We walked in a line- Quietly, and rhythmically meeting each other’s steps. I and Genma followed behind the rest like babies who needed protection; while David, our captain, lead us.

“Now I’m going to disclose the objective of our mission to everyone.” The slight gust flowing our way carried his voice as we continued walking. Large granules of dust went past our figures, soaring away like ancient messages from the soul of those who had walked this path before us.

“Newbie’s listen carefully. I’m not going to say it twice. In our last mission…” His demeanor and voice still held the same amount of confidence and even a sense of his craze, but I for some reason noticed a certain distress in his voice when he talked about his last mission. This change made me wonder. It put my mind to work, but neither did I voice out my thoughts, nor did I have to. They had drafted two rookies into their team. It spoke volumes of the hurtful truth. Still, I felt warm knowing that the captain cared for his deceased team members. This was enough for me. And I wasn’t going to put my relations at risk just because of some unbridled curiosity.

“Sorry… In our last mission we lost some ants… good ants.” He adorned silence for a moment before continuing again, “But we finished our mission regardless. Now, you both listen carefully. In our previous mission, we made contact with one of my dearest friends from the army. And he has promised me to help us get a higher percent share from the farm. You both might think this mission is easy and I agree with you. Everything will work out once we reach our point of meeting, but the road there is long and perilous. So stay vigilant and don’t end up dying to some stalking hunter.” The stiffness in his voice improved when he talked about his friend from the army, but his silence detailed another kind of sadness growing in his mind. He didn’t explain anything more about the farm or the army or his friend.

{Stamina regeneration has risen to 14}

But to my fortune, Pyro slid out of the formation and came to hang around us. From what I understood about him, he was the talkative type; and if there was someone in our group I could ask to pull out the worms growing in my brain, it was him.

I noticed the captain playing attention to his erratic behavior, but upon understanding his intentions –which were clear and purposeless- Pyro was given the leniency he deserved and we continued to move without a hitch.

“How is it going, rookies?”

“Alright, I guess.” I spoke for the both us, and vice leader Genma didn’t stop me from speaking on his behalf either. I knew he also had some questions in his mind, and he also knew that I had the right tools to effortlessly get the answers to those out of Pyro. So rather than disturbing us, he instead silently came closer to us and then allowed me do my thing.

“You must be thirsty, right?” It was an unusual expression, a word with meaning differently in the context. He was a mage after all. And a mage without a bit of mental wit and puzzling metaphors is not considered a mage at all. But I was not a runt with an empty skull. If my appraisal was correct then I was actually three to four-time wiser than him. And I perfectly understood what he had meant by the words thirsty.

“Very.” Unlike what one might think, there’s a vast amount of difference in simply owning a low-rank skill and perfectly using that said skill in various depending circumstances. One might say, simply leading Pyro with a question and then using {mind read} on him would have brought out all the answers from him, but they would be wrong.

One might ask the big fat ‘Why?’, ‘Why couldn’t I have simply used mind read to get all the answers?’ Why this? Why that? Curiosity is a good thing, but one needs to have right amount of patience to go along with it, otherwise it’s like shooting yourself in the foot and then crying ‘enemy attack’. But I was a young Hero at this point in time and had no handle on my curiosity. Hence, I used {Mind read} on him without leading him with questions -thanks to having almost no practice using the skill- and the result which came out of it was disastrous.

He wasn’t calculative or scheming like the captain of the scavengers who had forbidden me from joining the scavengers. He wasn’t caring as Tiny. He was neither the protective kind like my previous captain nor was he friendly like Genma. He was simply loud.

Ask me. Come on! Stop looking at me like a pile of emotionless aphids and ask me everything which has been eating you from the inside. And don’t think I’ll tell you anything. Nononono…. I’ll fill your mind with so many dreadful lies that you will fear even looking at the dirt beneath your feet. And-and …

{High mental confusion has risen to lv 7}

{High mental corruption has risen to lv 10}

I had to cut off mind read before I could even get anything of significant importance from him as my antennas turned stiff from his banter. He kept looking at me with hope that I would feed his inner demon with question, but I decided against it. I might have had a better chance using mind read on Mink or even Dark, but Pyro was a lost case. He was a patient whose delusions had corrupted his nature far enough to almost split his personality into two. I simply wanted nothing to do with him after this.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Though it could have been much better to at least hear what kind of place this farm was, but not knowing that wasn’t a problem either. If there was something which I had learned after witnessing the termite farm right by our colony, it was the understanding that anyplace which the ants called a farm possibly had a species of insects kept in prison and feed to later be harvested for food.

Finally, after seeing that we weren’t in the mood to ask him any questions, Pyro gave up with his schemes. “You two are no fun. You know, I almost made Mink quit the day he joined. But you two are too tight-lipped. Anyways, you two should get ready. We are nearing our first peril and will be there in some minutes. We, especially I, don’t want you both to get engulfed by the pit hunters on the first day. I still want to try my special technique on you two. So don’t die before that.” His seriousness almost made me shiver, but his snickering laugh at the end destroyed the tension before it could stiffen us with stiffening pressure.

But as if his relenting spirit itself was warning me, I decided it better to get ready to encounter the enemy. I hadn’t forgotten the trap which the black enemy ants had sent our way during my first mission. We had defeated them, but I was kidnapped in the end. Although everything had worked out at last thanks to that obnoxious horny hornet, I still felt it better to prepare than to fall into another trap and put mine and others lives at risk.

“Get ready.” I voiced my opinion to Genma and then expanding my senses to a controlled limit. I had decided to use my senses to their actual limits in order to train them. I hadn’t put any effort into training my skills until now, but I knew the world was dangerous and every drop of stat would be useful in the long run.

{Sight has risen to lv 2}

Pyro didn’t stick with us and got back to his position, while I started picking up movement all around us. I didn’t think there was an enemy waiting for us nearby, but the movements still warranted vigilance, and that’s how I reacted.

Curious, yet nervous about our position and surroundings, I checked my map for a detailed view of our general area and noticed something unique. I could see ourselves walking on a well-tread path. To our left was a path I had traversed during my first mission and we were going deeper and banking toward the west with every step. Everything to my west on the map was uncharted territory; while, the east still had some greenery to the otherwise dark map.

{Map 2.0 has risen to lv 20}

If anything, we weren’t going through the hoppers territory. Instead, a feeling long lost and buried deep inside my mind was starting to surface as we continued to walk. This feeling exploded into a sickening dread when we stopped in front of an open area. A dry, open land appeared in front of us with not a blade of grass shading the hot grains of sand from the suns irrational temperament.

There was a pit in front of us. A pit I had seen before. I had fought the charms of the being living at the center of the funnel in the past. It was still as calm and quiet as I had seen it the first time. Although I heard no voice in my head this time thanks to the growth I had witnessed, but the mental trauma wasn’t so difficult to forget.

{Stable mind has risen to lv 9}

The pit was a hunting ground of a being which hunted ants and had the strength to devour even a hopper if it fell into its jaws. It wasn’t something we mere ant had the strength to fight, but here we were, standing in front of an area which was ridden to the bone by these pits as if a parasitic infestation had occurred here since the last time I was here.

We were at the threshold of an ant lion colony, and if the captain’s words meant anything, then we were going to deliberately cross this area or die trying.

“We have to reach the other side.” He said pointing toward the grass on the other side of the death-ridden patch of land. “There, our informer is waiting for us with the coordinates to the army battalion, and news, we can’t leave without.” Many things could have been voiced against his suicidal decision. Why couldn’t we take a longer, more secure, route? Why we had to go through here? But no one voiced any complaints. The team excluding us seemed accustomed to the antics of their captain and we -the rookies- were left with a strong feeling of repulsion brewing inside our chests. It was almost as if the captain had deliberately decided to go through this land to show us the dangers this team goes though just to get a piece of news. It was almost ridiculous. And as if our silence was the cue, Pyro chimed in to raise the tension.

“See, this is what we explorers do.” Pyro looked back at us and said. “We walk on tight ropes and crawl through narrow tunnels to save time and complete our missions. According to our crazy captain, if giving your life means completing the mission, then you’ll have to forfeit your life for the colony. That’s just how it is.”

This was the first time he had earnestly said something to me. I could feel it in my guts that everything he said was true. I felt a slight tug in my chest telling me this team wasn’t really sound and united. The looks of my team mates were almost helpless and tired. But I didn’t find any fear in their eyes. The almost appeared ready to die or maybe they just had gone through this god forbidden land enough times to not fear the pits and the charming voice any more.