Strongest Family System

Sai's signal traveled through the trees where Robert and Harvey were standing.

With just one tap on the bark, Robert caught the sound. Harvey did too. At that moment, both froze completely.

The forest between them held the particular silence of two people who had just been trying to read each other and were now listening for the same third thing.

It came from the south, the sound of heavy footsteps echoing in the air. It was not a beast but a cultivator, moving with an air of confidence and without any need for stealth.

Harvey's eyes moved south without his head turning. Something shifted in his expression.

Not fear. Recognition. He knows who this is.

It took Robert only a second to notice it. The person was from Celestial Brook City. Someone from the Walker Clan. Aaden Walker appeared from the edge of the trees.

A bit leaner than Harvey and quicker on his feet, he moved with a grace that belied the bandage wrapped around his right shoulder from their first encounter.

Despite the injury, he did not let it show in his face. He glanced at Harvey, then at Robert, and finally at the battered trunk that bore the marks of Harvey's strike.

He kept his thoughts to himself. Harvey turned his gaze to Aaden, asking a question without uttering a single word—just a look that said it all. Aaden responded with a subtle nod. They were regrouping. Robert picked up on the silent exchange between them in less than two seconds.

What started as a one-on-one quickly turned into a one-on-two. He remained motionless, deep in thought. Where is Sai? Harvey turned to look at Robert. The conversation about revenge was over.

This was a different calculation now.

"You have one partner," Harvey said. "Somewhere in these trees, hiding."

Robert did not say a word. "Looks like it is two against two."

"If that is what you want." Harvey gave him a look. Then, unexpectedly, she stepped back. Just one step. Thoughtful. Clean.

"Not today."

Robert went still. Not today.

"Your cores are not worth the time this costs me." Harvey's voice carried no anger now. Just the flat tone of someone doing arithmetic. "The third day is tomorrow."

He looked at Robert directly.

"Find me at the extraction point."

He turned.

Aaden turned with him.

They moved south into the deep zone without looking back. Robert watched them until the sound of their movement disappeared completely.

He stayed completely still until the forest fell silent for a full thirty seconds. Then, Harvey Walker walked away. That was not a sign of weakness. He is holding back his full strength for tomorrow.

Which means his current score is high enough that he does not need what we are carrying.

Which means it is higher than I calculated. Sai stepped out from the left. He looked south. Then at Robert.

"He walked away."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"His score is already high enough. He wants the extraction point confrontation—not this."

Sai was quiet for a moment.

"How high?"

"Higher than we estimated."

Another silence.

"How much higher?"

Robert looked at him.

"Enough that we cannot win on Rank Three cores alone."

Sai processed that in one breath.

"Then what?"

Robert gazed into the shadowy expanse before him. The darker land. The ancient trees. The areas they had yet to explore.

"Rank Four Beast."

Sai turned to him, and for the first time in two whole days, Robert saw a real reaction. It was not fear or denial; it was the expression of someone who was rethinking everything they thought they knew about the next eighteen hours, all in one quiet moment.

"The rules mentioned Rank Four exists in the forest."

"Yes."

"They said no pair at our level was expected to reach that zone."

"Yes."

Robert looked at the forest ahead.

"Expected is not the same as impossible."

Sai was quiet for a long moment. Then he looked at Robert with the particular expression of someone who had just accepted something.

"You considered this before we entered the forest."

Robert did not reply to him and was lost in thought. It was not something he had planned; there was a clear distinction. They moved forward, going deeper than they had the day before, deeper than this morning.

The ancient trunks gave way to something older—trees with no equivalent in the outer or mid-zones, their bark darker, their roots breaking the surface in patterns that suggested decades of undisturbed growth.

The canopy above shut tightly, leaving no trace of light. No glimmers, no shards—just an overwhelming darkness. The silence of the deep zone wrapped around them, feeling heavier than anything they had ever experienced before.

The temperature dropped. More than two degrees this time. Robert activated Swift Turn — minimum suppression level. Not for speed. For silence.

Sai activated Nine Shadows Step beside him. Same reason. They moved between the oldest trees in the Forbidden Forest without sound.

Thirty meters. Forty meters. Fifty meters. Robert came to a halt. Completely. Sai followed suit, stopping right beside him. Neither of them made a sound. Thirty meters ahead—nestled between two of the oldest trees in sight—something stood utterly still.

Not hunting. Not moving. Just existing. The unmistakable presence of something that had ruled this land for so long that it did not feel the need to patrol anymore. It already knew they were around.

It had been aware since they crossed into this part. It was just a matter of deciding. With no hurry in his movement. What to do about them. Robert struggled to see it clearly in the dark.

But he felt the weight of it from thirty meters. Rank Four. One hundred points.

His hand tightened on his sword once. Then relaxed.

Sai's hand signal came from the left—so quiet it was barely air movement.

Your call.

Robert looked at the dark between the ancient trunks. The thing standing in it did not move.

Neither did he. One hundred points. Harvey Walker's score might be higher than us.

One beast. One chance. He looked at SAI. Sai looked back.