Jackal recalled the people he had worked with in the past that were charismatic and tried his best to replicate them. Many of them were funny, outgoing, passionate, or genuine; though some of them had several of these attributes.

  There was little chance of him copying the humor, and the world would burst long before he could fake being outgoing or passionate. That left him being genuine, but he wasn’t sure how to do it.

  Jackal thought about it and realized that all of them had a reason to not talk, and the only way for them to get to know each other was to show how useful they were for the mission and—most importantly—keeping each other safe. He needed them to realize how important the other members were in allowing them to make it home alive.

  He started on a basic soup. There was very little game to hunt in these woods, so the meal had to be made with rations or whatever they could scavenge. If he was being honest, he probably would have had to force the food down his throat if it weren’t for the herbs they had scavenged or the salt they brought on the trip.

  The others, just as ravenous as him, were drawn to the pot and small flame. Fire in other forests was dangerous, scaring off normal beasts but attracting monsters. In Aseth, infrequent or differently placed flames generally bred apathy among the nightmares that made this place their home. Burn the fire too long or in one place too many times though, and all bets were off.

  As he placed the pot on the fire, he looked at the party members around the fire and asked, “Who here has experience with the deeper parts of these damned woods?”

  All of them were startled for a moment, even the apprentice that was drawing the warding runes around the camp. Him starting a conversation with them seemed to have surprised them.

  Silence followed afterward while Jackal tended to the fire and stirred the soup. Silence was a powerful thing, and he had no intention of ending it for them. He needed them to talk, and deafening silence was one of the best forms of motivation.

  The biologist alchemist was the one that cracked first. She started mumbling about the many different monsters and animals that could be found here, along with what was valuable from them and the price of those materials. This mumbling was much more painful than silence, enough to where Jackal was about to shut her up.

  “None of that matters if we can’t make it back,” shouted the wizard apprentice as she finished drawing in the dirt with her staff. She walked to the campfire and sat down with them.

  “This place is a death trap, no matter what the guild leader or that noble says. This place is ancient, one of the oldest forests in this part of the world from what I have read. Countless strange things have made this place their home, and the high mana only made them stranger over time.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “There are records of skinless things that rip your skin right off you and steal your identity. There are monsters that heal from injuries so fast that they are immune to aging and time. There are monsters that use magics to kill you in all manner of different and creative ways.

  “The only reason why these abominations would flee this gods-forsaken place was if there was something worse born here. Or perhaps awakened…”

  “Please don’t scare them,” Jackal said as he stirred the soup.

  He then turned toward the group and said, “There are plenty of people that had made the Aseth forest their home. These barbarians are freaks of strength, but not to any inhuman degree. As long as we don’t venture into the deeper parts of the forest, we should be fine.”

  The apprentice retorted, “I thought the report said the freaky beasts were fleeing from the deeper parts of the forest.”

  “And yet,” Jackal refuted, “the villages, towns, and cities that surround the forest are still standing.”

  Those words managed to silence the apprentice, though at the cost of making her bitter. Jackal sighed as he made another mistake, but at least they were talking now.

  “I don’t know about all of you, but I have every intention of heading back home healthy and whole after this. The guild needs this information; there wouldn’t be a point to fund this mission if we all die.

  “While I haven’t gotten close to the deeper parts of the forest, I have more experience with this place than most. Besides, we aren’t going to be alone. The villagers that do venture into this forest, the hunters that get these valuable materials, will probably help us. From what the report said, they are desperate.”

  The bowman interjected, “they are a very weird bunch. They are incredibly strong due to their diet of enchanted meat. I think only the wealthiest of nobles or the best of knights or wizards eat more magic food than they do.

  “They are also smart for hunters. They have a lot of knowledge about surviving in these cursed places, about what to do and what not to do.”

  The cartographer spoke up and asked, “I had always wondered, but why are those savages still there? With the kind of wealth many of the materials and resources the forest had, why doesn’t some powerful knight or mage family monopolize it?”

  The apprentice replied, “When things get this old, there is a good reason for it. This forest is as ancient as it is because it was too dangerous, too powerful, to decay into something else. The big reason why it is dangerous is because of the mana. Even for experienced mana users, consuming and assimilating it is challenging. Magic abilities are also suppressed to a significant extent. No great mage or knight wants to come here and become weaker just to save some coin.

  “Believe it or not, the weaker mana users have the best chance of surviving. That’s why so many broke mages and warriors are adventurers here,” she said, casting a quick glance to the alchemist.

  The bowman replied, “Just because weaker adventurers survive better doesn’t mean they survive.”

  Jackal interjected, “That is why I plan to take things slowly. The guild wants us to get this done as soon as possible, but they can go fuck themselves.

  “What can we do to avoid danger and misfortune as much as possible?”