For the first time in his life, Ryu was truly speechless.
He kneeled before Sarriel, his mouth partially open as the words he had planned on speaking hung in silence.
One would think that the owner of the First Ranked Heavenly Pupils shouldn't be shocked when meeting someone who was his inferior in every way. But, Ryu didn't think about things like this, nor should anyone, for that matter.
The ranking of the Heavenly Pupils was ultimately reliant on the amount of Fate its predecessors had accumulated over time. What the rankings functionally represented was the likelihood of reaching a certain level of strength rather than an actual strength.
To understand why Ryu didn't have the capital to look down on Sarriel, one only needed to consider a single thing.
In the past, the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils used to be ranked dead last. It was only after many of those birthed with these Pupils reached the pinnacle of the martial world that the rankings began to slowly shift. It could be said, then, that any one of these powerful eyes could accomplish this feat.
However, there was one thing many didn't consider when they thought of this.
The reason the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils was able to turn the table was because the lower on the list a set of Heavenly Pupils was, the more frequently it would be born into the world. Or, rather, the higher a set of Heavenly Pupils was ranked, the least likely it would be to appear.
Every set of Heavenly Pupils seemed to follow this rule, even Leonel's own. The only exception seemed to be… The Truth Pupils.
For whatever reason, the Truth Pupils seemed to always maintain a similar rank, never moving from Seventh. Yet, at the same time, it also maintained a level of rarity that surpassed even Ryu's own set.
Listening to all of this, one would think that the reason Ryu was so shocked was because he was facing the Truth Pupils themselves. But, this wasn't the case at all. If Ryu had been faced with any set of Heavenly Pupils, regardless of which they were, he would be astonished.
To put the rarity of Heavenly Pupils into perspective, one needs to understand how they are formed.
Some Pupils were formed spontaneously from the Heavens while others were the product of talents taken from ancestral beasts who had evolved their Bloodlines. An example of the latter would be Little Gem and her Griffin Clan's Second Ranked Heavenly Pupils.
Heavenly Pupils thus blessed by the Heavens could only be bestowed to those born in high level worlds like the Shrine Plane. In addition, any given world could only sustain the birth of a single set of Heavenly Pupils for a set period of time.
As for how long this period was, it depended on the world. But, a median number would easily cross into the trillions of years. At the very least, the lifespan of a Sky God.
Of the countless worlds in existence, there were definitely no more than 30 on the level of Ryu's Shrine World. This meant, even if there was the greatest luck imaginable, there would at most be 30 Heavenly Pupils wielders at any given time.
But, this was only theoretical. In practice, though there didn't seem to be any rule against it, there were no historical records of two Pupils of the same kind appearing at once.
Having reached this point, the reason for Ryu's shock should be self-evident.
Beneath the Heavens, there were trillions upon trillions of worlds. Each world, even the smallest, had billions upon billions of people. Even middle sized worlds had trillions, let alone the largest worlds there were.
Yet, at any given time, there were likely to be less than five Heavenly Pupils wielders…
Why wouldn't Ryu be shocked?
"You…"
When Ryu regained his bearings, he couldn't help but look at this hopeless young woman and shake his head.
"Do you have any idea what kind of information you just gave me?"
Ryu had already been chased down once for his Pupils, and that old bastard hadn't even known which type he had. But, now Ryu knew exactly what Pupils Sarriel had.
One might think that the Truth Pupils were useless to Ryu, but this wasn't true in the slightest. When doing research to learn how to best effectively use his Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils as a mortal, he had stumbled upon quite a few archives. Among them, many described the close relationship between his eyes and Sarriel's.
But, even if there wasn't such a special case, how valuable would Sarriel's pupils be? What if he wanted to refine her into a corpse puppet? What if he just wanted to sell her on the black market?
Forgetting all of this, just her Fey Bloodline would make her a hotly sought after commodity.
Just revealing these things to him was practically like handing her life over on a silver platter.
Ryu shook his head again, gazing toward Sarriel deeply who seemed to want to avoid his gaze.
"But I guess you know just as much about me now, don't you?"
Sarriel looked up to meet Ryu's gaze but just as quickly looked away, seemingly afraid to meet his eyes for too long. In the end, she only shyly nodded.
Ryu sighed deeply. Right now….
He really wanted to kill this girl.
Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to do so. She knew too much and her Pupils were simply too powerful.
This was the first time that Ryu could truly say that he had met someone on his level… At least in this lifetime, as long as he was ignoring Ailsa. And… It made him feel uncomfortable.
This wasn't because he felt inferior nor was it because he was close-minded. It was because the Truth Pupils were truly too powerful.
By now, there was likely not a single secret of Ryu's that this girl didn't know. Whether it was his Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils, the number of Origin Grade treasures he had on himself, his Bloodlines, his constitutions, she was even aware of his Realm Heart by now.
This was power of the Truth Pupils.. They could see through the truth of all things.