By the time they finally left the beast holding facility, the three Black Fang Tiger cubs had already made their choices surprisingly obvious.
The largest and noticeably chubbier cub had somehow attached itself to Mira.
It followed directly behind her whenever she moved and eventually stopped pretending to be independent altogether, climbing into her arms and settling comfortably against her.
Karl ended up taking the second cub, leaving Leon staring down at the smallest of the three inside his enormous hands.
Compared with Leon’s size, the little Black Fang Tiger looked closer to a black rabbit than a tiger cub.
Leon released a disappointed sigh before shooting several dirty glances toward the fat cub resting comfortably in Mira’s arms.
"I know what you’re trying to do, bastard."
Mira looked at him suspiciously. "What?"
Leon pointed toward the cub. "Trying to steal all the attention while Brother Karl gets from you."
Mira’s cheeks became slightly red as she immediately hugged the cub closer. "Shut up, you bastard!"
Karl coughed loudly and looked away while Leon grinned shamelessly.
Mira glared at him for another moment before lowering her gaze toward the cub in her arms.
"We should probably name them."
Leon immediately looked down at the tiny cub in his hands and thought for a moment.
"Mikros."
Karl glanced toward him. "Mikros?"
"Yeah."
Leon lifted the cub slightly. "Little bastard needs a name that matches him."
As if understanding the insult, the cub immediately twisted around and tried to bite his thumb, Leon hurriedly pulled his hand away.
"Oi!"
Mira laughed. "Looks like he likes it."
"Of course he does."
Leon adjusted Mikros beneath one arm. "He just has a violent way of showing affection."
Mira ignored him and looked down at her own cub.
The chubby tiger was already half asleep against her chest, as Mira slowly rubbed beneath its chin, her eyes stopped upon the pale marking in the centre of its forehead.
The mark spread into several small points against its black fur, resembling a tiny star, Mira gently brushed her finger across it.
"Astra."
Karl looked toward the marking. "Because of the star?"
"Yeah."
Mira smiled slightly. "It suits her."
Astra opened her eyes briefly before pressing her head farther into Mira’s hand.
Karl laughed quietly before lowering his gaze toward the cub resting against his own arm.
Unlike the other two, this one had remained unusually quiet since leaving the facility. It rarely struggled or made noise, instead calmly watching everything around it through a pair of dark eyes.
Its almost completely black fur made it seem even quieter beside the others.
Karl stroked a hand across its head. "Noctis."
The cub raised its eyes toward him and gave a quiet purr of acknowledgement.
Mira glanced over before smiling. "It fits."
Leon looked between all three cubs. "Mikros, Astra and Noctis."
He proudly raised the smallest of them.
"Mine still sounds the strongest."
Karl shook his head before looking toward the two of them. "Anyways there’s something else I wanted to discuss."
Leon immediately noticed the change in his tone. "What?"
"I want the three of us to enter the wilderness for training before the national college entrance examination."
Leon raised an eyebrow. "The wilderness?"
Karl nodded. "We need actual combat experience and we’ll level much faster outside the city."
Leon thought for a moment before asking, "What about the Dungeon Hall? We could just train there."
"We could, but most of the dungeons inside the city have already been cleared repeatedly. They’re safer, but the monsters and rewards are much worse."
Karl shifted Noctis slightly in his arms.
"The wilderness has more monsters and newly formed dungeons that haven’t been repeatedly cleared."
Leon grinned. "So basically, more dangerous and more rewarding."
"Exactly."
Mira looked toward Karl. "When are you planning to go?"
"Tomorrow morning."
She nodded without much hesitation. "I’m coming."
Leon immediately followed. "Obviously I’m coming too."
Neither response surprised Karl.
Leon glanced toward Victor. "My father shouldn’t have any problem with it if Uncle Victor is going with us."
Mira nodded. "Dad won’t stop me either."
Victor, who had been quietly listening nearby, finally spoke. "I’m still a little surprised the Old Master agreed to this."
"But since he did, I’ll accompany you and see exactly what you’re planning."
Karl smiled slightly. "You’ll find out soon enough."
Leon stretched his arms.
"Fine then, I’ll take care of the basic supplies tonight."
Karl looked toward him.
"Food, water, recovery potions, camping equipment and whatever else we’ll need."
Leon grinned. "Leave it to me."
Karl nodded, despite Leon’s usual behaviour, Karl had no reason to doubt him when something actually mattered.
"Tomorrow morning then."
With the plan settled, the three eventually separated and returned home to prepare, by the time Karl reached the Reed estate, he was alone except for Noctis following closely beside him.
After returning to his room, Karl placed the cub on the bed before sitting beside the table. There was still one thing he wanted to check before tomorrow.
Karl reached into his storage necklace and removed the skill book Gareth had given him during the previous night’s celebration.
[Skill Book: Reaper’s Scythe]
Karl opened its information.
[Skill: Reaper’s Scythe]
[Type: Active / Weapon Skill]
[Effect: Summons a scythe formed from Death Energy.]
[Reaper’s Mark: Each successful attack with Reaper’s Scythe places 1 Reaper’s Mark upon the target.]
[Each Reaper’s Mark increases the damage of subsequent Reaper’s Scythe attacks against that target by 2%.]
[Applying a new Reaper’s Mark refreshes all existing marks. If no new mark is applied for 1 minute, all Reaper’s Marks upon the target disappear.]
Karl read through the description again, even before considering Monarch’s Evolution, it was already a useful skill.
But that was not what interested him.
Let’s see what you become.
Karl placed his hand upon the skill book.
Learn.
The book immediately dissolved into countless particles of dark light before flowing into his body.
Information regarding the skill flooded into Karl’s mind, and within seconds he understood how to gather Death Energy and condense it into the shape of a scythe.
Then the system sounded.
[Skill successfully learned: Reaper’s Scythe.]
[Monarch’s Evolution activated.]
[Reaper’s Scythe evolving...]
Karl’s attention immediately sharpened, several seconds later, another notification appeared.
[Evolution complete.]
[Reaper’s Scythe has evolved into Supreme Skill: Death Severance.]
Karl immediately opened the new skill.
[Supreme Skill: Death Severance]
[Type: Active / Weapon Skill]
[Effect: Summons a scythe condensed from concentrated Death Energy.]
[Death Mark: Each successful attack with Death Severance places 1 Death Mark upon the target.]
[Each Death Mark increases the damage of subsequent Death Severance attacks against that target by 5%.]
[Applying a new Death Mark refreshes all existing marks. If no new mark is applied for 1 minute, all Death Marks upon the target disappear.]
Karl’s eyes narrowed, the original two-percent increase had already risen to five.
Then another line appeared beneath it.
[Death Execution: Each successful attack has a 1% chance to instantly kill a target up to 50 Levels above the host.]
[Death Execution ignores physical defence, magical defence and protective talismans upon successful activation.]
Karl stared at the words for several seconds, then read them again.
What the fuck?
Karl had spent ten years reaching the upper circles of the Human Alliance.
He had seen Mythic equipment, forbidden skills, ancient inheritances and abilities possessed by some of humanity’s strongest professionals.
He had never encountered anything like this.
There were certainly execution-type abilities capable of killing weakened enemies, but they almost always required the target to fall below a specific health threshold or fulfil several restrictive conditions.
Death Execution required only a successful attack.