"Does anyone else in the guild know about this?" Red asked.

"Eh, no need." Rog shrugged. "If there are too many of them, I'll just lose them in the forest. If it's just a small group, I can teach them a lesson."

"You sound confident." The youth nodded. "But what if Gustav sent someone at the Lesser Ring Realm after you?"

"Huh?" Rog stopped walking and looked back at the boy in shock. "Why would he do that?"

"I mean, if he really wanted to get rid of you, that would be a good way to do it." Red explained. "No one would be there to see it, and they could get rid of all the evidence."

The hunter looked appalled. It seemed that he had never considered the possibility. However, a few seconds later, his expression returned to normal, and he shook his head.

"They wouldn't do that." Rog spoke. "I could still lose someone like that with some luck. And if Hector suspected I was dead, he would definitely attack Gustav's people first."

"Is he really that strong?" Red asked.

"More than you can imagine." The hunter replied before walking off. "Come, we don't want anyone to spot us."

Unfortunately for the boy, Rog didn't seem interested in elaborating, so he didn't insist on it. Red followed behind the man as they sneaked through the town.

Surprisingly, there were still a few people walking around the streets at this hour of the night. In the distance, the boy could even hear a lot of activity and screaming. The hunter, however, made a point of avoiding any human contact along the way.

They wove through alleys and waited until townsfolk or guards passed by before moving. With the way Rog acted, Red had the impression that if they were caught, then the consequences would be dire. This was evidently not the case, but the youth still followed the hunter's instructions diligently.

Much to his surprise, they managed to get to the edge of town unnoticed. Just as Red thought he could relax, though, Rog put a hand on his shoulder.

"This is the most dangerous part." The hunter whispered to him.

"How so?" The boy frowned.

"They might be in wait, kid. My pursuers might not know which way I'm taking, but they definitely know where I'm going. Look, it's all open space." Rog pointed downhill.

Red understood his point. Although the town's surroundings were shrouded in darkness, it was still a vast swathe of open space and farmland until the treeline. In fact, the boy could even spot a few farmers walking down the road, lanterns in hand.

"So, what do we do?" He looked up at the hunter.

"See those cornfields?" Rog pointed at a different area.

"Yeah." Red nodded.

There was a large section of these plantations right outside of town.

"We run through them." The man continued.

"Through them?" The boy frowned.

"Yeah, that way they won't notice us." Rog explained.

"...Alright." Red found himself unable to disagree with the man's idea.

"Then... Go!" With a sudden shout, Rog shot downhill in a sprint.

The boy was too bewildered to react immediately. When he finally decided to run after him, the man was almost one hundred meters away. With no other option, Red began to push himself to try and catch up. Thankfully, the effect of the newly opened acupoint was evident, and he was much faster than he was in the past.

However, it was still not enough to catch up with Rog. The hunter disappeared into the cornfields, and Red had no other choice than to follow blindly, shoving the stalks aside to make way.

It actually took far longer than the youth had expected to make it through the other side. The boy did his best to stay in a straight line, but he wasn't sure how successful he was. When he finally made it to the other side, he saw no signs of Rog.

He tentatively walked down a bit further while examining his surroundings.

"Psst, kid. Here." Someone called him.

Red looked in the direction of the voice. Behind a stone fence, the boy noticed Rog's crouched figure waving him over. The youth approached him, and when he looked down, he saw the man carrying a handful of corn in his arms.

"What's that?" Red frowned.

"Corn." Rog replied. "Didn't you get any?"

"Was I supposed to?"

"You're not eating any of mine."

The boy didn't know how to respond.

"Come on, we have to hurry." Rog got up. "The farmer's dog might notice us otherwise."

"Dog? I thought we were hiding from..." Before Red could even complete his sentence, the hunter was running off downhill.

He could only sigh and give chase.

...

It didn't take long to reach the treeline with their sprinting. Rog continued to cut through the farmland and grabbed whatever suited him, but surprisingly the pair wasn't discovered. Just as Red was growing tired as a result of the punishing pace, the hunter finally slowed down.

"We can relax a bit." Rog spoke. "No one's following us for now."

Somehow, that surprised the boy.

"What do we do now?" He asked.

"We hunt." The hunter replied as he walked forward.

"I meant... What exactly do we do now?" The youth rephrased his question as he followed the man.

"Well, we need to walk further into the forest." Rog explained. "Most game doesn't hang out this close to town."

"What are we hunting for?"

"Anything we can get our hands on." The man shrugged. "Feral hogs, bucks, bunnies, birds. After monsters disappeared from the region, there's nothing too valuable or dangerous to hunt here. Perfect place for you to learn."

"Did you hunt monsters before?" Red asked with interest.

"Yeah." Rog nodded. "They're tough bastards, but a well-placed shot can still kill them in one hit."

"What kind of monsters were there?" The boy continued with his questions. He noticed that once the subject shifted to hunting, the man seemed more eager to talk.

"Too many to count. Steel-horned owls, fireleaf deers, tree-bark bears. Some of them had open Spiritual Seas too, but it was rare in this area."

"...What about insect monsters?" Red asked something he had been wondering about.

"You might have found the odd few in the past, but they're rare around this region."

The boy had no way of knowing if those insects were the same he saw in the underground. The youth could have asked Rog for more specific information, but he chose not to. Although the man had never shown suspicion towards him, he didn't want to risk it.

The two of them walked through the trees for the next hour. Red wanted to ask more about what they were doing, but the hunter was evasive with his replies. The boy would have suspected the man to be doing it on purpose if it wasn't for his previous interactions in the Sect.

Their journey passed in almost complete silence, save for the rare few moments Rog stopped to point in a direction. Soon, they came upon a clearing illuminated by the moonlight, and the hunter ordered a stop.

"Are we camping already?" Red asked in confusion.

"No." Rog shook his head. "Just gotta teach you some things first."

With that, the man put his backpack down and picked up his bow and quiver. He then stood in place, looking over at Red expectantly. The boy frowned.

"Are you going to shoot me?" He asked.

"What?" The hunter looked perplexed. "Why would I do that?"

"I don't know." Red shrugged. "This just looks like the perfect opportunity to get rid of me, now that I think about it."

"I wouldn't go through so much trouble just to kill you, kid." Rog shook his head. "Could have just done it inside an abandoned building in town, and no one would have known."

The man didn't look like he was lying.

"I want to teach you how to use a bow."

Red was suddenly enlightened. With some eagerness, he dropped his backpack and picked up his own bow and quiver, imitating Rog's actions.

"What now?" The boy asked.

"Right." The hunter nodded. "Now watch."

The man walked to the other side of the clearing and nocked an arrow into his bow. Red stepped aside just in case and examined his actions. Rog pulled back the string and raised the bow. Then, a few seconds later, he released it with a twang.

The boy tried to follow the trajectory of the projectile to no avail. An instant later, he heard a thud on the other side of the clearing. Looking over, Red could see the arrow had pierced into a tree. The sheer power of the weapon continued to impress him.

"Was that what you wanted to hit?" The youth asked.

"What? Of course it was." Rog scratched his beard. "I suppose I didn't call my shot beforehand."

The boy guessed he had no reason to lie.

"What now?" Red questioned.

"Now you do the same." Rog pointed at the tree. "Stand here and shoot an arrow at that."

"Just like that?" The youth frowned.

"Yeah." The hunter nodded.

It didn't look like he planned to elaborate.

With no other option, Red walked over to the same spot. Repeating the same actions he saw Rog execute a minute earlier, the youth prepared himself.

Right out of the gate, he was already faced with some problems. The bow, for one, was too big for him, and Red had to tilt it so one of it wouldn't scrape the ground. Then, there was also an issue with illumination. Although the boy could see the tree outline, it was still a considerable distance away. Now that he had the weapon in hand, he didn't feel nearly as confident in his aim as Rog seemed to be.

Still, Red saw no point in hesitating. Trying to imitate the man's stance, he nocked an arrow and pulled the string back. With a twang, he released it. The projectile flew off into the sea of trees and missed its intended target by a considerable distance.

"Wow." Rog commented. "That was awful. You didn't even shoot it straight. I mean, were you even trying to hit the tree?"

Red stared at the man and frowned.

"Have you ever shot a bow before?" The hunter shook his head. "Here, you need to keep the arrow straight. One finger over it and two below. Do it again."

The boy refrained from responding and began to nock another arrow.

"Pull the string back further, kid." Rog instructed.

"I can't."

"Why not?" The man frowned.

"My arms are not big enough."

"Oh, right." Rog realized. "Anyways, make sure to always keep your arm straight. You have to memorize the correct stance so you can be consistent with your shots."

The man continued to give Red instructions. Finally, the youth let loose his second shot. It flew wide again, but this time at a smaller angle. The improvement with a few corrections from Rog was already evident.

"Damn, you're really bad at this." The man commented. "I wonder if we have enough arrows.”

Not to the hunter, apparently.

...

They continued to train for the next hour. Red repeated the same movements until even his improved arms were tired. His shots started to become more consistent towards the end of the session, and the boy even managed to hit the target a few times.

Rog, though, started to become more strict, giving him smaller targets to hit. Like that, just as the youth became more confident, he noticed how challenging mastery over the bow was. What the man could hit with no difficulty from this far, the boy struggled to even get close to.

"It's fine, kid." Rog shrugged. "Maybe if we find some injured prey that can't run, walk, or roll over, you can get close enough to hit your shot."

With that, the man walked off, leading the way further into the forest. Red could only follow behind him with a sigh.

The hunting had just begun.