to rule over all lesser dragons—even the mighty Dragon King himself.
{Wish: I wish to become a super-powerful dragon overlord.}
[Superman] – An SS-tier talent that grants the user the potential to become the very embodiment of Superman. As one tiers up, sunlight gradually replaces the need for monster crystals, becoming a natural source of XP. Over time, the body evolves toward perfection—physique, speed, durability, strength, and even the mind itself—all balanced, refined, and overwhelmingly powerful just like Superman
{Wish: I wish to be Superman, and be super strong.}
[Absolute Transformation] – An SS-tier talent that grants the ability to transform into nearly any race. With each tier advanced, the user gains the capability to fully embody the chosen form, inheriting the powers, strengths, and unique abilities of that race. Every transformation produces the prime version of the race.
{Wish: I wish to be like Ben 10, and transform into aliens!}
[The Unseen] – An S-tier talent that allows the user to vanish from the world itself. At the early stages, this power manifests as unmatched stealth, but as one ranks up, it grows far more insidious—erasing presence and even fading from people's memories. To be unseen is not just to hide, but to become something the world cannot hold onto.
{Wish: I wish to be the best at Hide and Seek; they always find me.}
[Pokémon Summoner] – An S-tier talent that grants the user the power to summon Pokémon into this world. As one ranks up, the restrictions loosen, allowing summons to be performed with nothing more than a thought. At the highest levels, summoned Pokémon could remain in the world indefinitely without consuming any MP.
{Wish: I wish to be a Pokémon trainer and catch all of the Pokémon.}
Seth was honestly shocked that Pokémon Summoner wasn't ranked even higher than S-tier. On the surface, it looked absurdly broken—an army of Pokémon at your beck and call. But as he dug deeper, the limitations became clear, and they explained the balance behind it.
First, the stronger the Pokémon, the greater the MP cost required to summon it, and the price scales quickly. Second, the summons wasn't guaranteed. A Pokémon could reject the call entirely, refusing to appear. And lastly—the most dangerous drawback of all—there was always the chance of death. A summoned Pokémon didn't have to obey. If it resented the summoner, it could simply kill them on the spot.
"Boss, why do you train so hard?" a boy dressed in black asked, his curious eyes fixed on Seth.
Seth was balanced on his palms, his entire body inverted, while atop his feet rested the massive ball of crushed cars he had forged together. Slowly, steadily, he lowered his body toward the ground, arms straining for a moment before he pushed himself back up. The motion repeated again and again, his control precise, his focus unwavering.
Only after a pause did he answer. "To rank up to tier one, the world will test you to see if the gift it blessed you with was wasted. So, it's best to push yourself to the limit." His voice was calm, but there was a quiet weight in his words.
For Seth, overwhelming talent was never just a blessing. It was a double-edged sword. To possess such power meant he was expected to live up to it completely. If he failed, if he proved unworthy, the same gift that made him extraordinary would see him destroyed.
Like the countless novels he had read, Seth believed the path forward was clear. He needed to push his combat strength to its absolute maximum through effort alone and then forcefully break through the barrier. At least, that was the conclusion he had come to.
"Why not just eat the crystal?" the boy asked softly, tilting his head.
"Because I want to see something. Once I reach the peak from working out, I'll use the crystals to break past my limit…" Seth replied, his voice calm but edged with focus. His eyes shifted toward the boy. "Shadow, shouldn't you be training?"
He wasn't in the mood to be watched, let alone questioned, while he was pushing his body to its limits. Who likes being watched while they are focused on something else?
Shadow was the boy with the S-tier talent, [Unseen]. He clung close to Seth, since Seth's heightened perception was the only thing that kept him from fading into nothingness. Others forgot him the moment he stepped out of sight, even his own parents. When the chaos began, they had abandoned him without hesitation, slipping away as though he had never existed at all… well, to them he didn't exist, for his skill made them forget about his existence.
"I wanted to watch you train," Shadow said softly, his voice carrying the weight of someone much older. His eyes held quiet loneliness, the kind born from being forgotten and unnoticed. The boy was clearly wrestling with his own problems. For him, [Unseen] was no gift—it was a curse, a wish he already regretted making.
But Seth wasn't built to be a parent, nor the comforting presence of a sibling. Maybe in the past, he would have tried, but the concept of having a family, love, and such BS disgusted him. Just the thought of it made him want to throw up.
"Go train. That's how you'll find your parents," Seth said evenly.
Shadow's eyes widened, the words striking him harder than he expected. The idea had never once crossed his mind, but now it rooted itself firmly. He was only ten, yet old enough to grasp exactly what Seth was implying. Strength was the only path forward. If he wanted to see his parents again, if he wanted to find a way to remove this curse, then training was the key.
Without another word, Shadow nodded firmly, determination flickering in his young eyes. He turned and ran off, the thought of one day finding his parents burning in his chest, pushing his small legs forward with renewed purpose.
Seth watched him go only for a moment before shifting his attention back inward. With a thought, he summoned his status window.
[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: 185
===============
Skills: [Nexus Eyes (LvL: 1/5)]
Resistances: [None]
Equipped Gear: [Tier D Great Sword], [Storage Bag],
Mount/Pet: [None]
Yeah, his stats had almost doubled. His body responded to strain in ways that no normal human body could—muscles knitting back together at high speed, stamina returning at a rate that would break common sense. Because of that, he didn't hesitate to push himself further. He trained recklessly, shattering his body again and again, only to let it heal and adapt.
Every time the massive ball of crushed cars became manageable, he simply added more. Vehicles were stacked, compacted, and fused into the growing mass until it became heavier than entire buildings. Then he lifted it again, his body straining, breaking, and rebuilding stronger each time.
To gauge just how absurd his growth had become, he compared it to what he knew. A tier D greatsword on its own granted a boost of +10 combat power. By that measure, even stripped of weapons, Seth's raw physical strength sat at 175—a number far beyond what should have been possible for his stage.
"Well, I should go hunt for some tier three monsters," Seth said softly to himself. Information had already started flowing in from those who used their talents to scout the area. From what they discovered, the region they were trapped in was dominated almost entirely by goblins.
But the world itself… Earth was no longer the same. It had changed in ways that defied logic. The planet had grown larger, stretching itself into something unfamiliar. Neighborhoods that once sat close together now stood separated by great distances. Cities that could once be reached in hours of driving were now spread impossibly far apart. And beyond that, the continents had grown, with many online believing that continents have become 100,000 miles along, a scary number that one can't grasp… and it was confusing because it would make the planet around the same size as the sun.
This particular neighborhood had been cut off completely, isolated from everything else. Where there should have been highways or roads leading outward, there was nothing but endless wilderness. Dense forests surrounded the area on all sides, a green wall that sealed them in. There was no road out, no easy connection to the rest of the world—only the unknown.