Hazel and Astrid trekked through the forest, trying to find their way to the edge of the island and see which island was next on their list to go to. Much like before, Hazel was finding it a little difficult to navigate through the woods due to the uneven ground along with the dozens of slight hills and roots protruding from the dirt.

As usual, Astrid easily moved around as if she were a natural explorer, though in this case, she certainly was. This was also why the dark elf was taking the lead and finding a way out of the forest. She had the most experience in forest exploration considering that she lived in one her whole life, so Hazel trusted Astrid to get them out of there.

While finding the edge of the island, Hazel looked through her status and skills one more time just to understand her current progress.

Status Window

Name: Hazel Thatcher

Race: Human

Level: 10

Class: Mage

Free Points: 0

Attributes

Strength: 8

Agility: 10

Endurance: 16

Intelligence: 30

Wisdom: 18

Willpower: 12

Her stats were pretty satisfactory. Intelligence was finally at thirty points, which meant she could focus on her other two stats, Endurance and Wisdom.

She needed to get both of them to twenty points. Or at least Endurance. As for Agility, she still hadn’t decided whether or not she should invest some points in it like Endurance.

On the one hand, she could get faster than before, but that would also be a waste of points considering Hazel’s mage class. Endurance was an exception since it helped her survive the Dungeon by increasing her body’s durability.

Putting aside her future decisions regarding her attributes, Hazel mentally got rid of her status. She then pulled up some of her skills to check out their progress once more.

Rank: 5

A skill that allows the user to summon a bolt of condensed mana to strike their enemies down. User will be able to summon three mana bolts at once which has a seven-second cooldown.

Rank: 4

Gives the caster the ability to fire a cursed sickle-like blade at their enemies. The sickle is made of cursed energy that damages the enemy over time. The cursed energy is increased by five percent, making it more potent. It’s a skill that is highly used by Witches. The cooldown lasts seven 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’re nothing but ash and dust. It is a special ability used by witches due to its fast-acting effects. The Cooldown lasts twenty-seven seconds.

Rank: 3

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.

“This is looking good…” Hazel grinned, seeing how strong her skills had become.

Although the majority still had cooldowns, some of them had great features. One of them was Baneful Sickle with its increased cursed energy.

Since cursed energy slowly deteriorates enemies if they get inflicted with the effect, increasing its potency would make it even more dangerous and lethal. Thankfully, cursed energy can still affect Fractured monsters, so her skill upgrade would make things even easier than before.

“How much longer until we reach the edge?” Hazel asked.

“It shouldn’t be far…” Astrid answered, keeping her eyes forward. “I’m starting to see more of the purple space ahead of us, so we should be close.”

That was good to hear. Once Hazel and Astrid got to the edge, they could decide which island was available to choose from. Hopefully, it wasn’t another forest island. Hazel had her fill of this place and wanted to change her surroundings quickly.

“Oh, look ahead!” Astrid pointed into a field of trees. “We’re right in front of the edge now! Let’s go!” She sprinted forward, heading straight for the edge of the forest.

At that moment, Hazel followed along and ran with her. The pair hastily made their way to their destination, breaking through the trees, and were greeted with the vast purple space before them along with multiple landmasses floating around nearby.

Hazel and Astrid gazed into the purple void, mesmerized by the majestic and serene view, like something out of a sci-fi movie.

“Okay, so which island should we go to next?” Hazel asked, counting the available landmasses they could choose to go to.

From what she could see, there were at least three islands that caught her interest. Over to her right was Temple Island with what appeared to be a Greek-style temple situated there. In the middle was a tower Island with a very gothic and medieval stronghold on top of a hill of sorts. Lastly was the island to her right which was a massive city with large and noticeable architecture sited within it.

However, there was one problem that Hazel noticed…

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“That depends,” Astrid replied. “Which one was the closest and didn’t require us to not jump from platform to platform without us falling to our deaths?”

Apparently, it seemed that all three islands that the pair spotted were far from their current landmass. So much so, that to get to one of them, they had no choice but to jump on small chunks of floating land that paved the path to them.

This brought up several issues that Hazel and Astrid noted. One of them was the fact that if they attempted to make their way to one of these islands, they needed to be careful when jumping onto one of the small landmasses. If they failed to hop on one, then they were doomed to fall into the void below them.

Unlike everything else that floated in the void, the player pair was unaffected by it. Meaning that if they fall, they can’t just drift back up and find their way back. And that was only one of the few issues that they noted.

Another problem was monsters. Gazing up at space, Hazel could spot several creatures flying around in the void. They were too far to make out what kind of species they were, but just the fact that they were flying worried Hazel and Astrid.

Although Hazel never fought any airborne monsters in the dungeon, she was at least familiar with them thanks to her countless encounters with them in video games. And it was thanks to this that she knew that flying creatures were the most annoying enemies to fight.

Since these monsters had wings, they could fly around and attack their prey; swooping down and striking them, and before the prey had enough time to counterattack, they flew away and avoid getting hit in the first place.

In conclusion, they were very troublesome to deal with.

“Putting aside the issues,” Hazel began. “Which island should we pick to go to first?”

“Well…” Astrid mused, crossing her arms and staring at the islands. “The city island seemed promising since it appeared to be extremely big and likely had plenty of monsters for us to fight. Plus, there are likely resources that we can use while roaming around within it.”

Hazel nodded at Astrid’s explanation. The city was certainly a good choice since it was large and had plenty of room to travel around. But, after her experience with the town behind the church, she was a bit hesitant.

If it was anything like the Town Island, then the entire city might have been burdened with Fractured Humans. This meant that Hazel would experience a second Zombie movie experience, and she had no desire to do that.

Besides, there was an island aside from the city one that piqued her interest. And that was the Tower island in the middle. She wasn’t sure why, but there was something about that island that caught her attention. She felt drawn to it. Like it was calling out to her.

“I think we should check out the Tower first,” Hazel voiced her opinion.

Astrid turned to her with a curious gaze. “May I ask why?”

“I feel like there’s something there that can help us. Like a Gut feeling, you know?”

“While I am curious about what this gut feeling of yours is…I’m not sure.” The dark elf looked hesitant regarding the tower, and Hazel couldn’t exactly blame her.

On the surface, it didn’t look all that special. But somehow, for some reason, Hazel felt a strong urge to go there. It was like a compulsion, urging her to go to the tower no matter what.

“Okay, so how about this, then?” Hazel said, snapping her fingers. “We’ll go to the tower first and see what’s inside. If there isn’t anything useful, then we’ll immediately leave and head straight toward the city island. That way, we’ll cover more ground.”

This was the best solution Hazel could come up with that would satisfy both of them. They’ll take a short trip to the Tower Island and investigate it before heading to the city. Hopefully, Astrid would at least consider the idea.

The dark elf pondered for a moment, weighing her options. It didn’t take long as she closed her eyes and sighed. “Yeah, I guess we can take a short trip. Besides, there might be something useful in that tower that could definitely help us.”

Hazel smiled, feeling elated that she managed to convince Astrid. A part of her also couldn’t wait to get to the tower and see what it had in store for them.

“Alright, let’s get moving…” Hazel declared, walking over to the edge of the island.

Floating a couple of inches from the edge was a large platform. It was around as big as a bedroom floor and floated very still in front of them. Staring at the platform, Hazel’s knees buckled a bit. Although it wasn’t her first time, jumping onto a floating platform gave her chills.

If she messed up, her next destination was the endless abyss right below her. But she couldn’t quit now while she was ahead. Especially with the tower ahead of her. She had to see this through. To the very end.

Steeling her resolve, she then jumped on the platform. Thankfully, her sudden landing didn’t nudge the landmass whatsoever. If anything, it barely budged when her feet planted on the surface.

Hazel let out a heavy sigh as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. Thank goodness that she didn’t screw up. It would’ve been bad that after everything she went through, she would miss her step and descend into the black abyss.

While taking a couple of breaths to calm her nerves, out of the corner of her eye, she watched Astrid casually hop onto the platform with ease, her face completely unfazed as she landed. Hazel narrowed her eyes begrudgingly at the dark elf. For some reason, seeing Astrid so calm while she had to steel herself to make the jump irked her deeply.

However, there were more important things than Hazel’s petty pride. And that was traversing through the floating platforms to get to the tower island.

“We shouldn’t waste any time,” Astrid declared, rushing toward the next platform ahead of them.

As she took off into a sprint, her knees bent and she sprung herself into the air, heading straight for the second landmass. Once Astrid landed, she rolled to a stop and turned around to face Hazel.

Hazel scoffed at the sight before taking a running start as well. Although she wasn’t as fast as Astrid, her agility stat still came in clutch to assist her in gaining enough momentum and hopping toward the next platform.

She not so graciously landed on it, nearly tripping when she came to a stop. Thankfully, she was nowhere near the edge when this happened, so she was safe.

Hazel couldn’t help but let out another sigh, feeling a bit of stress and anxiety get the best of her. Her eyes then glanced back at the forest island, seeing how it was getting farther away from them.

Once they get far enough away from the island, it would likely be too late to turn back. Of course, Hazel had no intentions of returning. If she did, that would only waste valuable time she could use to get out of this dungeon faster.

So, Hazel turned her back to the forest island while setting her sights on the Tower. There was no turning back now.

Before Hazel and Astrid could jump toward the next platform, both of them heard a loud screech coming from above them. And when they raised their heads to see what made that noise, their eyes widened with fear as flying monsters began to descend upon them with haste, making more screeching noises as they did.

As the creatures got closer, Hazel was able to make out what they were, and she grimaced at what her next foe was going to be.

They were humanoid beasts that strangely resembled monkeys. Their bodies were covered in grayish-blue fur and even had the long tails of a monkey as well. Except for some reason, these monkeys had wings sprouting out their backs.

They were Flying Monkeys…like the ones from The Wizard of Oz.

While Hazel tried to process what she was looking at, the flying monkeys continued to descend from the sky, hastily making their way toward the pair with malicious intent.