He hadn't finished speaking when the little weakling plastered him in the face with a Shadow Bolt. Although the damage was basically zero, it still threw him off for a moment, and then the two "people" were just staring at each other.

Two seconds later, the little weakling opened her hands in a threatening gesture: "Scare—"

Vivian yanked the little thing off her shoulder, grabbed her in front of her eyes, and stared intently: "How did you get here?!"

"Hiss ha—"

"What do you expect her to know!" Hao Ren finally snapped out of his stunned state and looked at the little thing, who was supposed to be left in the surface world and taken care of by the goddess, with surprise. "Didn't we leave her with Raven 12345..."

As soon as he mentioned the name Raven 12345, the little one immediately let out a sharp, shrill cry, turned over, hugged Vivian's thumb, and curled up into a shivering ball, looking utterly terrified.

"Did you sneak out again when you left the Goddess?" Vivian asked in a low voice, "But that doesn't make sense. Where did she hide all the way? How did we not notice..."

Hao Ren secretly glanced at Leah, who was looking over here with curiosity, obviously very curious about this little thing that could move, talk, and looked exactly like Vivian, but out of politeness, she didn't interrupt at this time—but she would have to ask sooner or later.

"Didn't you notice?" Hao Ren asked Vivian in a low voice, "She was just standing on your shoulder. If I'm not mistaken, she should have been hiding on you all along."

Vivian shook her head: "Not at all... eh?"

She looked at her hand in surprise: The little weakling, who had been trembling while hugging her thumb, seemed to feel that it was still not safe enough, so she shrank further into her palm. With this movement, the little one's body gradually became illusory, and soon turned into a hazy mist, just like the blood mist that Vivian usually summoned, and merged into the latter's arm.

Lily blinked her eyes: "Uh... Bat, did you just eat her?"

"No!" Vivian immediately glared at the husky girl. "Can you stop thinking about eating everything! She seems to have merged into my body..."

"Can you feel her presence now?" Hao Ren asked curiously.

"I think I can vaguely feel something now," Vivian said uncertainly. "I thought my body felt a little strange before... It looks like this is how this little thing followed us all the way."

Hao Ren was dumbfounded: "... Just to avoid being locked up with Raven 12345 and eating noodles, she actually forced out a new skill?"

At this time, Leah finally couldn't hold back her curiosity and broke the silence: "Excuse me... is this lady a psychic? But the spirit you summoned looks a little strange. Did you specially shape it like this?"

Hao Ren was racking his brains about how to explain the existence of the little weakling. Hearing Leah's words, he immediately found a way out. Although it sounded like even the so-called "psychic" profession in this world wouldn't summon something like the little weakling, it was still an explanation, so he quickly nodded: "Yes, she's a psychic, but her inheritance seems to be different from normal psychics. Anyway, it's mysterious and hard to ask about. In short, the spirits she summons are like this."

"Uh..." Leah didn't know what she was thinking of, but when she looked at Vivian again, her eyes became strange. She even moved half a step back. "Shaping the summoned spirit into your own appearance... Ah haha, although I've heard that many ancient wizards and psychics have some quirks, but... hehe, hehe, that's good, still good."

Looking at Leah's reaction, Vivian couldn't help but frown: "I feel like you've misunderstood something."

"Ah no, it's nothing. I shouldn't comment on other people's inheritance and hobbies, after all, it doesn't affect our employment relationship," Leah waved her hand quickly, abruptly ending the topic. "Then let's continue to introduce each other. According to the general rules, first, you as mercenaries—of course, I know you're adventurers, but since you've accepted the commission, let's consider you mercenaries for the time being—first introduce yourselves."

Hao Ren had originally planned to find an opportunity to let Dou Dou come out to get some air and meet Leah, but now it seemed that explaining the little weakling was already quite difficult, so he temporarily suppressed the idea and planned to let the fish baby out after he knew more about this world and found a suitable opportunity. Anyway, he had already prepared a very comfortable environment for Dou Dou in the portable space, a huge water tank plus a set of fully enclosed and highly realistic environment simulators, and various toys for her to play with. The little guy wouldn't be bored staying inside for a few days—at worst, he would throw the data terminal in as a sacrifice every now and then...

After making a decision, he said the identity that his group had discussed before: "My name is Hao Ren. I'm good at using dual swords and spears. I'm a warrior with a mixed bag of skills. Vivian, uh... psychic, but she also knows some unorthodox magic; Lily, as you can see, a werewolf greatsword user; these two are Nangong Sanba and Nangong Wuyue, siblings. The former is good at incantations and rune magic, and the latter is our healer; this big guy is Izhaks, a warrior, and this is his daughter Elizabeth, a fire mage... I'm serious, this is really his daughter!"

These identities were all fabricated based on the information collected by the probes in the city, and there were some vague points, which was also to conform to the identity of adventurers: Although adventurers and mercenaries were often easily confused, there was actually a big difference. Adventurers usually acted freely, lacked organization, and were not bound by many mercenary rules. Although they often operated in the mercenary guild, they were more for issuing commissions or reselling some information and resources. In order to survive in various environments, adventurers usually didn't have such obvious professional boundaries. Basically, they would master any skills that could be used; mercenaries, on the other hand, had higher organization and discipline. Most of them belonged to a larger team and had significant professional divisions for team actions. They accepted the management of the mercenary guild and also paid more attention to credibility and team honor.

This was also why Leah was so concerned about whether Hao Ren and his party belonged to adventurers, mercenaries, or unregistered individuals: When hiring helpers, the first choice was of course mercenaries. After all, there were rules to restrain them. In order to survive in this industry for a long time, they were usually more reliable; the next level was to find adventurers. Although they were unregistered with the guild and had great uncertainty, adventurers had to operate publicly in the market, and they had to deal with other organizations and needed support from the mercenary guild, so they would also pay more attention to contracts; unregistered individuals were the choices that must be avoided as much as possible. Those were dangerous elements with serious bad records—such as killing the employer—who had their licenses revoked by the mercenary guild. Some of them were still in various prisons, and those who had been released from prison or had not been sanctioned by law for various reasons were mostly outlaws. Only someone like Leah, who was down on her luck and fearless, would include unregistered individuals in her employment targets...

"Hao Ren... Vivian..." Leah repeated the names of the people in front of her one by one. Some of the names had very strange pronunciations to her, but this was White Maple Leaf City, where people from all races from all over the world gathered. There were many foreigners from remote areas and even from across the "Golden Sea", so no matter how strange the names were, it was not surprising. Finally, her eyes fell on the catwoman sitting across the table, dozing off, "Hey? Why didn't you introduce her?"

"This..." Hao Ren coughed twice, "Her name is Gun, she's a Shadow Assassin."

Although there was no need to worry about Leah's reaction if he directly transliterated it, he still felt strange mentioning the cat girl's unlucky name in front of strangers.

He might as well have named her Hello Kitty back then.

"Miss Gun?" Because it was a transliteration, Leah didn't feel anything was wrong and repeated it very seriously, "A single-character name... is she a cultivator from the Land of Mist? I admire your hometown very much. It's the most mysterious place in all of Lahrhein."

Vivian coughed twice: "Ahem, Miss Leah, we've already said everything about us. Shouldn't we talk about you?"

"My name is Leah, I don't have a surname, because great magicians don't need those things. Having a name is enough to be passed down through the ages!" Leah perked up and even stood up from the table, patting her chest. "As you can see, I am a senior scholar and magician—and most likely the last smart person in White Maple Leaf City!"

Hao Ren and his friends: "Oh..."

Everyone had such a dull reaction, and even the outgoing Leah realized that she was being a little too flamboyant in front of strangers, so she smiled awkwardly and sat down again: "Ahem, in short, I am a scholar and practitioner of the academy, and I am also a scholar who studies ancient civilizations and historical legends. The main reason I am looking for you is for this aspect—I recently discovered clues to an ancient ruin in the literature, and the location of this ruin is a bit troublesome for me. Of course, I am still quite capable in combat. I often go to Longwind Ridge to fight lions and tigers when I practice, but it is better to find a few helpers to explore that ruin. You don't have to worry about the money. Although I look poor, a magician, no matter how poor, is rich. I will pay according to the price of hiring ordinary caravan guards... no, double that, how about it?"

Of course, Hao Ren didn't understand the price, so he pretended to consider it and nodded: "The price is okay, but I want to know more about the ruin you mentioned... where is it?"

Leah put on a fake smile on her face: "Ah haha, it's not that dangerous. It's within the Longwind Ridge, but a little... closer to the underground, and slightly... connected to the Grand Tunnel. Of course, you don't have to worry. According to the information I have, the ruin is only next to the Grand Tunnel and doesn't require going in..."