Chapter 48: Beyond 3S

The planetary-scale formation continued glowing with a blinding, ethereal radiance directly beneath Rhaevia’s feet.

Intricate, crimson geometric patterns stretched rapidly across the academy platform, forming thousands of interconnected energy circuits that unspooled into the surrounding ancient structures.

No one in the immediate vicinity dared to move a single muscle. Major General Raevor Veyr stood several meters away, his posture locked as his 3S Sentinel aura flared in full defense.

"Rhaevia, do not cross into that active array," Raevor warned, his deep voice cutting through the hum of the platform.

Rhaevia stared down at the glowing glyphs, her dark eyes reflecting the crimson light. Something deep within her neural pathways pulled her forward, an irresistible mental suction drawing her soul toward the center.

"I don’t think I have a choice," she replied softly.

She took a single, deliberate step forward. The instant her combat boot crossed the outer boundary line, the entire formation erupted into a pillar of blinding light.

BOOM!

A massive wave of ancient energy exploded outward in sweeping concentric rings. Raevor immediately raised his armored arm to shield his face from the pressure.

"Rhaevia!" he barked into the blinding glare.

She did not offer a verbal response. While her physical frame remained standing motionless at the absolute center of the array, her consciousness was ripped backward through space and time.

The surrounding world vanished in an instant. There was no longer an academy, no Planet V-17, no Zerg swarms, and no Raevor standing beside her. She floated within an endless, suffocating sea of dark void. Then, thousands of brilliant stars ignited across the pitch-black horizon all at once.

Rhaevia looked around in stunned silence as a massive, incomprehensible civilization materialized before her eyes. Floating continent-sized cities hovered over alien worlds, while colossal dreadnought vessels navigated through stellar rifts.

Ancient Zerg armies moved in absolute discipline beneath crimson banners, while majestic spires rose from planets that had long since crumbled to dust.

Then, the ancient memories flooded her mind in an unstoppable torrent. One, ten, a thousand, millions of historical fragments cascaded through her Guide core.

She witnessed ancient Sovereign entities commanding vast planetary swarms with a single thought. She saw Legendary Guides whose mental domains could alter the gravitational fields of entire star systems. She saw Sentinels capable of shattering mountain ranges through sheer psychic force.

She watched civilizations rise from primitive dirt, flourish across galaxies, and collapse under apocalyptic extinction events. She saw wars fought across entire star clusters, leading to the establishment of the ancient Sovereign hierarchy.

And then, the historical records presented the evolutionary ranking system.

E-Rank.

D-Rank.

C-Rank.

B-Rank.

A-Rank.

S-Rank.

2S-Rank.

3S-Rank.

The familiar imperial power progression appeared before her vision. Yet, as she watched, the ancient records continued expanding beyond the known metrics.

Beyond 3S existed another classification entirely. It was a tier completely hidden from modern society, a reality that imperial databases had deliberately purged from public history centuries ago.

Rhaevia stared at the ancient symbols, her heart pounding against her ribs. The ranking system taught to every cadet in the galaxy had never been complete.

The stream of memories accelerated rapidly. She witnessed ancient Guides achieving levels of power that modern scientists deemed biologically impossible.

Their mental domains were not confined to individual bodies. They could communicate across light-years, control vast biological networks, manipulate raw planetary energy fields, and awaken dormant worlds from eons of slumber. And standing above all of them were the Sovereign Guides.

Rhaevia finally understood every mystery that had plagued her since stepping onto this world. She understood why the ancient Zerg Sovereign had bowed its head into the dirt.

She understood why the smooth black crystal had reacted to her touch, why the planet itself had awakened, and why the entity had called her Queen. Her recorded 3S rank was merely the absolute limit of modern human measurement technology. It was not the limit of her true potential.

Back on the physical academy platform, Raevor watched helplessly as Rhaevia’s Guide energy continued to skyrocket. The air around her body distorted into visible spatial waves.

"Her mental output is still climbing," Raevor stated, his dark eyes fixed on the telemetry screens.

A senior technician stared at his rapidly glitching sensor array in sheer terror. "That is mathematically impossible! She has already far surpassed standard 3S baseline parameters!"

The surrounding diagnostic instruments began flashing violent crimson warnings.

[MENTAL OUTPUT: 3S LIMIT EXCEEDED.]

[CALIBRATION FAILURE.]

[MEASUREMENT RANGE EXCEEDED.]

Raevor’s strict expression turned utterly stone-cold. "Shut down the scanning array immediately," he ordered.

"We can’t, sir!" the technician yelled back, his fingers flying over the console.

"Why not?" Raevor demanded, taking a step toward the console.

"The sensors are no longer responding to manual override commands!" the technician gasped.

Inside the glowing formation, Rhaevia’s consciousness continued ascending to higher planes. Her mental sea expanded exponentially, shattering her previous limits as her Guide core underwent a profound structural transformation.

The familiar blue energy surrounding her core slowly shifted. The aura deepened, turning into an ancient, radiant indigo intertwined with threads of crimson.

The smooth black crystal buried within her mental sea pulsed violently. Fine cracks unspooled across its metallic surface before it shattered.

A massive wave of ancient, suppressed energy exploded from within her soul.

Rhaevia opened her physical eyes. They were no longer merely dark blue. A brilliant, burning mixture of azure and crimson light burned within her pupils.

The planetary formation beneath her responded instantly to her awakening, flaring with absolute light. Floating ancient symbols materialized around her body in a rotating ring.

[MENTAL EVOLUTION DETECTED.]

[GUIDE CORE TRANSFORMATION INITIATED.]

[CURRENT CLASSIFICATION: UNDEFINED.]

Rhaevia looked around at the fading ancient memories. The truth was undeniable now.

The modern interstellar civilization had spent centuries believing that 3S was the pinnacle of Guide evolution. They were wrong.

An ancient civilization had existed long before their current Empire, and its greatest secrets had been deliberately erased from history. Now, that forgotten power was fully awakening inside her physical frame.

The dark void before her consciousness suddenly illuminated with a soft gold light. A colossal system interface materialized, its glowing script unlike any modern technology.

Rhaevia slowly raised her head to face the projection.

A cold, ancient voice resonated through the absolute depths of her mental domain:

[SOVEREIGN GUIDE DETECTED.]