SSS-Class Profession: The Path to Mastery
Chapter 343: Beyond the Limits

Chapter 343: Beyond the Limits

I settled back in my chair, recognizing that Alexis deserved a complete explanation if she was going to help me understand these changes. Her scientific mind wouldn’t be satisfied with half-truths or vague descriptions, and honestly, I could use her analytical perspective on what had happened.

"It started with me completing an Event Quest," I began. "The meeting gave every leader there a set of objectives and after getting my 34 votes, I successfully completed the Quest.’"

"Event quest?" she interrupted, leaning forward. "Well I guess that’s normal, you were in a historic moment. It would be weirder if an Event Quest didn’t happen."

"That’s what I thought too. But what shocked me more were the insane upgrades and rewards I got from it." I paused, organizing my thoughts. "The first reward was something called a Portfolio Upgrade Token."

Her eyebrows shot up. "A token? Like a physical item?"

"Not physical, but it appeared in my System inventory as a usable item. I could apply it to any portfolio, it would then level up all skills under that portfolio."

Alexis was quiet for a moment, processing this information. "That’s... that’s not how skill development works. Skills improve through practice, through experience. You can’t just... upgrade them arbitrarily."

"I know. But the System has given me different types of tokens over the past two years. Skill Level-Up tokens, tokens that let me choose my next job, tokens that let me gain any skill under a certain domain. They’re rewards for other Event Quests." I could see her struggling to reconcile this with her understanding of how the System functioned. "It’s all because the Jobmaster title operates by different rules than standard System access."

"Different rules," she repeated slowly. "Reynard, do you realize how unprecedented this is? Not even any of the NovaCore subjects have ever been reported of receiving tokens or arbitrary upgrades. The System responds to their actions, yes, it can give them unique abilities, but it doesn’t just... give them gifts."

"That’s what made the fundamental skill upgrades so surprising," I continued. "Copy, Absorb, and Destroy aren’t like normal skills. They don’t have levels or ranks. They’re more like inherent capabilities of the Jobmaster title. I never thought they could be upgraded at all."

She nodded, making notes on a tablet she’d pulled from her bag. "That makes sense. They function more like your Full Profession Sync ability, fundamental aspects of how your System access works rather than learnable skills."

"Exactly. But the event quest completion somehow enhanced them anyway. Copy became Enhanced Copy, working at half the observed level instead of always starting at level one. Absorb became Enhanced Absorb, acquiring skills at full level instead of reduced effectiveness. And Destroy now adds two levels to any acquired skill."

"Jesus," she breathed. "That’s not just an upgrade, that’s a complete transformation of your capabilities. You’re talking about acquiring abilities that exceed their original users’ competency."

"It gets more complicated. The event quest also awarded me a new job title: Job Merger (A-Rank)."

Alexis went very still. "Job Merger. Right you talked about getting it, but that’s... that should be impossible."

"Why?"

"Because so far, we’ve seen that job titles can only be obtained through experimentation and tinkering with the System forcefully," she said, her voice taking on the tone she used when explaining fundamental principles. "Every person who’s gotten a job title including me, Evelyn, Sienna, Camille, every NovaCore subject past 3800, we earned them by getting experimented on and having our System forcefully tinkered with."

She stood up and began pacing, a habit I’d noticed when she was working through complex problems. "The only exception has been you. You simply received a message informing you that you’d been granted the Jobmaster title. No experimentation, no discovery process. The System just... gave it to you."

"Yeah and it’s fair to say that something like that has never happened before."

"Never. Not in the entire documented history of System access." She stopped pacing and looked at me directly. "Reynard, job titles are by in large a human invention. We forced them into existence. Them being directly awarded by the System is theoretically impossible according to everything we understand about how it functions."

I considered this, thinking about the unique nature of my System access. "What do you think makes the difference?"

"I can think of three possibilities," she said, settling back into her chair. "First, your exposure to job titles is unprecedented. In the last 2 years, you’ve learned about a dozen or so job titles. The System might recognize that breadth of experience as qualifying you for capabilities that normal users could never achieve."

"That makes sense."

"Second, the event quest itself. It’s fair to say that the System would reward an Event Quest like yours far more than your typical Event Quest. Which is why this historic one gave you such a massive boost."

"And third?"

"Your Jobmaster title itself might be designed to evolve and expand in ways that other titles can’t. If it’s truly unique, it might have upgrade pathways that we simply don’t understand yet."

All three explanations felt plausible, which was somehow more unsettling than having no explanation at all. It suggested that my System access was operating according to rules that nobody fully understood.

"There’s one more upgrade," I said, and watched her expression shift from fascination to something approaching alarm. "My jobs can now reach SS and SSS rank."

The tablet slipped from her hands and clattered to the floor. "What?"

"SS and SSS rank capability for all jobs. That was the final reward from the event quest."

For a long moment, she just stared at me. Then she laughed, but it was the kind of laugh that people make when confronted with something so far outside their understanding that humor becomes the only possible response.

"Reynard, do you understand what you just said? S-Rank represents the absolute pinnacle of human achievement in any field. It means being literally one of the best person if not the best person in history at something. SS and SSS rank..." She shook her head. "I can’t even conceptualize what that would look like."

"Neither can I," I admitted. "But the capability is there now."

"How would someone even achieve those ranks? The progression from A-Rank to S-Rank requires at the bare minimum multiple Event Quests for the average person. What would be required for SS-Rank? SSS-Rank?"

"I’m assuming event quests are still involved. Nothing else would make sense for achievements of that magnitude."

She retrieved her tablet from the floor, her hands slightly shaky. "This changes everything. If you can achieve SS and SSS rank capabilities, you’re not just talking about being the best at something. You’re talking about transcending the normal limits of human potential entirely."

The weight of that realization settled over both of us. I’d been thinking about these upgrades in terms of practical advantages, but Alexis was right. They represented something far more fundamental. The possibility of becoming something beyond what humans had ever been capable of.

"Okay," she said finally, taking a deep breath. "I need to examine you properly. These changes aren’t just about skills or abilities. They’re pretty much fundamental alterations to what you are. And I need to understand how that’s manifesting physiologically."

She began setting up her equipment with the focused efficiency that characterized her S-Rank job. "I’m going to start with tissue analysis and genetic screening. If the System is making changes at the level you’re describing, there should be detectable alterations in your cellular structure."

"And while you work, you can teach me," I pointed out. "Enhanced Absorb, remember?"

A grin spread across her face. "Right. This is going to be fascinating from multiple perspectives." She paused in her setup. "What do you want to learn first?"

I thought about the skills that would be most immediately useful. "Emergency medical procedures. Something that could save my life or others in crisis situations."

"Perfect. I’ll teach you Rapid Field Surgery while I work. It’s one of my most specialized skills. The ability to perform life-saving surgical procedures without full medical equipment."

She began explaining the fundamental principles as she prepared her tissue sampling equipment. Through Enhanced Absorb, I could feel the knowledge beginning to integrate, understanding not just the techniques but the underlying anatomical knowledge that made them possible.

[System Notification: Absorption Complete!]

[Skill Acquired: Rapid Field Surgery (Lv. 6) – Enables instant preparation and execution of life-saving surgical procedures without full medical equipment. Can remove shrapnel, cauterize wounds, and stabilize organs with expert precision.]

The skill knowledge flooded through me as she worked, showing me how to assess trauma injuries, improvise surgical tools, and perform procedures that could mean the difference between life and death in emergency situations.

"The tissue samples will need several hours of analysis," Alexis explained as she completed the extraction. "I’ll need to examine them for genetic alterations, cellular modifications, anything that might explain how the System is implementing these changes at a biological level. We know that it affects the energy in your cells, but now I should be able to discover more."

"And the DNA testing?"

"That’s going to be the most interesting part. If the System is making changes at the genetic level, we might be able to identify the mechanisms involved. Understand not just what’s happening, but how it’s happening."

I felt the final aspects of Rapid Field Surgery integrate into my knowledge base as she finished her initial procedures. The skill felt natural, as if I’d been practicing emergency medicine for years rather than learning it in a single session.

"This is going to take time to process properly," she said, beginning to pack up her equipment. "Both the tissue analysis and the implications of everything you’ve told me. I need to run this data against everything we know about System mechanics."

I nodded, standing up from the examination chair. "Take all the time you need. I should probably check on the others anyway."

Walking out of my office, I made my way to the master bedroom. The apartment was quiet, the kind of peaceful silence that came after intense celebrations. I pushed open the bedroom door and found Camille still curled up in the center of the bed, her hair spread across the pillow in a way that suggested she hadn’t moved since falling asleep.

I watched her for a moment, thinking about SS and SSS rank capabilities, about the possibility of transcending normal human limits. The power was intoxicating, but looking at Camille’s sleeping form reminded me why I was pursuing it in the first place.

To protect the people I cared about. To build a world where human potential wasn’t artificially limited by systems designed to maintain control rather than foster growth.

The World President and the established order had no idea what was coming.