After finally completing the Dungeon Challenge and obtaining her Uncommon Loot Box, Hazel made her way back to the Tavern. Putting the loot box next to the old one, the novice mage began her next objective; preparing for her departure.
Hazel had been on this Island for a few days now, and plenty of things occurred when she was there. She was dumped here for her tutorial, she fought hordes of zombie-like monsters, she obtained some new skills, she nearly died to a Fractured Cyclops, and also spent the last couple of days killing all of the Fractured monsters to complete her challenge.
Yeah, a lot of stuff happened here. But now it was time for Hazel to leave this island. There were a couple of reasons why she was doing this. The main reason was that she wanted to explore the dungeon and see what it had in store for her.
As for the other reason; she needed to keep leveling up and getting strong. The only way for her to accomplish this was to find more enemies to kill. Since Hazel eliminated all of the Fractured monsters on the island or at least the town, there were no more enemies to farm for XP.
So, Hazel’s best course of action to fix this was going to a new island. One that was ripe with monsters for her to slay.
With that goal in mind, Hazel began to pack her belongings into a travel bag. Neither of her loot boxes contained a backpack for Hazel to use, so she was forced to search for one within the town.
Thankfully, the magic shop from before had a decent bag, so the novice mage simply strolled over to the shop and took it. It’s not like anyone else was using it. So, no harm, no foul.
The bag she took looked like a medieval RPG-like brown leather travel pack with multiple pockets and compartments for storage. It was decently large. At least around the size of Hazel’s torso or a bit bigger.
Placing the bag down, Hazel grabbed her two loot boxes and started to grab the items inside and put them in the travel pack. The first things she stored in the bag were her food and water. These items were essential for her survival since they would stave off her hunger and thirst.
The next items were her healing and mana potions. Those were stored in a secure and protected compartment of the bag. This was because they were more or less fragile due to them being made of glass, and Hazel couldn’t afford to have them break while she was traveling.
Last but not least were the books she got from the shop. She technically didn’t need to take them, but they were her only source of entertainment while she was stuck here. All of her belongings like her phone and laptop didn’t come with her when she got dumped in the dungeon.
Hazel was still annoyed and depressed by this since all of her photos and saved documents were on those devices. Because of what happened, she essentially lost all of her precious work thanks to the system.
Of course, even if they came with her, something told Hazel that neither device would last very long in this dungeon. And thinking back to all the hell she went through; she couldn’t tell which fate was worse.
Losing your stuff because of the system or having it break to pieces while trying to survive in the dungeon. No, the latter seemed worse. Much worse, honestly.
“No point crying over spilled milk…” Hazel muttered, stuffing her books in the bag.
A couple of them were quite thick, with over four hundred pages. It got to the point where Hazel had to organize them in a way where she could fit all of the books in the same compartment without them bulging out awkwardly.
After spending several minutes struggling with this, Hazel’s bag was finally packed. All of her food, books, and potions were nicely stored in the pack.
“Now, let’s see how heavy it is…” She muttered grimly.
This was the moment of truth now. If Hazel planned to travel around the dungeon while she was stuck in this place, she needed to make sure that the bag was light enough for her to carry it around. If it wasn’t, she would be forced to abandon a few things to make it easier to transport.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
It was now or never…
Taking a deep breath, Hazel reached down and grabbed her bag with both hands. Then, in a single moment she hastily yet gently lifted it in the air. As she did, Hazel exhaled with relief, realizing that the bag was light enough to carry around without trouble.
“Thank goodness…” She sighed before placing her bag back on the floor. “I honestly expected the bag to be heavier.”
When traveling, you needed to travel light or you would only get dragged down by the extra weight in your bag. If Hazel had a car or something, then this wouldn’t have been a problem.
But she didn’t, so she had no choice but to make sure her bag was light enough to proceed with her journey. Thankfully, she managed to succeed on her first try without having to take anything out.
Whether it was sheer luck or not that she accomplished this was another story entirely. For now, Hazel was just thankful that all of her stuff fit and wasn’t weighing her down at all.
Once all of her stuff was in the bag, Hazel moved the two loot boxes back to their original spots and left them there. Then, she moved over to the bed she was sleeping in and took the blanket and pillow.
She knew it was impossible to cram the blanket and pillow in her pack, so she came up with another solution; strapping them around the bag instead. She was able to do this thanks to a long piece of sturdy rope that she found within the pack.
Using the rope, Hazel then proceeded to attach her other two items to her bag. They were neatly placed on the back of her pack so neither of them could pose a problem for her while she walked around.
Once she was finally done, Hazel lifted the bag and strapped it around her back, ready to finally leave this island. Before leaving her room, she took one last look around to make sure all of her stuff was with her.
Then, after confirming that all of her stuff was in her bag, Hazel left her room and closed the door behind her. Walking down the stairs, the mage made her way to the entrance to the tavern and boldly exited the building.
Once outside, Hazel was greeted with an ominous silence. Before she was constantly hearing the distant groans and snarls from Fractured Humans wandering around the town. But now, the place was devoid of sound, which gave Hazel chills.
“I’m not sure which is more disturbing…” Hazel mumbled to herself. “The Fractured humans constant groaning or this place being completely quiet. Let’s hope the next island won’t be as eerie as this place.”
Walking through the town, Hazel glanced at the buildings around her, taking in their empty, haunted appearance for one last time. It wasn’t like she was feeling sentimental, but she couldn’t help but feel something as her eyes stared at all of the architecture around her.
Exiting the town, the mage strolled over to the place where it all started; the church. Walking beside the cathedral, Hazel passed by it without a second thought, making her way over to the edge of her floating island. While at the edge, she couldn’t help but look down again, gazing into the vast void below her.
Sweat beaded down Hazel’s face as she pulled her eyes away from the void, a hint of fear swelling up within her. If she made a mistake, her fate would be falling into that endless space for who knows how long. With this frightful thought swarming her mind, Hazel hesitated to leave her little island. Maybe waiting here for a month wouldn’t be so bad. A couple of days had already passed, so she didn’t need to do this.
But…she did. Hazel needed to explore this dungeon so she could gain more levels and get stronger. This place was her chance to obtain enough power to protect herself and her loved ones when she returned home. After taking a deep breath and steeling her resolve, she managed to calm down and proceed with her departure.
A couple of inches across the edge of her island was another landmass, around the same size as it. Instead of having buildings and a church like hers, this floating island presented a vast forest with trees that were several meters tall. Hazel could tell that this place was probably a beautiful forest before this world became fractured.
Wasting no time, Hazel took a deep breath and backed up a couple of steps to give herself a running start. Her agility stat was only eleven, but she felt that was enough to get her to the other island.
Then her feet kicked off the ground, sprinting toward the edge. Getting there, her knees bent a little as Hazel propelled herself over the gap between the two islands. She was in the air for maybe a couple of seconds before landing on the new floating island with the forest.
She quickly patted down her body, and a wave of relief washed over her after realizing she wasn’t floating into space like she feared. It seemed that Gravity still affected her unlike the landmasses floating around the void. Maybe they had their own gravitational pull or something.
Hazel stood on her new island for a few moments, taking the time to adjust to her new surroundings with the large forest ahead of her. Before she walked over to the mass of tall trees, Hazel took one last look at her previous landmass. From where she was standing, both the church and town were in full view.
“Goodbye, old island,” Hazel waved at her previous location. “It’s time for me to move on.”
Declaring this, Hazel turned her back to her first island and marched forward to the forest in front of her. Determination and excitement filled her, realizing that she was beginning a new adventure, an adventure that would lead her to an expected encounter.