SSS-Rank Talent: Super Upgrade System-Chapter 116: The Game Changer!

She looked down at the worn photograph she still clutched in her hand.

"And for my sister. She disappeared into the Verge years ago.

They say Astralis Academy has records, ways to track those lost in the higher levels. I need to get in. I need to find her."

She finally looked up, meeting Daniel’s gaze, her own eyes filled with a fierce, desperate resolve.

"That’s why, Captain Vance. That’s the situation on this pretty, peaceful, third-and-a-half-level lie."

The game, it seemed, was far more complex than simple thievery.

Daniel listened to Olenna’s story, his expression unreadable.

The oppressive silence of the luxurious tent was broken only by the gentle lapping of the Styx River outside and the distant, muffled snores of Ayra, still deeply unconscious.

Lia, he noted with his S-Grade [Aura Sense+], was also still completely under, her breathing slow and even.

The knockout drug in the Palm Wine, while ineffective against him, had clearly done its job on his teammates.

"Your sister," Daniel finally said, his voice surprisingly gentle.

"You’re doing all this... risking everything... just to find her?"

Olenna nodded, a single tear tracing a path through the grime on her cheek.

She quickly wiped it away, her professional mask struggling to reassert itself.

"She was all I had left after the disasters on Earth. She was brilliant, a rising star in the early days of the Stargates. She went into the higher levels of the Verge... and never came back. The Federation gave up on her. But I won’t."

Her voice, though quiet, was filled with an unshakeable, almost terrifying determination.

"Astralis Academy is my only hope. Their archives, their deep-level access... they might know something. But their price for entry..."

She gestured vaguely at the meager pile of loot her subordinates had collected from their other, less discerning victims.

"It’s a king’s ransom."

She looked at Daniel, a new, desperate light in her eyes.

"You... you’re different, Captain Vance. You’re strong. Impossibly strong. That display earlier... you could walk into Astralis Academy and they’d probably roll out the red carpet for you. But I... I have to fight for every scrap."

A calculating glint returned to her gaze.

"You have power. I have... connections. Knowledge of this platform, of the factions, the black markets. We could team up. Properly this time. We could rob the truly wealthy, the corrupt officials, the guild masters who exploit the desperate.

With your strength and my planning, we could own this entire platform within a month. And my tuition," she added, her voice dropping to a seductive whisper, "would be a mere afterthought."

She took a step closer, her earlier fear replaced by a bold, almost reckless opportunism.

"Or, perhaps," she continued, her voice now a velvet murmur, her eyes locking onto his, "you could simply... help me.

A man of your... prodigious talents... must have acquired a significant surplus of Yin and Yang cards from your adventures.

Enough for a simple tuition fee would be nothing to you. And in return..."

She let her gaze drift down his powerful frame, a suggestive smile playing on her lips.

"I could offer you... compensation. Of a more personal nature. I am, after all, a woman of many... skills.

And I can assure you, Captain, I am far more experienced in the art of... stress relief... than those two lovely, but undoubtedly innocent, young ladies currently drooling over there."

Daniel let out a slow, almost amused breath. This Olenna Houten was certainly persistent and audacious.

He had to give her credit for that. He appreciated her resourcefulness, her twisted code of ethics, and even her desperate, if misguided, attempts at seduction.

But he wasn’t interested in becoming a bandit king, nor was he in the market for "experienced stress relief."

He had his own path, his own SSS-Rank agenda.

He walked over to the low table where his meager belongings had been placed.

He picked up his now-empty waterskin, then casually reached into his S-Grade [Elementary Storage Ring].

With a faint shimmer, a cascade of jade and gold light spilled from his hand, forming a glittering pile on the table.

Yin and Yang cards. Tens of them. More cards than Olenna had probably seen in her entire life.

"Boom!"

The soft clinking sound of the cards hitting the table seemed to resonate like thunder in the suddenly silent tent.

Olenna stared, her jaw dropping, her carefully constructed composure shattering into a million pieces.

Her eyes, wide with utter disbelief, darted from the mountain of cards to Daniel, then back to the cards.

"Wh-what... How...?" she stammered, her voice barely a whisper.

That many cards... it was enough to buy a small fortress in Rivernorth, let alone pay a simple tuition fee.

Before she could fully process the shock, a furious roar erupted from outside the tent.

Hector and Grimsby, along with their third, previously unseen accomplice, a hulking brute named Boris who had apparently been fishing Hector out of the river, burst back into the tent, their faces contorted with renewed greed and foolish rage.

They had clearly seen the glittering pile of cards from a distance.

"Boss! He was holding out on us! Look at all those cards!"

Hector shrieked, his earlier terror forgotten, replaced by a blinding greed.

"Let’s get him! There’s enough there for all of us to retire!"

Boris, wielding a massive, rusty anchor as a makeshift club, charged forward with a bellow.

Daniel didn’t even turn around. He just sighed, a sound of profound, weary annoyance.

"Some people," he muttered, "are just determined to become part of the food chain."

He flicked his wrist. Not a punch nor skill. Just a casual, almost dismissive flick.

"Boom!"

A small, almost invisible pulse of pure kinetic force, amplified by his A-Grade Kinetic Void Gauntlets, erupted from his fingertips.

Hector, Grimsby, and the anchor-wielding Boris were lifted off their feet as if swatted by an invisible giant.

They flew backwards out of the tent again, their surprised yells cut short as they made three distinct, very final-sounding splashes in the deep, dark waters of the Styx River.

This time, Daniel suspected, they wouldn’t be climbing out.

Silence descended once more, broken only by the crackling of Daniel’s magical campfire and Ayra’s gentle, rhythmic snoring.

Olenna Houten stared at Daniel, her face pale, her earlier audacity completely gone.

The casual, almost bored display of overwhelming power was far more terrifying than any overt show of rage.

She finally understood. This wasn’t just a strong recruit. He was something else.

She slowly sank to her knees, not in fear, but in a dawning, desperate realization.

Her schemes, her plans, her attempts at seduction... they were all meaningless before this level of power.

"So," Daniel said, finally turning to face her, his expression calm, his eyes holding a hint of that cold, calculating glint she now found utterly terrifying.

"About that stress relief..." He paused, letting the words hang in the air. "I have a slightly different kind of... ’cooperation’... in mind.

One that might actually help you find your sister. And one that won’t involve any more impromptu swimming lessons for your... former... associates."

His smile was all teeth. The game had just changed. Again!

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺