SSS Ranked Talent: I Can Upgrade My Skills Infinitely-Chapter 172: Efficiency vs Purpose, Mirror Match

He walked back to his desk and tapped the surface. The screen changed, showing a replay of a city burning—not Azureus, but the Imperial Capital.

"There is no victory inside the System," Prime declared. "The only way to win is to crash the game."

The silence in the office was absolute, a vacuum where hope struggled to breathe. The image of the burning capital reflected in Alvian’s eyes, a grim prophecy of a future he had already lived through once.

"Crash the game," Alvian repeated. "That is your solution? Suicide on a cosmic scale?"

"Starvation," Alvian Prime corrected. He paced behind his desk, his movements economical, precise. "The System feeds on conflict. It feeds on the narrative of the ’Hero’ rising to stop the ’Calamity’. It needs an active protagonist to drive the script. If the protagonist removes himself from the board... the story stalls. The System enters stasis. The Convergence halts because there is no one to witness it."

Prime gestured to the vast grey void outside the invisible walls.

"This is the only safe zone. The Dimensional Gap. I pull the variables here. I keep them in stasis. If you stay here, Alvian, the world pauses. No one dies. No one suffers. We simply... exist. Outside the loop."

"Stagnation," Alvian said, his voice dripping with disdain. "You are suggesting we hide in a hole while the universe rots."

"I am suggesting survival!" Prime slammed his hand on the desk. The impact didn’t make a sound, but a ripple of void energy distorted the air. "You think you are saving them? Look at her."

He pointed a finger at Valeria.

"Valeria. The Golden Knight. In my timeline, she died taking a spell meant for me. She burned to ash in my arms because I wasn’t fast enough. Because I was distracted by trying to save a city of NPCs who respawn in the next cycle."

Valeria flinched, her face paling. She looked at Alvian, her eyes wide.

"And her," Prime pointed at Seraphina. "The Shadow. She died extracting intel I didn’t need. She bled out in a gutter because I sent her on a mission to save a kingdom that was already doomed."

Seraphina gripped her daggers, her knuckles white. "We make our own choices," she hissed.

"Choices are variables," Prime countered cold. "Variables lead to error. Errors lead to deletion. I eliminated the variables. I removed the attachments. And I became strong enough to challenge the Admins. But by then... there was nothing left to save."

He looked at Alvian, his expression softening into a twisted form of pity.

"You are walking the same path, kid. You are gathering assets you cannot maintain. You are building a castle on quicksand. Stay here. We can freeze the server. We can preserve them forever in the Gap. They won’t live, but they won’t die."

Alvian looked at the screen, at the world of Gods Domain. He saw the people. He saw the struggle. He saw life. Messy, inefficient, chaotic life.

"Preservation is not life," Alvian stated. "It is a museum. And I am not a curator."

He turned to look at Valeria. She was terrified, shaken by Prime’s words, but she was standing her ground. He looked at Seraphina. She was angry, ready to fight a god to prove she existed.

"You call them liabilities," Alvian said, turning back to Prime. "I call them force multipliers. You fought alone. You optimized for a single unit. That is why you failed. A single unit has limits. A network... a network distributes the load."

"Sentiment," Prime sneered. "A glitch in your logic processing."

"No," Alvian said, his eyes glowing violet. "Purpose. Efficiency without purpose is just entropy. You deleted your humanity to gain power, and now you have nothing to use it for. You are a gun with no target."

Alvian took a step forward, the [Lance of the Void Winter] materializing in his hand.

"I have a target. I have a purpose. And I am not staying in your box."

Prime sighed. It was a sound of deep, ancient weariness. He picked up his spear—the [Lance of the End].

"I was afraid you would say that," Prime said. "The System doesn’t allow two instances of the same character to exist in the active server. It creates a paradox. A corruption."

The office began to dissolve. The desk, the chair, the screen—they shattered into white pixels. The floor expanded, turning into an infinite plane of black glass.

"If you won’t stay willingly," Prime said, his armor flaring with a dark, heavy light that made the air scream, "then I have to delete you. For the good of the save file."

"Valeria, Seraphina," Alvian commanded, his voice calm. "Get back. This is not a raid. This is a mirror match."

"Alvian, he’s..." Valeria started, sensing the overwhelming power radiating from Prime.

"He is me," Alvian interrupted. "And I know how to beat me."

Prime spun his spear. The void around him twisted.

"You know nothing," Prime said. "You are Level 56. I am Transcendence. You are playing a game. I am the code."

[System Warning: Entity [Alvian Prime] hostility confirmed.]

[Threat Level: Immeasurable.]

[Survival Probability: Error.]

Alvian ignored the warning. He raised his lance.

"Then let’s debug."

The black glass floor of the arena reflected two figures. They stood mirrored, identical in stance, identical in intent, but separated by an abyss of power. Alvian Prime moved first.

He didn’t use a skill. He didn’t use a step. He simply occupied the space in front of Alvian.

"Too slow."

"BANG!"

Prime’s spear struck Alvian’s lance. It wasn’t a clash of metal; it was a collision of concepts. The impact sent Alvian skidding backward across the glass, his boots carving deep furrows into the indestructible surface. His arms went numb. His health bar flickered.

[-15,000 HP!]

Alvian gritted his teeth. Prime’s base stats were astronomical. He was fighting a version of himself that had been leveling up for centuries.

"Is that it?" Prime asked, his voice echoing from everywhere. "Is that the strength of the new generation?"

Alvian stabilized himself. "System. Activate [Genesis Mode]."

[Genesis Mode: Engaged.]

[Stats Doubled.]

White light exploded from Alvian. He launched himself forward, a blur of speed. He used [Void Step], blinking behind Prime to deliver a backstab.

But Prime was already there. He had anticipated the teleport. He caught Alvian’s wrist mid-swing.

"I know the timing," Prime said boredly. "I wrote the rotation."

Prime twisted his hand. Alvian’s wrist snapped.

"ARGH!"

Prime kicked Alvian in the chest.

"BOOM!"

Alvian was launched into the air. He corrected his flight, hovering, clutching his broken wrist. The [Tear of the Infinite] pulsed, healing the bone in seconds, but the pain lingered.

"You rely on the System," Prime called out, floating up to meet him. "You rely on the interface to tell you what to do. You press buttons. I am the action."

Prime raised his hand.

"[Frost Descent: Absolute Zero Supernova]."

He didn’t cast a blizzard. He cast a star of ice. A sphere of blue-white energy the size of a moon formed above his head. The cold was so intense it froze the light in the room.

"Dodge that," Prime challenged.

He threw the star. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

It was too big to dodge. The area of effect covered the entire dimension.

Alvian’s mind raced. He couldn’t block it. Even [Runic Aegis] would shatter. He couldn’t outrun it.

"Valeria! Seraphina! Get behind me!" Alvian screamed, diving toward the ground where his team was huddled.

"We can help!" Valeria shouted, raising her shield.

"NO!" Alvian landed in front of them. "You can’t tank this! This is Admin-level magic!"

Alvian raised his lance. He didn’t try to stop the star. He tried to cut it.

"[Glacial Void Pierce]: Reality Sever."

He thrust his lance into the descending sphere. A beam of black void energy shot out, piercing the star.

"CRACK."

The star split. But it didn’t dissipate. The two halves crashed down on either side of Alvian, slamming into the glass floor.

"KABOOM!"

The shockwave was cataclysmic. Alvian was forced to his knees, his [Vestments] shredding under the thermal stress. He shielded Valeria and Seraphina with his own body, taking the brunt of the backlash.

[-20,000 HP!]

[-15,000 HP!]

He was in the red.

Prime landed softly in front of him. He looked down at the battered, bleeding younger version of himself.

"Inefficient," Prime said, shaking his head. "You wasted mana saving them. You took damage you didn’t need to take. This is why you will lose. You are carrying dead weight."

Alvian stood up. He spat blood onto the black glass.

"They aren’t weight," Alvian rasped. "They are the reason."

He looked at Prime. He saw the power. He saw the perfection. But he also saw the pattern. Prime was efficient. Perfectly efficient. And efficiency was predictable.

"You know my moves because you are me," Alvian said, gripping his lance. "But you are me from a timeline where you gave up. You are the me who stopped taking risks."

Alvian dropped his stance. He lowered his weapon.

Prime narrowed his eye. "Surrendering?"