In the end, instead of a raft, she had opted for a single trunk, big and sturdy enough to support her and keep her head and shoulders out of water. It was all that was required for her to sing and have her hands free enough to manipulate the water current. All she had done was to tie up some branches to its sides with ropes to stabilize it, so it would not turn and accidentally pull her under to her death.

'Pretty sure any boy scout would cry seeing the mess I made but well... if it works, it works' She thought, not really proud of her crafting skills. 'Time to take the plunge, literally'

She only had to push for three meters before the current started to pick up and she had to hug the dead tree for dear life. The Elemental danger zone was fast approaching and soon, she found herself in the middle of the current and was actively putting all her energy and concentration into diverting it. And then, the Elemental was finally behind her, and with him, the monstrous wave she was supposed to ride on.

And finally, The shock of the wave had been so violent that she almost forgot to keep singing, while putting every bit of magic she had left into using that sheer power of nature to get herself to the shore.

Only for the giant Elemental to freeze in its tracks and look straight at her. Or actually, looking straight at the anomaly that was the trunk behind her, she realized as she kept singing while retreating, one step backward at a time, the giant completely ignoring her. And then, the Elemental clumsily reached for the trunk, accidentally swinging it narrowly passing over her head, before putting it back and looking around for the culprit, the cause of the perturbation it could not see. Then it took back the trunk again, and gave it a good shake, undoing all her hard work, before it decided to toy with it while resuming its patrol around the lake.

Shaking hard but still singing, Sophia quickly made her way to the island's only point of interest, that white brick building with the metal double door she had seen from the other side of the shore. Fearing for her life, she opened it as quickly and quietly as possible before she finally stopped singing, sighed, dropped to her knee, and cried her stress out before she even thought of looking around.

That was when she saw it: The chest, right before her eyes, with no corridors or labyrinth in sight.

She couldn't believe her eyes. 'I could not be that simple' she thought as she started meticulously checking the floor and the wall for traps, hidden doors, or anything that would prove that chest was not what it appeared to be.

"Maybe it's a mimic, readying itself to eat any unsuspecting greedy sapient trying to open it. Or maybe the actual key to unlock the real trial is hidden within that chest. But what if I'm wrong." She thought out loud.

The chest looked exactly like the two others and Prince immediately recognised those for what they were. So unless it was designed to be an exact replica, that should be the real thing. Or maybe it's not and the real chest was elsewhere. But no. It had to be it. The map said so.

And then, she started laughing. The chain chests had lured them into a pattern, a false sense of security, only to throw off her expectations entirely. And now that she thought about it. Well... of course that giant Elemental outside was enough of a trial already. Getting past it, even with her diminutive presence and her shape water cantrip... it had been no small feat.

She almost died, twice, at the hands of that very Elemental without it being even aware of her presence. Or well... the giant had suspected her presence. It had searched for her. Taken her way out of the island from her. But still, it had not managed to find her. Which actually made perfect sense.

With her singing diminutive presence, she was not even an annoying insect to that giant. She was nothing. She did not even exist. She was less than that trunk the giant had chosen to play with, unfortunately taking her way out.

Which train of thought got her back to her current question:

'That chain chest... does it even float?'

If it didn't, she was screwed. She would have done all this for nothing and she was stuck there too.

If it did, it would be both her team prize and her way out, which was somewhat ironic.

And it was more wood than metal so it should definitely float? She would not bet her life on it but surely, it should. Right? Anyway, no time like the present. Time to put that particular theory to the test.

As for the conclusion from the only stranded islander expert: Yeah. It's floating. Actually better than expected. It probably had something to do with being mostly empty, since well... nothing was supposed to be in there until she opened it.

And so, she jumped in the water and proceeded to make the return trip to the other shore, singing and pushing her magic with extra desperation as she knew the giant Elemental was already suspicious of her. And so, before even getting to the shore, from the moment she felt she could run rather than swim, she instinctively separated herself from the chest and kept pushing it to the shore with her magic, using it as a decoy while she herself ran to the shore unassisted and tried to put as much distance as she could from the incriminating chest.

And indeed, before she could even react, an entire tsunami had slammed into the chest direction, once, twice, and thrice before the giant Elemental even bothered to get closer and check. Even with putting as much distance as she could, she had still been projected into the air and slammed into a nearby tree trunk, before landing into a bush that saved her life, as the shock had completely interrupted her singing.

And this time around, the water Elemental did not leave. It knew of the intruder into its territory and had been determined to find it, even if, luckily enough for her, it failed again. But in its rampage, trees had been uprooted as if they had been grass, the rocky beach, upturned, the chest, buried, completely leveling that part of the shore into smithereens. And worst part was: if only for three more meters to its left, the Elemental would have once again overkill her.

Even after it was well and truly gone, she did not dare make a single move until the night had fallen once again onto the third floor. And then, and only then, did she feel adventurous enough to risk her life retrieving the buried chest and then, put as much distance as she could from her trauma.

That walking nightmare, that absolute monster, that existential threat to all living things.

Really, if that was a 3 on the scale of difficulty by the system standard, she did not think anything or anyone could actually survive the twelfth floor, in spite of the alleged evidence indicating otherwise.

Yet, she did survive it, with a shit ton of luck and tools that had been available to them for the very first floor... so maybe... only maybe... it was actually an issue of problem-solving. It was clearly not an enemy they were meant to kill. And she had successfully sneaked past it although it nearly killed her, thrice. Maybe there was a better approach than the one she had chosen. Maybe someone cleverer or crazier than she was might have found a better approach to this problem. What she knew however was that many had already tried and failed.

But she lived.

And she never thought such a simple fact that she had almost taken for granted could be such a cause for celebration cause even now, hours later, that was all she could actually feel: that primal visceral fear and the absolutely exhilarating feeling of simply being alive.

She could not even think properly. She could not even sleep, despite her last rational thought of finding shelter on a nearby tree, to get some rest. And in the end, she did end up resting like this, completely catatonic yet perfectly awake, and not in the slightest bored at the fact she had been doing nothing.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Until she finally recovered enough for her brain to properly function again.

And remember that she was supposed to get back to Prince and Paolo.

'Oh shit, Paolo.' It had been the grand profound thought that got her to finally do something, opening the system tools and writing him a message:

Got the chest. Nearly died. You? — Sophia.

It was all she had managed to write, pushing through the debilitating tiredness she now felt.

And then she waited. She did not want to allow her to sleep or do anything else until she got an answer.

I'm fine. I'm still stuck in my tree, still in good company. I don't think they gonna leave anytime soon.

It was bad news. But it got her thinking. She could not do anything to help on her own. But she could not stay there doing nothing or leaving her friend to die. And so she responded.

Tired. I'm gonna sleep. Hang in there. I will get us help.

And then, she passed out before she got to read his reply.

★☆★

Sophia woke up to the pending system notifications which she quickly dismissed, feeling refreshed as never before. Not only was she feeling energized and ready to tackle the entire world, but everything suddenly felt so vibrant that she could now appreciate her heightened senses in a new way.

That forest, that valley, despite its dangers, was both comforting in its familiarity and beautiful in its own unique way. And the attention to detail the system must have put into creating this floor, it was truly artistic and picturesque in spite of how twisted and crazy it was. There were more to those floors than just challenges and a desperate struggle for survival.

The intense color palette of yellow and green leaves over the white and brown bark, the blue of the fake sky, ever-so-slightly different than the one from Earth, the fake bright sun itself too, which she would swear had such a peculiar pink hue to it. And the dinosaurs themselves with the vivid iridescent colors of their feathers and scales almost felt like a fashion statement. If it had not been for the two elementals, they would have looked like reptilian gods ruling over the heavens.

Except they wanted to eat every human they came across, that's it. Yet, she kind of got their point of view: it was their paradise, humans looked like prey and were, unfortunately trespassing where they did not belong.

Even singing to blend in with the Weave felt even easier that day, its music feeling softer and welcoming.

But not only that, it helped her in her search for other humans, as the song signaled to her as distant, faint, discordant noises within the music. And so she realized she was having an epiphany about the tutorial, the Weave, and her place in it.

Even while lessening her impact through her song, her very presence was a disturbance, just as much as her peers. And yet, with awareness, she could now make herself less of a disturbance and help her song with her very actions.

She could now make herself less, period.

As a result, her speed had slowed down to a crawl, but as a trade-off, she moved now with more awareness and purpose than she ever had, careful of her every step, careful of her environment, and moving around with more purpose.

She found the first signs of other humans south of the Earth's Giant lonely hills. With dead carcasses that were far too clean not to be human works, as well as tree markings, and finally, cairns.

Humans had been here for far longer than she assumed. And as the gregarious species they were, humans had to join forces and form larger groups to survive, whether they liked it or not. But concentrating that much population in the same place, even for such a short time, had already taken its toll on the environment.

Even the mighty dinosaurs now avoided that place, which had been excessively overhunted. Then the obvious signs of human industries. And finally, the artificial palisade of living and fallen trees knotted together with roots that did not look natural. Yet Sophia might have missed the door in the wall if it had not been so heavily guarded.

She rolled her eyes. It was not the dinosaurs they guarded the entrance against. But other humans. Even in a place like this, it seems there was no cure against rivalry, politics, or whatever else was at play here.

It made her reconsider asking for their help, as they might not be exactly welcoming.

Yet, she did not have much of a choice. It was either seeking their help or giving up on Paolo.

And so she took the risk and stopped chanting.

"We got intruders!" A voice said almost immediately before another took charge. "You there, show yourself immediately."

It looked like their guards were competent at their job for spotting her so quickly.

"I mean no harm. My friends are in trouble. I'm merely seeking help." She declared, walking out of cover, hand raised, appeasing.

"Who are you working with?" The guard leader asked back, still very much hostile.

"Just me, my friend, and familiar. We are with no one and only recently entered this floor." She responded.

"How recently are we talking about?" The guard insisted.

"Three, maybe four days top. I have been unconscious for quite some time after a bad encounter." She summarized, feeling that a half-truth would be less dangerous than a white lie, or the actual truth.

Yet, her somewhat ingenuity did help ease some tension.

"At ease everyone, just a new fish rogue, or so it seems. The chief will see the bottom of it." The leader instructed his men before looking her straight in the eyes. "You may enter this place and keep your head after leaving your armor and weapons behind. Do not try to resist. Any funny business and you are dead. If you are really who you claim to be, everything you own will be returned to you."

That was quite a drastic policy. But she had not much of a choice. If she refused or tried to leave, they would probably shoot first and talk later

And so she did as she was told, dropping everything on the spot as she stripped down her armor.

"Good." The man approved. "Now follow me."

And so they entered the walled village full of tents, making the whole place look like some medieval reconstitution festival, as most people were going around with their business in armor, bartering for goods, playing dice, and or doing whatever chores they had been assigned to.

It did not take long to reach their destination as the chief tent was obviously the larger one: about four individual tents stitched together.

"Here is a new fish, claiming she needs help for her friends." The guard leader said upon entering.

The tent smelled of incense and was surprisingly dark and the figure of the chief, was impenetrable, probably on purpose.

"Thank you. You may leave. I will deal with her." An old, stern woman's voice rose from the dark, commanding obedience.

"As you wish." The young man said and quickly retreated.

"You must be asking yourself why the hell is there such an old lady among young people such as you, right?" The voice said, still hidden in the dark.

Actually, that little discrepancy did not even occur to her but now that it was pointed out, she did was a little curious. And so she politely nodded.

"Well... believe it or not, I'm just the same age as you." The old lady's voice said. "The tutorial took a lot from me. And I can see it did the same to you too, witch."

Again, Sophia simply nodded politely, half-relieved that she did not have to do further presentations.

"You are not even freaked out." The old woman observed, sounding pleasantly surprised. "Already encountered a mind reader, I see. And you want to bargain your friend's life in exchange for your own. Bold. But I'm intrigued. How do you propose to get my people to the next floor exactly?"

So the chief could read her mind but not everything. She was probably limited to surface-level thoughts. And so she thought of showing her a sample of her first fight against the raptors, as she had been singing to get their attention.

"I understand. Very well. It seems you are who you claimed to be, in need of the help you came to ask for, and able to repay that debt the way you planned to. The only thing I need is proof of your morality. Tell me, with your own words this time: Why should I trust you to keep your deal once your friend is safe?"

That last question did startled Sophia a bit. It was a trick question. She could not prove her trustworthiness to that woman, just as much as she would not be able to prove her innocence in a court. It was a devil's proof.

"I can't. I just want my friend to get to the next floor as much as you do. My only concern is that I might not survive long enough to provide a sufficient distraction. Help me with both of those things and I swear on all my lives I will keep that earth giant distracted until everyone gets through. And I mean EVERYONE."

She did not care about this camp rivalries. But if she was to forfeit one life for the greater good, she did plan to save as many lives as she could.

"I can't help you" The old woman finally said. " But I know someone who might. While my men are going to help you rescue your friend, I'm going to go meet them personally and hopefully secure their help."

That exchange had been a lot more reasonable and straightforward than she had expected. But well... mind reading helped.

"Thanks for your help." Sophia finally said, lowering her head in respect.

"Don't thank me yet," The chief said, extending her bony, half-rotten hand for her to shake.

And that's when she finally realized it.

That woman wasn't just old. She wasn't quite alive anymore.