Fast forward one week after exploring the forest, trees were already falling, with Mark, Luke, and Angela slowly building up towards their goal, which is earning money. Luke, face dripping with sweat, was holding the chainsaw. Mark was helping with whatever he could, trying his best not to tear apart the bandages covering his body.

"Damn it..." breathed out Mark, his hands touching his knees, supporting his upper body. "If only I hadn’t blurted out that damned sentence, I wouldn’t have to suffer now."

Luke stared at him, knowing exactly how he felt, yet unable to help. Angela heard him, a smug look popping on her face. "Maybe next time you shouldn’t call a beautiful young mage such as myself ugly. Hmph!"

Mark twisted up the corners of his lips, breathing heavily, annoyed about this whole situation. "Let’s just keep working. After all, we still have a long road ahead of us." he declared, his gaze fixed upon the few knocked down trees waiting to be put to use.

Luke scoffed, "I’m really curious about how we’re going to transport all this."

Mark answered, as if ready for this question. "Horses, duuh!"

Angela, somewhat happy about picking on Mark, answered in a heartbeat. "We don’t have horses, so I guess you’ll have to pull reaaaly hard to move it.", followed by a giggle. Perhaps she was already envisioning them trying and failing.

Yet, contrary to her expectations, Mark placed his hand underneath his chin, eyes fixed on nothingness. He was thinking, and he ended up speaking his mind. "This world has magic, so artifacts to boost one’s strength aren’t that far off. Perhaps..."

His loud train of thought was cut short by another one. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find such an artifact? At most, you would find some worthless toy from dungeons everyone can explore."

"Bingo!", another unexpected answer. He turned around, looking at the inner part of the forest, covered in shadows, unknown dangers lurking in. "Yeah, we have to go deeper."

Luke, who was drinking some water, spat it all out in a flash. "GO WHERE!?!"

Angela reacted in a similar manner. "Are you crazy?"

Mark nodded. "I mean, this forest is filled with these weird things. What could the others be filled with? Now I’m curious."

Angela and Luke stared at each other, at this point understanding each other just by looking. "You’ re going alone, just so you know."

Mark smirked. "Well then, see you later... I guess.", grabbing his sword before even finishing his sentence, then bolting straight into the darkness.

The other two, still trying to process what had happened, could only close their mouths. Luke broke the momentary silence. "Are we going after him?"

"I guess we’ll hear him scream if anything happens." added Angela, brushing it off.

Back to Mark, who was still aimlessly running through the woods. For someone covered in bandages, he was moving more than swiftly, jumping from place to place, going downhill then uphill again and again, all for one purpose: to find another monster. He thought that maybe all of these abominations had artifacts inside.

Perhaps half an hour had passed when Mark had to stop and take a breath. "Guess I’m not finding these bastards when I want to."

He looked around, sword ready, yet to foe to cut down. He got up, when, out of nowhere, a drip, and another one, drip. Water slowly made its way down, drop by drop, which got Mark ready. In one fell swoop, he cut upwards, only to be met by sliced flesh and another crippling scream. The creature, smaller than the other one he had faced before. A creppy expression, that’s what the monster was faced with. "Let’s dance, bitch."

He swung at the five legged creature, yet he kept his distance. The monster opened its mouth while jumping at his so called meal, only to be dodged and slashed. Its head fell down, rolling on the ground.

"Damn, I’m pretty good at this. Now..." he started cutting the body, "let’s check for the prize."

He found a ring, seemingly made out of silver, with a small shiny red rock on it. Mark put it on, exactly what a normal person would do, and tried to feel what changed. At the very least, he felt nothing.

"Well, guess I have to keep going."

A few hours had passed, and at this point, both Angela and Luke were scared, yet they tried not to show it.

"Hey, Mark’s taking a lot more than I had expected. After all, he’s pretty fast."

Angela nodded, "You know him better, so I guess it is weird.", yet they tried not to show even a hint of fear, fear that their friend was dead. Luke noticed something, which Angela noticed since he was squinting his eyes while staring at the forest. A man, standing tall, covered in random jewelry from head to toe, wearing enough rings and necklaces for a few people, and even had a new sword.

He held his sword high up in the air, moving it around while yelling, "Guess what I found! Fuck yeah, it’s a new sword!"

Angela and Luke couldn't stop laughing and burst out laughing like bombs about to detonate.Mark started laughing as well, knowing that he looked mad in their eyes, which amused him as well. Angela wiped a tear that was forming, and asked, "So, did you find what you needed?"

"Well, I have no clue what these things do. I put them all on, yet I felt nothing different. I guess that maybe you have some sort of appraisal spell." followed by an akward smile.

Angela closed her eyes, hands crossed. "I do have one, yet..." she stared at the inhuman workload that Mark had brought. As if reading her mind, Mark added, "I’ll let you choose something, ok?"

Luke had to speak, "Bro, you know how we know each other..." followed by another giggle, this time from Mark. "Yeah, you can choose something too, I got enough for everyone." and he pulled out a bag. As small as it was, when he opened it, different items started flowing out. Everyone went silent, mouths hanging low.

Mark, noticing, added in a sarcastic tone, "What, interdimensional storing, baby."