Chapter 157: Reward Calculation

[Reward Calculation Complete.]

[Legendary Returns Granted.]

Reinhard’s eyes brightened as he looked at the notifications hovering before him.

[Legendary Reward Granted: Knowledge — Incoming Strike Force.]

[Effect: Provides detailed information regarding an upcoming hostile force targeting the Ashcroft Family.]

[Information: 3 A-Rank Awakeners with relics.]

[Information: 10 B-Rank Awakeners with relics.]

[Additional Information: All thirteen Awakeners possess decades of combat experience and are over their sixties.]

Reinhard’s smile slowly disappeared. "Three A-Ranks?"

He read the information again, making sure he hadn’t misunderstood it.

Three A-Ranks and ten B-Ranks were coming after the Ashcroft Family, and all thirteen had decades of experience as Awakeners.

He wasn’t afraid of three A-Ranks anymore.

After reaching S-Rank himself, and knowing Yuna had also broken through, the difference in rank wasn’t something that could make him panic. What caught his attention was the sheer number and quality of the people Baal was willing to send.

"Thirteen high-ranking Awakeners... for four people?" Reinhard muttered, then let out a quiet laugh. "They’re serious."

This wasn’t a group of disposable soldiers sent to test their strength. Baal was committing three A-Ranks and ten B-Ranks, all experienced veterans, to a single operation against the Ashcroft Family.

Whatever Emily knew about the Black Moon, the Baal Family clearly considered it important enough to justify that kind of force.

[Additional Reward Granted: Knowledge — Executive Branch Operation.]

[Effect: Reveals the organizational affiliation and objective of the three A-Rank Awakeners participating in the operation.]

[A-Rank Awakeners: Three.]

[Affiliation: Three separate Baal Family Executive Branches.]

[Objective: Capture an Ashcroft Family member alive.]

[Secondary Objective: Use the captured family member to pressure Emily Ashcroft into revealing information regarding the Black Moon.]

Reinhard’s expression turned colder. The three A-Rank Awakeners weren’t simply coming from different branches because Baal wanted more manpower.

Each branch had its own objective within the operation, and each one wanted to be the branch that successfully captured an Ashcroft family member.

His eyes narrowed as he considered what that meant. If one of the branches managed to take Emily’s husband, sister, or one of the other family members alive, they would have something they could use against her.

More importantly, the three branches were effectively competing with one another to prove that their method was the one capable of finally breaking Emily.

He leaned back slightly. "So the other methods failed." He remembered everything they had already learned about the Black Moon, the organizations investigating it, the attempts to understand what had happened, and the various efforts to recreate something they didn’t fully comprehend. If the Baal Family had already succeeded in reproducing the Black Moon, they wouldn’t need Emily anymore. They would have what they wanted.

But they didn’t. Instead, they were sending people to capture her family.

His gaze hardened. "So they’ve fallen back on the simplest option." His fingers tapped against his knee as the realization settled in. "Control the person who knows."

[Additional Reward Granted: Enhanced Demon Roar.]

[Effect: Demon Roar now stuns affected targets for ten seconds.]

[Additional Effect: The shockwave can affect multiple rooms within its effective range.]

[Additional Effect: The shockwave can disrupt incoming attacks and projectiles.]

Reinhard raised an eyebrow. "Ten seconds?" His smile returned. "That’s plenty of time."

[Additional Reward Granted: Demon God Body Enhancement — Right Hand of God Awakening.]

[Effect: The Right Hand of God can form a sword before striking.]

[Ability: The Strike That Crushes.]

[Effect: The Right Hand determines the exact amount of power required to defeat its target and releases that force through a single crushing strike.]

[Additional Effect: The ability can simultaneously target and crush multiple opponents.]

He stared at the notification for several seconds before looking down at his right hand. "So you finally got an upgrade too?"

[Additional Reward Granted: Right Hand of God Enhanced.]

[Instant Strike: The Right Hand of God can cut through the concept of distance and reach its target instantaneously.]

[Additional Effect: The strike moves at five times the user’s own speed once manifested.]

[Additional Effect: Because it does not travel through conventional space, physical barriers cannot delay its arrival.]

His eyebrows rose. "That’s a little unfair." His grin widened. "I like it."

[Additional Reward Granted: Physical Body and Five Senses Enhancement.]

A powerful sensation spread through his body. His muscles tightened before relaxing again, every part of him growing stronger and more efficient, his bones, organs, nerves, and muscles all responding to the enhancement.

The change wasn’t limited to physical strength either, his five senses sharpening alongside his body and making the world around him noticeably clearer.

[Additional Reward Granted: Enhanced Danger Intuition.]

[Effect: Reinhard can instinctively predict and react to actions that would cause him the greatest harm up to five seconds before they occur.]

His expression turned thoughtful. Five seconds. At his current speed, that was an enormous amount of time.

[Additional Reward Granted: Enhanced Predator Analysis.]

[Effect: Reinhard can detect a person’s emotional state the moment their gaze lands on him.]

[Additional Effect: Can identify inconsistencies between a person’s words and emotional state, allowing Reinhard to see through lies.]

That was almost as valuable as the combat abilities. If they managed to capture one of the incoming Awakeners alive, he would be able to determine whether they were telling the truth, whether they were hiding something, and whether their fear or confidence matched their words.

[Additional Reward Granted: Enhanced Combat Analysis.]

[Effect: By temporarily enhancing his five senses, Reinhard can read the attack path of an opponent.]

[Additional Effect: Five projected afterimages will appear, showing possible attack paths before the opponent commits to the attack.]

His eyes brightened. "Oh, that’s useful."

He could already imagine what it would be like to fight multiple experienced A-Ranks.

Normally their experience would have been one of their greatest advantages, understanding positioning, timing, feints, and coordinated attacks far better than most opponents.

Now he could see their possible attack paths before they even committed.

He laughed quietly. "Sorry," he said, looking at his newly enhanced abilities with an increasingly shameless grin. "You spent decades learning how to fight." His grin widened. "I got the shortcut."

Reinhard dismissed the notifications and stood from his seat. He had received nine rewards, but there was no reason to spend the rest of the morning testing every single one.

Most of them were abilities he would understand better through actual combat anyway. Right now, there was something more important to check. His family.

He left the room and walked through the hotel until he found the others gathered together. The moment he entered, he noticed the changes immediately.

Yuna’s presence was completely different from before, her Mana stabilized at S-Rank, the pressure surrounding her much denser than it had been yesterday. Emily was stronger too, her Mana successfully reaching A-Rank, while Maki and Lily had both reached Peak B-Rank.

"Well, everyone looks alive," Reinhard smiled.

"That’s your first question?" Lily stared at him.

"It’s an important one," he nodded seriously.

Yuna’s lips twitched, and Emily shook her head with a small smile.

"Looks like I finally caught up to you," Reinhard said, looking toward Yuna.

"It took you long enough," she gave him a faint smile.

He placed a hand over his chest. "That sounds almost disrespectful."

"It was."

"I’m proud of you." Her faint smile grew slightly.

Lily immediately pointed at Emily. "And Emily left Maki and me behind!"

"I didn’t leave you behind," Emily’s lips twitched. "You were simply slower."

"That’s still leaving us behind!"

Maki calmly looked between them before speaking. "Still, I’m surprised. We actually have two S-Ranks in the family now, and Emily can probably become one soon."

Lily’s eyes widened. "Which means we’ll have three S-Rank Awakeners!"

"Five, actually," Reinhard nodded.

Lily froze. Maki’s eyes widened slightly before her smile slowly grew. Yuna and Emily both turned toward him.

He smiled as Lily’s chest slowly puffed out. "In a month or so, maybe a little longer, we should have five S-Ranks in the family."

Her expression turned extremely proud. "We’re going to be amazing."

"We already are," he replied, and that seemed to satisfy her.

The light atmosphere lasted only a moment before his expression turned more serious. "We’ll keep this a secret for now."

Lily’s expression fell slightly. "Why?"

He looked at the others. "As I told you over a month ago, the Baal Family is targeting us because of Emily and her knowledge of the Black Moon." Everyone grew more attentive. "Well, that’s become worse."

Reinhard explained what he had just learned which were three A-Ranks and ten B-Ranks. All of them with decades of experience as Awakeners.

The three A-Ranks came from three different executive branches of the Baal Family, and each branch wanted to capture an Ashcroft family member alive so they could use that person to pressure Emily into revealing information about the Black Moon.

Lily’s expression turned serious. Maki grimaced. Yuna and Emily both closed their eyes.

"The moment we return home, we’ll probably be assaulted by them," he continued.

"Thirteen people?" Lily frowned.

"Thirteen confirmed high-rank Awakeners," he said. "There could be more supporting them, but those are the ones I know about."

"They’re really going all out," Maki folded her arms.

"They are."

Emily opened her eyes. "So we’re not going to use the multiple S-Ranks as a deterrent?"

He shook his head. "No. We’ll let them come."

She looked at him.

"We’ll crush the forces they send and see if we can get anything out of them. At the very least, crushing the force they send should make the Baal Family think twice before trying this again. They need to understand that touching either one of us comes with consequences."

Lily’s grin slowly returned. "Ohhh, I like that!"

Maki nodded. "Then did the relics and everything you bought take those things into account?"

"Some of them can," he replied.

"That should be enough," she gave a small nod.

"As promised, then, I can talk about the Black Moon," Emily looked toward him.

He immediately shook his head. "Let’s talk about that after we come back from the festival."

"After?" she blinked.

"I doubt we’ll be able to focus on the festival if we reveal a secret like that right before we leave," he said. "We’ve spent enough time dealing with serious things lately. Tonight, we’re going to enjoy ourselves."

"Secret later! Fun now!" Lily nodded rapidly.

"That would be preferable," Yuna tilted her head.

"Welp. I guess that’s the plan," Maki sighed, then gave a small smile.

Emily blinked at all of them before laughing. "Okay then. Let’s do it."

A short while later, the Ashcroft family finally stepped into the Elyndor Festival. The sight before them was completely different from the ordinary city they knew.

Thousands of lights illuminated the streets and buildings, turning the entire city into a sea of color.

Spectral dragons flew between the towers, their enormous bodies made entirely from shimmering light before they dissolved into glowing particles above the crowds.

Spectral tigers leapt across rooftops, chasing one another through the sky while children below pointed upward and laughed.

Floating masks drifted through the streets, some elegant and beautiful, others shaped like monsters, animals, or legendary figures.

Above one of the main avenues, enormous spectral weapons clashed against one another in a magical performance before exploding into countless sparks that rained harmlessly over the crowd.

Music filled the streets alongside the voices of thousands of people enjoying the festival, while food stalls stretched as far as they could see, filling the air with the smell of grilled meat, sweet pastries, roasted fruits, and countless other dishes.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

They had spent so long preparing for battles, recovering from injuries, uncovering secrets, and worrying about the people coming after them that simply standing in the middle of a festival almost felt strange.

Lily was the first to recover.

She grabbed Maki’s hand. "Come on! I saw a food stall over there!" Maki barely had time to react before Lily started dragging her through the crowd, Yuna following behind them with a faint smile.

Emily remained beside Reinhard, her silver eyes reflecting the countless lights illuminating the city.

He looked across the festival, then glanced at his wife and reached down to slip his hand into hers. "All right," he said with a smile. "Let’s enjoy ourselves before things get hectic."