[You have leveled up! You are now Level 10!]

“Yes!” Hazel cheered, staring at the panel with a gleeful expression. “I’m finally level ten!”

Astrid watched from the sidelines while grinning, her arms crossed as she leaned against a tree. Hazel had been killing monsters for around an hour now, and she finally reached the threshold.

Even more exciting, her skills got upgraded as well.

[Skill [Baneful Sickle] is now Rank 4!]

[Skill [Decay] is now Rank 4!]

[Skill [Mana Bolt] is now Rank 5!]

[Skill [Mana Shield] is now Rank 3!]

The timer for both Baneful Sick and Decay have decreased more while nothing much had changed with Mana Bolt. Mana Shield’s timer had also decreased while the duration of the skill remaining activated had increased as well.

Overall, Hazel’s skills have been enhanced quite a bit which will assist her greatly in her next battle.

During the first half hour or so, Hazel mainly took on goblins and the like, but during the latter half of the hour, she then faced off against Orcs and even Fractured Treants. You’d think that since they were in a forest, there would be more Treants around this place, but there were very few.

Astrid theorized during Hazel’s XP farming that there might be little Treants due to the nature of the Fractured world. Since Treants were living and relied on nature to survive, the majority of them simply died and never mutated into Fractured. As for the ones that did, they ended up as Fractured Treants.

And to her surprise, they were a lot weaker compared to the Orcs or Goblins she faced before. In fact, they kind of reminded Hazel of the Fractured Humans that looked like zombies. Except the ones that regained their classes. Maybe Treants ran along the same parameters as humans when it comes to becoming a Fractured. Either way, they were far from dangerous and posed no problem for Hazel.

The Orcs on the other hand were. Much like her fight with them the last time, Hazel needed to constantly move around them while casting her spells. Unlike the Goblins who were pretty weak to Hazel now, the Orcs were physically stronger and faster. Even when she was several levels higher than them, her main stats were her Intelligence and Wisdom. So, in terms of physical stats, she was no different than a level 3 player to them, which is why she resorted to casting her spells.

Her dagger was also pretty useless as well since she couldn’t even hit them with it. They would either block the attack, or she wasn’t strong enough to dig the blade into their flesh.

So, Hazel resorted to abusing her magic spells, hitting them as much as she could and aiming at their vital areas like their head, neck, heart, etc. It took a bit longer since she was constantly moving while missing her shots a couple of times, but she managed to win in the end. And that got her to level ten.

Once she reached the threshold, Hazel walked over to Astrid with a big grin on her face.

“Alright, I managed to get to level ten!” Hazel gave Astrid a thumbs-up. “What’s next?”

Astrid released a sigh and pushed off the tree. “What’s next is fixing a certain problem I just realized while you were killing monsters.”

“And what’s that?” Hazel tilted her head to side curiously.

“We don’t have a main fighter, only ranged attackers.” The dark elf pointed at Hazel and herself, emphasizing that they were the latter fighters. “Although I’m able to fill the role, we need an actual Vanguard if we want to survive.”

Hazel froze upon realizing this before she started to ponder over the fact herself. During their first team-up, she was so preoccupied with watching Astrid easily dispatch the Orcs that it completely went over her head about their lacking Vanguard problem.

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She scratched her head and nervously chuckled, now seeing the problem.

“Yeah, I see what you mean now. Although, I have no idea how we can solve that issue at the moment. The only solution to that particular problem was getting another person to join us.”

Astrid shook her head irritably. “Teaming up with others that got dropped into this dungeon wouldn’t work. They can’t be trusted. Not when there’s the possibility of them possessing an ulterior motive.”

This was the same issue Hazel ran into when she thought about finding someone to form a team with. She couldn’t trust someone with her life since she didn’t know their true motives. For all she knew, her party member probably planned to betray and kill her to gain more XP.

Knowing humans and their greed, Hazel was certain that such a situation was possible. Which was why she was so hesitant about finding a partner. That is until she came across Astrid.

Speaking of which...

Hazel tilted her head to the side. “What about me, then? Technically, we only met just yesterday.” She narrowed her eyes toward the dark elf with an accusing gaze. “And that was after you tried to kill me.”

Hazel and Astrid only encountered one another yesterday, so it wasn’t like they were close friends, to begin with. Plus, Hazel only saved the dark elf because she needed someone to talk to and possibly have them become her ally so she could get out of this dungeon faster. And although they had a partnership, that didn’t mean that they were BFFs or anything like that.

Then again, there were certain actions that Hazel did that said otherwise. Like helping Astrid avenge her people and take down Dolk or even heal her by using the last healing potion. Even if they weren’t considered “friends” their partnership was certainly more than meets the eye.

Astrid hesitated to answer for a moment, guilt visibly present all over her face. She then placed her fist over her mouth and started coughing. “You are different. Not only did you save my life even after our initial encounter, but you also helped me get revenge for my people by dealing with Dolk.” She flicked her gaze to Hazel while flashing a soft smile. “To me, you are the only person I can trust in this place.”

“Aw, shucks…” Hazel rubbed her head, looking embarrassed all the while. “You’re making me blush here, Astrid.”

Even though it looked like Hazel was just messing around, she felt very happy that Astrid said this to her. Because of their circumstances, Astrid couldn’t afford to trust people in this place. She likely only trusted Hazel because she realized that she saved her life. And that trust only solidified more after the mage used a healing potion when she was at death’s door.

“So, what other ways can we get some allies?” Hazel asked curiously.

“I’m not sure,” Astrid pondered, rubbing her chin with a pensive expression. “Our best bet would have to be you, I believe.”

“Me?” She pointed at herself with a confused look before her eyes lit up as she came to a realization. “Oh, you mean having me use magic to summon something to help us fight the monsters here?”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” Astrid grinned, giving Hazel a thumbs up. “You have the capability to provide us with an ally. Either through a marker or a Grimoire page.”

“Yeah, that’s makes sense…”

Technically, Hazel already came across a skill that could’ve given them a fighter or two for battle. Sadly, that skill was the Raise Dead one, and it was useless in this dungeon since she needed corpses to actually make undead servants, and anything Fractured in this world would shatter after dying. So, that plan was a bust.

The next best thing would be a spell that summoned familiars, but she hadn’t come across something like that yet. She either needed to wait for her marker or try to find a skill page that allowed her to summon a familiar.

Until then, the pair was stuck with just themselves. So, that meant that one of them had to perform the role as vanguard while the latter focused on being the support. Thankfully, their recent battle together allowed them to adjust to it before it was time to leave.

“So, like before, I’ll be taking the lead in fighting monsters while you stay in the back and provide support.” Astrid declared with a firm voice.

“Yeah, I think that would be for the best,” Hazel agreed, not even attempting to oppose.

Unlike Hazel, Astrid’s stats were more focused on her physical stats like Strength, Agility, and Endurance. Those stats were vital when fighting enemies in close-quarters combat. Then there was the fact that Astrid was a lot more experienced in fighting thanks to her being the captain of her Greyvolk legion.

Hazel’s role was better suited as support where she fired magic from a distance, gave Astrid cover, and attacked any enemies that got the drop on her partner. If Hazel attempted to play a vanguard, then she would put her two-person team in jeopardy due to her physical stats being below the requirement for the job.

Sure, her Endurance stat was a little high, but in terms of strength and speed, she clearly wasn’t the right one for the job. Not when their lives were on the line in this situation.

Now then,” Astrid said, cracking her back as it made an audible crack. “I think it's time we started finding a way out of this forest. And after that, we then move on to the next island.”

Hazel nodded with a determined gaze.

This forest held no worth for the pair to stay there any longer. Their goal now was locating a sub-boss so they could defeat it and leave the dungeon, thus returning home so they could find their loved ones and protect them.

It was nearly time for them to bid farewell to this forest island.