I know that probably sounds like a silly question with a simple answer. But I'm curious.

I'm still not too far into the game, but I had a really good run recently. After dying to the first boss multiple times, I was able to beat the first boss, make it all the way through the second biome, beat the second boss, and then make some really solid progress into the third biome before I eventually died again.

Now I'm kind of hesitant to use shortcuts, because I still struggled in the third biome after that long run with lots of exploration. I'm worried that if I use shortcuts and bee-line it back to the third biome then I'm going to be undergeared / underleveled.