SSS-Rank Talent: Super Upgrade System-Chapter 146: Caught Between Worlds!

Daniel leaned in, his lips brushing against a soft neck, inhaling a scent that was... different.

It wasn’t Olenna’s usual subtle jasmine perfume. This was the faint, clean scent of premium soap mixed with an undercurrent of something wild and vaguely like ozone, the lingering signature of a berserker’s aura.

His hands, which had been confidently caressing a soft waist, suddenly encountered something unexpected.

Dense, rock-hard muscle. The kind of muscle forged in brutal, relentless training, not the slender, wiry strength he was used to from Olenna.

The skin felt different too, not just soft, but with an underlying toughness.

"Wait a minute," a confused, alarmed thought rang through his mind. "Olenna’s been training her core, but this is... extreme."

Then, his fingers brushed against a set of faint, newly-healed scars on a strong shoulder blade, scars he recognized with growing, gut-deep dread.

They were the same pattern as the wounds Lia had healed on Ayra after her fight with the Umbral Lynx.

His brain, which had been happily operating on primal instinct, suddenly performed an emergency shutdown, reboot, and spiraled into a full-blown panic, all at once.

The person in his arms, the person he had been actively getting intimate with, was not Olenna. freewёbnoνel.com

It was Ayra.

At that precise, heart-stopping moment, the bedroom lights snapped on. The command had come from the doorway.

"Daniel? I thought I heard you come in. Did you bring that Aldebaran brandy I like?"

Olenna stood there, dressed in a silk robe, holding two wine glasses, an amused, expectant look on her face.

Her expression shifted rapidly, surprise, confusion, then realization, before settling into a trace of cold, amused understanding as she took in the scene.

Daniel froze, half on the bed, his hands in a position that could only be described as disastrously inappropriate.

Ayra blinked awake in the sudden light, her drowsy confusion giving way to rising horror as she felt Daniel’s hands on her and saw his ghost-pale face just inches from hers.

"Vance?" she whispered, her voice a dangerous rumble.

Daniel scrambled off the bed as if it were on fire, stumbling backwards and nearly tripping over a plush rug.

The wind shrieked faintly as he moved, a testament to his panicked, uncontrolled burst of speed.

He raised his hands, mind racing for a logical, non-disastrous explanation for the inter-dorm incident.

"I... uh... I can explain," he stammered, which was a blatant lie. He couldn’t.

Ayra sat up slowly, pulling the sheets around her with a dignity that was utterly terrifying.

Her face was a storm of embarrassment and burning anger.

The faint, crimson glow of her [Primal Fury Berserker] talent was already beginning to pulse around her knuckles.

"BOOM!"

The bed frame groaned under a sudden, unconscious clenching of her fist.

Olenna just leaned against the doorframe, a slow, predatory smile spreading across her lips as she took a delicate sip of her wine.

"Oh, do explain, Captain," she murmured, her eyes dancing with amusement.

"This looks like it’s going to be a very interesting story."

Daniel looked from Ayra’s face of impending doom to Olenna’s amused, expectant one.

He opened his mouth, and the only words that came out were a masterpiece of panicked honesty.

"I seem to have gotten the wrong person. It was an honest mistake!" Daniel protested, finally managing to get his shirt on, though it was inside-out.

"I thought this was Olenna’s room! It was dark! You were... surprisingly quiet for a sleeping berserker! I expected more... apocalyptic snoring!"

Olenna, finally losing her battle for composure, let out a delighted peal of laughter.

"Oh, Daniel, darling," she managed, wiping a tear from her eye.

"For a man who can face down SS-Grade Leviathans without flinching, you seem to have a remarkable talent for stumbling into domestic disasters.

I must admit, this is far more entertaining than any of the Command School’s strategic simulations."

She then added, with a wicked glint in her eye, "Though I must say, Ayra, you seem to have swapped rooms with me last night.

Said my bed had a better view of the moonlight. I had no idea you were expecting company."

This, of course, only made Ayra’s furious blush deepen.

The next morning was marked by deep, lingering awkwardness.

The four of them sat at the villa’s sunlit dining table, the silence broken only by clinking cutlery and Nyx crunching her shadow-kibble beneath them.

Ayra was pointedly stabbing at a piece of fruit.

Lia and Olenna were exchanging quiet, amused glances over the rims of their teacups.

Daniel, for his part, was seriously contemplating using his S-Grade [Twilight Phantom Step] to simply phase through the floor and spend the rest of the day hiding in the plumbing.

"Well," Ayra finally said, not looking at anyone in particular, her voice dripping with a sarcasm.

"Our Captain seems to be making... fast progress... in his interpersonal synergy training.

Must be all that reading he’s been doing." She then slammed her fork down, stood up, and stalked out of the room without another word.

Daniel sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I should probably go apologize again."

"I would give her at least an hour, Daniel," Lia advised gently. "And perhaps bring a peace offering."

Eager to escape the lingering awkwardness, Daniel made his way to the highest level of Astralis Academy, a secluded, serene place reserved for the Principal himself.

He stepped into a bright, spacious office that felt more like a cozy library, lined with old books and humming artifacts.

Principal Alistair Finch was there, sitting in a comfortable-looking armchair, sipping tea and looking out at the sweeping view of the platform.

He smiled warmly as Daniel entered.

"Ah, Daniel. Punctual as always. Come, sit.

Tell me, how are you finding your first week?" the Principal asked, his voice friendly and grandfatherly.

"I trust my Vice-Principals haven’t been too... overwhelming?" He chuckled.

Principal Alistair greeted him not with the stern formality Daniel had expected.

"Would you take a cup of coffee?" he asked, gesturing to a simple wooden table where two steaming cups sat waiting.

The workshop was a cluttered yet comfortable space, filled with odd artifacts, unfinished projects, and shelves packed with ancient leather-bound books that gave off a quiet energy.

Daniel declined the offer with a polite nod. "Thank you, Principal Alistair, but I had breakfast just before coming over."

"Alistair, please, my boy," the old man insisted, his ancient eyes twinkling.

"We’re going to be spending a lot of time together. No need for such stuffiness."

He boasted with a proud grin, "I may look like a retired librarian, but in my prime, I was a top-tier expert myself.

"I remember when I was a young buck like you, just making my way.

Climbed all the way to the tenth level of this very Verge, you know. Back when the beasts were bigger and the recruits were tougher.

Back then, we didn’t have these fancy platforms."

We had to fight for every scrap of ground, every moment of rest.

Good times, good times." His eyes had a distant, nostalgic shine.

He seemed less like a legendary powerhouse and more like a kindly old man reflecting on his glory days.

Daniel, still skeptical about the true extent of the Principal’s power, listened politely.

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