My SSS-Rank Innate skill: Infinite Adaptation core

Even though Aurora was famous, she remained extremely mysterious — even within her own continent. She simply turned toward them and nodded calmly in acknowledgment.

Vaorak, however, seemed to be thinking about something else entirely. No one could tell what was on his mind.

{Finally... she did it!} Liya’s excited voice rang in Nova’s mind.

Nova smiled. He then glanced toward Bai Chen, who was still fighting with everything he had. Nova wasn’t completely sure whether his friend would make it onto one of the platforms or not.

There was nothing more he could do for him in this round — he hadn’t been able to strengthen him beforehand.

Still, he silently decided that he would make it up to Bai Chen later and help him become truly powerful. After all, Bai chen had already become something like a brother to him.

Turning his attention forward once more, Nova saw that around over forty demonic beasts still remained in his lane.

His gaze then shifted toward the neighboring lane...

...

In Lane 26, Liam Everhart had already killed most of the demonic beasts. Only ten remained. Even though his level was above 1500, for some reason most of the powerful beasts had flooded into his lane.

When he heard the second announcement, his expression twisted with agitation. Second place had already been taken. If this continued, he would become a laughingstock within his family — losing to a pair of complete nobodies.

”Fuck!”

He cursed under his breath and summoned a blade of pure light into his hand. He had planned to clear this round without using any of his stronger skills, but he could no longer afford to hold back.

The Everhart family was famous for marrying into bloodlines with powerful affinities. Liam’s mother possessed Light affinity, while his father held Shadow affinity. Miraculously, he had awakened both.

His figure shot forward. Using Shadow Steps, his unique movement technique, he flickered from one shadow to another, appearing behind the beasts and slicing into them with his light blade.

In that moment, he glanced toward the neighboring lane — at the crazy black-haired guy he had noticed during the first round.

Even though the man still hadn’t claimed a platform, Liam had already heard from others how monstrously strong he was. He refused to lose to him.

Looking ahead, Nova still had over forty beasts left, while Liam only had ten. A smirk appeared on Liam’s face.

But at that exact moment, Nova turned his head toward him... and smiled.

In the next second—

CRACKLE!!

White streaks of lightning erupted around Nova’s body. He deliberately kept the lightning pure white and natural.

His true black lightning was far too violent and destructive — something he reserved only for powerful enemies while in his Slaughter Monarch form.

Every gaze in the Colosseum snapped toward him the instant the lightning crackled to life.

”What a strong lightning aura!”

Exclamations spread through the audience. Although Lightning affinity was not as rare as Shadow, Light, or Darkness, it was still a powerful element, and very few possessed it at such a level.

Those who understood affinities — and knew how to measure a user’s comprehension through their aura — were left stunned.

The intensity of the lightning did not match someone who was supposedly only around level 1500. If they had ever seen Nova’s true black lightning, many of them would have coughed up blood from pure shock.

Draeven leaned forward slightly, eyes sharp.

”That boy is no ordinary talent...”

The other three high-level figures silently agreed.

The next second—

BOOOOM!

Nova moved.

He didn’t even activate Judgment Flash. There was no need. His pure physical speed alone left everyone stunned as his figure became a streak of living thunder, tearing through the demonic beasts as if they were nothing more than paper.

Painful roars echoed across the arena as the creatures were reduced to ashes and scattered pieces.

Audiences across the entire continent were left completely baffled by the sheer speed and precision of his movements.

Within only a few seconds, Nova weaved through the remaining beasts in a ruthless cross pattern, slaughtering every last one of them. In less than a full minute, the entire lane had been cleared.

He stepped out of the end of the lane and glanced up toward the platforms. Seeing his two wives already standing there, a small smile appeared on his face.

His figure blurred once more.

In the next instant, he was standing calmly on the third platform. For a few seconds, the entire Colosseum fell into complete silence.

Everyone had just watched Nova unleash his lightning with such overwhelming speed that he slaughtered more than forty demonic beasts in under a minute... and now he simply stood calmly on the third platform.

Had he been holding back the entire time?

With this single move, Nova made one thing crystal clear — if he had wanted to, he could have finished all the beasts and claimed first place at any moment.

Even Slickmouth was so shocked that he momentarily forgot to speak. Realizing his mistake, he quickly cleared his throat.

[Ahem...! Ladies and gentlemen, we have our third winner of the second round — Nova Valencrest, from Frostholme!]

[Though... he did not fail to surprise us with his shocking performance just now.]

The audience finally snapped out of their daze. Loud cheers erupted across the Colosseum and in cities throughout the entire human continent.

”That guy purposely held himself back!”

”Who is this Nova...? It’s like he intentionally let those two take first and second place.”

”Do they have some kind of relationship?”

”Oh, you didn’t know? He’s the husband of Lady Asia... and most likely Rieka is also his woman.”

”I only found out about it recently.”

”What a lucky bastard!”

”Say... if you could do what he just did.”

...

In the high platform, Vaorak turned toward Aurora.

”Lady Aurora, how did you not know he would win if he was this capable?”

Lyra nodded in agreement.

”Yes... he is only a level 1500 King Realm expert, yet his speed and battle skills surpass anything I have ever seen from a youth of his age.”

”He is quite mysterious,” Draeven added.

Aurora turned toward them. Her beautiful blue eyes glowed faintly as she spoke.

”I am just as surprised as all of you.”

”I tried to look through that young man. Although he is stronger than those two women, I still believed he would not be able to get past so many beasts before them.”

”But as you can all see... we now have a very strange and talented individual standing before us.”

The others silently agreed.

Although they knew Nova was holding back a little, for some reason, they still didn’t believe he was this powerful. What they didn’t know was that Nova hadn’t shown them anything yet.

Everyone present knew there were elites comparable to Asia and Rieka. Those elites, however, had been forced to face far more beasts, which had led many to believe the two women would take the top spots based on their first-round performances.

They had known Nova was strong... yet facing such a large number of powerful demonic beasts, most had assumed he would not be able to clear them in time.

Nova’s sudden display had proven them completely wrong.

There was also something else — something only Aurora knew. A truth so difficult to believe that even she struggled to accept it.

But she could never reveal it to anyone. Not even her own brother knew about it.

”Did that boy know about what’s going to happen after this round?” Vaorak asked.

”Most likely he already assumed it,” Lyra replied. ”Anyone with high enough intelligence would be able to figure out what the next rounds might involve... and the significance of claiming first or second place, even if it wasn’t directly stated.”

Naturally, all of them already knew what was coming in the following rounds. It was fairly obvious.

While everyone was still focused on Nova, they suddenly felt a surge of powerful aura rising from one of the lanes on the arena.

**

Thanks for reading...