There was no way I was going to just sit tight and wait for the Bonger to regenerate. With the threat of those phantoms finding my hideout, I had to do everything in my power to secure a place for myself to run to! If I could facilitate the void to defend against the aquatic monsters, my journey to the neighbouring islands would be a lot easier!

"Eh… You do realise that I know everything that is going through your mind? Anyway, it would be for the best if you could avoid going as far as opening the rift leading to the void. Even if in theory you can survive it by simply looking away, you should not underestimate its prowess. You can imagine how overwhelmingly dangerous it is from the simple fact that it was its influence that temporary broke my restraints and allowed me to speak like I"m doing right now!"

Dang, that was yet another valuable piece of information! Even if using all the stuff that I was learning from Bonger to further my growth would potentially put me at the disadvantage of being fixated on a certain path, there was no way I would give up on the opportunity it presented! I was far too weak to enjoy the freedom of choice right now!

"As for your travel through the seas… Do I really have to spell it out for you? Just like some sailors in medieval history refused to travel through the oceans in fear of the legendary monsters like a leviathan, did you ever bother asking about the reality of its existence? How much powerful monsters could live near sh.o.r.es with most of the aquatic herbs and mana located in the depths? Do you think there was enough stupid beasts of this islands that dared to live near the sh.o.r.es for those powerfull beasts to base their livelihood on feeding on them? I hope you didn"t forget that contrary to humans, the beast needs food to survive! With that said, I"m off to sleep. See you in a few days!"

Just like before, I got the feeling of something fixing itself inside me. 

Bonger? You here?

Bonger?

Lightly calling out for the system didn"t yield any response. I didn"t want to pester him more after he stressed out how tired he was. There was no way for me to ever repay him for all the opportunities I got thanks to his presence, so the least I could do, was giving him ample time to rest!

But that settled it. 

I had no other choice than venturing to the neighbouring islands!

Just like the Bonger said, all beasts had to eat. No matter if it was herbs or other beasts, this was the only way in which they could replenish their energies, lost in fighting and every day living. 

And how much feed could they find near the sh.o.r.es? How often would they visit the surface level in search of the prey?

With those thoughts in mind, I ran to the tower, to grab some of the wood that I salvaged from the forest before it collapsed into dust under the influence of my parasitic core.

Binding the logs together with the cloth lines made by tearing up the makes.h.i.+ft bag that I brough from the arena city, resulted with a small, provisory raft. 

To be honest, as I looked at it lying on the dusty ground of the island, I couldn"t help but mock myself for my craftsmans.h.i.+p. Despite being able to create masterpieces of weapons and other bits of equipment, when it came to making something practical without system help, my creation looked like a wicked drawing that came out of a kids hand.

It was the first time when I realised that it"s possible to f.u.c.k up even just binding a few logs together!

But there was no time for me to waste on repeats. I didn"t know how long would it take for the phantom that I met or the organisation behind him to track me down. It was better to risk using this raft that meeting them unprepared!

Swallowing my artisan pride, I carried the raft all the way to the point of the sh.o.r.e that seemed to be the closest to the nearest island and dropped it into the water. 

As soon as it stabilised itself, I jumped with all my might on top of it, trying to make sure that this kind of weak turbulence wouldn"t affect my temporary vehicle. 

While the raft wobbled to the sides, it remained as one piece, prompting me to take out the single log that I cut into a plank and stat paddle.

I didn"t instal any mast on top of my silly boat. Not only would it require a lot of effort and skills that I lacked, but I also wasn"t a sailor by any means. Even if I knew that there were ways to steer the boat by moving the sails to different angles, I wouldn"t dare to use such a modern and complicated technique without any prior experience and while operating a makes.h.i.+ft raft at that!

Thankfully, as soon as I distanced myself for about one hundred meters away from the sh.o.r.e, I was picked up by a strong current, that almost managed to break the raft upon entering it!

I guess the idea to hold both sides with my own hands while lying down on the logs wasn"t as stupid as it would look from the outside!

Regretfully, while the current carried me really close to the island I wanted to settle, just as I was about to paddle my way out of it and direct my silly vehicle towards the sh.o.r.e, the direction of the moving water changed, making me speed up by the island, making half of the round around it!

Unwilling to give up and seeing that my destination was further and further away, I didn"t hesitate while raising one end of my raft and casting shockwave under it!

Obviously, as soon as the force attacked the loosely connected logs, the cloth gave up, and the entire thing fell apart. 

But that didn"t change the fact that all of those logs were forced out of the water, freeing themselves from the influence of the current, and fled towards the sh.o.r.e.

While I wanted to avoid it, there was no way for me to remain dry, with the landing point of the one log I held as if my life depended on it, more than two hundred meters away from the sh.o.r.e.

While I wasn"t attacked by any beast on the way, as soon as my legs got wet, I could imagine all sorts of monsters coming from the depths to feast on me. Just like back on the earth, the fear of the unknown was the greatest!

As the terror forced my body to pump more and more adrenalin into my veins, I started desperately swimming towards the sh.o.r.e. 

Two hundred meters doesn"t sound as much.

Back on earth when I had swimming cla.s.ses in school, even I was capable of traversing several lengths of the pool, covering a hundred meters in the water with ease. With my current, slim body and all the power from my statistics, the task should be far easier, yet the panic that was growing with every second that I was in the water, my moves lost their coordination, prolonging the time I was away from the dry land.

In the end, my journey to the island ended up without any other unpleasant hiccups, allowing me to finally crawl on the sandy beach.

Just in time to see two big groups of people killing each other with primitive weapons barely a few hundred meters away from me, on a gra.s.sy field deeper into the island!