Yuki came up with an idea.
After hearing it, it seemed quite plausible.

‘…It seems that the ice she creates doesn’t have very good durability.’

Yuki is also a psychic specializing in freezing abilities.
She can summon ice blades, break down my ice walls, and perform other supernatural feats that are beyond the understanding of Earth’s scientific knowledge.

But why would she insist on using my Frozen Prison?
It would mean admitting that there’s a limitation in her abilities.

‘If I make an ice wall with my skill, it’ll be as durable as it gets.’

Unless someone melts it, it won’t break easily.

“I’ll give it a try.”

She used Frozen Prison to create an ice wall.

Cooldown time: 2 minutes. Mana cost: 100.
There wasn’t much of a mana burden, but the cooldown was a bit of a nuisance.

While waiting, I looked at Yuki’s creation.

“Is this the idea?”
Yuki had used her artistic sense to carve out a boat.

“Don’t they have ships like this where you’re from?”
“Yeah.”
“So then, what is this?”

Yuki’s boat was nearly finished.
But its shape wasn’t much better than a rudimentary sailing boat.

Despite the creative idea of using Frozen Prison, the result was rather disappointing.

“A ship, an aircraft carrier. You’re talking about big ships, right?”
“Since we’re going out by boat, it’d be nice if it was big and impressive.”
“…What’s the point of that, when you don’t even know what the interior’s like?”

Yuki chuckled and continued.

“Don’t you know how a boat moves?”
“Motor?”
“You don’t know how it works, right?”
I nodded.

“You don’t know, so how am I supposed to make it?”

Yuki could only create the boat’s appearance, the visible part.

“No matter what, even if it’s made, how would you operate it properly?”
“…In that case, we’d have to row.”
“There’s no helping it.”

Yuki got up, brushing herself off.

“Have you explored the island completely?”
“I’ve been around.”
“Just to be sure, I’ll check things out too.”

Yuki had come up to the 3rd floor last night.
She hadn’t fully grasped the structure of the island.

So she was still holding onto a fleeting hope of ‘What if there’s something else on this island?’

“Do as you like.”

I didn’t stop her.
It was important to confirm with our own eyes that there was nothing here.

While Yuki was running around, I didn’t just sit idle.

Time is precious.
We didn’t have the luxury to waste it.

‘Can this actually float on the water?’

I needed to check.

“Ugh.”

I pushed the boat with all my might.
It was incredibly heavy.

Considering the weight of the water, this much weight made sense.

[Survival Instinct]

I drained my vitality to enhance all of my stats.
With my strength raised to 60, I was able to push the two-person sailboat by myself.

I rolled my pants up to above my thighs, prepared to avoid getting wet, and launched the boat.

Splash—.

The boat floated up.
Fortunately, it didn’t sink or anything.

‘The first problem is solved.’

The second problem remained.

‘Whether it melts in seawater or not.’

I needed to know if this boat would maintain its form permanently or not.
It would be bad if it started melting after I set out on a voyage.

【10,030】

The durability didn’t go down.
Though the sun was shining brightly, the boat was fine.
There was no sign of it melting.

Thud—.

I struck the boat hard.
The durability dropped by 11.

‘If I hit it with the Golden Dagger…’

The final damage was 52.

‘It seems the damage only applies when I hit it with the intention to break it.’

If I just touched it lightly, the durability didn’t go down.

It was up to the Soul System’s discretion.
Since it was created by a skill, I had to rely on the system’s judgment.

‘A raft made of wooden planks was considered a vehicle, but this one doesn’t have any mention.’

Could it be that the ice sailboat wouldn’t be treated as a vehicle?
The system was quite strict.

I continued using Frozen Prison.
The more ice I had for materials, the better.
There was no need to conserve the skill.

The sand beach was covered in ice.
Unless I canceled the skill or reduced the durability to 0, the ice wouldn’t disappear.

Yuki returned.

“I can see an island over there.”
“…An island?”

I didn’t understand what she meant.

But my body moved before my mind could catch up.
I followed Yuki.

‘I’m sure there was nothing there yesterday.’

But then again, I couldn’t be sure the Tower of Struggle would show the same scene as it did yesterday.
It wouldn’t be strange if there were additional conditions.

On the opposite side.
The sand beach where I was staying had changed.

“Look over there. Do you see it?”
Yuki pointed at the horizon.
Not too far away, an island was floating.

‘…It’s closer than I thought. Unless you’re blind, there’s no way you’d miss it.’

The vague distance actually made it clearer.

That island must have appeared today.
Or it might have appeared last night, while I was distracted.

“Did you really search thoroughly yesterday?”
“Even if I only did a quick scan, I couldn’t have missed that.”
“That’s true.”

The distance between the island we were on and the visible island was ambiguous.

Yuki muttered the same thought I had.

“I think it might be possible to reach it with a raft.”

Having tasted the first and second floors of the Tower of Struggle,
Players who reached the 3rd floor realized the importance of challenge.
They experienced firsthand what it meant to be eliminated by standing still, and learned that avoiding everything was the worst possible strategy.

Including myself, we were all ready to do whatever it took to survive.
And we could act on that will.

It was possible to accept the harsh reality of crossing the sea on a poorly made raft.
Players who only complained were already dead.

“Still, our situation is pretty good. We can add stability to the raft.”

It felt like Yuki was explicitly hinting at the use of a raft.
So, of course, I had to use it.

Though, there was no need to just use the raft.
I would reinforce it with ice to improve its stability for sailing.

“First, we need to move the raft.”

I decided to return to where we originally left it and bring it along.
It took about 10 minutes.

It was a large raft, but it wasn’t too difficult to move.
Maybe because it was treated as a vehicle, it was stored in my inventory.

I anchored the raft toward the second island and reinforced it with an ice wall made by Frozen Prison.

‘The framework makes it easier to shape the boat.’

Yuki’s movements were fairly quick.
Scrape, scrape.
Her skill in shaping the ice walls was impressive.

“It helped to have made it once.”

Yuki straightened her back.

“Ughh!”

When she stretched, her ample chest became more prominent.

I turned my gaze and checked the raft.

I reinforced the bottom of the raft with ice, built sturdy walls on all sides, and added points at the front and back.

[Ice Spirit’s Raft (blue)][D]
Type: Vehicle
Stats▼
【Durability: 50/50】
Options▼
【Wind Adaptation Lv.3】
【Cold Resistance Lv.3】
【Acceleration Lv.2】

The information was updated.
When I used Frozen Prison by sheer force before, it wasn’t considered a vehicle, but now it was officially recognized as a ‘boat’.

I wasn’t sure whether I should be happy about the durability being 50.

‘Considering the raft had only 5 durability… this isn’t too bad.’

With the durability upgrade and the addition of three options, even an idiot would realize how great it was and shout “ Jackpot!”

“I have some paddles I made yesterday.”

Before I carved the wooden planks, I had made them.
I stored them in my inventory so I wouldn’t forget.

When I said I was ready to cross, Yuki stopped me.

“Are you planning to go right away?”
“If I can, I should.”

I quickly climbed onto the raft, not forgetting to grab the bananas I had taken from the tree.

“What’s the matter? Aren’t you coming?”

Yuki was standing there, blankly.
Out of courtesy, I asked her once.

Yuki said something.

“Have you never thought that other players might show up? Just like I did last night?”

It was a possibility, but I wasn’t worried about it.

“Why does it matter? Should I be concerned?”

What mattered to me wasn’t the other players.

‘What’s important is reaching that island first.’

Yuki seemed to be holding onto a lingering hope.
She seemed to be convinced that another player would show up.

‘It’s not a bad thing.’

Honestly, if I could get rid of Yuki here, it would be beneficial.
There’s no harm in stepping onto that island alone.

The tutorial had a first-clear bonus.
Who knows if something similar might be there.

‘Then again, there could be danger too…’

But I thought it was worth the gamble.

‘It’s still early in the 3rd floor.’

At this point, I was confident that the challenges wouldn’t pose a danger to me.

“Then stay here and wait for the next player. I’m going ahead.”
“Are you really going?”
“Yeah.”

Before Yuki could change her mind, I quickly began rowing.
Her figure grew more distant.