Ashley listened carefully to Ethan's words. She remembered there were a few cases where guest members had managed to enter the Raid Tower even though their level was too low or they weren't part of any guild.

But things were different now.

With so many updates happening, there was a chance the administrators had already fixed that trick. Still, Ashley hadn't seen any signs of it recently.

There was no harm in trying. If it worked, LionArk would benefit greatly.

Leon, Lucas, Jill, and Ethan all focused their attention on Ashley.

The decision to let Ethan join or not was entirely in her hands. No one had the right to interfere.

Ashley stayed silent for a while before finally deciding to approve Ethan's proposal. The potential gain outweighed the risk.

If the Guest Member trick didn't work, they'd simply be rejected by the system.

But if she refused Ethan's offer and the trick still worked, LionArk would lose a huge opportunity. It was the best decision Ashley could make under the circumstances.

Ethan smiled when he heard her response and asked if anyone wanted to form a party with him.

But no one dared to volunteer. It wasn't that they didn't want to do a Raid Tower—it was that none of them wanted to be in the same party as Ethan.

They looked at each other, hesitated, and avoided eye contact. No one wanted to step forward.

Ashley sighed again, watching her members still rejecting Ethan.

In the middle of all that silence, Leon raised his hand. Everyone turned to him—Ashley, Jill, Lucas, and the others.

"Leon?" Jill asked.

"I'm new to this guild. I haven't explored the Tower yet with this account. My situation's the same as Ethan's," Leon said.

He looked toward Ashley with a calm smile. Leon volunteered to form a party with Ethan on his own.

Ethan grinned. He was glad. Teaming up with a friend was far better than working with strangers, and he knew it.

Ashley nodded and turned to Ethan, making sure he was fine with Leon as the party leader. Ethan agreed without hesitation.

"Then we'll need at least a priest for—"

"No need," Ethan interrupted, surprising everyone.

"No priest?" Ashley asked, shocked.

Ethan explained that with his abilities, he could restore his HP through regeneration and lifesteal. Leon could supply HP Potions for him.

"Adding more people will just slow me down," Ethan said. "It's enough with me and Leon."

"What's the highest floor you've reached in the Tower?" Ethan asked firmly.

Ashley said she'd reached floor 66 on her own. Since the Full-Drive VR tragedy, no LionArk member had managed to climb higher.

There were 500 floors in the Tower of Ascension now, unlike two years ago when there were only 100.

"Every 100 floors, there's a new continent that players can settle on. Until now, no one from the first continent has ever reached the second," Ashley said.

Ethan was stunned. He turned to Leon and the others, realizing none of them had made it to the second continent either.

But they knew about it because the administrators had written lore about the other continents in the city library.

I thought there were only 100 floors. Looks like there's still a long climb ahead of me.

He sighed and shook his head. There was a long, dangerous journey waiting for him.

"Don't worry. I'm sure if we get stronger, we can reach the second continent," Ashley said confidently. Ethan nodded.

The second continent was the least of his concerns for now. There was still much to do on the first, especially after LionArk's downfall.

His power had grown—it was time to raise the guild's rank and reputation, even if he didn't officially join them yet.

Leon created a party, and Ethan entered the code Leon gave him.

The Raid Party was officially formed—just the two of them, with a huge difference in their levels.

"I'll tell Leon a few things before tomorrow's raid," Ashley said. "As for you, I assume you already know a lot about the Raid Tower, right?"

"Of course. I'm not exactly a beginner," Ethan replied.

After the plan was set, Ashley and Leon returned to the LionArk headquarters, while Ethan walked away.

He planned to head back to his inn room and rest, but then he remembered his earlier decision to refuse a priest.

That meant he needed to prepare HP and MP Potions for Leon himself.

The Raid Tower was full of danger and risk. Ethan could probably handle it alone, but Leon was a different story.

He doubted Leon had any regeneration skills, so it was better to prepare supplies in advance.

After finishing his shopping, Ethan headed toward the inn to rest. But his steps stopped when he saw Jill standing in front of it, as if waiting for someone.

Ethan narrowed his eyes and approached her. "What's going on?" he asked.

Jill turned to him with a gentle smile, "It's about tomorrow's Raid Tower. I…"

"What about it?"

"I… want to join you," she said softly, looking away shyly.

Ethan froze. He hadn't expected Jill to say something like that. But considering her experience, he was sure she had already explored some Tower floors before.

"You've already gone through the Tower, right? You won't get anything out of it," Ethan said.

"You'd just be wasting your time."

Jill fell silent. Unlike Ethan or Leon, she had already reached floor 44. Ethan was right—she wouldn't gain anything from revisiting floors 1 to 43.

It would waste her time, time she could've spent working on other things at LionArk. Ethan figured she'd be more useful supporting Ashley than joining him.

"I see… you have a point," Jill said quietly.

"Then, how about I join you once you reach floor 44?" she asked, looking at him.

Ethan agreed, but with one condition—Jill had to become a versatile mage. Jill's eyes widened in surprise.

"Versatile?"

"You may be great at offense, but I want you to learn support magic," Ethan said.

"When I come back from floor 44 and see you've learned support magic, then I'll take you with me."

Jill hadn't expected Ethan to ask her to study a different type of magic. Unlike priests who focused only on support magic, mages could learn many kinds of spells because of their flexibility.

However, a mage's support spells couldn't compare to a priest's, especially one who had already gone through a Class Advancement.

Ethan's main goal wasn't healing—it was to have someone who could purify simple debuffs during battle.

Jill had been Ashley's student for a long time, and Ethan knew her well. He didn't mind her joining the team since they both trusted each other.

Ethan only left her with one request—to learn support skills.

"I'll discuss your suggestion with Miss Ashley, Mr. Ethan," Jill said.

"Hmm… go ahead."

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