Usually, the rewards were supposed to appear the moment a quest was completed. However, for some inexplicable reason, the administrator seemed to be taking his own sweet time this time around.[ Congratulations adventurers for completing the quest and killing the Mayor of this city.You have gained the right to move onto floor 24 ][ Unfortunately, The individual who commissioned this mission has refused to give me the rewards and has instead requested that you meet him directly.Hence, instead of giving you completion rewards, I am giving you 5 teleportation tokens, that will take you straight to the royal castle of the floor administrator ]The administrator’s voice sounded through the air, and almost immediately, a teleportation token appeared in the hands of each team member.“Why can’t you directly give us the reward? What if this is a trap?”“This is not fair? This is not what was promised to us!”“You’re the floor administrator, how can someone even defy your commands?”Varyn,

“Which prying ears, there is no one here?”Rhys protested, but Vladimir only chuckled.“Oh there is….. Dreavon. Trust me when I say…. That bastard is always listening”Alarm bells immediately went off in Rhys’s head.He did not feel safe around Vladimir. They had never met before, yet Lord Dreavon was one of Rhys’s greatest benefactors. Hearing that he was somehow listening to their conversation made Rhys even more suspicious.“What do you mean always listening? What have you done to my body?” Rhys asked.He tried to move away from Vladimir while still in his astral form, but he quickly discovered that he had no control over this body at all.“Don’t panic, if I wanted to hurt you, I would not have made the foolish decision to summon you to my throne room to do it.I could have had you killed without you ever realizing it—” Vladimir said.From Rhys’s expression, Vladimir could tell that the young man was becoming increasingly wary of him.That was not what he wanted.“I already know yo

Folding the newspaper and tucking it beneath his arm, Rhys accepted the lesson Vladimir was trying to impart with a respectful bow.“I’ll keep your wise words in mind…” he said. Vladimir nodded but offered no further response.He was still recovering his breath, so rather than continue with meaningless small talk, Vladimir simply remained silent and kept his attention on Rhys, who appeared to be lost in his own thoughts.Rhys had always known that his fame would eventually spread throughout the Tower. That was simply the fate of anyone who became a Champion. Still, he had never expected it to happen this quickly.If he were being honest with himself, Rhys did not feel that he had accomplished anything particularly remarkable during his climb through the Tower.He was still not prepared for ordinary people on every floor to recognize him or gather around his party whenever they went on a raid. Because of that, the growing fame felt more like a burden than a reward.At the same time, he

Rhys ran a hand through his hair as he tried to process Violet’s proposal.Having her join his team was not necessarily a bad idea, but the thought still made him uneasy.He knew how strong Violet had once been. She had been hailed as a rising star, a young talent with the potential to stand among Earth’s best Ascenders. However, everything she had endured recently had left her fragile, both physically and emotionally.Rhys could see that she was slowly recovering. The healthy glow had begun returning to her face, and she no longer looked as helpless as she had before. Even so, he was not convinced that she was ready to face the brutal challenges Ascenders encountered every day.He glanced toward Violet, who was nervously pacing near the dining table while waiting for his answer.She had clearly thought about this carefully, and the determination in her eyes made that obvious. Still, Rhys could not shake the discomfort that came from imagining her being dragged back into the dangerous

It took the team roughly a day to reach the necromancer’s hideout.The path leading toward his fortress was almost completely dark, and undead creatures patrolled the area at regular intervals. The creatures reacted violently whenever they sensed a source of light, making the illumination spell Kael maintained both useful and dangerous.Kael had to keep the spell active throughout their journey. It was simple enough to maintain, but it still consumed a small amount of his mana over time. Rhys knew the risks, yet he insisted that Kael continue using it. Being able to see their surroundings clearly was more valuable to him than the possibility of attracting a few undead patrols.Rhys did have a night vision potion stored in his inventory, but there was only one vial instead of the five he would have preferred to carry. He wanted to save it for a genuine emergency, so for now, keeping Kael’s illumination spell active was the better choice. At least the light allowed everyone to move with