Much like before, everyone within the base was busy gathering supplies, using those supplies, or something else entirely. After what Hazel and Astrid did last night, the duo simply took it easy for a little bit and watched everyone else working their hearts out. It wasn’t like either of them wasn't going to help, but they were still a bit exhausted from slaying spiders last night.
While sitting around, Hazel pulled up her status window to take a look at it while also passing the time by doing something.
Status Window
Name: Hazel Thatcher
Race: Human
Level: 27
Class: Witch
Free Points: 0
Attributes:
Strength: 7
Agility: 16
Endurance: 20
Intelligence: 87 (+33)
Wisdom: 80 (+18)
Willpower: 22 (+10)
Both Intelligence and Wisdom were at eighty points, while Wisdom was close to one hundred with the help of her equipped items. She only needed one more level, and both stats would be at a hundred points.
Seeing this, Hazel was very satisfied with her progress. Of course, that didn’t mean she wasn’t planning to get stronger. Her main goal was still to make it to Level 30 and maybe past that before their big fight with the spider queen.
If it were possible, she would’ve attempted to use Runecrafting to speed up her current progress, but that was unfortunately not possible due to her lack of knowledge of the topic. From what she read in the book, Runecrafting was a delicate and meticulous profession. Which meant Hazel couldn’t just place down random runes and make them work. She had the craft the runes into a specific pattern to trigger their power.
And Hazel wasn’t at the level where she could try this. Especially with her being in such a rush in her preparations for the Spider Queen’s arrival. So, that option was out of the window and for a future topic after everything else was settled.
Speaking of the Spider Queen, Hazel was still curious about the rewards after completing the quest involving the monster.
“Curse of the Spider Queen!”
Objective: Free yourself from the Spider Queen’s curse!
Reward: 1,500 World Points and an Epic Loot Box
It seemed that with each System Quest she received, aside from the Loot Box, she also seemed to obtain something called World Points. These were the points related to one of the requirements for making her world an Official World among the Multiverse.
If her memory was right, her world needed to obtain a million points to meet the requirement. Then there were the other two requirements.
[The Requirements to make your World officially part of the Multiverse that stands among the other Powerful worlds are as follows:
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Your World must have an Official Guild that manages it and its residents! (There can be more than one Guild, but there must be a single guild that acts as the Representative for your world.) [Global Representative Guild Established (0/1)]
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Your World must accumulate at least 1,000,000 World Points from completing Quests and Dungeons created by the System. [World Points Acquired (67,755/1,000,000)]
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Your World must compete in the World Trials, where Players Represented by the Official Guild must complete certain trials and tasks against other newly integrated worlds. (This requirement can only be completed when the first and second requirements have been met!)
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Hazel scanned the panel, showing her the other requirements. From what was written, the last requirement could only be completed until she finished the first two, which were the Global Guild and World Points.
Taking a look at the current World Points, Hazel was a bit taken aback that they already obtained over half a hundred thousand points. However, she was more relieved than anything since that meant the second requirement was pretty easy to accomplish.
However, what caught her attention was the last requirement which she needed to complete the first two to actually do this one. Hazel had no clue as to what a World Trial was, and according to the description, her world wasn’t the only one doing this.
Hazel wasn’t sure how to feel about other worlds being forced to do these quests. Then there was the problem that these worlds were also going to be doing those trials as well. What concerned her most about the World Trials was that her world would be competing in them. That meant the other worlds would be competing against her during them. And she didn’t like the sound of that.
Her world along with the others was competing to become an Official world, once all of the requirements were met, they would be forced to participate in the World Trials and try to world. And if they failed, their home would only end up as a resource planet for the other worlds among the Multiverse. That was something Hazel couldn’t allow under any circumstances.
Which was why she needed to get stronger. Strong enough to where, when the time came, she would be able to face off against the beings of the Official Worlds. She must possess enough power to where no one could trample over her and the people she loved. Not only that, but she must be strong enough to kill those higher beings from the Official Worlds that posed a threat to her home.
It wasn’t going to be easy, but Hazel was determined to get stronger in preparation for what was ahead of her. The Spider Queen was only the beginning of her troubles. It may be the first, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last time that Hazel would be forced to go up against strong opponents who could end her life if she were careless.
Hazel continued to stare at the panels displaying the Official World Requirements with a stern and contemplative look on her face. But the more she stared at it, the more pressured she felt regarding the stakes. It was becoming so overwhelming that she wasn’t sure if it was possible to do it.
“Is everything alright?” Hazel heard her mother call out to her.
She then looked up from the screen to see her mother walking over with two cups of coffee in her hands. A warm smile was present on her face as she walked closer to her daughter, offering one of the cups.
“Thanks,” Hazel said, reaching for the cup. “You look like you’ve been up all night.”
Hazel noticed after she returned to the Jetport that her mom was still awake, either helping in healing players or assisting in other tasks like transporting materials from one area to another. She wasn’t surprised by this, since before the world was assimilated by the System, Evelyn Thatcher had worked overtime at her Job.
“I could say the same to you,” Evelyn stated calmly, briefly glancing at her daughter. “By the way, how was your trip to Portland last night?”
A cold chill ran down Hazel’s spine as soon as those words were uttered from her mother’s mouth in such a calm yet commanding manner. It looked like she found out about her little sneak-out after all. A part of Hazel wanted to play dumb and say she had no idea what her mom was talking about, but she knew that wouldn’t work.
“...How did you know?” She questioned, not even bothering to try to hide it since there was no point in doing that.
“I was curious about what you were doing and decided to go up to the roof and check on you. That was when I saw you with your dark elf friend and a rather peculiar and massive creature with you.”
It looked like her mom caught her when they were just about to leave, if she was mentioning Nycteris. Hazel could guess the rest.
“Did you tell Zoe or anyone else about what you saw?”
While Hazel didn’t believe that her mom would say anything unnecessary, she also couldn’t be certain that she wouldn’t. It was clear that she trusted Zoe and the others, much like how Hazel trusted Astrid and vice versa. So, Evelyn might have told one of her companions, like Zoe, about what she saw on the roof.
However, what Hazel heard next turned out to be the opposite.
“No, I didn’t tell anyone else about it,” Evelyn stated with a heavy sigh. “I figured you had your reasons for doing this and decided not to pry. Of course, as your mother, I have to keep you informed that I am aware of your activities. Understand?”
Despite being a Healer, Hazel’s mom emitted such a menacing aura that she could not help herself but nod her head in acknowledgment, holding no desire to defy her mother. It was the only thing she could do in this scenario.
“So, what do you plan to do today, Hazel?” Evelyn asked her daughter.
Hazel didn’t even need a minute to ponder over her plans, because they were already made due to their current circumstances.
“Right now...I’m going to wait until we have to head back out to the city,” She declared while taking a look at the panel displaying the time until the Third Stage would begin.