By evening, Liam returned. He placed ten gleaming Order-Silver on the table and recounted the successful sales process.

  "I told you!" Liam exclaimed excitedly. "We can increase production—at this rate we'll have enough money to buy the most important thing!"

  Liam continued sketching financial plans.

  "We need to buy Striders!" Liam suggested, using the common name for this bird species. ‘These ostrich-like birds run very fast, very balanced if well-trained—top choice compared to horses. They eat everything, hunt their own prey, rarely get sick, find water sources well, understand humans, and are loyal.’ Images and knowledge of the Strider species flooded into his memory. Theo nodded. That was an indispensable expense for long-distance travel later.

  "And we need new weapons," Liam said, face becoming more serious. "Can't use your old hunting bow and Old Hunter's old spear. Hunting is fine, but combat is too hard. Even food for Pidgey, leather armor, baggage, tents, dried rations, and emergency funds are all enormous expenses."

  Theo nodded. The one-month period before the mercenary company departed was the deadline.

  "The mercenaries will leave after a month, right?" Theo asked. Liam confirmed: they needed to wait for merchants to collect a month's worth of pelts and forest medicinal materials.

  "Good," Theo concluded. "We'll gradually increase medicine production. And now, training."

  Theo led Liam to the clearing behind the shack. After both reviewed old combat techniques—archery, dodging—Theo told Liam to stop and began reading aloud the "Basic Theory of Concealment and Movement" for Liam to hear.

  Liam startled: "Is this your inherited technique?"

  Theo looked straight into his friend's eyes—wordless acknowledgment. Liam excitedly focused on listening, sometimes asking Theo to clarify difficult parts.

  After finishing the Burst Movement Technique section, Liam exclaimed: "Master Koga is truly formidable! This technique can double our burst power! Though quite exhausting physically, this is truly a superior skill!"

  Theo nodded slightly, his face showing complexity. Indeed, though only "basic theory," these techniques were very advanced. The only problem, as Liam said, was that training it was somewhat perverted.

  First Stage: Preparation

  This technique originated from the Remnant Wind School—according to Master Koga, an ancient ninja school he collected and preserved. Training it required specially crafted wooden shoes with unique structure, drawn very clearly in the book.

  The shoes were designed with heel and sole sections featuring spikes placed in special positions. This needed customization for each person, as everyone had different muscle structure and feet, leading to different meridian points and blood flow. Therefore, each pair of shoes was unique.

  Second Stage: Adaptation

  Training was a process of muscles adapting to new movement structure, making meridian points and muscles mutate to suit this technique.

  This would cause practitioners endless pain from stepping on spikes daily. This required special medicine or innately gifted constitution to endure.

  Third Stage: Application

  This was the movement technique suited to the newly formed muscle structure.

  Each stage required considerable time and effort investment, but the effects as described were truly impressive.

  Theo and Liam sat facing each other, excitement having settled, giving way to gravity as they looked at the detailed drawings of Spike Shoes in the Remnant Wind Method theory.

  "This technique is too perverted," Liam muttered. "Step on spikes daily? Even the village's healthiest person wouldn't dare."

  "But the effects it brings are real," Theo replied, voice calm. He'd seen diagrams of muscle burst power in G's documents. "If successful, we'll have absolute advantage in combat and evasion. This is why it's called a superior technique."

  Theo scanned through the requirements in the drawings: shoes needed to be made from solid wood, spike sections must be crafted from durable metal with sharpness, precise positions to impact movement meridian points on the sole.

  "We can't make shoes immediately," Theo said. "The theory says each pair of shoes is unique, must be based on each person's muscle structure and blood flow. I need time to analyze both our biological data from the Foundation Library, then can sketch out precise spike positions."

  "So we need to start with raw materials," Liam said, the blacksmith's son's nimbleness emerging. "Oak wood is available, but metal spikes are more complex. I can use my family's blacksmithing skills to forge these small spikes, but they must be hard, sharp, and rust-proof."

  Theo nodded: "Good. I'll provide exact size and position of each spike. You handle manufacturing. Meanwhile, I'll focus on reading the Foundation Library and finding a way to create specialized pain relief/recovery medicine to support the training process."

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  Theo's current objectives:

  Analysis: Use knowledge from G to analyze both their foot structures.

  Innovation: Adjust the Minor Potion formula to create a stronger pain relief medicine suitable for the brutal training ahead.

  "This takes time," Theo said. "While waiting, we need to maintain physical training and hunting."

  "Can't delay training," Theo reminded. Both left the shack for the clearing. Theo used the newly purchased concealment and movement theory to guide Liam.

  Instead of stepping on spikes immediately, Theo only taught Liam how to regulate breathing and body posture to optimize instant burst power, according to Remnant Wind principles.

  Theo demonstrated by moving. He inhaled deeply, belly drawing breath to the diaphragm, body slightly relaxing, then exhaled following the rhythm G indicated. Using only his toes, he launched forward brutally and clumsily; the sound of feet stomping ground was clearly audible, even stumbling in the final steps.

  Liam laughed: "You're doing it wrong." Liam also took a deep breath, nimbly stepping quickly and applying all the techniques Theo just mentioned. Clearly, though still unfamiliar, he performed much better than Theo.

  Theo smiled bitterly—indeed, Liam's movement ability was instinct; no amount of good thinking could catch up.

  After guiding Liam through basic breathing regulation and movement techniques of the Remnant Wind Method, Theo suddenly stopped.

  Theo had intended to use Minor Potion as the training medicine for the method—it was a good wound treatment—but he suddenly realized a serious problem.

  "G," Theo thought silently, "Minor Potion causes numbness. For emergency treatment it's excellent, providing immediate pain relief, but it will reduce our training quality."

  "Analysis: Assessment accurate," G confirmed immediately. "Tertiary-Tannin numbing agent will paralyze sensory nerve endings, causing muscle and meridian self-adaptation processes to slow or deviate. Burst Movement training requires muscle mutation through continuous pain pressure. Numbing medicine will make development non-optimal."

  This meant that to train the brutal Remnant Wind technique, they needed medicine that only reduced acute pain after training, or medicine supporting recovery without numbing muscles.

  Theo immediately proposed:

  "So we need to isolate and refine the numbing agent from Oran Berry Alpha to create one medicine purely for immediate pain relief, and one non-numbing medicine for training support."

  "Proposal accepted. Foundation Library already contains knowledge of compound pharmaceutical extraction techniques. I will guide you to extract Tertiary-Tannin in pure form. This is recorded as a new pharmaceutical innovation," G said.

  Theo spent the remainder of that day working. Under G's guidance, he began a chemical process far more complex than ordinary medicine grinding.

  He took the remaining Oran Alpha roots, crushed them, then used low heat and several available organic acids (from wild fruits and plants) to extract the Tertiary-Tannin compound.

  The hunter's shack now resembled a laboratory. The scent of earth and herbs mixed with the slight sour smell of chemical reactions.

  After half a day, Theo succeeded. He had two small vials—one containing clear essence and one containing pale green essence, viscosity much higher than Minor Potion.

  "Analysis: Refined Numbing Agent and Recovery Essence complete. Purity achieved 92%. Local numbing effect of Refined Numbing Agent is 350% stronger and recovery optimized 125% compared to Minor Potion," G announced with obvious satisfaction. "Congratulations, boy. You've successfully created a new pharmaceutical. Recorded: +100 ACP."

  Theo felt his body lighten with relief. In total, he'd earned 100 ACP through innovations from Oran Berry Alpha—it truly was a treasure. He stored the Refined Numbing Agent vial in a safe place.

  "Now we can make recovery medicine more suitable for the brutal training ahead," Theo thought.

  Liam, who was using a hunting knife to carve complex patterns on oak wood (preparing for Spike Shoes), turned to look at Theo.

  "What weird thing did you make now? I smell something sour."

  "Nothing," Theo replied, eyes flashing with mystery. "Just created something that'll help you survive Master Koga's exercises without being crippled."

  Theo and Liam immediately divided work according to the established plan.

  After a short training session, Theo and Liam returned to the shack. Theo spent time refining pharmaceuticals. He successfully created Numbing Essence and Recovery Essence, earning +100 ACP from G.

  During the Numbing Essence refinement process, Theo discovered it had potential as a preventive poison for arrows: easy to preserve, quickly numbing when touching wounds, and dissolving rapidly in blood so not leaving excessive toxicity. He and G designed Spiral Groove Arrowheads to carry sufficient Numbing Essence—enough to bring down a large bear with just one arrow.

  Meanwhile, the sound of sawing and the faint scent of oak wood from outside came from Liam; he was spending time carving complex patterns on oak, preparing for the Spike Shoes of the Remnant Wind Method.

  The next day, Theo and Liam went together to Oakhaven market.

  Liam, with nimbleness and small trading experience, led the communication. He sold all five vials of Minor Potion for two Order-Silver each, collecting ten Order-Silver—their initial capital had now reached twenty Order-Silver.

  Liam counted money while recounting the sales process:

  "I met a mercenary. His name is Vesper, captain of the mercenary company—human with a long scar diagonally across his face, eyes sharp as knives. He bought two vials after I used Minor Potion to demonstrate healing a wound on my hand."

  Liam lowered his voice, sweat beading on his forehead though it wasn't too hot outside:

  "He placed an order—50 vials of Minor Potion within three days, at one and a half times the price, 3 Order-Silver per vial." Liam pushed the earned money aside. "But in exchange, he wants to know the exact material source to ensure supply for upcoming large Beast hunting missions."

  Theo pondered thoughtfully. 150 Order-Silver was an enormous sum, enough to buy Striders, weapons, and basic survival supplies.

  But Vesper was clearly hunting for information about Minor Potion—information about Oran Berry Alpha and their medicine production capacity.

  "He won't leave immediately," Liam added. "The mercenary company needs to wait for merchants to collect a month's worth of pelts and forest products—about another month."

  Theo nodded. That was precious time to prepare.

  "We accept the order," Theo decided, eyes sharp and cold. "But we must plan to mislead him about material sources and manufacturing time.

  Tell him we need a week to deliver, otherwise quality will be poor. Still regularly sell 5 vials daily to the market.

  And we must intensify training immediately."

  They returned to the shack. Liam continued making Spike Shoes, while Theo began sketching details about Striders and other expenses.

  As planned, after three days of bandaging, Pidgey had completely healed.

  He decided to open the cage so Pidgey could become familiar with the surrounding space, so tomorrow they could begin training.