As the car moved through the streets of Ardent City, Leon finally stopped bothering Mira and leaned forward between the seats to look at Karl.
"Well, Young Master Reed, what exactly are you planning to do with that peak F-rank talent of yours?"
Karl glanced toward him and smiled. "The same thing I was planning before. I am still going to dominate you, so you do not need to worry."
Leon immediately laughed. "Fine, we will see who dominates who."
Mira sighed beside them and pushed Leon back into his seat. "Give him a break, you bastard, he just awakened today."
She paused before looking toward Karl with genuine curiosity. "But seriously, how the hell did you reach twenty-one stars? The compatibility scale is not even supposed to go that high."
Karl merely shrugged. "You will see what I have got eventually."
Leon narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why does that sound like you are hiding something?"
"Because you think everyone is hiding something."
Mira rolled her eyes while Karl leaned back against the seat, he had no intention of explaining the Strongest Necromancer System, at least not until he understood exactly what it could do himself.
Not long afterward, the car passed through a pair of tall metal gates and entered the Reed family estate.
The property stretched across a large section of the district, with several smaller buildings surrounding the main residence while training grounds and gardens extended behind them.
Although the Reed family had withdrawn considerably from Ardent City’s affairs during recent years, the estate still carried traces of the influence it had once possessed.
Victor stopped the car near the main entrance and went toward the underground parking area, while Karl, Leon and Mira stepped out and walked toward the residence.
Before they could enter, Karl noticed someone already sitting beneath the covered courtyard outside.
An old man rested upon a wooden chair with both hands placed over the head of a dark walking stick.
Arthur Reed.
Karl stopped, from the way his grandfather was staring directly toward the entrance, there was absolutely no chance he had come outside merely to enjoy the weather.
Leon and Mira immediately became more respectful.
"Granduncle Arthur."
"Greetings, Granduncle."
Arthur’s stern expression softened slightly when he looked toward them. "Leon, Mira, there is no reason to stand around outside, go inside the food should already be prepared."
Then his gaze shifted toward Karl and the warmth disappeared, he struck the bottom of his walking stick once against the stone.
"You really created quite a mess today, little bastard."
Leon immediately placed his palms together as if beginning a prayer. "May my brother still possess two functioning legs when we see him again."
Arthur slowly turned toward him. "Would you like to stay and experience it with him?"
Leon’s hands dropped instantly. "Granduncle, Mira and I suddenly remembered that we have something extremely important to discuss inside."
Mira stared at him. "We do?"
"We do now."
Leon grabbed her arm and hurried toward the entrance before Arthur could reconsider his offer. Mira managed to look back apologetically at Karl before disappearing inside with him.
Karl watched them leave with amusement, but when he turned back toward his grandfather, his expression gradually became quieter.
Arthur Reed, the old man before him looked almost exactly as Karl remembered him from his last life.
His hair had already become mostly grey, his posture remained straight despite the walking stick beside him and his stern face still carried the same irritation whenever Karl caused trouble.
Karl had not seen him alive for years, the thought brought memories he would rather have forgotten.
In his previous life, Karl had become increasingly distant from the Reed family after awakening Sword God.
Seraphina had occupied far too much of his attention, while the Vale family repeatedly convinced him that his grandfather was old-fashioned and unnecessarily hostile toward them.
Eventually, Karl had even fought with Arthur because of her, he still remembered shouting that he would abandon the Reed family name if his grandfather continued interfering with his affairs.
Arthur had said nothing afterward and only several days later, his already unstable condition suddenly worsened and he passed away.
Karl had not even attended his grandfather’s final rites.
At the time, he had convinced himself that there were reasons he could not return, yet after living through everything that followed, even he could no longer defend what he had done.
The old man had raised him, protected him and supported almost everything he wanted. Karl had repaid him by choosing Seraphina over his own family.
His fingers slowly tightened.
Not again.
Whatever happened in this life, he would restore the Reed family to the position it deserved and make Arthur proud of the name he had spent his entire life protecting.
Arthur noticed Karl staring at him and frowned.
"What are you thinking about, little bastard? Since when did you start standing around like some unruly young master waiting for people to praise him?"
Karl was pulled from his thoughts and gave a helpless shrug. "I was only thinking that I did what needed to be done."
Arthur raised one eyebrow.
Karl continued calmly, "The Reed family has no reason to maintain an engagement with people who forget who helped them when they were weak".
"We certainly have not fallen so far that every random dog can bark at our heir without consequence."
For the first time since Karl arrived, Arthur looked genuinely surprised.
The grandson he knew had always possessed a softer personality, especially whenever Seraphina was involved.
Karl could be stubborn, but he rarely acted decisively when family relationships or political consequences were involved.
The young man standing before him now carried himself differently, his posture was straighter, his gaze clearer, and there was something mature behind his words that Arthur had never seen before.
Karl met his grandfather’s eyes. "Whatever consequences come from what happened today, I am prepared to take responsibility."
Arthur remained silent for a moment and then he laughed, the sound grew louder until even Karl became slightly confused.
"Responsibility?"
Arthur struck his walking stick against the ground again and grinned.
"I, Arthur Reed, have not grown so old that those bastards can walk into my home and demand accountability from my grandson."
His expression sharpened.
"You are the heir of the Reed family, if you make a decision, this family stands behind that decision. And there is certainly nothing wrong with teaching a few dogs where they belong."
Karl could not stop a smile from appearing, that was exactly the kind of man his grandfather had always been.
Arthur’s expression eventually became serious again. "However, there is something else you need to understand."
Karl nodded.
"Your awakening result is going to cause problems, Twenty-one-star compatibility has never appeared before, yet an F-rank talent will close many doors that would otherwise have opened for you."
Arthur looked directly at him. "Whatever happened with the Vale family today is insignificant compared with what comes next."
Karl remained silent for several breaths before speaking. "Grandpa, what I am about to say might sound ridiculous."
Arthur waited. "But do you trust me?"
The question clearly caught him off guard.
Karl did not look away, there was something in his grandson’s expression that made Arthur abandon the immediate questions forming inside his mind.
Finally, he nodded. "I do."
Karl released a quiet breath. "Then believe me when I say my talent is not F-rank."
Karl did not explain further. "There are things about my awakening that I cannot tell you yet, partly because even I do not completely understand them."
"But the result displayed by the awakening crystal is not everything I received."
Arthur studied his face for several seconds, he had spent decades dealing with awakeners, families and people who believed themselves capable of lying to him.
Karl’s words were clearly hiding something, but the confidence behind them was not fabricated.
"What do you need?" Arthur finally asked.
Karl had expected more resistance, so the immediate question caused him to smile. "The full support of the Reed family."
Arthur snorted. "You already have that."
"And before the national college entrance examination, I want to leave Ardent City and spend some time in the wilderness."
This time Arthur’s expression changed immediately. "The wilderness?"
Karl nodded, outside the major human cities and fortified bases, most of the world remained uncontrolled territory.
The expansion that followed the Awakening Era had made the world vastly larger than it had once been, and even after generations of expansion, the Human Alliance controlled only a fraction of the known land.
The regions surrounding major bases were comparatively safe, but travelling farther outward meant encountering increasingly powerful monsters, unstable dungeons and territories that had never been properly explored.
Some regions were classified as forbidden zones where even high-level professionals could disappear without leaving a trace.
Monsters were not the only danger either outside Alliance-controlled territory, other awakeners could be equally dangerous.
Arthur tapped his fingers against the walking stick. "You awakened today and already want to run into the wilderness."
"I need combat experience with my new class," Karl replied. "And there are some things I want to confirm before the entrance examination."
Arthur thought for several moments before answering. "Fine."
Karl had expected another argument. "But you are not going alone."
Arthur pointed his walking stick toward him. "Victor goes with you."
Karl’s expression immediately brightened. "I was going to ask Uncle Victor anyway."
"Good, then for once you possess enough intelligence that I do not need to beat it into you."
Arthur leaned back against his chair. "Whatever secret you are hiding, I will allow you to prove it yourself."
"But when the entrance examination arrives, you better give me a result worthy of the Reed name."
Karl nodded without hesitation. "I will."
Arthur appeared satisfied, but before he could continue, his expression suddenly tightened and a violent cough escaped his mouth.
He turned away and covered it with one hand, but when he lowered his palm, a dark streak of blood remained across his skin.
Karl’s smile immediately disappeared, he remembered this as well hi grandfather was a Level 719 professional.
Within a second-tier base city like Ardent City, his individual strength already stood near the highest level of the local power structure, comparable to even the City Lord.
Yet years ago, he had suffered a severe injury during a mission outside the city and the damage had never properly healed.
His condition continued deteriorating over time, forcing him to reduce his public appearances and withdraw from many of the Reed family’s external affairs.
That withdrawal was one of the main reasons outsiders believed the Reed family had become weak enough to challenge freely.
Karl looked at the blood staining his grandfather’s hand. In his previous life, he had known Arthur was injured but he had never understood how serious the condition had become until it was already too late.
Before Karl could speak, two cold notifications suddenly rang inside his mind.
[Mission Generated.]
[Cure Arthur Reed.]
[Reward: Mysterious Reward.]
Karl’s eyes widened slightly before the second notification appeared beneath it.
[Mission Generated.]
[Achieve First Place in the National College Entrance Examination.]
[Reward: Mysterious Reward.]
Karl stared at the two missions while Arthur calmly wiped the blood from his hand as though the incident meant nothing.
His gaze returned to the first notification.
Cure Grandpa...
This time, the system had given him a mission Karl had absolutely no intention of failing.