Thanks to Al's help, Theo caught up with Liam very quickly. He wasn't surprised to see a female swordsman tied up neatly at Liam's feet. Liam had quickly used backup rope to securely bind the unconscious opponent.

  Liam asked Theo, voice decisive: "How's the situation?"

  Theo nodded: "Fine. I gave them a big blow. We have about three minutes before they can react again."

  "Retreat?" Liam raised an eyebrow.

  "Retreat," Theo affirmed. "We don't need to fight, only need money."

  Liam turned face toward the female swordsman:

  "What about spoils?"

  Theo looked closely at the female swordsman: "Don't need, don't make them look too bad. Otherwise we'll also be very troubled."

  Theo knew intelligence about himself and Liam wasn't much of a secret. The two of them just needed to show they were "thorny" enough and dangerous enough. After all, they were just mercenaries selling lives for money. If profit wasn't enough for risks to bear, they'd also retreat.

  The two decided to retreat as fast as possible. With Al's help soaring high to scout and warn, this mission would certainly be executed smoothly.

  "Al, lead the way to base! Maximum speed!" Theo commanded.

  Three figures and one bird quickly disappeared deep into dense forest, leaving behind a chaotic battlefield where mercenaries were gradually regaining consciousness in confusion and paralysis.

  The two retreated to base carefully. The base's afternoon slanting sunlight made Liam and Theo also exhale with relief. Truly a day full of pressure and excitement. The lightness after completing transaction and escaping ambush also made them more relaxed than usual.

  On the secret trail to base, the two began discussing carving runes on armor. Liam excitedly recounted the "Blood Strengthening" rune; if his armor was carved, how formidable he'd be with Hidden Shadow, imagining the transcendent speed he could achieve.

  Still daydreaming from breakthrough ideas, suddenly Al flying overhead shrieked a warning—a sharp cry, continuous and completely different from animal alarm sounds, pulling Theo and Liam back to reality.

  This unexpected surprise made them unconsciously freeze for a second then panic into combat stance.

  Liam crouched, lifting left leg one step with short spear in hand. He unconsciously entered Remnant Wind stance that had become body instinct. Theo drew bow from shoulder with arrow in hand, eyes quickly scanning around finding hiding position and best shooting range.

  Right then, Vesper along with a Half-Elf emerged from the two's own shack.

  Vesper, still keeping his usual smile, casually applauded in praise. The Half-Elf crossed arms, leaning against the pull-up bar fixed before the shack—an item Theo self-made from past life memories. It was one of the important tools helping Theo train important muscle groups when shooting bow.

  "Truly very impressive," Vesper spoke first, tone full of interest. "I guess my team members were handled cleanly. You two are truly rough diamonds in this backwater place."

  The atmosphere immediately became taut as a bowstring. Theo realized Vesper not only monitored them, but monitored for very long, enough for him to know about this secret base.

  Liam gripped Short Spear tightly, voice low and not hiding anger: "What do you want, Ves?"

  Vesper smiled wryly, preparing to answer, but Theo's attention had completely focused on the Half-Elf. He needed to determine how dangerous this new opponent was.

  Highly concentrated, Theo's eyes narrowed. He quickly scanned the Half-Elf.

  He had platinum hair tied loosely and slightly pointed ears showing, wearing a forest-green hunter's leather outfit, neat and not excessive. Theo didn't see bow or quiver clearly, but small details had exposed him.

  First was posture. Though leaning body against pull-up bar, Theo noticed his shoulder and back muscles were very broad, somewhat tense—the familiar posture of those frequently pulling strong bows. Theo looked more closely: on his right hand's three fingers were faint, flat calluses, proving bowstring pulling force had imprinted on bone, though he wore protective gloves. He was an archer, and perhaps a long-range archer, specializing in using heavy-grade bows. Theo concluded confidently as also an archer.

  Second was close combat equipment. The Half-Elf didn't wear a long sword, but his leather belt was reinforced beyond necessity, and Theo caught a dim metallic glint near left hip, hidden under thin cloak layer. That was the edge of a sheath containing throwing knives or metal daggers. Moreover, his body's center of gravity wasn't completely relaxed like harmless people, but slightly forward, ready to spring—characteristic of close combat warriors using short weapons.

  Theo concluded quickly: This Half-Elf was a versatile assassin, proficient in bow and arrows and possibly also very dangerous at close range with throwing knives. His professionalism lay in completely concealing weapons and combat capability.

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  Vesper seemed very satisfied with Theo's silence and vigilance. He smiled, slowly stepping forward:

  "I came to... upgrade the relationship between us."

  Liam maintained Remnant Wind stance, Short Spear pointing straight at Vesper. "Upgrade by sending assassins to monitor and trap us?"

  Vesper shook head, showing disappointment. "Liam, you're always too agitated. I already said, those weren't assassins. That was just a final test, and also a stage for you to debut before remaining members. A spectacular performance."

  He paused a bit, eyes glinting with amazement. "Truly very excellent. I predicted the two kids would escape, but you two leisurely returning like this was completely beyond my prediction."

  Vesper narrowed eyes, voice full of teasing: "Those fools still underestimated you two kids. And now, ha ha..."

  He stopped, eyes shifting from Liam, then paused when gaze touched Theo. Vesper looked straight at Theo for a long time, saying no words. The long diagonal scar across his face made eyes even sharper and colder, full of probing and imposing, forcing Theo to face this wordless threat.

  "I want you two kids to join my team."

  Vesper jerked chin toward the Half-Elf. "As for this guy. You've already met him, in the second transaction. He's the one you shot from distance. Let me introduce, this is Ryel."

  Ryel drew from behind an arrow and threw it toward Theo. The arrow tore wind charging forward, but carried no killing intent. Ryel said briefly: "Good shooting."

  Theo raised hand to catch it. That was a Wind Rending magical arrow, perfectly repaired after he ambushed Ryel from distance in the previous transaction. He nodded, storing that arrow in the quiver behind back.

  Ryel said nothing more. The Half-Elf lightly raised finger touching lightly, almost skimming the area under left ribcage—where the hide armor was patched after taking the arrow. That was a sign of remembering, but not at all shameful. Instead, he looked up at Theo, amber-colored eyes sharp and proud, then slightly smiled at corner of mouth into an almost invisible smile. That smile implied: You are very talented, but that time was because I was careless from underestimating opponent, and that's the only time in your life you'll witness this.

  This strange interaction made atmosphere more tense.

  "And if we refuse?" Theo asked, not lowering bow, voice cold as ice.

  Vesper smiled lightly, tone absolutely confident, as if they'd already agreed. "You won't refuse."

  He gestured for Ryel to stay in position, then stepped one step closer toward Theo and Liam.

  "Please," Vesper said with mocking but calculating manner. "I know you two kids want to go outside to become mercenaries, want to seek opportunities to see the larger world. This town is very small. All intelligence about you two kids, about Liam's past, about your plan to earn money to leave here, has been on my desk since last week. Oh, and which kid inquired about our group's recruitment information several weeks ago?"

  Theo narrowed eyes. Indeed, their information was too easy to find; after all, they'd lived here since childhood, and Oakhaven town was too small.

  "We want to think more," Theo replied, voice slightly lowering, trying not to let initiative completely lie in Vesper's hands.

  Vesper smiled in reply, not wavering before the delay. "Fine, but hurry. You two still need to familiarize and coordinate with my group for a while before departing, and our time is limited."

  He glanced at the secret base area, face teasing. "And more importantly, we need you two—more correctly, you have a good scout Beast. Right?"

  Saying that, Vesper turned back.

  "Meet us on Fangday (Thursday), Ryel, let's go."

  Half-Elf Ryel relaxed both arms, nodded, and followed Vesper. Both disappeared into deep forest as quickly and quietly as when they appeared, leaving Theo and Liam watching departing backs under afternoon sunlight.

  Both took time to exit combat stance. The suffocatingly tense atmosphere still lingered in the violated base. They thoroughly checked base, examining the two Striders' condition.

  Under flickering twilight, the two sat side by side. Dinner seemed to have no flavor, just mechanical action. The lightness after victory had completely vanished, replaced by the burden of upcoming path choice.

  Theo broke silence with a long breath. He set down dried meat, suddenly speaking:

  "We have another choice, that's Horizon Guild, the nomadic merchant group. They can take us out of Oakhaven safely."

  "Safely," Liam repeated, voice carrying slight irony. He looked into the small burning fire.

  He pondered. "But this somewhat contradicts the original plan." Theo both told Liam his analysis and reaffirmed to himself. Theo's eyes pierced through flames, looking straight at Liam.

  "If we agree with Vesper, join his group, this will be work that's not easy, full of risks and certainly will be controlled. But... but we'll certainly learn much more. That's the fastest path to progress."

  Theo recalled failures like recent days—subjectivity when evaluating Cyclops's strength, clumsy inexperience before Stone Bugs, and the climax was naked feeling when Vesper traced right to their lair—both of them were too green. He understood these shortcomings couldn't be patched with theory. Only the harshest experience fire could forge them, transforming those fatal holes into survival experience. That was the price to pay for advancing.

  "So what's your choice?" Theo turned, looking straight into Liam's eyes.

  "Vanguard!"

  Liam suddenly burst out laughing. He laughed heartily, decisively dispelling suppressions stretching from afternoon until now. "You know, Theo. You always guess what I'm thinking."

  Liam's eyes radiated a courage and maturity a 14-year-old kid shouldn't have. He wasn't afraid of risks at all, but conversely, craved them.

  Theo smiled. Not wrong, he knew what Liam aimed for. Both looked in one direction: the safe path wasn't for those wanting to fly high.

  Without further delay, Theo immediately rearranged everything in head, planning details for the next three days.

  First objective needing immediate resolution: armor.

  "Tomorrow, we'll go carve rune inscriptions on your armor," Theo said, eyes clearly showing calculation. "Already have enough money. Carving doesn't take too much time, but depends on luck. Must complete early so if surprises happen we can manage."

  Remaining time, they'd focus highly for upcoming challenges. Liam needed to complete Hidden Shadow's final exercise to be ready for upcoming challenges.

  As for Theo, he needed to complete Spike Stepping training to resolve speed issues. He too needed ACP points to exchange for knowledge from G and important items, so he had to begin Apothecary as soon as possible.

  He looked at Pidgey sleeping nearby. Al still continued training most basic stamina and strength exercises, but he didn't have enough points to exchange for "Basic Trainer" package. Theo felt frustrated. He did rely on past life memories from the Pokémon game he played since childhood, but compared to complex reality, he couldn't even remember much and that idea was too fanciful, not worth risking application on Al. He needed truly professional knowledge from experts, not vague ideas from past content creators.

  They needed to develop quickly, and there was no retreat path.

  Liam nodded. "I want to train a bit. I'll perfect Hidden Shadow soon." His eyes full of fighting spirit.

  Alone, Theo took a deep breath, drew out the Mana Crystal. He needed to continue this final test. With talent or not, this would be the moment determining his future path.