[What is that lad doing here?] Susu also caught sight of Julian's figure. He was surprised to see him among the group of mercenaries. [With his punny strength, he dares to come outside the wilds. Ha, he must have overestimated his own strength.] Since Julian wasn't on good terms with Sylvia, Susu soon put his affairs to the back of his mind. However, there was another person who couldn't appear calm no matter what. Ian had noticed this strange boy who kept sneaking a glance at Sylvia. He couldn't help but find his gaze an eyesore. Feeling the need to do something, he approached Sylvia and blocked her figure from the view of the boy. “Let me help you with that.” He took the equipment from her hand and began to assist her in setting up her tent. Sylvia was stunned by Ian’s actions. She turned her head towards the half-finished tent in the distance and was even more confused. “I can do it myself. You aren't even done setting up your own tent. Why are you in a rush to help me do mine?” She reached out, wanting to collect her equipment. However, Ian dodged her move. “It doesn't matter. I will resume back to mine once I'm done with yours. Besides, such a heavy task like this should be left to the men.” Heavy task? Sylvia felt that Ian was becoming weirder. Even his words were strange. When does setting up a tent become a hard task?Seeing that he wouldn't budge, no matter how much she tried to stop him, Sylvia could only let him do as he wished. She headed over to Miley, who was standing at the side while watching Tyron set up her tent. … On the other side of the area, a male mercenary walked towards Julian. “Hey, boy.” He put his arms across Julian's shoulder, pulling him closer. “I see that you've been staring at that girl in the distance for a while now. What do they call it? Love at first sight?” “Stop teasing the boy, Gregg.” A soft, feminine voice sounded from the side. “He's still in his teenage years when one experiences some puppy love. So do not embarrass him.” The female mercenary let out a chuckle at the end of her sentence. “Ha-ha.” Gregg burst into laughter. He turned to Julian, slapping him hard on the shoulder. “Boy, that girl doesn't seem to be an easy target. It's going to be difficult for you to conquer her. But don't worry, every one of us here will be rooting for you.” The other mercenaries heard Gregg's words and burst out in laughter. Julian's cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. “I'm not interested in her.” He spoke while lifting Gregg's arms away from his shoulder. He had just joined the team today and wasn't used to the other party’s closeness. “I just thought she looked familiar, that's all.” “You don't have to be shy, boy. Who else here hasn't had a crush before?” One mercenary thought that Julian was too shy to admit it and spoke. “I could remember getting rejected after I wrote a confession letter to the school beauty back in those days. Although it's embarrassing, I've never regretted doing so.” “What? Did you write a confession letter to a girl? Wow, who would have thought that you were such a hot-blooded teenager during your youth?” The mercenary, seeing that he had accidentally spilled out his deep secret, instantly became embarrassed. “Tha- that… I was young and foolish then. You know, kids do some stupid stuffs.” “Stop talking and hurry up in setting the campsite!” The leader roared out, seeing that the people were chatting carefreely. The group immediately scattered and resumed back to their work. … Some minutes later, Julian finished setting up his tent. The leader came over to inspect it. After checking that there was no error, he nodded at Julian in approval. “Good. Use today as your resting day. Tomorrow, you will begin a full combat training along with the other members.” “Yes.” Julian nodded. After watching the leader leave, he lifted the door flap and stepped inside the tent. Inside the tent was his sleeping bag and a heating lamp to warm up the inside. He walked towards the sleeping bag and sat on it. A soft bread appeared on his palm and he began to eat it in silence. “Julian, the boss wants you to come out and have dinner with us.” A female voice called from the outside. “Coming.” Julian hurriedly put his half-eaten bread inside his storage ring and stepped out of the tent. Seeing the group of mercenaries seated around the bonfire, he moved over and sat in their midst. Their dinner for tonight was a Deer beast that had been hunted on their way here. Although Julian didn't take part in the hunting, he was rewarded with some meat. “Thank you.” He took the bowl of meat soup passed over to him and began to eat. While eating, his gaze subconsciously drifted towards the Tyron guild location. He saw that they were also preparing for dinner.Why is Sylvia in the wilds? This question had popped up in his mind numerous times. She is not in any lack of wealth, from what he could recall. So, what could have prompted her to venture here? Julian had only decided to be a mercenary because his family was in a deep financial crisis. Unknown to him and his mother, his father had been working in an illegal chemical plant to save up some bucks. As it was an illegal organization, the proper safety measures that should have been given to the employees were ignored. As a result, his father was exposed to the harmful chemical substance. This illness was only found out some days ago after his father began to cough out blood during the dinner. The damage alone couldn't be treated by a normal healing medicine and requires a stronger one. But how could their family afford a 50 million healing potion. His mother had wanted to report the illegal company to the authority, but those bastards sent men to threaten him and his mother if they dare to report. Julian became angry and went to his benefactor to seek help. However, the latter seems to have ignored him from the moment he failed to come out as top in the exam. Julian's anger surged higher. He was too ashamed to beg money from the relatives who had mocked them. There was no way to loan out money from the bank since there was no guarantee that they could pay such a huge amount of money back. As a result, his final option was to join the mercenary hall. Across the universe, mercenaries are one of the richest individuals. A single treasure in the wilds can make you a millionaire at instant. At the same time, the mortality rate of mercenaries in the wilds every day was just as high as the number of breaths people take a day. Hence, it takes a strong person to go out there. So, when Julian proposed to join a guild, none of the guilds accepted him because he had no experience. No one would accept a burden like him. Fortunately, Rhett, a mercenary guild leader, sighted him. After hearing his story, the latter took pity on him and accepted him into his team. That was how he ended up here. But what about Sylvia? He had never expected that he would come across her here. Seeing the expensive combat suit she wore and the higher-grade storage ring on her finger, Julian stared down at his body and couldn't help feeling inferior. Why? Why is it that every time we meet, there's always a huge comparison between us.