SSS Awakening : I can Adapt to Everything

Chapter 176: Just a few steps

The rooftop was submerged in a heavy, contemplative silence. Hide’s entire focus was turned inward, his mind processing the catastrophic weight of the information the Doom Overseer had just casually dropped into his lap.

An artifact that could increase the maximum potential of a Core.

His glowing blue eyes, stared right through the pitch-black, blue-antlered phantom hovering over the table.

What did it truly mean for such a thing to exist?

In a world governed by absolute genetic limits, an item like the Boundary Pusher wasn’t just a treasure; it was a cheat code to reality itself. It was the ultimate heresy against the laws of the universe.

Hide’s mind began to spin a web of logical deductions, moving pieces across the chessboard of the Exterminator underworld. If James Maddox knew about it, and if the old Clan Head of the Sihue family too, that meant one absolute truth: other people at the very apex of humanity knew of its existence as well.

The top executives of the World Exterminator Association, the hidden rulers of the mega-agencies, the S-Rank Commanders—they were all likely searching for it. They were all participating in a silent, invisible shadow war to transcend their mortal limits.

But despite their unfathomable wealth and manpower, they had not yet found it. And now, the Sihue Clan’s primary source of information was permanently gone. Hide had slaughtered the physical body of the Doom Overseer, and its soul was now bound to Hide.

But just then, Hide paused. His fingers tightened. A sudden flash of brilliant, chilling enlightenment struck him like a bolt of lightning.

’They wouldn’t put all their hopes on a single beast.’

If humanity’s highest echelons were desperately searching for an artifact on the Rilth, the Doom Overseer couldn’t possibly be their only source of information. They would have cast a wider net.

The name of a specific place suddenly surfaced in his mind: Tarita. Hide remembered the panic on the old Patriarch’s face when he heard that "He" had escaped in Tarita.

No matter how Hide analyzed the variables, it all seemed perfectly, grimly connected to that place. The Eastern Continent wasn’t just a distant landmass; it was being used as a colossal black site. It was a massive containment zone to hide the most deliberate, highly classified information and experiments the government possessed.

The entity that had caused the emergency situation in Tarita—the thing that had breached containment—must have been another Calamity Beast, exactly like the Doom Overseer, kept bound and tortured in order to extort the secrets of Rilth.

And for the S-Rank Sihue Clan Head to personally rush over, only to perish, and for Commander Maddox to abandon his post right before the World Tournament to head out and help... the beast that had escaped must have been an absolute nightmare. It had to be at least an A-Rank Calamity Beast, if not something entirely worse.

Following this logical argument, another profound realization surfaced in Hide’s mind. He looked back at the pitch-black phantom floating patiently over the table.

Doomy had explicitly stated that this artifact, this greatest treasure, belonged to his previous lord.

An artifact of that magnitude wouldn’t just be lying in the dirt. It belonged to a being who possessed the authority to rule over other high-tier Calamity Beasts. The web of power all started and ended with this mysterious master.

Was his previous lord an S-Rank Calamity Beast? The highest known classification of power in the enemy’s ranks, legally designated by the human government as Primordial Calamity Lords?

Hide mentally summarized everything he knew about Rilth, combining the fragmented intelligence he had gathered from Maddox, Claire, and his own gruesome experiences to formalize a definitive hierarchy of the enemy’s dimension.

It was a feudal system, driven by raw mana density and absolute dominance.

At the bottom of the ruling class were the C-Ranked Beasts, the Lesser Calamity Lords, who ruled over small, localized areas like cities or singular dungeons. Above them were the B-Ranked Beasts, the Higher Calamity Lords, who possessed enough intelligence and power to rule over massive territories, equivalent to entire kingdoms or human countries. Above them sat the A-Ranked Beasts, the Supreme Calamity Lords like the Doom Overseer, ancient and terrifying entities who ruled over entire continents.

And at the absolute apex of this pyramid sat the S-Ranked Beasts. Primordial Calamity Lords. God-like creatures who ruled over the entire world, possessing the power to manipulate reality on a planetary scale.

Hide leaned forward, his glowing blue eyes locking onto the deep blue, luminescent eyes of the phantom.

"Was your Previous Lord the strongest in Rilth?" Hide asked, the question slipping from his lips almost instinctively.

The Doom Overseer did not answer immediately. The massive, ethereal ribbons of its antlers pulsed with a slow, rhythmic light as the ancient beast considered the question, sifting through centuries of memories.

Finally, the beast lowered its head, replying in a serene, deeply reverent telepathic tone that sent a sudden chill down Hide’s spine.

"He might be considered one of the strongest," Doomy answered smoothly. "But there are beasts even stronger than him. They are the Gods of Rilth."

Hide froze.

The air around him suddenly turned heavy... Hide’s breathing hitched, his heart skipping a singular, heavy beat against his ribs. He just stared at the phantom, his mind struggling to process the apocalyptic weight of that sentence.

’Beasts even stronger than S-Rank?’

Suddenly, a hesitant, twisted smile creeped its way onto Hide’s face. It wasn’t a smile of joy or excitement. It was the cynical, dark amusement of someone who had just realized the absurdity of a joke. A dry chuckle escaped his lips, vibrating softly in the quiet night air.

Just how fucked was humanity?

The entire human race was celebrating their powerful S-Rank Commanders, building massive stadiums for tournaments, fighting over political leverage and corporate shares. They thought they were holding the line. But if there were entities in Rilth that eclipsed S-Rank—beings that even an A-Rank Calamity Beast referred to as Gods—then humanity wasn’t fighting a war. They were just delaying an inevitable extermination. They were fighting an already lost war.

Hide let out a long, heavy sigh, the dark smile fading from his lips as he rubbed the back of his neck. The scale of the universe was something else. Now that he knew some of these things, he felt an irresistible, almost gravitational aching in his chest to visit Tarita. He wanted to step onto the Eastern Continent and see the horrific mysteries the government was hiding for himself.

But he aggressively pushed the thought aside. He couldn’t go to Tarita right now. He had a team relying on him for the tournament, and more importantly, he had a singular, driving purpose that he had been working toward since the very day he awakened.

He was finally so close to it.

"Return," Hide commanded softly.

Doomy bowed its head one final time before instantly dissolving into a thick puff of pitch-black smoke, sinking seamlessly back into Hide’s chest.

Hide leaned back in his chair and mentally called upon his system. "Class State."

A brilliant holographic screen instantly materialized in the dark air in front of him. Hide’s blue eyes scanned the digital text, a genuine sense of satisfaction warming his chest.

During the chaotic days leading up to the tournament, and specifically during his brutal, mana-draining excursion to the Mountain Corpse Land in the Reverse One-Way Gate he had fought many battles. That single trip to Rilth’s surface had rewarded him with a massive surge of experience, granting him 7 consecutive level-ups.

[Universal Adaptation System]

Host: Hide Volter

Age - 18

Level: 48

Exp: 3980 / 10,000

Class: ∞

Class Rank: D

Evolve - Level 48/50

Physical Attributes

Strength: 60

Agility: 60

Endurance: 49

Vitality: 48

Mental Attributes

Perception: 48

Willpower: 50

Non-Allocated Points: 38

Active Skills – Abyssal Scale Carapace (A), Abyssal Flame (B), Mana Blast (A), Abyssal Frost (B), Damage Inversion (B), Weightless (B), Mana Press (A), Abyssal Healing (S)

Passive Skills – Dermal Reinforcement (F), Predator’s Respite (B), Unshaken Will (B), Toxin Resistance (C), Virus Immunity (C), True Sight (C), Dark Abyssal Core (S), Phase Shatter (B), Lightening Resistance (C)

[Inventory]

[Daily Quests]

[Store]

[Virtual Adaptation Space]

System Messages:

[0 Unread Notifications]

--

Hide stared at the "Level: 48" text glowing in the dark. He was only two levels away from Level 50. Two levels away from unlocking his next Class Evolution to C-Rank, but far more importantly, two levels away from unlocking the Mana Purification Catalyst in the system store.

The cure for Risa.

He had 38 unallocated attribute points sitting in his reserve, a stockpile of raw evolutionary power that he could deploy the moment he encountered a threat he couldn’t handle.

His physical and mental stats were reaching the absolute ceiling of the D-Rank framework.

Hide closed his hand into a fist, dismissing the golden screen into a scatter of digital sparks. The Gods of Rilth, the Boundary Pusher artifact, the secrets of Tarita—they could all wait.

He was going to reach Level 50 and Cure Risa.