Chapter 49: The First Level of the Tower Reaching the Heavens — The Merchant Guild Expedition

"I will drop you off here."

"Don't forget what I told you. Xiaoya and the others will be waiting for you on the first floor."

The Yan family's retaliation was something even Shang Zijin could not afford to take lightly.

For Xiaoya to undergo her second class advancement at this juncture was like walking right into the line of fire.

Yet there was no alternative; the martial arts examinations were imminent, and she could hardly abandon her second advancement simply because of the Yan family.

Therefore, solely for the sake of her younger sister, Shang Zijin had personally gone to the airport to meet Li Yao.

Otherwise, purely regarding the contract, Shang Zijin could have completely waited until Li Yao finished his second advancement trial before discussing it.

In her eyes,

As long as they were inside the Tower of Babel, unless someone of Zhang Yucheng's caliber personally intervened, Li Yao was an invincible existence.

With his protection, nothing could go wrong!

That was assuming he kept the matter to heart.

Thinking of this, Shang Zijin could not help but offer a final word of caution.

"She is my own flesh and blood, after all. If there is anything she does to offend you, for my sake, please go easy on her."

"As for the others, do as you please."

"Rest assured."

Having given her his word, Li Yao naturally would not break his promise.

"By the way, which floor is your mission on this time?" Shang Zijin suddenly asked with curiosity.

The higher the floor, the more difficult the advancement trial, which in turn demonstrated the greater strength of the professional.

Back when she underwent her own class advancement, she had headed to the eighth floor to complete her trial. To achieve a perfect advancement would have required her to reach even the ninth floor.

Li Yao surely would not rank lower than her.

The ninth floor? Or perhaps the tenth?

"The highest floor."

With that, Li Yao stepped into the teleporter of the Tower of Babel, his figure gradually fading away.

The mission objective was the NPC who distributed the rewards, and the description stated they were on the highest floor, so he was not technically lying.

The Tower of Babel only had ten floors, making the highest floor the tenth.

Could it truly be the tenth floor...

Shang Zijin knitted her brows, gazing at Li Yao's retreating back.

There was actually one more critical factor in the alliance between the Shang family and the Silver Wolf Guild that she had not told Li Yao.

Not until Li Yao's figure had completely vanished from sight did Shang Zijin part her lips and murmur softly,

"If you can clear the tenth floor, I guarantee that the Shang family will throw its full weight behind supporting the Silver Wolf Guild."

"If you fail..."

Ever since the Tower of Babel first emerged eight years ago, a total of fourteen people had attempted to conquer the tenth floor.

This was a top-secret classified by the Dragon Republic.

Even Shang Zijin had no idea how many had succeeded.

Because of this, acting from a place of pure rationality, Shang Zijin believed the probability of Li Yao clearing the tenth floor was infinitesimally small.

Thinking back to when she underwent her own second advancement trial,

In order to defeat the boss on the ninth floor, she had practically exhausted every last trump card she possessed.

By the time she narrowly secured the kill, she had depleted all her resources and was hanging on by a thread at death's door.

As for the tenth floor that followed, she had not even been able to muster the desire to challenge it.

"Ah, you cannot blame me."

"I have already tried to persuade my father several times—as long as someone clears the ninth floor, we should cooperate wholeheartedly. Since he refuses to listen, there is nothing I can do."

The Shang family, after all, were still merchants at heart.

[Entering the Tower of Babel...]

[Please name your identity within the Tower of Babel.]

"Name?"

Li Yao pondered his own class and replied, "Name it... Apex."

[Naming successful. Entering the first world of the Tower of Babel.]

[Defeat 100 ground-walking crabs to unlock the teleportation passage to the second floor.]

[Current progress: 0/100]

Li Yao felt his vision go dark, and when he opened his eyes once more, he found himself in a place resembling an ancient town.

Rice Fragrance Town.

A town built spontaneously by professionals within the Tower of Babel.

It provided a place for professionals to sell equipment and potions, as well as a foothold, functioning much like a small trading market.

At the moment, there were not many people around.

The class advancement ceremony of the year had only concluded a few days prior, and the leveling progress of the new generation of professionals was still a significant distance away from the Tower of Babel.

Only after the martial arts examinations would the Tower of Babel truly enter its peak season.

Of course, there were also quite a few professionals from Qinghai City who had come here to level up the moment they reached level 15.

The experience points fell somewhere between those of the wilderness and instances—neither too many nor too few.

However, locals were simply too familiar with this place.

Nearly all the information regarding the monsters on the lower floors was known like the backs of their hands, making it several times safer than an instance dungeon.

Li Yao walked through Rice Fragrance Town,

Feeling as though he had stepped into a newbie village from the online games he used to play in his past life.

Stalls set up by professionals were everywhere, laden with various potions and pieces of equipment.

Near the exit of the town, gold-farming professionals could be heard shouting loudly, offering low-priced carries.

Because it was a temporary town constructed by professionals without system protection, it was surrounded by tall walls with only a single exit.

The people from the Shang family would also be waiting for Li Yao here.

No sooner had Li Yao arrived than four professionals began walking toward him.

Two men and two women; the gear they wore made it immediately obvious that they were not cheap items.

The leading young woman bore a striking resemblance to Shang Zijin, yet their temperaments were worlds apart.

"Xiaoya?"

Li Yao asked with a hint of uncertainty.

"Um... yes," Shang Yana replied timidly. "Elder Sister Zijin told me about this. Thank you for your trouble this time."

Unlike that Song Anqing from earlier, Li Yao could easily tell that the other party was not putting on an act.

Perhaps she had simply been sheltered far too well by the Shang family.

Li Yao did not dwell on it.

His mission was simply to escort her up to the sixth floor, after all.

"Alright, join the party. We've been waiting ages for you."

At that moment, the female companion beside Shang Yana spoke up, her expression impatient.

Shang Zijin had only asked Li Yao to look after her younger sister and had not mentioned anyone else at all. This clearly indicated that even among blood relatives, their relationship was likely not close.

Li Yao joined the party.

The classes of the four individuals instantly appeared before Li Yao's eyes.

Aside from Shang Yana, who was an S-grade Gale Swordsman, the rest were A-grade classes: a knight, a mage, and a healer—a well-rounded composition.

However, while Shang Yana had reached level 20, the others were lingering around levels 17 and 18.

The party leader, a knight named Shang Hao, frowned upon seeing Li Yao's class.

"You aren't going to tell me you're a summoner, are you?"

"Yes," Li Yao nodded.

When the others saw him admit it, expressions of sheer disbelief crossed their faces.

"The external reinforcement Sister Zijin talked about is just a summoner? And we wasted all this time waiting for him."

The mage, Shang Mingxu, could not help complaining.

Shang Qian even pulled Shang Yana aside and asked in a low voice, "Xiaoya, did your sister get scammed or something? How can an A-grade summoner possibly qualify as an external reinforcement?"

"No, that's not it."

Shang Yana shook her head repeatedly, growing extremely anxious.

"I don't know how to explain it to you, but anyway, he is very strong! Extremely strong!"

Glancing at Li Yao's nonchalant expression, Shang Yana finally let out a sigh of relief.

Sister Zijin had specifically talked to her about Li Yao and explicitly warned her not to run her mouth.

The Shang family and the Yan family were going through a very delicate period.

Once the Yan family found out that Li Yao was in the Tower of Babel, there was no telling what might happen!

"Extremely strong... Just how strong can a summoner possibly be?"

Shang Qian muttered skeptically, though she said no more.

Whether he was truly an external reinforcement or not, he had after all been summoned by Shang Zijin. Even if he was just here to leech experience, she had no choice but to accept it.

At this point, Shang Mingxu also snapped back to reality and instantly clamped his mouth shut.

Even if Li Yao was a summoner, he was still far beyond someone like Shang Mingxu could afford to offend.

Within the Shang family, Shang Zijin was practically a golden signboard.

Besides, the other party had also reached level 20; perhaps he was the scion of some major influential family and had some sort of cooperative arrangement with Sister Zijin.

He certainly could not afford to ruin things.