The mist forest.

Tyler was pretending to be asleep while listening, but now that he had been found out, he had no way to hide it.

"I'm sorry, I was curious about what you were talking about," Tyler apologized.

"It's alright, we never intended to hide it from you both, but you were sleeping, so I thought I would tell you tomorrow," Harry said. Liam nodded in agreement.

Returning to their conversation, Liam asked, "Can you tell me what you want me to do in exchange?"

Harry felt a bit ashamed because Liam had already done him a huge favor by bringing his mom to the domain, but he needed Liam to do one more thing. Feeling a bit shameless, he said, "I will ask later, after doing my side of the deal."

Liam had no problem with this because he wanted to help Harry by any means possible in return.

Now, looking at Tyler, who was listening silently, he asked, "Do you have someone you want to bring to this world?"

"I have no family or friends. My parents died in a road accident when I was 8 years old," Tyler said in a saddened tone while shaking his head.

"Then if you need any help, just ask me," Liam assured him.

Sensing the atmosphere, Harry said, "Let's sleep; tomorrow we will go for a real hunt," and went to sleep.

---

The next morning, they explained everything to Meru, who was nonchalant, just a little surprised by the fact that Harry was at level 6. Liam asked her the same thing, if she wanted to bring someone to the domain, but she declined, saying that her parents were happy in the normal world.

Since there was nothing left to do, Liam led them to the hunting ground.

On the way, Harry asked many questions, and Liam was happy to reveal as much information as he had.

From that, Harry learned a lot. For instance, Serums are a forced way to level someone up, but thanks to advanced technology, they were made without many side effects for low levels. However, for higher levels, everyone had to properly train for years to level up.

There were many more details here and there, like how in the domain, people don't like to use advanced technology besides some particular people.

Then he saw the practical use of beast crystals. They were using an armored vehicle to travel to the hunting ground. Amused, Harry noted that all the vehicles ran on beast crystal energy, which, according to him, was a great achievement.

After one hour, they arrived in a deserted area.

Liam stopped the car near other parked cars. As they got out, he said, "This is our hunting ground. There are fewer basic-level beasts because they are captured frequently. From now on, if you see any beast, consider it high level. Mostly, there are sand worms that do surprise attacks and live under the sand."

The others nodded and started walking deeper into the desert. After a while, they saw many groups fighting with sand worms. As Liam said, the worms attacked from underneath and looked like snakes but thicker and far bigger, with round-shaped mouths and thousands of teeth inside them.

Harry used his inspect skill.

[Sand Worms: Intermediate beasts, famous for their stealth.]

So, they were all intermediate beasts. This would make it easier to complete quests, and Harry would get stronger while fighting.

One thing that shocked Harry was the combat ability of the people hunting the worms. They were using weapons as if they were their own body parts; some groups were perfectly coordinated, while others were lacking in that aspect.

"Liam, can you give me your bow? I will provide cover from behind," Harry proposed, seeking an opportunity to gain as much experience as he could.

Liam handed his bow to Harry, remembering his great archery skills in the last fight. The three of them then started walking towards the beasts while Harry moved to a position where he could get the most out of this fight.

Meru and Tyler were excited to test their new strength from leveling up, and they had also improved their battle skills.

A sand worm appeared behind Meru, but unaware of it, Meru was walking casually, ready to face the enemy in front of her. However, Liam was aware of these antics from these creatures. He sliced its head with a single strike. 'Thud,' the worm fell to the ground.

Meru, hearing it, processed what happened and became more attentive to her surroundings.

The worm wasn't dead, but it was sure to die soon, so they moved to the next one. Harry, waiting for this moment, shot an arrow that pierced the worm.

[Congratulations, you have killed a sand worm. Rewards: +1000 exp.]

[Exp: 1200/6400 exp.]

Harry's lips twitched without noticing it.

Liam, using his sword, attacked the worm in front of him. Another one appeared in front of Tyler and Meru. Confident, Tyler made the first move and ran towards the worm, swinging his daggers, but they only left a scratch.

At this time, Meru was behind the worm and attacked with full force on its head. However, the worm shook its body, pushing Meru away. When she saw where she had attacked, there was a deep cut but not enough to kill it.

She needed to hit one more time. She took her stance, but before she could move, another arrow pierced its eye, with its sharp side emerging from the wound.

When she looked in the direction from where the arrow came, she saw Harry giving a thumbs-up. On the other side, Liam also made a deep cut on the worm, which would die soon. Again, another arrow pierced the worm.

Liam was confused about why Harry was attacking worms that were already going to die, but then he reasoned that Harry wanted to ensure they wouldn't attack from behind.

After an hour, nine worm bodies were lying on the ground, and Meru and Tyler were breathing heavily. "I think there are no more worms left in this place," Liam said.

"Oh, thank God it's finally over," Tyler said, dropping down on the sand.

Liam kicked him. "Never drop your guard in a battle."

Tyler stood up, thinking about being eaten by these creatures.

"You three relax. I'll get the crystals," Harry said and started acting as if he were retrieving crystals from the bodies. In doing this, he managed to get the last hit on eight of them, so he was now level 7.

[Exp: 1800/12800 exp.]

When he finished retrieving the crystals from the last body, on which he didn't get the last hit, he saw four people approaching.

"Liam, you are here, killing sand worms," the person in the lead said. Then he started looking Harry, Meru, and Tyler up and down. "Not bad, you've got some decent new recruits," he said, nodding.

"Are you here to mock me or to show off your recruits?" Liam said with a smirk.

"No, my dear friend, I was just curious if you are even eligible to compete with me. But now, looking at your recruits, I would say you barely passed," the man said.

"Blake, you..." Liam was too angry to speak. Then he realized that, in reality, both their recruits should be on a similar level, including Harry, who was at level 6, though he hadn't revealed his level yet. Since Blake could only guess their levels, Liam wanted to use it to their advantage.

"Blake, it doesn't matter how powerful your recruits are. The first person to kill an advanced beast will win the bet," Liam said mockingly.

Blake smiled and said, "Why don't we both go to kill an advanced beast at the same time, and whoever kills it first will win?"

"Sure, I'm not afraid of you."

"Then we will meet three days from now in the 'Mist Forest'," Blake said.

"No, are you crazy? You know how dangerous that place is. Even elites think twice before going there," Liam tried to convince him.

"Are you that afraid?" Blake said with a smirk on his face.