The two guides took them under a structure made up of benches and rows of columns, where apprentices and guides were gathering and checking gear, their backpacks and chatting amongst themselves, filling the air with a near deafening hubbub.

Lights flickered from fans overhead as they squeezed through the stifling crowds, the air suffocatingly hot and stale under that low, dirty ceiling.

"Here's not so bad," Sej said, leading them towards the back of the structure, close enough to one of the fans to get some moving air. "Drop your backpacks here, so that Sarke can make sure you've properly prepared for this. I can assume that those amongst you with the backpacks are the gatherers?"

"That's right," Kur said, lowering his backpack to the floor.

Mul, Jul, Jasphaer, Lim, Raf, Row and Leta similarly deposited theirs in a neat bundle on the floor, and Nar noticed in passing that Leta was apparently also a gatherer, just like Jasphaer.

"Okay, so, let's all have a seat and have a quick chat, alright?" Sej said, taking a bench and gesturing for all of them to sit wherever they pleased. "And don't worry. It's just dirty. Once we head into the jungle then you should all be really careful with where you sit."

Nar grimaced at the memory of all the creepy crawlies and nasty flora he had read about from their prep work. There had been article upon article detailing just about every single nasty detail about the jungle. So much so that he was almost as scared about the jungle itself as the beasts that roamed it.

"So, first and foremost, I'd like to set down a few ground rules so that we all understand each other," Sej said, her tone shifting to a much more professional and serious one. "Number one, when we tell you to be quiet and hide, you will do so. There's a reason why this dungeon is nearly purple, and in there, you can die without even noticing it. Even in the starting areas."

Nar nodded alongside the others.

"We guides always operate as teams. A full gatherer, and that's Sarke, and a gatherer with combat and sense skills and attributes. That's me," she said, pointing a thumb at herself. "From what I saw in the brief, we have a lot of people here with senses that are good enough to be near mine, so I will be teaching you what to sense for. That means Jul and Jaz foremost, and Nar, Rel, and Lim too, if you are willing?"

"Of course!" Jul said. "Please teach us everything you can!"

"Please do," Lim said, grimacing. "There was only so much we could read about the place and it was all a damn nightmare! It would be great to learn from a professional."

"Yes! Besides, you can't be everywhere all the time," Jaz added. "And I'd rather none of us get eaten."

A slow smile spread over Sej's features. "I usually have a whole speech ready about egos and leaving them outside of the dungeon, but… Maybe I won't need it this time?"

Row snorted.

"Please. We know we're in over our heads here. Any help will be more than appreciated," she said. "And even though we're technically not supposed to let you make our decisions for us, we're not stupid enough not to obey someone clearly more experienced and knowledgeable than we are."

"See, I told you we had a good one!" Sej told Sarke.

"Looks like it," Sarke allowed. "Keep that attitude, and you won't be leaving the jungle with any dead bodies stored in your backpacks."

"Damn…" Tuk whispered.

"Well, it's harsh, but she's not wrong," Sej said, her expression tightening. "Anyways, that's the reality of it. I've been delving into this jungle for almost five years now, and Sarke for almost seven, so know that you are all in good hands."

Then she raised two fingers.

"As for the second rule, as you might have already guessed, you will be battling the jungle itself just as much as you will the beasts. If you want to survive, you will need to treat the jungle with respect. And that means the flora, the terrain, the weather, and everything else," Sej said. "The jungle is filled with insects, pests and parasites, a majority of which are either poisonous, venomous or disease carriers. And given how hot and humid the jungle is, how closely packed together we'll be living, these diseases proliferate with ease. Especially when…"

Crystal, Nar thought, sweat pooling under his armpits in the stifling atmosphere. It was already shitty enough to read about it, but having a professional warn you about it as well really makes it sink in.

And glancing around him, he saw the same pale, concerned looks across the two parties. Tuk was silently rubbing his mouth and chin, a distant look in his brown eyes, and at his side, Jaz and Lim, of much shorter stature, had deep frowns etched upon their ashen gray-brown faces.

Cen and Cor, the two casters, one short and the other an average height human, exchanged a worried glance, though Mul, sitting beside his sister, looked surprisingly calm about the whole ordeal, his still growing dark silver hair matted against his scalp with copious sweat.

Jul wore a tight expression, her green-blue eyes opened very wide, and Viy looked vaguely nauseous and paler than usual at Sej's descriptions. As did Teb, sitting beside her, his compound green-red eyes oozing with disgust.

Raf, Gad and Tun looked solidly undaunted, standing at the back of the party like a solid wall of muscle between them and the rest of the chaos unfolding around them, while the dark furred Jasphaer and quills covered Leta, the two healers, nodded solemnly at each and every Sej's warnings. Kur and Row kept exchanging worried but knowing glances as the blue skinned guide talked, and that left only Rel, who sat beside him on the filthy tiled floor that had once maybe been white. Her emerald eyes showcased a deep, but quiet concentration, and her golden-brown hair had grown enough that she now kept it tight on a number of short braids at the back of her head.

The alfin noticed him staring and gave him an encouraging smile.

That reminds me… The Source! She's going to be away from it for months! He realized, coldness gripping his stomach. I'll need to keep an eye on her!

However, if the archer was worried about her distance from the Source, she didn't give any outward signs of it.

"Besides that, there will be plants that are poisonous to touch, or whose spores will make you sick if you inhale them," Sej was saying. "You all brought proper gear for that, right?"

"We have it," Kur said, pulling out his new gear to show it. "We'll use it on a daily basis, but we'll swap out to our combat gear before any major fights."

Sej nodded, feeling the material with her fingers. "You're right, that's the way to do it. And this stuff looks good, at least for what your apprenticeship seems willing to allow you to use… This kind of material is hot though."

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Nar made a face at the smooth, but stifling new piece of gear that they had bought specifically to traverse the jungle.

It was a one-piece garb with long sleeves, and it was made of a tough yet flexible material, designed with layers and layers of reinforced fibers to withstand the harshness of travel through a jungle's severe and rough underbrush. When it got ruptured, they were meant to swap out to a new one as soon as possible, and repair their gear, as having any exposed skin in the Brightnight was tantamount to a disaster. And Nar didn't want anything laying eggs in him.

A pair of thick, heavy gloves, and a hood with a visor and a breathing mask complemented the full step up for when necessary, though the rudimentary mask required aura to function. They had also been told that the material was water resistant, but not to expect too much from it in the Brightnight's legendary downpours, meaning, Nar expected to get soaked and stay soaked for long periods of time.

"Speaking of the heat, you will keep hydrated, you will take breaks, and you will not eat anything that's been left out for hours unsupervised, just in case," Sej warned them. "I don't want anyone getting the shits in the jungle, and you don't want that either, trust me."

Jasphaer nodded. "We already warned them about that."

"Good. Anyways, we will make special arrangements for that any time we set camp, to make sure we have a safe and hygienic place to take care of those needs," the guide added.

"Not looking forward to that. Not at all," Cor mumbled, and at her side, Cen shook her head in agreement, her expression pained.

"Obviously, you will not just eat anything you stumble on, and you will not drink any water until it's been boiled and purified!"

"They have seven boiler-purifiers between them," Sarke said, in a dispassionate tone.

"You bought four?" Kur asked Row. "Crystal, I thought I was being overly cautious."

The red party leader shrugged. "Meh… You never know."

"This is good!" Sej said, giving the two-party leaders a thumbs up. "We've been forbidden from bringing almost all of our gear in order to give you guys a proper challenge, and for a delve like this, I wouldn't feel comfortable going in there without at least five of those things. So it's good that we seem to be prepared."

"Better to be safe than sorry," Row said, looking chagrinned. "Don't want to drink any parasites."

"No. No we don't," Kur said with a dark expression.

Sej also made a face. "Sometimes things go wrong and it happens, so just in case, in the event you do find yourselves in an emergency, at the very least, do your best to boil the water first! This is very, very important! And failing that, well… I don't know what level of pathways you have, but you can try to flood your body with aura to see if you can burn out whatever nastiness gets inside you. And by the way, obviously don't go swimming in anything either… Things live in the water that'll want to eat you, or slither inside you."

She sighed, and pulled out a canteen from her inventory.

"What else…" she wondered, opening the bottle to take a measured gulp of water. "Oh right, you're all auramancers and you have limited rations, which means that we'll need to hunt as well. But I've got some ideas for that, and we can talk about it later."

She took another sip and stored away her bottle.

"There will be no rushing through the jungle. The flora and fauna here are adept at making traps to catch the unaware, and the terrain itself is unpredictable," she continued. "You could be walking in firm land and then suddenly poof! There's a cliff, a mud pit or a stream, and again, you don't want to go into those unless you really have to. And that leads into number 3…"

She took them all in with a reassuring glance.

"We're in this for three to four months depending on how things go, and I want you all to understand that this is a huge undertaking, especially for your first proper delve. So we're going to take it easy. We're going to have break days on the regular, and whenever it's needed!" Sej said. "And watch your mental health! Being surrounded by nothing but heat, humidity, vegetation, darkness and death can and will take a toll on people, alright?"

"We'll make sure to keep an eye on everyone," Leta said, Jasphaer nodding at her side.

"Good. If anyone's not feeling it, just say so before it becomes an issue," Sej said. "The jungle can mess with people's heads, so let's make sure that doesn't happen, alright?"

They voiced their agreement, but Nar had to make an effort not to glance in Viy's direction.

Whatever the Master of Emotions has been doing with her, I hope it holds up, he thought. All the warnings were enough to make him worry for his own sanity, much less Viy's and her low [Ego], which had proved her downfall during the den and their fight against the corrupted illatrian.

"So, bottom line, listen to us, don't eat or drink anything unless you know for sure it's safe to do so, and keep cool and think before you do anything stupid," Sej said, then grinned. "And with that, we should be alright, and everyone will walk away safe and sound and with plenty of gains to show for it!"

"That's the plan," Kur said. "And again, there will be no issues from our side. We're more than happy to listen to the pros."

"Good. Things are looking good then. Sarke?"

"All good here too. Nothing's missing and we've got plenty of everything," Sarke said, rising from where she had been inspecting the contents of their backpacks.

"Since we have such huge gathering requirements, we will be spending several periods of time camped out in the same spot and making forays to hunt for tokens, food and water, and for our gathering and harvesting requirements," Sej said. "We'll only move forward once we have met our quotas and you guys have leveled up high enough to go over to the next area."

Nar was unable to twist his lips at the mention of the word "quotas", and across the two parties, he wasn't the only one.

"Is it alright with you if we aim to go over our requirements?" Row asked.

Sej smiled and nodded. "I've been through an apprenticeship too, so I know how the store works. As long as you keep us informed and you make sure to keep on top of time and token collection, we can gather and harvest as much as you want."

"Got it."

"Nice!" Jaz added.

"For you! You're not gathering anything!" Lim said, elbowing him.

"I'll keep watch while you get your hands dirty, don't worry."

Both Lim and Mul threw him a dirty look.

"Speaking of rewards… What are you guys aiming for?" Sej asked with a cautious tone. "I ask because I need you all to be realistic about this. Epic rewards are all fine and dandy but… They come with a severe cost. A very severe cost."

"We understand that," Kur said, glancing at Row. "To be honest, we just found out a few minutes ago that we were going in as two parties instead of one, so, from our side, I think uncommon is doable, but maybe we could aim for rare, if things are going well?"

"We think so too," Row said. "It's risky, but it will only help us in the long run."

Kur smiled in relief. "Our thoughts exactly. But maybe we should see what we're up against first, and then decide on how high we aim?"

"Agreed."

"Good. Once you know what you want, we can then start making plans. If you want rare rewards, we'll need to think about tackling rare beasts, and those encounters are going to take proper planning and commitment," the guide told them. "As for our overall plans… You got the map?"

Kur opened his touch-screen and flipped it around for her to see.

"Nice. Stupid rules or not, we still need to follow them… Anyways, we'll be entering through the Jungle Tops, which as you know, is level 40 to 50 zone. Like I said, just because it's an "entry zone" don't go in thinking that it will be easy. I've seen plenty of delvers die in the Jungle Tops. Plenty. And they all underestimated it. So let's make sure that doesn't happen to us, yes?" Sej said. "At some point, if all goes well, we'll move to the edges of the Hungry Jungle, camp out and make our forays into it, as it's really not a good idea to camp within it. And once we're done there, we'll go on into the Gloom for our last area. Once we're done there, it's a short trip to the Heart of the Forest and the exit, and that should be it for our delve."

Four months, Nar thought, rubbing his chin. I doubt we'll rush to do it in three when we need to gather as much as we can, while also trying to aim as high as we can for those rewards and gains. So, four months… Crystal. This is not going to be a fun time.

Tys had told him that he would never forget this delve, and he had no doubts that she was right.

"For today, our goal is to enter the jungle and find a spot to camp away from the rest of the apprentices, so that we can have some peace and quiet, and not be tripping over each other and competing too much for resources," Sej said. "Besides, the larger the groups, the more likely we are to set off a Grounding!"

Eh… I forgot about that! Nar thought, a fresh wave of sweat spreading across him.

They must all have had the same expressions because Sej raised her hands in a calming gesture.

"Now, don't worry too much about it. If we follow the rules and keep quiet enough, everything will be okay!"

Nar turned to look at Tuk and Jaz. And so did everyone else.

"I can be quiet!" Jaz said, outraged.

"Yeah! What in the Pile, guys!" Tuk said. "Not cool!"

Sej only laughed.

"You'll lead us, and if you want, we can provide advice on the best spot to set up shop," she said. "And that should be it for now. So, if no one has any questions… No? Right then, let's get started with the fun stuff! Insect repellants all around!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.