My SSS-Rank Skill and System is too OP in Modern Cultivation world-Chapter 165: soon

Just as Kent gathered the empty vials, his phone vibrated. Jade Monroe.

He answered. "Morning, Jade. Don't tell me another clan is at the gate."

"No sabres, this is academic." Jade's voice held an urgent edge. "Come to the Nexus and Watcher office. I received fresh ruin coordinates, something buried under the Mist Quartz Valley of country xxx. The data matches the Sun-Disk glyphs."

Kent straightened. "How big?"

"Unknown. But the report uses the word 'vault' twice and 'guardian' three times. Come fast if you want first dibs."

"I'll be there in an hour."

"Make it forty minutes. Other researchers are sniffing around."

Kent hung up. He turned to Nima. "Duty calls. Keep training the birds. No more Itachi jokes while I'm gone."

"I promise nothing," she said, laughing.

Auri fluttered onto his shoulder, eager to travel. Kent stroked the bird neck. "Are you ready for more adventures?"

Auri chirped a fierce, "yes."

Kent secured the Sun-Disk and coin in the padded trunk, stowed it aboard Silver Muse, and warmed the thrusters. Nima waved from the porch, crows lined like soldiers behind her, bulkier, shinier, proud.

"Stay safe!" she shouted. "And don't brood too hard, oh dark ninja!" freewebnøvel.coɱ

Kent gave a playful two-finger salute, then shot skyward. Silver Muse's keel hum shifted in tone, anticipating the disk upgrade to come.

Thirty-five minutes later, the craft eased onto the Nexus and Watcher rooftop pad. The marble spires glittered in the fresh sun. Kent powered down, checked that the trunk seal was intact, and stepped out.

An attendant bowed. "Tier-3 Watcher Kent, Director Monroe is waiting in the third-floor strategy chamber."

Kent nodded, heart thumping with curiosity. New ruins. New guardians. New danger. Exactly the fuel his system, and his life thrived on.

He crossed the grand hallway of stained-glass windows, boots clicking on mosaic tiles, and stopped before the heavy oak doors of the strategy chamber. A faint carving of a phoenix crowned the arch.

Kent placed a hand on the cold brass handle. "Let's see what the morning brings."

Whispers of a Distant Ruin

The oak doors of the Nexus strategy chamber swung inward on silent hinges. Kent stepped through, boots clicking on a floor of inlaid agate—fiery red veins twisting under glassy polish. Sunlight cut sideways through tall windows, striping dust motes gold. At the far wall, a dozen great maps hung like layered tapestries. Jade Monroe—dark-haired, sharp-eyed, unmistakably himself—stood alone in front of them, rolling a red string between his fingers.

"Close the door, Kent," he said without turning.

Kent obeyed. Auri fluttered from his shoulder to perch on a brass compass rose fixed to the ceiling, tail-flame shedding soft amber light. For a heartbeat the room was nothing but measured breathing and the muted creak of old wood.

Jade spoke first. "I assume your crows have finished bulking up?"

Kent huffed a laugh. "Two-hundred-plus feathered hooligans now bench-pressing fence posts. Why?"

"Because if this mission fails, we may need every last one of them," Jade said, finally facing him. He tapped a crimson pin into a distant corner of the western wall-map—a jagged region labelled Yanling Dominion. "We intercepted spatial tremors here forty-eight hours ago. Concentric bursts—thirty-three pulses—exactly the pattern on your coin and the new Sun-Disk."

Kent's pulse quickened. "Pocket-dimension gate?"

"Almost certainly. We expect full stabilization in four days." Jade unrolled a narrow parchment—spectro-rune read-outs, all spikes and spirals. "The problem? Yanling forbids foreign expeditions. If an official Nexus crest so much as crosses their border, it's a diplomatic firestorm."

Kent folded his arms. "So you want me to go in plain clothes. A spy mission."

"An observation mission," Jade corrected, eyes glinting—equal parts excitement and worry. "Slip across the ridge, map the site, photograph every glyph, retrieve token relics no heavier than ten kilos. In, out, silent."

"And if Yanling wardens spot us?"

"We vanish," Jade said flatly. "Which is why we travel light. My old skimmer Silent Star—no exterior runes, matte hull, mana-masked plume. Two souls make the smallest shadow."

He hesitated, voice dropping a notch. "I'd planned to go alone with you, but last night a higher directive arrived. If we do nothing, the He Clan will sell ruin coordinates to Yanling's Crimson Directorate. They'll seal the gate, strip it bare, and we lose any hope of understanding how your coin—and that disk—fit into the greater array."

Kent blew out a slow breath. A spy run across hostile mountains… seedlings barely ankle-high back home… Nima certain to explode when she heard. Yet every instinct thrummed yes. Sun-Disk, coin, bacteria farm—threads of the same tapestry. This ruin might weave them together.

"Give me five minutes to think," he said.

Jade nodded, turned away, and began sorting flight charts on a side table.

Family CouncilSilver Muse skimmed home in half an hour, hugging treetop height. The moment its thrusters whispered into idle, Nima barreled out the door, chopsticks in one fist and a half-devoured noodle bowl in the other.

"Back already? Where's my souvenir?"

Kent raised both palms. "Important talk."

Inside, they gathered at the cedar table—Xian Yu pouring jasmine tea, Auri hopping between shoulders. Kent laid out the plan: covert flight, foreign ridge, unstable pocket realm, four-day window.

Nima's chopsticks froze. "So… enemy territory."

"Not enemy. Protective of their ruins," Kent said.

"Protective like hungry bears." Nima jabbed with a noodle-laced chopstick. "I'm not letting you vanish across a border with only Jade."

"It's covert," Kent answered, voice low but firm. "Two people. Less noise, less risk."

She scowled. "Then I'm your second."

"No." He shook his head. "If things go wrong I need the freedom to run or hide—alone."

"I'm Level-D high-peak!" she protested, flexing a bicep she'd clearly measured in the mirror. "And Auri can barbeque bandits!"

Auri puffed sparks in agreement.

Xian Yu sipped his tea. "Risk is real—but an extra pair of eyes can save a soul. The girl's progress is swift."

Kent's pride rose… and crashed against a wave of worry. Nima had grown since carrot-farm days—but Yanling wardens were Level-C veterans, maybe higher. He rubbed his temples. "We'll ask Jade. His ship, his call."

Nima folded her arms. "If he says no, I'm hiding in the cargo locker."

"It barely fits a suitcase!"

"We'll shrink," she shot back.

Kent slumped. "Fine. We'll put it to Jade. But one slip—you retreat when I say."

She beamed. "Deal."

Silent StarAt sunset they returned to the Nexus rooftop. A matte-black skimmer rested in an auxiliary hangar, hull plates drinking torchlight. Jade—cloak donned, flight gloves buckled—arched an eyebrow as Nima clambered down Silver Muse's ramp behind Kent, with Auri riding her shoulder like a fiery epaulette.

"Add-ons?" he asked.

"She insisted," Kent said.

Nima executed a deep bow. "I know basic medicine, can squeeze through small vents, and carry emergency snacks."

Jade studied her, then glanced at Kent. "Small bodies, small shadows," he murmured. "All right—conditional approval. Your brother commands. Disobey once—we abort."

Nima saluted so sharply she nearly concussed Auri. The phoenix squeaked but held formation.

Jade led them through a quick gear inspection:

Two invisibility-mesh cloaks

Compressed ration bars

Four spirit-water canteens

Collapsible shelter

Rune-chalk, spirit-glass sample jars, Kent's field notebook

One jar of sugar-plum jam (Nima's "morale food")

Xian Yu arrived to hand each sibling a jade neck-tag. "If a threat of C-rank or higher draws near, these warm. Come back alive."

Kent clasped the tag. "Thank you, Master."

Into the Violet NightBy 20:45 the last pallet was stowed. Jade touched a sigil on Silent Star's nose; engines woke with a breathy hum. They boarded: Jade in the pilot seat for initial climb, Kent at nav-console, Nima belted aft with a bubble window, Auri on the dash.

Anchors released. The skimmer drifted into lilac sky. City lamps scattered below like spilled coins; the garden fields glimmered green, rows of thunder-carrots bowing farewell.

Nima pressed her face to the glass. "We look like thieves in a fairy-tale."

"Professional researchers," Kent murmured, but he couldn't suppress the grin.

They skimmed river mist, ducked beneath patrol beacons, tags at their throats cool. Two hours north, dark hills rolled under the hull and clouds swallowed the moon—perfect cover.

At midnight Jade ceded the pilot seat. Kent slid forward, hands on silent controls; Jade moved aft to rest. Nima dozed against a pack of ration bars, Auri curled in her lap, tail-flame dim blue.

Outside, a border ridge loomed—black on black, a serrated shadow. Somewhere beyond, hidden in Yanling's guarded forests, thirty-three silent sigils burned in air only spirit-sight could trace.

System text ghosted across Kent's vision:

Mission Logged: Pocket Gate Recon – Difficulty B+

Primary Objective: Map rune array within 24 h of stabilization.

Secondary Objective: Retrieve ≤ 10 kg relic sample.

Penalty: Diplomatic incident if detected.

Bonus: First mapping of 33-ring submatrix (unknown reward).

He tightened his grip on the yoke. Behind him, the cabin thrummed; ahead, the sky ran starless and wide.

Four days till the gate opens, he thought. Let's be there first—unseen.

Silent Star sliced northward, as hushed as her name, carrying them into the unknown.