Hazel stayed in the church for a little while, carefully considering her options regarding how she should handle this Dungeon. She could technically simply stay in the building for the whole thirty days and not worry about dealing with the monsters outside. However, it was highly unlikely that there was any food in this place to keep her from starving.

If she planned to stay here, she needed food. And water. Humans could only last for five or so days without drinking anything, which meant she wasn’t going to survive in the dungeon if it came to that.

Plus, a part of Hazel didn’t want to just sit around and wait out the thirty days. She wanted to explore the dungeon, despite how dangerous it clearly was. More importantly, she wanted to get stronger and level up as much as possible, and that meant she needed to kill monsters like the Fractured Dire Wolf from before.

This dungeon was just the beginning of her troubles. If she didn’t take advantage of this dungeon, she was going to end up a sitting duck after returning to her newly merged home. Most people would choose to simply hide and wait, but not Hazel. She had to take this seriously or her life was forfeit.

Making her decision, Hazel began to plan her next steps.

“Okay, for now, I should probably do some hunting,” She mumbled. “The floating landmass I’m currently in should have plenty of land for monsters to roam around in, like that Cyclops. Though, I don’t think I should attack that guy.”

Just remembering the sheer magnitude of that monster gave Hazel chills. Not only that, but it was level ten. Being a mere level one novice mage, picking a fight with such a monster was practically suicide. But…once she was strong enough, she did plan on defeating it. Basically using the Cyclops as a goal to see her progression, which seemed like a good idea.

All of a sudden, a new panel appeared before her.

“Defeat the Enemy of your Obsession!”

Difficulty: Easy

Objective: Defeat the Fractured Cyclops you encountered before.

Reward: +7 Free Points and a Common Loot Box

“Oh?” Hazel said, tilting her head while reading the panel. “A dungeon challenge, huh? That’s pretty convenient.”

Did the system know about Hazel’s desire and created a Dungeon Challenge to further motivate her to accomplish her goal? Because it was certainly working considering the type of reward she was getting.

“Seven free points. That will certainly help with my growth.”

Combined with her level-ups, Hazel could stack up a lot of free points for her to use and get stronger. And that was what she planned to do from now on. Her only weapon was her [Mana Bolt] spell and her only method of defense was [Mana Shield], both of which were reliant on her mana. So, she needed to be careful not to waste it, or at least increase her Intelligence and Wisdom Stat enough to where she didn’t have to worry about that.

Speaking of which, now that Hazel wasn’t in danger, she could finally check out her skills. And maybe even find out why her mana shield suddenly stopped working and wouldn’t activate when she cast it again.

However, she didn't know how to pull them up, or if they could be shown. All she knew was that they were Mana Bolt and Mana Shield.

"Maybe I can see it by calling its name?" Hazel mused. "Mana Bolt!"

Instead of seeing a panel, nothing happened. Hazel stifled a groan as she lightly rubbed her temples. There had to be another way to do this.

"Okay," She muttered to herself. "maybe I just have to say something else. Uh...Skills?"

Almost immediately after saying this, two panels manifested before Hazel, displaying exactly what she asked for.

Rank 1

A spell that lets the user summon a bolt of condensed mana to strike their enemies down. This spell does not have a cooldown.

Rank 1

Allows the user to summon a shield made of mana for seven seconds. It will be able to protect the user and block most attacks. The cooldown lasts ten seconds.

The Novice Mage grinned as she eagerly stared at the panels. "Nice! So that's how I get to see my skills."

So that was what her skills looked like. Hazel’s eyes then darted over to a particular section in Mana Shield’s description.

“There’s a cooldown?! And my shield only lasts seven seconds?!”

Although she was shocked by this information, at least Hazel knew the reason why her shield suddenly disappeared, and that was because she ran out of time. Though, unlike Mana Shield, Mana Bolt appeared to not have any cooldowns at all, which was a relief.

Speaking of magic, now that she was alone and not in danger, Hazel could take another look at her status window and investigate her attributes. With that in mind, she hastily pulled it up like before.

Status Window

Name: Hazel Thatcher

Level: 1

Class: Mage

Profession: None

Free Points: 0

Attributes:

Strength: 7

Agility: 8

Endurance: 8

Intelligence: 11

Wisdom: 13

Willpower: 12

"Now then, Strength, Agility, and Endurance were clearly physical stats, something that I shouldn't focus on since I'm a mage. That left Intelligence, Wisdom, and Willpower. But what exactly did those do?"

Hazel couldn't determine their uses just from their name. There had to be more to it than that. She just needed to figure out what that was.

Then she got an idea. What if her attributes were like her status window and skills? What if all she needed to do was call upon them?

Hazel sighed deeply before getting started. "Intelligence!"

Much like before, as soon as she called upon the name, a new panel appeared before her.

Player Attribute

This Attribute increases a Player's Mana Capacity, allowing them to cast them multiple times in a row.

"Ha!" Hazel laughed. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Looks like her previous assumption regarding her attributes was spot on. Much like in an RPG, Intelligence focused on increasing her mana reserve. Which meant that the more mana she possessed, the more times she could use her spells without hitting her limit.

After discovering this, Hazel also checked out Wisdom and Willpower as well. According to their panels, Wisdom increased her mana regeneration capability, allowing her to recover her mana faster so she could use it again. As for Willpower, that was the most interesting.

Player Attribute

This Attribute increases a Player's Mental and Spiritual Fortitude, allowing them to summon multiple Minions or Familiars without straining their bodies.

Hazel smiled. "So, this stat determines what and how many I can summon. Good to know."

Now that she knew what Willpower did, she could possibly invest some points into it. Of course, she would first need to obtain a spell that allowed her to summon Minions or Familiars. To which she had no clue how to do that just yet. So, until she obtained something like that, this stat was on the back burner for now.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

With a good majority of her questions now answered, Hazel decided that it was time to head out. With her current knowledge, she could now put her skills to the test, and that required more test subjects.

Gripping her staff, she stood up and cautiously left the church, walking outside in the purple void. Walking down the steps, she examined her surroundings, keeping her eyes peeled for any monsters that could attack.

There wasn’t much ground near the front of the church, since it only expanded out to about several meters. As for the other pieces of land nearby, they appeared close enough for Hazel to hop from one property to another, but before she expanded her territory, she figured it would be best to start small. So, noting that the front of the church was pretty barren of monsters, including the Cyclops from before, she made her way to the backyard.

While outside, she got a better look at the exterior of the church. There were parts of the architecture that were broken with chunks of the building floating off in the air. It was a rather bizarre sight with how gravity worked here.

From what she could tell, her body wasn’t affected by the zero gravity happening around her. Could it be like with the Fractured animals and buildings, and that she needed to have been there to be influenced by its effects?

It was likely for the best that the lack of gravity wasn’t placed on her. Otherwise, she’d end up like the buildings and land, floating around in the space. Worst case scenario, she could find herself floating deeper into space, away from all of the other landmasses she could use to keep her grounded.

It didn’t take long before Hazel finally made it to the backyard of the church, only to bear witness to a small, ruined town situated further down the island. There were multiple houses either burned or destroyed with pieces of their structure floating around them. It looked like a ghost town. Or more accurately, a ghost town in some eldritch sci-fi thriller novel.

“Geez…now I don’t feel like going on,” Hazel shuddered.

The town gave her the creeps. Not just with the atmosphere but also the fear of what she might find while searching within the settlement. It was even possible that the cyclops was somewhere inside, waiting for unsuspecting prey to get attacked by it. That unsuspecting prey being Hazel!

She gulped, staring at the small village. “No use getting cold feet now.”

She couldn’t back down after coming this far. Not when the opportunity to grow was right in front of her. If she was going to make any progress, this settlement was her first step toward her goal.

Steeling her resolve, the novice mage slowly walked toward the village. Her hands tightly grasped the staff as her heart pounded against her chest. Moving into the area, she cautiously looked around the buildings, watching for any movements in the shadows that could pose a threat.

Suddenly, light grunting could be heard nearby. Looking ahead, Hazel could tell that the noise was coming around the corner of a building. Curious, she stalked her way over to the edge, remaining as quiet as possible to not alert whatever she was hearing.

Peering her head over the corner, two small creatures facing one another were spotted up ahead, talking in a guttural manner with a series of grunts. Aside from the cracks coated on their body, they were short, had pale green skin, and pointed ears, and wore loincloths around their waists. She was familiar with these creatures, seeing them many times in RPGs.

They were Goblins. There was no question about that.

Level 2

A resident of this world before it became Fractured. Due to getting caught up in the mana overload event, the Goblin has become Fractured, becoming a hollow shell of its former self, lacking a soul. Its primal instincts are much stronger and deadlier than a normal goblin and acts purely on impulse to kill anything in sight. And when Fractured Goblins are in a group, it’s best to simply run away.

“A hollow shell…” Hazel mused, staring at its description.

Previous descriptions used a similar phrase for the Dire Wolf and Cyclops. Could their lack of a soul mean that they were dead? Or maybe undead?

The sudden thought of zombie goblins crossed Hazel’s mind, making her shudder at the idea. Even worse, if there were zombie goblins, then could that mean that there were also zombie humans?

Hazel shook her head, realizing her train of thought. Why was she so curious about the origin of the fractured monsters? She should only care about one thing regarding them…and that was if she was strong enough to take them down and gain experience.

Identifying both goblins, she confirmed that they were level two, so there was a chance she could win. Hopefully, they weren’t that much different from her fight with the Dire Wolf. If she played her cards right, both of those goblins should die before either of them could even touch her.

Getting her staff ready, she pointed it toward one of the goblins as they continued to converse with one another, unaware that one of them was about to die.

“Mana Bolt…” Instead of shouting the chant and blowing her cover, she merely whispered it, praying that it did the trick.

Thankfully, it did and slowly materialized into a bolt of pure condensed mana. It then shot forward, making a beeline for one of the goblins. In a split second, the bolt pierced one of their heads, making them collapse on the spot before shattering to pieces.

[Level 2 Fractured Goblin has been defeated!]

The other goblin witnessed them while letting out an inhuman yelp then hastily scanning its surroundings, attempting to locate Hazel. Meanwhile, she aimed her staff at the last one, prepared to fire off another Mana Bolt.

However, as she did, the goblin’s eyes quickly locked onto Hazel’s location, as if sensing her killing intent. She was startled by this, distracted long enough for the goblin to charge at her while shrieking like a maniac. It held a rusted dagger, flailing it around while aiming it at her.

“Tch…!” Hazel didn’t have a lot of time left and quickly cast her spell. “Mana Bolt!”

As soon as she fired the glowing blue projectile, it rocketed toward the goblin, determined to obliterate its head upon contact. However, as if something warned the monster, it quickly moved to the side, dodging the bolt with ease.

“Seriously?!”

It was just like with the Dire Wolf. Were fractured monsters more agile, or was it Hazel’s fault that her attack missed?

The Fractured goblin was fast, closing the distance between them in seconds. Just as the monster lunged and thrust its dagger at her, Hazel conjured up a Mana Shield, watching as her dome barrier molded around her.

Making contact with the dome, the dagger bounced off instantly. The goblin lost its footing thanks to the rebound, allowing Hazel to take advantage of its vulnerability. She quickly deactivated the shield and then swung her staff at the monster’s head, heavily bashing it and slamming it to the ground.

It lay on the ground, its body twitching uncontrollably.

It wasn’t dead yet, but from the way it was twitching, it was close. Before it could get up and attack her, Hazel fired another Mana Bolt, striking its chest and putting a massive hole through it, killing the goblin instantly.

She watched the fractured goblin burst into purple glass-like fragments as they dissipated immediately after.

[Level 2 Goblin has been defeated!]

[You have leveled up! You are now Level 2!]

Hazel smiled. “Yes, I’m level two!”

It seemed killing those goblins gave her enough experience to bring her to level two. And here she figured that it would take a couple more kills to get there. Of course, the more levels she gained, the harder it’d get to reach the next one.

“I should see how many points I got from that level up.”

Hazel quickly pulled up her status, checking how much she earned.

Status Window

Name: Hazel Thatcher

Level: 2

Class: Mage

Profession: None

Free Points: 3

Attributes:

Strength: 7

Agility: 8

Endurance: 8

Intelligence: 11

Wisdom: 13

Willpower: 12

“Three points for each level. That’s doable, I guess.”

She couldn’t be picky with how many free points to earn. That would simply have to do for her. Plus with the challenges, she’d be able to gain more points that way.

For now, Hazel put all three free points into Intelligence. Since this stat increased her mana capacity, she should put all of her points in it. More Mana meant more spells, and more spells also meant she could spam the hell out of it and take down her enemies that way.

Speaking of Mana, this dungeon used to be a world before it suffered from mana overload. That meant there were more than just Dire Wolves, Cyclopes, and Goblins roaming around there. There had to be humans here as well.

Hazel’s train of thought was interrupted by a loud groan coming from behind her. Turning around, a humanoid figure covered in purple cracks appeared, slashing its hand at her. The novice mage quickly jumped back, getting her side grazed by the figure.

“U-ugh…” Hazel groaned, clutching the scratch wound.

Glaring at the figure, her eyes widened with terror at what she was looking at.

It was a human but looked just like the other fractured creatures with the purple cracks spreading across its body. Not only that, but this person looked pale and lifeless. There were no muscles on its body, to the point where its skin was clinging to the bones instead. From its appearance, it looked like a walking corpse.

No, it was a corpse. Whatever this Fractured phenomenon was, it was not only corrupting every living thing in this world…but it also brought them back to life as zombies.

Then it dawned on Hazel regarding the Fractured Phenomenon. The description said that the fractured goblin was a hollow shell of its former self, lacking a soul. And the way it moved around was strangely like a rabid zombie.

Her theory was only proven right further after reading its description.

Level 1

A resident of this world before it became fractured! It is a mere husk of a vessel, lacking a soul, and roaming the area aimlessly and zombie-like. Its only desire now is to kill anything in sight, no matter who or what it is.

So, it really was like a zombie.

“H-huh?”

Distracted by the fractured human in front of her, Hazel didn’t notice as more of them started to appear one by one, emerging from buildings and corners of streets and alleys. It started with one, to two, to four, to eight, to over a dozen of them coming out of the woodwork, slowly surrounding Hazel like a zombie horde in horror movies.

Hazel looked around, trying to find a gap in the horde, but were all crowding her tightly, not giving her a chance to escape. A chorus of groans and snarls was heard from the fractured zombie-like humans, ready to grab and tear her apart limb from limb.

Hazel could only mutter these words to express her current predicament.

“Well, this took a turn for the worse, didn’t it?”