Hazel roamed the forest for a little while before deciding to finally set up camp. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but she was starting to feel a little tired. Fighting those Orcs from before took a lot out of her, so it was time to rest a little.
So, Hazel started searching for a spot that she could use as a campsite. Unfortunately, she briefly forgot that she was on her own while on this forest island, and falling asleep alone would be an extremely bad idea.
After encountering goblins and Orcs, Hazel was aware that simply resting had more risks than rewards. Even if she could attempt to get some sleep, there was the possibility of her getting ambushed by monsters, so instead of just making a campsite, she might’ve had to create a shelter of some kind that could protect her from monsters. Or better yet, keep her hidden from them.
“I don’t think my friend’s camp advice will help me out this time,” Hazel muttered to herself. “She didn’t teach me any bushcraft tips.”
Hazel didn’t know the first thing about building some kind of shelter in a forest. She at least knew that you needed to gather sticks and logs to make a very simple home to sleep in, but she couldn’t do that here. There were more than just wolves and bears. Some literal hulking goliaths could tear her limb from limb if she wasn’t careful.
Plus, making a shelter out in the open would attract the monsters as well. If a goblin or Orc saw a makeshift home in the middle of the forest, they would want to check it out and see what’s inside. Hazel couldn’t afford to allow that to happen while she was unconscious.
So, instead of working on comfort, she likely needed to focus on safety. This meant her shelter needed to be hidden from others so that she could rest without being afraid of getting attacked when she least expected it.
“I guess I should make a spider hole, then.”
Although she didn’t know much about bushcraft, she did watch a video on the internet where a guy dug a hole in the ground to use as shelter. Apparently, it was called a spider hole, and it was made and used by soldiers to hide themselves and also allowed them to ambush their enemies when they got close enough to the hole.
The only problem was that she didn’t have a shovel on her. She didn’t have to make a shovel too, did she?
Fretting over the possibility of more work when her body was already fatigued, her eyes trailed down to the magic staff in her hand. As soon as she saw it, something clicked in her head, and a semblance of an idea formed.
Hazel smiled, lifting her magic staff. “Heh, you’ll do.”
Why didn’t she think about this before? Sure she didn’t have tools to help her dig like a shovel, but she did have the next best thing. The thing she would love to use since she wrote about it all the time; Magic.
Ever since she first came to this dungeon, Hazel had only ever utilized her magic to either kill monsters or protect herself. Now, she was going to use it for something else; digging.
Putting down her bag, Hazel gripped her staff and pointed the tip of it on the ground. Concentrating for a moment, she then cast a mana bolt spell, hurling it into the soil. Some dirt was kicked up and flew into Hazel’s face.
After wiping the dirt off, she examined the hole she made, and surprisingly enough, a decent-size indentation was made. It was a bit crude, but Hazel believed that if she kept doing this for a while, she could make a pretty good spider hole to sleep in.
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With that in mind, Hazel spent a while digging a hole with the help of her Mana Bolt spell. When her mana reserve was empty, she waited for it to refill then went right back to work. During that time, she thought about using her other spells like Baneful Sickle or Decay, but tossed the idea after realizing their major flaw, that being the stupid cooldown.
Hazel couldn’t afford to waste ten to thirty second intervals so their cooldowns were over. Plus, she didn’t know how effective Decay would be on the ground. When inflicted on enemies or a piece of wood, their entire vessel deteriorates with no body part whatsoever spared in the process.
By applying Decay on the ground, Hazel had no clue as to what kind of hole would be made, if a hole could be created in the first place. And she was afraid to even attempt such a thing. She’d likely test her theory in the future if it bugged her enough, but until then, the novice mage simply continued working on her spider hole shelter.
A part of Hazel was a bit happy she was using her magic in such a way. She always wrote down how it could utilized in different ways like using Earth Magic for construction, or using light magic to illuminate houses and streets, or even using telekinesis to do her chores all at once.
Hazel always fantasized about doing the dishes, vacuuming the house, and folding her laundry all at once with the help of telekinesis. It would make life so much easier. And now she had the opportunity to put that into action.
Despite her hellish situation, being able to wield magic in the palm of her hands was a dream come true for her.
After what felt like at least an hour or two, Hazel’s spider hole was finally complete. It was an eight to nine-foot hole with a dirt step that she could use to get herself out of it. She made it both long enough and big enough for her to sleep somewhat comfortably.
She would half to sleep while sitting, but again, her shelter was made for safety, not comfort. Honestly, with her current fatigue weighing on her, Hazel doubted that she would be uncomfortable while resting. And that was all that mattered at this point.
With her shelter hole completed, all that was left was the final touch. And that would be the cover. Hazel's spider hole would be pointless unless she covered up the entrance. Thankfully, the only materials needed to craft a cover were some sticks and moss.
Putting them together, Hazel would have the perfect disguise for her little shelter. No one would be able to find her unless they were looking very carefully, which was ideal for her situation.
Leaving her shelter for a moment, she gathered some sticks and moss and crafted her makeshift cover. Simply putting the sticks together would work, so Hazel used some fiber from the trees and tied them that way.
With the stick cover made, Hazel then placed some moss over the top, making sure that none of the twigs were shown or else someone or something might get suspicious. This took her a few minutes, but the end result was what really mattered as she held her makeshift hole cover for her shelter.
It was sturdy and big enough to completely obstruct the hole and hide it from outsiders. She just hoped no one too big stepped on it, since their weight could likely break her cover, thus exposing her to the enemies.
With her cover finished, Hazel walked back over to her hideout. She grabbed her bag that had her supplies and jumped into her spider hole. While inside, she dug through her bag and took out her blanket and pillow from the tavern.
Setting up her bed, Hazel then grabbed one of her water bottles from the pack and took a couple of swigs from it to quench her thirst while also taking a bite of her jerky. Despite her current situation, Hazel found it comforting.
It wasn’t a hotel bedroom or even her dorm, but she would take what she could get. No use complaining over something that she was unable to receive in the first place. For now, this was the best that she could do, and that alone was enough for her.
For tomorrow, she was going to continue her goal of reaching level ten. Since this forest was larger than the town, there were plenty of monsters for her to hunt and take their XP. After that, she wasn’t sure.
Hazel wanted to find a Sub-Boss and see how strong it was, so she could prepare, but she had no clue where one could be. This Dungeon was incredibly large, so she suspected that her journey was going to lead her to a couple more islands before finding a Sub-Boss.
But as long as Hazel could get out of this dungeon as fast as possible, she’d do whatever it took to achieve that. Waiting thirty days was not an option.
It didn’t take long before she finally fell asleep in her makeshift spider hole, thus ending her first day in the Forest Island.