I Ascend to the Divine Throne through Arcane Means

The next day, Kane Mansion.

After visiting Old Jack with Ashley and making sure his life was not in danger, Lis led Ashley to a spare study on the second floor.

During the visit to Old Jack, he was quite cooperative, telling Ashley that he had found her a new teacher who was much stronger than him and urging her to study hard under the new teacher.

Ashley nodded obediently.

Although she was not sure why Uncle Jack suddenly wanted to find her a new teacher and did not know who her new teacher was, she trusted that Uncle Jack and Brother Lis would not harm her.

After meeting Joyce yesterday, Old Jack totally acquiesced to Lis's suggestions, even subtly revealing that he wanted to join Lis's command directly.

It was a joke—this was a Legendary Strongman of the profession, and nobody would want to give up such a rare opportunity.

Even Old Jack, who was nearing the end of his golden age of strength, hoped to receive guidance from a Legendary Strongman to further improve his skills!

Ashley sat there quietly, letting Rossi dress her in a well-fitted new dress and carefully dolled her up; she now looked as exquisite as a doll, truly adorable.

Lis watched the obedient Ashley with a smile, wondering who could imagine that when she grew up, she would be a stunning, curvy woman with a commanding presence?

He placed some specially prepared pastries in front of Ashley and said with a smile,

"Come have some pastries, these were prepared especially for you."

Once Ashley was officially taken in as a disciple by Joyce, she would be considered Lis's sister, and naturally, Lis was even more concerned about her.

"Okay, Brother Lis."

After visiting Old Jack, Ashley also relaxed and was not so formal anymore.

She took a bite of a small pastry and her eyes lit up.

So sweet, so delicious!

Ashley had never tasted such delicious pastries before; it was already good enough for her family to have enough to eat, and it was only after Old Jack's sponsorship that life got a bit better. But Old Jack was not a refined person and never made anything delicious for Ashley; the food he ate every day was still brought by Ashley from her home.

"You don't need to worry about anything else. Just stay here for a few days. I've already arranged for someone to notify your Aunt Anna."

Lis took a sip of his tea, smiling as he spoke to Ashley.

He had already asked around; Ashley was a child adopted by a widow named Anna, who earned some money to support herself and Ashley helping out at a hotel.

Although there was later sponsorship from Old Jack, it seemed that Anna could not stand to be idle, still going out to work every day.

After some thought, Lis decided that when Joyce officially took Ashley as a disciple, he would have Anna move in as well, to help out a bit with cleaning the mansion.

As for Old Jack?

Once he was better, of course, he would return to Langai Street!

Otherwise, how could he interact with that group of players and play his role?

Ashley quickly swallowed the cake in her mouth and said,

"I got it, thank you, Brother Lis."

Lis patted Ashley's little head, liking the feel of it.

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"Ashley, soon one of my elders will take you as an apprentice, and after that, you'll be my sister Lis. From then on, you can call me brother or elder brother."

"I got it, Brother Lis."

Ashley nodded, though she was still not very clear on the details, she could feel Lis's kindness.

Lis smiled and said nothing, quietly waiting for Joyce's arrival.

After a short while, the door to the study was pushed open from the outside, and Joyce walked in.

At that moment, he was not wearing his formal butler uniform but a black coat with matching lightweight gear. He no longer had the previous elegant and relaxed demeanor; Joyce now seemed to have finally awakened, his edge fully apparent.

Joyce had prepared himself formally—it was, after all, his first disciple!

Even though Joyce enjoyed the comfort of wearing a butler's uniform and as a child before being adopted by the Kane family his dream was to become a noble's butler.

Lis rose to his feet, and Ashley, seeing this, also quickly stood up.

Is this my teacher?

Ashley looked curiously at Joyce.

He seems to be about the same age as Uncle Jack; is he really better than Uncle Jack?

In Ashley's eyes, Old Jack was already the most formidable person she knew.

With a wave of his hand, indicating that there was no need for Lis to introduce him, Joyce stood in front of Ashley, looked down at her, and said,

"From now on, I'll be your teacher, Little Ashley."

"My name is Joyce, just call me Teacher Joyce."

"I got it, Teacher Joyce."

"Please sit."

Joyce nodded, sat down on the main seat sofa, and Lis and Ashley also sat down, with Lis letting Ashley sit closer to Joyce.

Joyce got straight to the point with Ashley,

"Ashley, you've studied under the Golden Assassin named Jack before, right?"

"Yes, Uncle Jack taught me a lot."

Ashley replied earnestly, sitting there properly, already sensing the difference in Joyce.

Ashley inexplicably felt very close to Joyce.

Just like the feeling she had when Anna was out, quietly staying alone in the dark shadows.

"Your Talent is very good; it's a kind of Talent called 'Shadow's Son,' which allows you to naturally be in affinity with the Shadow Plane."

"You probably like staying in dark places, right? That's the influence of your Talent."