SSS-Rank Talent: Super Upgrade System-Chapter 135: Critical Threshold!

Director Sterling’s face was a stony mask, his eyes fixed on the holographic screen displaying Daniel’s silent, waiting form.

The previous instant-kills, each more unbelievable than the last, had ignited a fire in his soul.

He was witnessing history, a fundamental recalibration of what was thought possible for an Awakened.

Cold nutrient paste was a small price to pay for such a revelation.

"I don’t care if the paste freezes solid and shatters the bowls," the Director ground out, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. "I want to know his limit. Raise the difficulty. Now!"

The technician, seeing the unyielding, almost fanatical gleam in the Director’s eyes, swallowed hard and complied, his fingers trembling as he inputted the command.

"Boom!"

The test pod containing Daniel groaned audibly, the reinforced adamantium walls vibrating with a deep, resonant hum.

Inside, the blank white world reformed with a flash. The 6x Sango materialized, and it was a significant evolution from its predecessors.

It was sleeker now, resembling a knight sculpted from solid light, its surface etched with faint, shifting runes.

In its hands, it held not a spear or poleaxe, but a massive, shimmering greatsword that pulsed with contained energy.

It radiated an aura of calm, deadly competence.

Daniel watched its arrival, a glint of genuine interest in his eyes. "Okay," he murmured to himself.

"Pure physicals handled 4x, basic elemental magic handled 5x. Time to see what precision and a truly elite weapon can do."

He didn’t activate any of his S-Grade speed skills yet.

That felt like cheating, like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. He wanted to test the core skills of his new Night Ranger class.

He activated his A-Grade [Voidwalk].

Daniel’s form blurred as he became a true phantom, erased from the immediate sensory spectrum.

The 6x Sango, with its advanced combat programming, tilted its head, its sensors sweeping the empty space where Daniel had been, completely baffled by the sudden, absolute void in its tracking data.

Daniel moved.

He appeared behind the Sango using its own powerful, searching movements as a stage for his acrobatics.

As Sango swung its massive greatsword in a wide, probing arc, Daniel raced up the gleaming blade, his boots holding fast to the impossible surface for several gravity-defying strides.

He then kicked off, launching himself into a silent, spinning flip directly over the Sango’s head.

As he descended behind it, the S-Grade Blade of The Night appeared in his hand.

It hummed with a low, hungry purpose. He activated his C-grade [Backstab] skill, a tool he had acquired and almost forgotten, now made terrifyingly potent by the weapon in his hand.

His strike was utterly silent. The S-Grade blade, with its immense +8000 attack power and +200% critical damage, plunged into the back of the Sango’s neck, a designated weak point in its virtual code.

A flash of text appeared on Daniel’s internal display: [Critical Hit!] [Backstab Bonus Applied!] [Fatal Strike Triggered!]

The 1% chance. It had triggered.

The 6x Sango didn’t explode or shatter. It simply froze.

A thin, black line, appeared where the Blade of The Night had struck. This line spread across its entire body in a fraction of a second.

Then, with a soft, final hiss, the Sango construct silently cleaved in two, dissolving into black, glittering dust before it even hit the floor.

[Virtual Opponent - Sango (6x Strength) - Defeated. Time: 0 minutes, 12 seconds.]

Outside the pod, the assembled crowd was in a state of profound, stunned shock.

The fight had been too fast, too ethereal for most of them to even follow. They had seen the 6x Sango appear, swing its sword at nothing, and then simply... cease to exist.

Vice-Principal Robb Naharis, the stoic weaponsmith, let out a slow, shaky breath.

"That... that blade," he whispered, his voice filled with a craftsman’s reverence. "The way it cut through the virtual energy matrix... it is very sharp.

It’s fundamentally severing the connection to the core. It’s an artifact of impossible quality."

Director Sterling, however, was already shouting. "SEVEN TIMES! Don’t just stand there gawking, raise it to seven!"

The pod shuddered again. The 7x Sango materialized, faster, more agile, its form crackling with anti-stealth sensor pulses.

It immediately locked onto Daniel’s position, even through the [Voidwalk].

"Ah," Daniel noted calmly. "It’s adapting. Good." He dismissed the Blade of The Night and summoned his S-Grade Flying Cloud Mystic Bow.

The weapon appeared in a swirl of golden mist and white light, both stunning and formidable.

The Sango charged, its movements a blur.

Daniel didn’t try to out-stealth it this time. He just drew the bow’s glowing energy string.

The bow’s [Elemental Condensation] ability flared to life. He fired a single, unadorned energy arrow.

"TWANG!"

The wind shrieked as the golden arrow tore across the virtual space. The 7x Sango raised its sword to block.

"BOOM!"

The arrow hit the blade and exploded with the force of an anti-tank missile.

The virtual sword shattered, and the Sango itself was blasted backwards, its form flickering violently before it dissolved.

[Virtual Opponent - Sango (7x Strength) - Defeated. Time: 0 minutes, 08 seconds.]

"EIGHT!" Director Sterling bellowed, his voice now hoarse with a manic excitement.

The platform’s main lights dimmed noticeably, and a low-level power alert began to chime softly across the plaza.

The 8x Sango appeared, its form now encased in a shimmering, reflective energy shield. Daniel just smiled. "A shield? How cute."

He drew the Flying Cloud Mystic Bow again. This time, he activated its God’s Effect.

He focused, weaving together two of his A-grade elemental masteries. He fused the searing heat of [Flame Control] with the biting cold of [Frost Control].

A swirling, unstable vortex of fire and ice formed on the bowstring, hissing and crackling, threatening to tear itself apart.

The bow groaned under the strain. He released it.

"KRA-KA-THOOOOOM!"

The elemental singularity arrow hit the 8x Sango’s shield.

The volatile reaction of extreme heat and cold caused a catastrophic energy failure.

The shield imploded, and the Sango behind it was simultaneously flash-frozen and incinerated, vanishing in a spectacular puff of steam and glittering data fragments.

[Virtual Opponent - Sango (8x Strength) - Defeated. Time: 0 minutes, 10 seconds.]

Just as Director Sterling opened his mouth to roar for the next level, the head technician ran onto the dais, his face ashen.

"Director, stop! The Origin Core is at 98% capacity! The entire Upper House is browning out! We’re pulling too much power! Another test like that will cause a cascade failure! The platform... it can’t handle it!"

The Director hesitated, his obsession warring with his duty.

In that moment of hesitation, the glitching holographic display flashed one final message before going dark.

[Virtual Opponent - Sango (9x Strength) - Defeated. Time: 0 minutes, 05 seconds.]

The technician’s panicked warning about the Origin Power Core reaching 98% capacity hung in the air, a stark reminder of the unprecedented strain Daniel’s test was placing on the entire platform.

The plaza’s main lights, which had been pulsing erratically, dimmed to a pale glow, casting long, distorted shadows that mirrored the crowd’s growing unease.

"Sir, a 9x draw was the absolute limit!" the technician pleaded, his voice cracking.

"The system is red-lining! Another opponent at that level will trigger a cascade failure!"

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