In the dead silence, accompanied by the orange glow from a campfire in the dark, Hide sat cross-legged on the scorched earth, staring into the dancing flames.

A few feet away, lying on thick patches of grass, were Evelyn, Claire, and Rol. All three were completely unconscious, their breathing was steady and deep.

Hide had given a recovery potion to each of them, stabilizing their physical condition. They just needed time to rest.

Directly behind Hide, standing like a silent, towering statue of dark metal, was Zenith. The phantom soldier’s hollow eyes scanned the pitch-black perimeter of the dead trees, standing absolute watch over the survivors.

To his right, sitting with her knees pulled tightly to her chest, was Elara.

She wasn’t looking at the fire. She was staring at a fresh mound of dirt a few steps away. At the head of the mound, a heavy, jagged slab of bedrock had been driven deep into the ground.

Carved into the stone with the tip of Night Singer was a single name: Garret.

There were no flowers in this ruined place to lay on his grave. There was only ash.

"He was always the one who broke up fights at the Academy," Elara whispered. Her voice was hollow, stripped entirely of its usual frantic energy. "He was so big... people thought he was intimidating. But he was just a giant softie."

Hide didn’t say anything. He just kept his blue eyes fixed on the fire, the faint violet ring around his pupils glowing softly in the dark.

"How did you do it?" Elara asked, slowly turning her head to look at him. "Two lesser Calamity lords, and even the Higher Calamity Lord fell because of you."

She went silent for a moment before adding slowly. "You are just a F-Rank. How are you this strong?"

Hide picked up a broken branch and poked the base of the fire, sending a shower of sparks into the dark air.

"I made a breakthrough," He said simply. "I’m an E-Rank now."

It was a gross oversimplification, but it was the easiest truth to offer.

Elara stared at him for a long moment, her eyes tracing the flawless, skin-tight black material of the Abyssal Slime peeking out from under his blue jacket. She didn’t push.

The horrors of the last few hours had completely exhausted her capacity for questioning reality. She just nodded slowly, resting her chin on her knees.

"Claire made a breakthrough too," Hide added quietly. "She’s an S-Rank now."

Elara’s eyes widened slightly, a flicker of genuine awe breaking through her grief. "S-Rank... She really did it."

"She still needs to accumulate more life mana to hit the absolute peak," Hide explained, recalling that Elara definitely knew that already. "But yeah. She crossed the threshold."

Elara fell silent again, her gaze drifting back to the makeshift grave.

Hide let her mourn. He had his own reality to process.

He leaned back slightly, and called whispered "Class state" which made the ring in his hand to project a blue interface.

[Name: Hide Volter]

Class: ∞

Current Class Rank: E

Class Evolution Percentage: 0% 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Class Potential: S

Talent 1 - Dark Liege

[You are the watcher in the dark, the song in death and the Ruler in the afterlife. Dark mana can be used to create faceless manifests called Phantom Court. These manifests can be given life by placing an anchor.]

Talent Rank - 5 star

Talent 2 - Court’s Blessing

[The dead beneath your banner are not mere servants, but extensions of your will. A Phantom soldier of your court, that bears your mark may inherit fragments of your power, allowing you to take their skills or pass your skills into their hollow forms and bloom through them as if they were your own hands.]

Talent Rank - 3 star

His federal ring had finally updated to reflect his E-Rank status, and more importantly, it had registered a new talent besides Dark Liege.

When he had evolved from F-Rank to E-Rank, he had awakened a new talent. Maybe he would awaken a talent each time he evolved.

’It must be something related to my Unique class, that explains why Maddox has 5 talents.’

Hide let that slide and looked at the new talent, and his eyes narrowed slightly. That was incredibly powerful. He could theoretically give Zenith the ability to use Weightless, or give a future phantom the Abyssal Flame and in exchange he could use their skills.

That was something that could change his whole fighting tactics upside down.

He set it to hide as well and then moved to his system screen.

--

[Universal Adaptation System]

Host: Hide Volter

Age - 20

Level: 20

Exp: 3020 / 4300

Class: ∞

Class Rank: E

Evolve - Level 20/30

Physical Attributes

Strength: 25

Agility: 32

Endurance: 20

Vitality: 25

Mental Attributes

Perception: 20

Willpower: 15

Non-Allocated Points: 20

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

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)

[Inventory]

[Daily Quests]

[Store]

System Messages:

[0 Unread Notifications]

--

Hide read through it and his eyes instantly stopped on class section. Ten more levels until the next major evolution.

It was an easy one, he just had to go from level 20 to 30. Although the amount of experience he needed also increased, hitting Level 30 felt entirely achievable. He just needed to survive long enough to grind the experience.

He then moved to his stats. He had 10 unallocated points from the Class Evolution, and 10 points left over from his recent rapid level-ups. Twenty points total.

In the fight against Vora, his physical strength and agility had been sufficient, but his sensory processing had nearly redlined. Maintaining the Abyssal Frost and perceiving the microscopic movements of the core had pushed his mind to the absolute brink after the fight with that bug bastard.

’Allocate: 5 to Willpower. 10 to Perception and 5 to strength.’

Willpower: 15 → 20

Perception: 20 → 30

Strength : 25 → 30

He needed more points, the stats were not much good and were starting to fluctuate too much, he wanted them to be almost on equal terms.

Hide closed the windows, letting out a long, slow breath.

Two hours passed in complete silence.

Finally, there was a rustle of fabric.

Claire groaned softly, pushing herself up onto her elbows. Her red eyes fluttered open, immediately snapping to the campfire, and then to Hide and Elara.