Starting With SSS-rank: I Get A New Skill Every Livestream

Chapter 183: Another anomaly

Reaching the rift, Kyle reminded himself something for the second time. This time, his objective wasn’t to fight the beast beyond it.

As he closely inspected the crack, he noticed several things. First, a rift didn’t need to form on a physical object. The crack could appear in mid-air, as though space itself had been torn apart. Second, in most cases, the size of the slit determined the threat level. The smaller the crack, the lower the threat one could generally expect.

And third...

"Genesis reacts to the very presence of a rift," Kyle muttered.

With his God’s Eye deactivated, he could faintly sense his Golden Limb remaining active, protecting him from the negative waves leaking from the tear.

"Radio signals fluctuate near a gate as well, so be prepared for that," Hannah added.

Sure enough, when Kyle pulled out his phone, the network indicator showed that he was out of range.

"What about the communicator, then?" he asked.

"It uses low-frequency, short-range waves that aren’t affected by the rift. The only drawback is its limited range. Still, it’s quite useful considering we don’t usually allow Knull residents to wander around too much."

Kyle nodded at the explanation before raising the Absence Reading Device he had been handed earlier.

"Do you know the reading ranges?" Hannah asked.

Kyle scratched his head, recalling what he had heard yesterday.

"Between three hundred and five hundred means a second-grade?"

Hannah sighed and gave a brief explanation.

"Below three hundred is third-grade, so expect several Nightmares and maybe a single Majin. Above three hundred and below seven hundred is second-grade, meaning several Majins and plenty of Nightmares. Between seven hundred and a thousand is first-grade, where you can expect at least one Ghoul alongside a large number of Majins. And above a thousand, it becomes..."

"A special-grade," Kyle finished.

Hannah nodded in assent.

"That’s right."

Kyle hummed before glancing down at the device.

It displayed a single number.

480.

"A second-grade. That means we can expect several Majins?" Kyle asked.

Hannah nodded.

"Yes. Now, your duty is to make a report. How would you do that? Describe the surroundings, mention any suspicious activity, state whether the rift is close to maturing, and provide its reading."

Kyle nodded and tapped the communicator.

"Vice-Commander, this is Kyle reporting. I... uh..."

{What? Why did you stop?} Timothy’s voice came from the other side.

Yet it wasn’t just Kyle who had frozen.

Even Hannah stood rooted in place, her eyes wide.

....

On the other end of the line, Timothy frowned.

"Kyle, what’s the report?" he asked, urgency creeping into his voice.

In this line of work, a sudden lapse in communication could mean anything.

Then Hannah spoke.

{Senior... it would be better if you came here and saw it for yourself.}

Timothy’s frown deepened.

What could have happened for even Hannah to sound this stunned?

He wasted no time and headed deeper into the basement. Within moments, he reached the inner section and spotted the two youngsters standing motionless before the rift.

Neither of them had moved an inch.

Timothy reached them and asked, "What are you two..."

His words trailed off as he noticed something was wrong.

"Where is the rift?"

The two young adults looked just as lost as he was.

"We don’t know, sir," Hannah replied. "We were assessing it, and right as I contacted you, we saw it slowly dim. Then it began contracting until it simply vanished."

Timothy’s frown deepened.

A rift disappearing on its own?

"Hannah, did you get it on your video feed?" he asked.

She nodded and removed her badge before handing it to him.

Timothy took out his terminal, linked it to the badge, and pulled up the most recent recording.

The footage played.

The three of them watched in silence as the rift hung in the air, stable and unchanged.

Then, without warning, its glow began to fade.

The crack steadily shrank, folding inward as though the tear in space was stitching itself back together. Seconds later, it disappeared completely, leaving behind nothing but empty air.

"How can that be?" Timothy muttered.

His confusion only deepened.

The other two hadn’t been mistaken. They hadn’t exaggerated.

The rift had genuinely vanished.

Timothy had never even heard of something like this happening before.

First, there had been that barrier protecting the rift.

Now this.

He turned toward the two and asked, "Did either of you use any spells or try to overpower the rift, even unintentionally?"

His gaze lingered on the wilder of the pair, the one who still struggled to keep his powers under control.

However, Kyle immediately shook his head.

"No, sir. I was told to assess the situation, so attacking the gateway never even crossed my mind."

Timothy crossed his arms and fell into thought.

Overpowering a rift required a considerable amount of Genesis regardless of its size. If Kyle had truly attempted something like that, Timothy would have sensed the disturbance immediately.

Which meant there was a very high chance the young man was telling the truth.

Then how did this happen?

For perhaps the first time in a long while, Timothy found himself genuinely at a loss.

It was a rare sight for Hannah to witness.

Still, she could understand his confusion.

Throughout all the thick textbooks she had been forced to study during training, she had never come across a single recorded case of a rift simply vanishing. A rift either matured and released its inhabitants, or it was forcibly overwhelmed and destroyed by an opposing force.

There was no third outcome.

At least, none that history had ever documented.

Timothy let out a long sigh.

"Two different days, two anomalous incidents," Hannah remarked.

Her comment earned a wry smile from Kyle.

"You can blame me for this one. But yesterday’s weird incident happened before I even arrived," he defended himself.

Timothy rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Well, your morning duty is finished. Go submit a report at the base with Hannah, and after that, you’re free for the day."

Kyle’s lips immediately curved upward.

Who wouldn’t enjoy a job that only demanded a few hours of their time?

Turning to the short-haired girl, he said, "Let’s go then."

Hannah nodded.

She had only taken a few steps when she glanced back over her shoulder. Her eyes settled on the empty stretch of air where the rift had vanished.

The unease on her face was obvious.

Things were beginning to unfold in a way that challenged everything Nightwalkers had been taught.

The predictive nature of rifts formed the foundation of countless drills, procedures, and training programs. Every protocol was built around the assumption that rifts followed established patterns.

Yet within the span of two days, that certainty had been shaken twice.

And Hannah couldn’t help but wonder whether they had just witnessed the beginning of something far more troubling.

Shaking her head, Hannah pushed the matter aside.

There would be time to think about it later.

For now, there was something more important.

"If you have some time, would you mind visiting the hospital first?" she asked. "Layena is being discharged in about an hour, and I’d like to be there when it happens."

If they went to the base first, it would take nearly two hours to return to the Eastern Zone where the hospital was located.

Kyle smiled.

"I was planning to visit her anyway, so that’s not a problem. Let’s go."

"..."

Hannah fell silent.

Don’t tell her...

Was he actually close with Layena?

The thought caught her off guard.

After all, Layena wasn’t exactly the most approachable person. She kept to herself, rarely initiated conversations, and never seemed particularly interested in getting close to others.

Yet it appeared as if Kyle was eager to see her.

’And I thought he and Ethan could get along at some point...’