After finishing off the other Dire Wolves, Hazel shambled her way back to where her pack was. It took a little while due to her being lost and also her injuries, but she still managed to get back and recover her belongings.
Making it to the tree where she placed her pack, the mage slumped next to it. Leaning against the tree, she sighed deeply.
“That…was certainly something,” She mumbled with a groan.
She didn’t expect to encounter an Alpha Dire Wolf. Hell, she didn’t even believe that one existed. Then again, there were also the Classed Fractured Humans, so Hazel should keep an open mind when it came to this.
Hazel then reached into her pack and pulled out one of her Healing potions. While grimacing, she uncorked the glass bottle and chugged it down. Drinking the potion, her injuries slowly healed.
The claw marks all over her body from the Alpha mended together, as if time was rewinding on itself. A few moments passed and she was completely healed. Not a single wound from her fight was present.
Once she was healed, Hazel used the opportunity to distribute her points from her level up.
Status Window
Name: Hazel Thatcher
Race: Human
Level: 12
Class: Mage
|Free Points: 3
Attributes:
Strength: 7
Agility: 13
Endurance: 20
Intelligence: 30 (+8)
Wisdom: 21 (+3)
Willpower: 12
Staring at her stats for a moment, she decided to increase her Agility stat. Although it was evident during her fight with the Alpha, she needed more speed. Despite being quicker than before, Hazel barely avoided the beast’s attacks. And her wounds from the battle proved it.
Hopefully, once her agility reached twenty, she wouldn’t have to worry about putting any more points into that stat.
Putting all three points into Agility, Hazel let out a sight groan.
“I really want to increase Intelligence and Wisdom more…”
While Hazel’s intelligence stat was at nearly forty, that was only because of her magic ring. Without it, it would still be in the thirties.
Hopefully, she’d be able to find an ally that could assist her in battle. Like another player. Because she needed one right now.
Mages weren’t meant for close-quarter battles. At least, Hazel wasn’t meant for it. Despite surviving against the monsters in this dungeon, that could easily be chalked up to luck. And she wasn’t sure how long it would stay that way before she ran out of it.
More than that, Hazel was extremely desperate to strike up a conversation with someone. Actually, anyone at this point.
It’s been around a week or so since Hazel had communicated with a living being. The last person she talked to was her mother, and just thinking about what she was going through only dug the mage deeper into depression.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Hazel read from an article that humans were social creatures and could only last without human interaction for so long. A week had already passed and she could feel this inexplicable feeling of loneliness and solitude slowly building up within her.
If this continued any longer, there was a high possibility that Hazel could lose a bit of her sanity in the process. A part of her even feared that she would start talking to inanimate objects like a volleyball or something.
The only thing keeping her mind busy were the monsters roaming around this dungeon. She was so focused on killing her enemies that her life of solitude hadn’t fully dawned on her psyche yet.
But Hazel knew that this wouldn’t last for long. She was very certain of that.
“I need to keep moving…” She mumbled, reaching for her pack.
Placing it on her back, Hazel slowly stood up. Because she was in a forest, she had no clue as to where to go. Back in the town, she would normally take shelter in the Tavern to rest up before heading back out to continue killing monsters.
But this Island was different. There were no buildings for Hazel to go inside and take a break. And that posed a bit of a problem.
Since there was no shelter that Hazel could take refuge in, she was left with only two options. Make her own shelter or find a nice tree to climb and sleep on. The former option seemed more doable, so Hazel decided to try that out.
Instead of searching the forest to set up her camp, the mage decided to just do it in her current location. Though, that was mainly because she didn’t want to do something so bothersome. Not only that, but it was possible that she would be picky of the spot and cause an even bigger hassle for herself.
So, to avoid such a scenario, her current location was where her shelter would be. This left a rather important question; what kind of shelter should Hazel make?
Building a cabin was out of the question. Although it would make her life more comfortable while she was within this forest, building it was another problem entirely. Plus, Hazel had zero experience in making one, so the possibility of such a thing happening was practically non-existent.
Which left one other option; bushcraft.
She irritably scratched her head. “I don’t know much about bushcraft, but it might be my only hope.”
Despite never doing bushcraft before, Hazel had at least seen some videos online where other people did it. And with that knowledge, it should be possible to craft a decent shelter for her to sleep in.
Her best option would be to make an underground shelter or at least a dug-out version. Having her shelter above ground would only attract monsters like goblins, Dire Wolves, and who knew what else was out here.
“A foxhole should do the trick,” The novice mage mused.
A foxhole was a type of shelter used by the military during wartime. It was a type of trench-like structure that allowed soldiers to hide from their enemies and attack when they least expected it.
And building one was very simple. All she needed to do was dig a decent-sized hole and craft a cover for it.
However, Hazel did come across a slight problem.
“I don’t have a shovel to dig a hole…”
Hazel could also use her hands to dig a hole, but she felt that was a bit unnecessary. So, how should she deal with this issue?
Her gaze trailed down to her staff still in her grasp. Seeing the gnarled wood, a small smile formed.
“Yeah…that will work.”
And just like that, Hazel came up with an idea. A rather genius idea, at that.
Since Hazel was a mage, the solution to any situation was obvious; magic. And the novice mage knew just the spell to handle this little predicament of hers.
Pointing his staff down, Hazel cast a single mana bolt directly into the ground. Dirt and grass pelted her face as the rod of mana created a small crater from the impact.
Hazel stared at the dent in the earth with a cocked brow. A moment later, her smile deepened upon her realization.
“Oh yeah…” She beamed. “This will definitely do.”
Keeping her staff directed at the ground, Hazel quickly got to work making a hole for her shelter. Who knew that magic would come in handy in such a way?