Request

After Lucas left the room, Eva called for Ken.

"You called, Leader?"

"It's about your recruit, Lucas."

"Have you considered adding him to our team yet? I'm telling you, he has potential."

Eva calmly and silently stared at Ken for a moment before speaking, "I know, hence why I have already recruited him into our team."

"What?! Really?!" Ken's face immediately turned joyous.

Eva showed him Lucas' signature on their team recruitment paper.

"Hell yeah! You won't regret it, Leader!"

"Sit down." Eva suddenly said to him.

"S-Sure…" Seeing her serious face, Ken quickly sat down.

"You know, I gave Lucas a test before allowing him to join our team."

"Oh? What'd you make him do? Spar with you?"

She shook her head and said, "No, I took him to the Intermediate-rank dungeon that we recently bought. The one with the mist."

"You what?! That's reckless! He may be very strong for his level, but he's still only level 13! The monsters there are all around the maximum level cap for an Intermediate-rank dungeon!"

"He's a bold one alright, just like you said. He entered the dungeon without hesitation and even killed a Red-Eyed Serpent without showing any hint of fear." Eva couldn't help but smile slightly after recalling her day with Lucas in the dungeon.

"A RED-EYED SERPENT?!" Ken stood up from shock, and he stared at Eva with his mouth wide open.

Even he wouldn't dare to fight a Red-Eyed Serpent without any preparations!

'Is he really bold… or just batshit crazy?' Ken wondered to himself.

"What are we going to do now? How do we even train someone abnormal like him?"

"We don't." Eva quickly responded, dumbfounding Ken.

"Huh? We're not going to train him? That's crazy! We cannot let his talents go to waste!"

Eva shook her head and said, "Calm down, Ken. It's not that I don't want to train him, but people with his caliber of talents… It would probably do him more harm than good."

"People like him need to train by himself. We'll just slow him down if we make him train our way even though we're nothing alike."

"That makes sense…" Ken mumbled to himself.

"But there should be something we can do to assist him."

"I am still thinking about that. For now, we'll just—"

*Knock* *Knock*

Eva was suddenly interrupted by knocking on the door.

"Who is it? I am busy right now!" Eva said out loud.

"It's me, Lucas."

"Lucas…? Why is he back already?" Eva raised her eyebrows.

"Come inside!" She then said.

Lucas opened the door and entered the room the next moment.

The first thing he noticed was Ken, who was sitting before Eva and staring at him with a wide smile on his face.

"Hey, Lucas. I heard you got accepted into my team. Congratulations," he said.

"Thank you."

"What are you doing back here?" Eva asked him a moment later.

"I have a request." Lucas turned to look at Eva with a serious expression on his face.

"Let us hear it."

He nodded and continued, "I would like to return to the Intermediate-rank dungeon so that I can train my level quickly."

"What? Are you crazy?"

It was Ken who spoke first.

"I am completely rational right now."

Eva narrowed her eyes at him, "Just because you killed a Red-Eyed Serpent doesn't make you invincible. Arrogance is the number one reason why people die in dungeons, and this is especially true for the talented ones that think they can handle everything in the world. Don't get cocky, Lucas."

"I'm not doing this because I am arrogant. I am doing this because I need to reach level 25 as soon as possible." Lucas said.

"And why are you in a rush to reach level 25?" Eva then asked.

"Personal reasons…"

"..."

The room turned silent for a good moment.

"Unfortunately, that is not a good enough reason to get yourself killed, so I will have to refuse your request."

"Leader." Ken suddenly turned to look at her, and he continued, "Did you already forget what you just told me? That we should let him train by himself? If he wants to train in the Intermediate-rank dungeon, I think we should let him."

Eva frowned, "Letting him train by himself and letting him suicide are two very different things."

Ken pondered for a moment before suggesting, "How about this? I will go with him to the dungeon so that he won't be alone. If that's not enough, I will bring another member with us to supervise him."

"I cannot let you do that. You're part of the raid team for the upcoming Advanced-rank dungeon," said Eva.

"But we're not entering the dungeon for another 3 days, right?" Ken said, and then he shifted his gaze to Lucas and continued, "Three days. I will only accompany you for three days, meaning you will only have three days to reach level 25. Are you okay with this condition?"

Lucas nodded, "I will only need two days."

Eva rubbed her temples and sighed, "Ken, if anything happens to you, the raid team will be down a man and will have to pick up your slack."

"Don't worry, nothing will happen to us. I will make sure of that." Ken smiled.

Eva sighed again before turning to look at Lucas.

"If you increase your level, it will also benefit our guild, so I will let you go to that dungeon as long as you have Ken and another member by your side. You better not disappoint us, you understand?"

"I understand."