I began rowing.
With each stroke, I pushed the seawater aside, moving both forward and backward as if scooping up water.

Splash! Splash!

The waves crashed violently against the raft.
If it weren’t for the ice reinforcement, my clothes would have been soaked.

Hoo... Hoo!

My arms ached.
It felt like I had done intense strength training.

But I didn’t stop.

‘This is no ordinary raft.’

The options were definitely paying off.

I’d never ridden a raft in my life.
But I knew it was impossible for a regular raft to reach this kind of speed.

I remembered challenges like crossing the Han River on variety shows.
The raft those celebrities used was nothing compared to mine.

‘At this rate, I could even beat a boat.’

What would happen if I increased the speed?
I became curious.

[Survival Instinct]

I activated the skill.
As my strength increased, so did my power to push the seawater away.
The speed gained momentum.

Phew... This is quick.

I caught the current.
I could easily reach the second island.

In the distance, I could see Yuki standing on the first island.
Like a dot, she was surrounded by ice flowers above her head, congratulating my safe arrival.

Shrrrk...

The display was as flashy as fireworks.

“…What is that?”

However, it didn’t fully capture my attention.

To the side of the first island I had stayed on, there was a previously unseen island.
I was shocked, much like when I discovered the second island.

‘…If I measure the distance, the other island is closer than this one. Why didn’t I notice it before?’

Yuki, who had taken a full look around this morning, didn’t notice the island either.
She seemed unaware of it still.

‘Could it be invisible?’

Maybe certain conditions had to be met to reveal the next island.
Just like how I couldn’t see this island yesterday.

“……”

I set foot on the second island, but there was nothing there.
I thought the Tower of Struggle would send some message or something.
It was completely quiet.

It seemed there were no rewards for arriving first.
Disappointing.

‘Maybe I was too hasty when I wasn’t sure.’

Now that I knew there was no need to rush, the results weren’t so bad.

I started by exploring the island.
I checked for any differences compared to the first island.

‘It’s a bit bigger.’

That was the first difference I noticed while walking along the beach.

‘The second thing is...’

The types of natural elements that made up the island were different.

Overall, it was still an uninhabited island, but there was something I hadn’t seen on the first island.

‘A glowing stone?’

Large rocks had glowing stones embedded in them.
It was such an unusual sight that it naturally drew my attention.

‘What should I do about this...?’

As I pondered, I felt a presence nearby.

─ Looks like the work starts again today.
─ A little more mining and we’ll be done. We’ll be able to leave soon.

It was the sound of people talking.
I could understand the conversation, but the language wasn’t one I knew.

This likely meant they weren’t Earthlings.

Should I hide?
I looked around, but there wasn’t really anywhere to conceal myself.

‘Pretend to be a Murim warrior.’

I’d lost confidence in pretending to be a Murim warrior after Yuki caught me last time.
But what else could I do?

If I revealed myself as an Earthling and they looked down on me,
I might snap and impulsively charge at them.

Hmph.

I cleared my throat and made my presence known.
Immediately, the group of people looked startled and turned to face me.

“What—what is this guy?!”

It wasn’t just one or two of them.
There were five in total.

I quickly scanned the types of creatures.

‘Two Orcs, two Hybrids, and one Elf.’

Considering the traits of the species I had encountered so far,
The Orcs were definitely the most dangerous to deal with.

Orcs were known for their aggressive personalities.
They didn’t care about their own safety and would charge in recklessly, even if it meant death.

‘Grash, the one I met on the second floor, was a strange one.’

It was an unexpected standoff.

‘Miners?’

The others were all holding pickaxes.
They weren’t equipped with combat-ready weapons.

They might have some crazy stats like the Golden Dagger,
But on the surface, their pickaxes looked pretty ordinary.

“……”

It didn’t take long to figure out that they were interested in the glowing stones.
The way they glanced over at the stone and not at me was obvious.

“…That definitely wasn’t there yesterday.”

They whispered among themselves.
Thanks to the Orcs’ vocal structure, their whispers were clear enough to hear.

‘Should I pretend to know? Or not?’

These were the players who came to the 3rd floor before me.
They were likely to have valuable information.

And I still didn’t know what the glowing stone was for.

“Do you need this stone?”
“……”

One word was enough.
Their expressions changed drastically.

A sigh of relief?

“You’ve only recently come to the 3rd floor, haven’t you?”
“How many days has it been?”
“Since you discovered the next island and crossed the sea, it’s probably been about two days, right?”

Despite their fearsome appearance, the Orcs were quite talkative.
Were they like Grash?

“We’re not your competition, so we’ll share some info.”
“……”

The Orc chattered away.
What could be described as a summary of the 3rd floor poured out as useful information.

“Did you get the map on the first island?”
“This?”

The Orc referred to the first island as “Island #1”.
The next island was “Island #2.”

“The island marked with an ‘X’ is the final destination. That’s Island #10. You need a boat to get there.”
“Yeah, that’s obvious.”
“Your raft won’t do. You won’t even make it to near Island #5 with that piece of junk.”

The Orc seemed to know exactly what kind of raft I had.

‘He probably crossed using a similar method.’

My mind raced.

‘The glowing stone embedded in this rock is a magic stone. A power source, right?’

A raft alone would have its limits.
I needed a larger and sturdier boat.

The trial on the 3rd floor was a treasure hunt.
It was clearly going to be a difficult process, and trying to finish it with just a raft would be pushing it.

“What do you mean by ‘we’re not competition’?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. We’re already on the way to the end of the treasure hunt for this year. There’s a huge gap between us and players who’ve just reached the 3rd floor.”

It felt like the season had changed, as if this was a new phase of the game.

“So, will you move out of the way?”

The Elf said gruffly as she approached the rock.
Despite the Elf race’s reputation for beauty, her face was dirty and weary-looking.

The two Orcs followed behind her, glancing nervously at the Elf.

“Cut him some slack. We haven’t had proper sleep for a few days and have been trying to find a way through the current.”
“If you wander around the 3rd floor’s sea, you’ll see just how tiring it is.”

The two Hybrids came over and apologized.
The Lunacolis I had seen on the second floor was a wolf, but these two had cow heads.

They didn’t look as menacing as the Lunacolis did when they bared their teeth.

‘Maybe it’s because there are no Beast-kin here?’

If Beast-kin were around, these two might have reacted like the Lunacolis did.

‘Not my problem.’

After all, Earth had slavery until the early 20th century, so what could I care?

Clang! Clang!
“Do you have any questions?”

While I was thinking, the Elf started mining with her pickaxe.
The magic stone fell with a clatter.

I watched the scene and then asked the question that had been bothering me earlier.

“I saw the island earlier, but then it disappeared.”
“Island #1?”
“I saw a new island next to the one I was on.”

Thinking back, it didn’t seem much different from the first island where Yuki was.

“The first island isn’t the only island in the area. There are a lot of islands. When a player sets coordinates and starts sailing from island to island, the island appears. Or, it can happen when certain conditions are met.”
“……”
“It’s a difference in perspective. A person standing on top of a mountain can see someone climbing, but the climber can’t see the person on top.”
“...There are many islands?”
“Island #2, Island #3, they’re all the same. There are lots of them. Only Island #10 is unique.”

The Hybrid cleared up my confusion.

‘Since I met the conditions to cross, Island #2 was revealed.’

To get to Island #3, I would have to meet the conditions on Island #2.

“Did that help?”
“…One more thing.”
“Sure, what’s your question?”
“The conditions to see Island #3.”
“Just find the coordinates.”

Each island has a dungeon.
In that dungeon, you find the coordinates to the next island and strengthen your boat to proceed.

“Thanks.”
“I hope it helped.”

The Hybrid smiled in satisfaction and walked toward the rock with his pickaxe.

The Elf nudged his arm with a scowl.
It seemed like she was giving him a hard time for slacking off.

‘The Elf’s pretty irritable.’

Still, I didn’t feel the need to say anything.
As long as they didn’t disrespect me, I had no complaints.

I stepped aside, offering the magic stone to them.

‘Besides, I don’t have a pickaxe.’

I thought I could chop wood with the Golden Dagger, but mining ore didn’t seem like something I should try.

‘First, I’ll head to the dungeon.’