SSS Awakening : I can Adapt to Everything-Chapter 12: Predator’s Respite

Current penalty Hold – 2 (Starts in 00:57)

The numbers blinked at the bottom of the Daily Quest window like a countdown taped to a bomb.

00:57.

00:56.

’Wait— wait, what the hell?’ Hide’s thoughts turned frantic. ’Penalty? What kind of penalty?’

No answer.

The System window didn’t elaborate. The line just kept ticking.

00:52.

His mouth went dry. Sweat pricked at the back of his neck.

He tried tapping the text, then swiping it aside. Nothing. The timer shifted slightly when his finger passed through it, like disturbed smoke, then reformed.

"Hey." He glared at the blue pane. "You can hear my thoughts, you creepy bastard. Explain what this is before it hits zero."

Another window unfolded, but it wasn’t the one he wanted.

[Adaptive Override — Adaptation Complete]

Analysis: Complete.

Counter-Skill Generated:

[Predator’s Respite — Rank B (Passive)]

– On enemy kill, restore 50% of missing stamina.

– Chain kills within a brief window grant reduced additional restoration.

He scanned it quickly, words sinking in.

"Stamina... fifty percent..." he murmured. Every corpse as a breath.

On the street, that would have kept him standing a lot longer. Maybe long enough that he wouldn’t have blacked out next to Kai and Risa in a pool of blood.

The countdown in the corner did not care.

00:39.

He snapped his attention back to the Daily quest panel.

The penalty line pulsed once, as if amused.

"I can’t even move my legs," he hissed under his breath. "How am I supposed to finish any of this? Push-ups? Kicks? Running?"

No response. Just the soft, relentless change of numbers.

00:34.

"Fine," he muttered. "Do as your sorry ass pleases... damn it!"

He closed the Daily quest window and reopened his main status, pulling the panel wider with a thought.

--

[Universal Adaptation System]

Host: Hide Volter

Age: 18

Level: 2

Exp: 100 / 700

Class: ∞

Class Rank: F

Evolve – Level 1 / 20

Physical Attributes

Strength: 6

Agility: 5

Endurance: 10

Vitality: 8

Mental Attributes

Perception: 7

Willpower: 12

Non-Allocated Points: 5

Active Skills – Abyssal Scale Carapace (A)

Passive Skills – Dermal Reinforcement (F), Predator’s Respite (B)

[Inventory]

[Daily Quests]

System Messages:

[0 Unread Notifications]

--

He had five non allocated points, that meant he could put them anywhere he wanted them to.

He didn’t have much time so he thought about each one of them briefly. The first thing he remembered was the car, it hadn’t moved, no matter how much he’d pushed.

If he have had a little more strength, maybe he could have turned it over.

And then the main thing, that was stamina. He had blacked out because he ran out of stamina and if the response team hadn’t arrived on time he would be dead by now.

He exhaled through his nose.

"Four into Strength," he thought.

The stat flickered.

Strength: 6 → 10

Non-Allocated Points: 5 → 1

He felt a little warmth spread through his body before settling down like it was his own. He felt... like he could feel his muscles better.

"Last one..." He looked over the list.

Agility meant speed, reflex and evasion.

Endurance meant stamina. How long he could keep moving before his body started shutting down.

"Endurance," he decided.

Endurance: 10 → 11

Non-Allocated Points: 1 → 0

The penalty timer was still running, stubbornly unimpressed.

00:18.

"You’re really going to do this," he whispered. "Even now."

He dragged his attention back to the bottom of the Daily Quest window.

Failure to complete daily quests would result in penalty.

Current penalty Hold – 2 (Starts in 00:17)

’What happens when it hits zero?’ he demanded. ’Do I lose stats? Exp? Do you send a lightning bolt through my brain?’

These were the paneities he had read about in the old books.

The room remained quietly, perfectly indifferent. But he heard something.

Somewhere beyond the door, faint and distant, he heard the soft rhythm of footsteps approaching. More than one pair. They were still far, but drawing nearer.

"Great timing," Hide cursed inwards. ’Perfect’

His body went tense without his say-so. It felt like sitting in class waiting for the teacher to call his name and knowing there was nothing left on the test to lie about.

00:08.

00:07.

A small new line popped up under the penalty text, after it hit 3 seconds.

Penalty Holds: 2

Transfer preparation in progress...

His stomach dropped.

"Transfer where?" he snapped. "Hey. No. Absolutely not. There are people coming. If they walk in and I’m just—"

Penalty Hold – 2

Initiating transfer in: 01...

His eyes widened.

"No, don’t—"

He swung his fist at the panel on instinct. It passed through the blue like through smoke. The last thing he saw before the number hit zero was his own hand ghosting through the glowing text.

00.

One second he was sitting upright in a hospital bed with dead legs and cameras in the corners; the next he was standing.

His feet were on something that looked like a floor—dark, reflective, stretching out in all directions.

Hide spun around.

The "room" was... wrong.

There were no walls, not in any way his eyes understood. Shapes hung in the air at impossible distances, geometric planes and lines of light stacked on each other, sliding past and through.

It felt like standing inside the guts of some enormous, four-dimensional machine.

Above him—or below, or sideways depending on how you let your brain tilt there were only line and lines and lines that stretched to infinity and he was trapped inside a small box inside the Infinity dimension.

It was utterly absurd.

"...What the fuck," he breathed. "Its like those cyber game lobby."

A window slid into place directly in front of him.

[Penalty Space]

Total Penalty Holds: 2

Duration per Penalty: 15 minutes

Total Session Time: 30 minutes

Skill and Stat Enhancements: Temporarily Suppressed during Penalty

His heart lurched.

"Suppressed?" he repeated. "What do you—"

Another line etched itself under the others, each word appearing with delicate, infuriating calm.

Note: External time compression factor – 1000×

30 minutes here = 1.8 seconds in Host’s external environment.

He stared at that for a moment.

"One point eight..." He repeated in disbelief. "So out there, nobody even notices I’m gone."

The realization hit in two directions at once.

Relief, that the people coming would not find an empty bed.

Dread, that whatever happened in here was going to happen only to him.

"Why?" he demanded. "I only missed the quests because I was unconscious in a hospital, you maniac. You know that."

The pane ignored the complaint.

A final line faded into view. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

[Good Luck Surviving]