"I am Jim. You may not remember me, my Lord. But, I was among the very first batch of the inhabiters, who joined this Dungeon."

"I remember you. Your eyes had a profound desire for learning. Your eyes told me the first day, you will succeed. And, you are the one who went missing the day I was wounded." Joy responded while correcting Jim.

Jim's eyes shined brightly, to be able to get acknowledgment from the Lord, he would surely boast about the same later.

Jim continued, "Yes, my Lord. Nothing misses your great eyes. The day you went outside to bring food for us, you took a long time. All the workers around, including Kosax and myself, were hungry. I went to search for you, following your trail. But I was naive. To be able to follow the Lord, I must have some abilities. I heard you giving instructions for the building projects. I heard you fight alone for the dwellers you never knew before. I began to idolize you and wanted to share some burdens with you. So, I sneaked out on your footsteps."

"But instead of going to the world you went, I entered the Mist of Forgotten Lands. I lost my way back. I roamed for a few weeks until I lost my will to come back. In that mist, I found thousands of lands. I found many fruits and animals there. I devoured those and moved forward. Until one day, I found Shimbiraha, wounded, in a small piece of land. He was a traveler in the mist. Without knowledge regarding herbs and healing, I was clueless about how to treat him."

"Beggars are not choosers. I started to pluck all the unknown herbs. It was too dangerous to apply unfamiliar herbs to his wounds. So, I came up with a plan. I cut my fingertips and applied those herbs to check whether I was poisoned. In the process, I was poisoned multiple times, but the maximum number of times, it was mild."

"When I was at my limit, Shimbiraha pointed towards a herb meekly. His strength was almost depleted as well. It was my last shot. I plucked those herbs and applied them to my fingertip. After a few moments, I felt a refreshing feeling. I put those herbs on Shimbiraha's wounds. Few days went while I treated his wounds, and likewise, I started to feel better. The poisons got excreted from my body with time." Jim paused for a second, and everyone had questions in their mind.

"Shimbiraha asked me to form a bond with him. But, as I have already helped him, he was too unyielding to travel with me. Actually, I have not heard a single voice of intelligent being for a while. That's why I helped him recover. It becomes too eerie if you travel alone in a path where there is nothing. This nothingness would actually kill you soon. Shimbiraha knew a lot of things from the Mist of Forgotten Land."

"Before we left that piece of land where we found each other, I was asked to explore the place properly. I had already done so multiple times, to find the healing herbs. But, as Shimbiraha was too adamant, I started to do it reluctantly. He sat on my shoulder, and we traveled through the land. The land was huge to cover every part of it. But we took the time to finish searching for everything on the ground. Then I stumbled upon a rock with engraving similar to our altar."

"Until I finished exploring the whole land, it was not in that place. I have traversed that place multiple times. I have never seen it. When I touched it, I had a feeling that I should bring it back to our Dungeon. Shimbiraha then explained to me a lot of things."

"He was a world fuser, working for Dungeons and nomadic tribes. He used to get paid a moderate amount. He got injured by a monster residing inside the Fog of Forgotten Lands. He knew a lot of things but still could not avert the danger. So, anyone venturing in the Fog might lose their life anytime soon. They should be prepared for that."

"If we fuse any land core with another, the lands will get merged as well. But, the procedure was unknown to my companion, as he was only responsible for bringing it to other Dungeons."

"I had already ventured through a lot of lands before finding Shimbiraha. Once I extracted the core, a lot of information was dumped into my mind. I got a new job, Explorer. Since then, I had gotten an ability. I can sense the general direction of our Dungeon from anywhere inside the Mist of Forgotten Land."

Jim explained until this point and stopped to take a breather. Joy was almost out of breath. The story reminded him of his past when he was too obsessed with the Dungeon exploration. He had a passion for finding out the unknowns, and now, he could see the same spark in Jim's eyes. He forgot his meal in the meantime. Unknowingly, a smile took place on his face.

"Well done, Jim. So this expansion of land was all your doing. The Dungeon and all its members will remember it forever. We have found a new way of expansion, thanks to you. From now on, you will lead all the expedition in the Mist of Forgotten Lands."

Everyone cheered, but suddenly Bor shook its head. "There is another achievement, Jim did not mention. Before I arrived, Jim was the one who tried to treat you. Though the method was not correct, because of him, I got time to make preparation to save you."

"Is it true, Jim?" Joy asked while being surprised. This guy in front of him was a worker, who was showing the potential of a leader. He never thought the daily summons could summon a personality like Jim.

"Yes, my Lord. When treating Shimbiraha, I found many herbs and tried the extracts from those. I never thought that knowledge will be helpful, as soon as I returned. But the herbs I knew were only helpful on the external wounds. I never had any hope to cure your fragmented bones if not for Mr tree." Jim confessed his shortcomings. Though he had achieved a lot, he did not take all the credits.

Joy looked at Bor, and he gave a hearty smile. "Brother, all the praises were reserved for Jim only. I happened to know the herbs in that land. And among those used by him, there was one legendary herb. This herb was lost in the river of time. I don't know how much a lucky person you are, but this herb can cause wars beyond our measure."

"So precious? I need to take a look in that case." Joy frowned and murmured. He needed to find a way to mass-produce this type of herb.

Bor nodded earnestly and continued, "I used this herb to reconstruct your body."

"You did what?" Joy exclaimed and shot up from his seat.

"Calm down, my friend. You had no other way of surviving. When I saw you in that condition, I was too surprised to understand how you survived. Once I saw what Jim applied on your chest, I got the basic idea. I researched a bit, discussed with other brothers of mine, and guessed the reality of the herb. Actually, the extraction went inside your body through the hair follicles. It was soon absorbed, and your body made some changes to accept these foreign particles."

"When I found your body can cope up with the internal changes caused by the herbs, I soon changed the treatment. I used the extract from the same herb, with some other component, and let you drink that forcibly. Once the extract went inside your body, the inside of your body started to degenerate. Now, this part was out of my expectation."

"After much discussion with others, I found the body survived before because of low concentration seeping in through follicles. When the high-density extract went inside, your body could not cope up. I had to insert another type of healing extract continuously. I used vines to introduce the extract in your body this time. For long, the inside of your body degenerated and regenerated. After much of the potent war, both the liquids created this body of yours. So you can be grateful to me." Bor concluded with a big smile.

"Grateful my ass. Who asked you to use medicines without experimenting with it and knowing its effects. Are you crazy?" Joy started to shout. He understood one thing that he survived by a lucky twist this time.

"How come you went inside the room?" Joy started to yell.

"My Lord, he shaded many layers of his barks, boughs, and leaves to accommodate himself inside the room. He donated all those to the Dungeon." Kosax said with a straight face.

"Shut up, you moron. Is it looking like a charity place that he donated? What am I? A guineapig to experiment with new extracts?" Joy's face was burning with heat. He took a breath in and steadied himself. It was not a time to fight like this. He would have many enemies to fight shortly. He needed to gather updates from others. Whatever methods they used, they brought him back from the clutches of death.

"Shit! I told you guys, we should not disclose this operation." Jim started shouting.

"Oh! I never thought he would react like this. What to do?" Zoroth replied.

"Its all your fault. Our Lord is now angry with us." the other workers joined the fray.

"Nah, no way. Lord knows what is good, what is bad. We tried our best. Its all Mr. Tree's fault. Admit it, Mr. Tree."

"Oye, stop judging me, I only tried to help."

"Tell me whether this is a..."

"We should have hidden it from the Lord."

"No way, Lord would have been hurt in that case."

"We should have used the herb I told you guys."

"..."

"..."

Suddenly, a sense of loss engulfed him. Looking at these idiots, memories of old-time surfaced in his mind. He started to miss Sree even more now. His circle of friends, and members of Pegasys, all of them supported him just like this. They laughed together, battled together, mourn together. They had walked a long way together, but a long way was yet to be paved.

He looked at those quarreling faces and started to laugh loudly.