SSS-Rank Talent: Super Upgrade System-Chapter 115: Game Of Thieves!

The luxurious tent, Olenna’s temporary command center on the Riversouth bank, felt hollow despite its opulent trappings.

The mission had been a bust.

She paced across the soft, patterned carpet, but the light scent of jasmine from the incense did little to ease her sharp disappointment.

The meager loot from Daniel’s team, a few beast cores that barely qualified as low-grade, a handful of common herbs, and not a single card,was insulting.

It wouldn’t even cover the cost of the knockout-drugged Palm Wine.

She paused before a small, elegantly carved wooden table.

Upon it lay a single, worn photograph in a simple silver frame.

It showed two young girls, smiling brightly, their arms around each other.

The older one, Olenna herself, though younger, fiercer, her eyes already holding a spark of the calculating woman she would become.

The younger girl, her sister Lena, was all sunshine and innocent joy. A wave of familiar grief and unyielding determination tightened Olenna’s chest.

She gently touched the glass over Lena’s smiling face.

"I will find you, Lena," she whispered, her voice barely audible above the gentle murmur of the Styx River outside.

"No matter the cost. Astralis Academy... that’s where the answers are. That’s where they train those who delve into the deepest secrets of the Verge. I just need the tuition, the cards..."

Her hand clenched into a fist.

This failure with Daniel’s team was a setback, but not the end.

She was Olenna. She always found a way.

Daniel, feigning deep, drugged slumber on the soft cushions where he had collapsed, kept his breathing slow and even.

His S-Grade [Aura Sense+], however, was a silent, invisible net cast across the entire encampment.

He felt Olenna’s frustration, her brief moment of sorrow as she gazed at the photograph, and then the renewed hardening of her resolve.

He had expected simple greed, the opportunistic thievery common in the Verge.

He hadn’t anticipated this depth, this desperate, almost noble motivation hidden beneath her cold professionalism.

It didn’t excuse her actions, but it... complicated things.

His senses picked up the hesitant approach of two of Olenna’s subordinates, Hector and the one called Grimsby, their auras a mix of lingering fear and grumbling discontent.

They stopped just outside Olenna’s private section of the tent.

"Boss," Grimsby whined, his voice a low, unpleasant rasp. "We re-checked the big redhead and the quiet healer. Still nothing.

And this... this ’captain’ Vance," he kicked Daniel’s boot lightly, earning no reaction, "he’s got less on him than a beggar in the Outer Zones.

Are you sure your intel was good? They were supposed to be loaded after that Leviathan stunt."

Hector chimed in, his voice still hoarse from Olenna’s earlier chokehold.

"Yeah. This is a waste of time. The drug should keep ’em out for hours, but what’s the point if they’re broke? We should just dump ’em in the river and find some easier marks."

Daniel decided it was time for his dramatic reawakening.

He let out a soft groan, as if stirring from a deep sleep. He shifted, then slowly, with a theatrical yawn, sat up, blinking his eyes as if confused.

"Ugh... my head," he muttered, rubbing his temples.

"That Palm Wine was stronger than I thought..." He then "noticed" Hector and Grimsby standing over him, their faces a comical mixture of shock and dawning terror.

"Oh, hello. Did I miss breakfast?"

"Wh-what?! You’re awake?!" Grimsby stammered, stumbling back a step, his hand instinctively going for the rusty vibro-knife at his belt.

Hector, despite his earlier punishment, seemed to find a sliver of foolish courage.

"He’s bluffing! The drug... it should have laid him out for half a day! Get him!"

He lunged, a crude metal pipe appearing in his hand as if from nowhere, aiming a clumsy blow at Daniel’s head.

Daniel sighed internally. Some people really were determined to learn their lessons the hard way.

He didn’t even bother getting fully to his feet.

He just leaned back slightly, his hand shooting out with a speed that was a complete blur.

"Boom!"

His A-Grade Kinetic Void Gauntlet-clad fist connected with Hector’s charging form.

It wasn’t a full-power punch, not even a fraction of his S-Grade [Solar Flare Fist Art].

It was a casual, dismissive swat, like shooing away an annoying fly.

The wind from the impact, however, shrieked through the tent, extinguishing the incense sticks and making the luxurious silk hangings billow wildly.

Hector didn’t even have time to scream.

One moment he was charging, the next he was a projectile, flying backwards out of the tent flap with a strangled yelp.

A loud splash followed from the direction of the Styx River.

Grimsby froze, his hand still on his knife, his eyes wide with terror as he watched his companion vanish into the watery darkness.

He looked back at Daniel, who was now slowly getting to his feet, stretching with a predatory grace.

"Now then," Daniel said, his voice calm but carrying an edge that made Grimsby’s blood run cold.

"Were you saying something about me being broke?"

Grimsby dropped his knife with a clatter. He fell to his knees, his teeth chattering.

"M-mercy! Please! I... I didn’t mean anything! Hector made me do it!"

Daniel just shook his head. "Pathetic."

He gave Grimsby a light tap on the side of the head with his gauntleted fist.

Another faint blast, a gentle breeze, and Grimsby slumped to the ground, unconscious but alive.

Olenna emerged from her private section, drawn by the commotion.

She saw Daniel standing over the unconscious Grimsby, Hector nowhere in sight.

Her elegant composure finally shattered, replaced by a mask of pure, unadulterated shock and a dawning, horrified realization.

"You... you were awake?" she breathed, her voice trembling slightly.

"The wine... it didn’t work on you?" Her eyes darted towards the river, then back to Daniel, her mind racing to process the impossible.

"It was a very nice vintage," Daniel replied, his voice deceptively mild.

"A bit weak on the sedative front for my taste, though. My compliments to your... pharmacist."

He took a step towards her, his expression unreadable.

"Now, Ms. Olenna Houten. I believe you owe me an explanation. And perhaps a refund for the rather substandard knockout drops."

Olenna backed away, her hand instinctively reaching for a hidden weapon.

She was fast, but Daniel was faster.

He blurred, his S-Grade [Twilight Phantom Step] making him a silent ripple in the lamplight.

He appeared directly in front of her, blocking her path, his presence suddenly overwhelming, suffocating.

"Don’t bother," he said softly, his voice a dangerous purr.

"We both know how that would end. Let’s just talk. You can start by telling me why a supposedly official guide from Astralis Academy is running a sophisticated robbery ring on a beginner resting platform."

Olenna stared at him, her mind reeling.

The speed, the power, the casual dismissal of her strongest subordinates... this wasn’t just a talented recruit.

This was something else entirely.

Her carefully constructed plan, her entire operation, had just been shattered by one man who shouldn’t have even been awake.

She swallowed hard, the fight draining out of her. She was trapped.

"The platform," she began, her voice barely a whisper, "the third-and-a-half-level... it’s not just a resting place, Captain Vance.

It’s a miniature version of the entire Verge. A place of opportunity, and a place of desperation."

She looked around the luxurious tent, a bitter smile twisting her lips.

"Astralis Academy, up in Rivernorth, they control everything.

They want Awakened to keep climbing, to feed the system, to face the higher levels. They preach about potential, about humanity’s future."

She gestured towards the unseen Riversouth.

"But for those who can’t, or won’t, keep risking their lives? For those who just want a sliver of peace, a chance to build something resembling a normal life?

Riversouth offers that, but at a price. Everything here has a price. Goods, housing, even basic safety."

Her gaze returned to Daniel, a glint of her earlier desperation returning.

"And Astralis Academy... their entrance fees are astronomical. They demand rare materials, powerful beast cores, or an obscene number of Yin and Yang cards.

Cards that most Awakened who survive Level 3 barely have enough of to pass, let alone pay tuition.

It’s a closed system, designed to keep the powerful in and the desperate out."

"So, you decided to even the odds a bit?"

Daniel prompted, his voice still calm, though his eyes held a new understanding.

Olenna laughed, a harsh, brittle sound.

"Even the odds? No, Captain. I decided to play their game. I rob the newcomers, the ones still flush with the illusion of success from the lower levels, the ones who haven’t yet learned how cruel this place truly is.

I take their surplus cards, their credits, anything of value. It’s... a tuition fund. For myself."

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