SSS Ranked Talent: I Can Upgrade My Skills Infinitely-Chapter 169: Reality Anchor Fusion, The Center of Nowhere

Chapter 169: Reality Anchor Fusion, The Center of Nowhere

Echo Shui froze. Her liquid form solidified. She was trapped, a statue of blue ice caught in a scream of defiance.

[Target Immobilized.]

Alvian floated in the silence of the frozen world.

"Inefficient to fight the tide," Alvian whispered. "Better to stop it."

He walked over to the frozen Queen. He reached up and plucked the [Water Anchor] from the air above her head.

[Shard Conquered: Water.]

[Reality Anchor: 5/5 Acquired.]

His inventory hummed. The five Anchors—Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Lightning (from the previous loot)—resonated with each other.

"Alvian," Valeria’s voice came over the comms. "We got the Fire Anchor. The shard is collapsing."

"I have the Water Anchor," Alvian replied. "Get ready. We’re leaving."

He looked at the frozen world one last time. He crushed the [Water Anchor] in his hand, activating the recall protocol.

The ice shattered. The world dissolved into white light.

They were going home. And they had the keys to the universe.

The Dimensional Gap was not a place of silence. It was a place of static. A constant, low-frequency hum vibrated against the skin, the sound of data decaying, of timelines unraveling into the grey nothingness. To a normal human, it would be maddening. To Alvian, it was simply background noise—inefficient audio data that his mind automatically filtered out.

He stood on a floating platform of bedrock, the remnants of the Earth Shard he had collapsed moments ago. Around him, the grey mist swirled, thick and oppressive, hiding the edges of existence.

Valeria sat on a chunk of rubble, polishing her shield. The gold luster of her armor was dull in the grey light, but her eyes were sharp, watching the perimeter. Seraphina paced nervously, her daggers spinning in her hands. The rogue hated open spaces where she couldn’t hide, and the Dimensional Gap was one infinite, open space.

"We have them all," Alvian stated, his voice cutting through the static.

He opened his inventory. Five items floated out, hovering in the air before him.

The [Wood Anchor], a jagged emerald root pulsing with life. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The [Gold Anchor], a cube of solid, heavy avarice.

The [Earth Anchor], a rough stone sphere with its own gravity field.

The [Water Anchor], a droplet of absolute zero liquid that refused to freeze or evaporate.

The [Fire Anchor], a burning ember that scorched the air around it.

They were the keys to the Elemental Shards, the foundational code of the chaotic realms they had just conquered. Individually, they were powerful artifacts. Together, they were the ingredients for a miracle.

"So, what’s the plan?" Valeria asked, standing up. "We have the rocks. Do we build a door?"

"A door implies a wall," Alvian corrected. "We aren’t building a door. We are building a bridge across the concept of distance."

"You’re going to fuse them," Seraphina realized, looking at the floating artifacts. "Alvian, those are opposing elements. Fire and Water. Earth and Wood. If you force them together, you’ll create a mana nuke. We’re standing at ground zero."

"I know," Alvian said. "That is why I am doing it."

He stepped forward. The [Vestments of the Void Monarch] flared, the black fabric billowing as if caught in a wind that didn’t exist. His new [Chaos Body] physique hummed with power. He didn’t just have high stats; he had a fundamental authority over the system that governed this world.

"System," Alvian commanded internally. "Initiate Fusion Protocol."

[Target: 5 Reality Anchors.]

[Objective: Create Dimensional Bridge.]

[Calculating Probability...]

[Error. Conflicting Elemental Signatures. Success Rate: 0%.]

[Warning: Attempting to fuse opposing laws of physics will result in a catastrophic reality failure.]

"Ignore error," Alvian said aloud. "Override."

He reached out. He didn’t use a crafting table. He didn’t use a spell. He used his hands. He grabbed the [Fire Anchor] and the [Water Anchor].

"Physics Lesson Number Twenty-Five," Alvian whispered, his eyes glowing with the violet light of the Void. "Opposition creates energy."

He smashed the two artifacts together.

"BOOM!"

A shockwave of steam and mana exploded outward. Valeria raised her shield, bracing against the blast. Seraphina ducked behind a rock. But Alvian didn’t flinch. He held the two warring elements together, his grip absolute. The fire tried to boil the water; the water tried to drown the fire. The conflict generated a massive amount of chaotic energy.

"System. Activate SSS-Rank Talent: [Super Upgrade System]."

[Authority Invoked.]

[Target: The Fusion Reaction.]

[Consuming One (1) Daily Charge...]

"Stabilize," Alvian ordered.

The violet light of his talent wrapped around the exploding elements. It forced them to stop fighting. It rewrote their code. Instead of destroying each other, they merged. Steam turned into a solid, swirling grey crystal.

[Fusion Successful.]

[Item Created: Mist Anchor (Unstable).]

"Next," Alvian said, not pausing.

He grabbed the [Earth Anchor] and the [Wood Anchor]. He crushed them against the [Mist Anchor].

"Fuse."

The ground beneath him cracked. Roots of iron erupted from the fusion, trying to tear reality apart. Earth tried to crush; Wood tried to grow. Again, the conflict threatened to vaporize the platform.

"Submit," Alvian growled.

He poured his infinite mana into the reaction. The [Tear of the Infinite] in his chest spun wildly, feeding the hungry reaction with enough energy to power a city. The iron roots withered, turning into a dense, metallic lattice that wrapped around the grey crystal.

Finally, he took the [Gold Anchor].

"The binding agent," Alvian noted. "Greed holds everything together."

He pressed the gold cube into the center of the chaotic mass.

[System Alert: Critical Instability.]

[The object has no defined form. It lacks a blueprint.]

"I am the blueprint," Alvian stated.

He placed both hands on the floating mass of fused elements. He closed his eyes. He visualized Azureus. He visualized the coordinates of the main server. He visualized the path home.

"Upgrade. Final Stage."

[Consuming Final Daily Charge...]

[Forcing Reality Compliance...]

The light was blinding. It wasn’t just bright; it was heavy. The colors of the five elements—red, blue, brown, green, gold—spiraled outward, forming a massive, rotating ring of energy. The ring expanded, cutting through the grey mist of the Dimensional Gap.

"CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!"

The sound of the universe being hammered into shape echoed through the void. The floating rock they stood on shook violently.

Valeria stumbled, sliding toward the edge. Alvian didn’t look, but his hand shot out, catching her wrist without breaking his concentration on the fusion. He pulled her back to the center, his touch lingering for a fraction of a second on her armored forearm to ensure she was stable.

"Stay close," he murmured, his voice strained. "The gravity is about to invert."

The ring of light solidified. It wasn’t a portal yet. It was a frame. A massive, circular gate made of five fused materials, hanging in the void. Inside the ring, the grey mist swirled, trying to form an image.

"It’s working," Seraphina gasped, shielding her eyes. "I see... I see water! I see the ocean!"

Alvian gritted his teeth. The strain was immense. He was manually holding open a door between two dimensions that wanted to stay separate. His [Chaos Body] was taking damage just from the proximity to the raw creation energy.

[-1,000 HP/sec.]

[Regeneration Active.]

"Connect," Alvian roared. "Establish the link!"

The image in the portal sharpened. The blue waters of Azureus. The ruins of the Academy. It was right there.

But then, the image flickered.

Static.

The blue water turned into white noise. The portal destabilized. The ring of energy began to vibrate, emitting a high-pitched screech that shattered the loose stones on their platform.

[System Warning: External Interference Detected.]

[Connection Blocked.]

[Source: Admin Privilege Level 10.]

Alvian’s eyes snapped open. "Admin Privilege?"

The portal didn’t close. It changed. The image of the ocean vanished, replaced by a symbol—a single, unblinking eye inside a triangle.

"Someone is blocking the signal," Alvian realized. "Someone who controls this place."

"Alvian!" Valeria shouted. "Above us!"

Alvian looked up. The grey sky of the Dimensional Gap was tearing open. But it wasn’t a rift. It was a hatch. A massive, mechanical square opened in the "sky," revealing a darkness deeper than the void.

And from that darkness, something descended.

It wasn’t a monster. It was a structure. A tower.

A black, monolithic tower, upside down, descending tip-first toward their platform. It was covered in glitching textures—patches of pink and black checkerboards, walls that flickered in and out of existence, windows that showed nothing but code.

"What is that?" Seraphina whispered, her daggers trembling.

"That," Alvian said, cancelling the fusion and recalling the unstable Anchor to his inventory. "Is the source of the interference."

The tower stopped. The tip hovered ten meters above their heads. A balcony extended from the inverted spire.

"Inefficient," Alvian muttered, staring at the glitching structure. "They built a dungeon inside the trash bin."

The "bridge" home was blocked. The way out wasn’t through the portal anymore. It was through the tower.

The inverted tower hung over them like a sword of Damocles. It defied every law of physics and aesthetics.

Parts of it looked like a medieval castle, others like a futuristic laboratory, and some sections were just raw, untextured polygons that hurt the eyes to look at.

It pulsed with a sickly, yellow light—the color of a system warning.