Hazel pulled her head back to dodge a goblin’s dagger, then used her own and plunged it into the monster’s neck. The novice mage ignored the monster and whirled her staff around to fire a Mana Bolt at another goblin lunging at her. The Bolt of energy rocketed toward the green gremlin and tore through its abdomen easily before the monster shattered to pieces.

Pulling her dagger out, Hazel watched the goblin she stabbed collapse on the spot. All the while, she received several kill notifications from the monsters she had recently just taken down. Along with a level-up panel.

[You have Leveled Up! You are now Level 9!]

Hazel grinned before mentally dismissing the panels. “Only one more level.”

Hazel only started her hunting around an hour or so ago, and she finally got to Level Nine. Before she could forget, she quickly placed her three free points into Intelligence, further strengthening her mana power and increasing her mana capacity.

After taking down the goblins from before, she walked over to a nearby tree and sat down, leaning her back against the bark and sighing deeply.

Even though she’s only been killing monsters for a little while, she was already exhausted. In more ways than one. Thankfully, she found a good rhythm with her battles.

Instead of purely relying on her magic, Hazel decided to take down some of her enemies with weapons like her dagger. That way, she was conserving a little bit more of her mana while also expanding her experience and skills in battle.

Since she was fighting solo, she needed to get used to fighting up close and person. At least against enemies that were her size or slightly smaller like the goblins she just went up against. And she was slowly but surely getting the hang of it, since she was able to take down her enemies using his tactic.

It was a bit difficult at first since using magic like she did before was a lot easier, but with enough practice, it’ll soon become a cakewalk for the mage. She’d be fighting her enemies even more efficiently in no time. And considering how much training she was receiving, that time was very soon.

Out of curiosity, Hazel pulled up her status window again, just to check out some things.

Status Window

Name: Hazel Thatcher

Race: Human

Level: 9

Class: Mage

Free Points: 0

Attributes:

Strength: 7

Agility: 10

Endurance: 16

Intelligence: 27

Wisdom: 18

Willpower: 12

Her Intelligence stat was close to reaching thirty points. She could feel that her mana was hitting a threshold of power. But she would know sooner or later once she reached thirty points.

As for her other stats, because speed was such an issue for Hazel, she decided to get her Agility stat to ten points, whether she would add any more points to it was up for debate. She likely would if she needed to run away from her enemies faster.

Then there was Endurance and Wisdom. Hazel figured that once Intelligence was at thirty, she could use the other points to raise the stat. Either that or maybe use the points to get Endurance and Wisdom to twenty points. It honestly depended on which stat was more important at the moment.

Endurance had saved her plenty of times since made it her strong enough to barely tank hits like the Cyclops, and Wisdom was just as important since it helped replenish her mana faster. Especially since, as a mage, she heavily relied on spells that used mana.

In terms of Agility, she honestly needed that too, if not a little bit. She wasn't able to escape from those Orcs, and if she didn't react in time, those monsters could've easily taken her life. Doing the math, Hazel came up with this. She would first get Intelligence to thirty points. After that, she could invest her remaining points into Endurance and Wisdom until both reached twenty. After that, she would like to put a couple of points into Agility before going back to Intelligence and Wisdom.

That was the current plan, at least. They were likely bound to change if any issues were to arise later on. Though, hopefully, that wasn't going to be the case.

Other than her stats, everything else was good. Her skill ranks had increased.

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Rank 4

A spell that lets the user summon a bolt of condensed mana to strike their enemies down. User will be capable of firing off three Mana Bolts at once and have a cooldown of five seconds.

Rank 3

Gives the caster the ability to fire a sickle-like blade at their enemies. The sickle is made of cursed energy that damages the enemy over time. Curse Dmg is increased by 5%. It’s a skill that is highly used by Witches. The cooldown lasts eight seconds.

Rank 3

A skill that allows the caster to deteriorate anything or anyone they wish. By being afflicted with decay, their vessels slowly decompose, withering away until they are nothing but ash and dust. Rot dmg is increased by 5% It is a common ability used by witches due to its fast-acting effects. The cooldown is twenty-eight seconds.

Baneful Strike’s cooldown only lasted eight seconds, and Decay lasted twenty-eight. Although the latter still took over ten seconds to finish, the former’s time was quite an improvement. Once she increased their rank a little more, she expected to be able to use her skills without cooldowns much like Mana Bolt.

Speaking of Mana Bolt, after reaching Rank 4, she obtained a new ability from it. That being she could summon multiple Mana Bolts at once, which was currently three. Of course, the mana consumption would be a little higher by doing this, but with her current stats, it was worth the risk.

Of course, this new ability did have its downside, which was the stupid cooldown feature. Thankfully, it only lasted five seconds compared to her other skills, so she wasn’t as bothered by it as the others. It was still a bit annoying that her skills had this sort of drawback.

Hazel figured that it made things fairer for players. If Mages were able to just spam their spells like it was nothing, then that would make them absurdly more powerful than other classes like Warrior or Ranger.

Besides that, with her current progress, fighting monsters was going to be a lot easier than before. Even with the stupid cooldowns weighing her down.

Mentally dismissing the panels, Hazel pulled out a water bottle and took a couple of sips from it, vigorously gulping the water like there was no tomorrow. Putting it away, she sharply exhaled, feeling refreshed after her water break.

As she put the bottle in her bag, her arm wiped away the remaining water dripping down her mouth. Hazel then stood up from her spot and did a little stretching exercise. Since she was moving her body a lot more than usual by fighting like a warrior/mage, these stretches were necessary to prevent her muscles from tensing up or getting sore during another fight.

Once her stretches were done, Hazel moved away from the tree she leaned against and once again started her monster hunting. Just a few more strong monsters, and she’d be level ten in no time. Hopefully, by reaching that threshold, she could get another marker like before, allowing her to obtain more skills.

Even if she doesn’t, reaching level ten would still prove beneficial for her. More levels meant more power, and she desperately needed it while fighting in this dangerous dungeon.

There was something else that was on Hazel’s mind as she roamed through the forest island. And that was if she was alone in this dungeon. It was one thing when she found no one on the previous island she first showed up on, but Hazel figured that there were at least some players in this forest. But so far, all she had encountered up until this point were goblins, dire wolves, and Orcs.

No humans or other non-fractured races were seen. And that slightly worried Hazel. Although she wasn’t much of an extrovert, being unable to talk to someone other than herself was bound to cause some psychological issues.

It wasn’t like Hazel was going to end up losing her mind and start talking to a coconut or something, but she also knew that this type of prolonged social isolation was going to cause some problems for her, mentally.

She really wished she could talk to someone…

Walking around, Hazel stopped in her tracks when she picked up the sound of rustling bushes and grass nearby. And considering how this place was devoid of regular animals, that meant she was likely dealing with more Fractured monsters.

Taking a defensive stance, the mage gripped both her staff and dagger, prepared to take whatever came her way. Her eyes whirled over to the source of the noise, watching the rustling bushes with a stern expression, not knowing what to expect.

And then…

“Aaaghh!”

Emerging from the bushes was a slender human-like figure, lunging into the air and right for Hazel as she braced for what was to come. She was surprised by the humanoid figure and couldn’t react in time to dodge, resulting in the enemy tackling her to the ground.

“A-agh?!” Hazel groaned, shaking her head to get rid of her dizziness, and got a better look at the enemy.

Instead of an orc or goblin-like she expected, this new foe looked way more human. Its skin was gray with black markings on its face and neck. And its hair was as white as snow, which was dirtied from the mud and leaves sticking to it.

However, Hazel then noticed something as she struggled against her opponent. This enemy didn’t have any Fractured marks. Ever since she first got dumped in this dungeon, all of her enemies were fractured, bearing cracks that spread across their entire bodies, as if they were bound to collapse and expire on the spot.

And yet this one didn’t, which meant only one thing.

This person was a player just like Hazel…

Instead of feeling excited, the mage was in a bit of a bind, realizing that this person was attacking her like a rabid animal. Moments after, the figure pushed away from Hazel and pulled out a sharp dagger, raising it in the air.

Then, Hazel’s eyes widened as she watched the player plunge the dagger down, threatening to pierce her chest in an instant.