Reed sat on the ground with a large book in his hands, his right hand holding a writing instrument.
He looked up at the wall in front of him, illuminated by two large lights and covered with letters and drawings that he didn't recognize from any language he knew.
He looked back down and drew in the last features of the face he had been copying.
'Could be nothing, but more information is always welcome.'
He was sitting between two stairways that led up to nothing on the side of the hill, a distance of 14 meters between them.
Fifty or so meters behind him were the remains of the golem he had spotted earlier, now dismembered and dissected. Pried apart by Reed who dug into it to see how it worked.
Reed wrote a few words, labeling the various parts he had left out of his sketch.
'This is going to take some time.'
Reed didn't know what to make of this world, but he knew that he couldn't trust the system in these matters.
Reed had been told that there were an approximate million other humans in this game, but the 'Gladiator' event had him doubting that fact.
If there were only a million humans, then there should not have been a hundred rounds.
That could only have occurred if one could still progress even after being defeated, but that seemed unfair to those who managed to defeat their opponent.
Afterall, what was the point of winning with great injuries if your opponent still manages to advance in greater condition?
Most of the opponents had been injured, but those who appeared after the hundredth round were barely like that.
They didn't seem fatigued, but most of them carried melee weapons, and even the best of the best would be tired after fighting a hundred rounds, even if all they needed was a few quick movements.
Reed had a theory that their energy had been restored by the system, but he did not know why it would do that.
But this diminished his trust in it, so he decided to keep an eye out for anything.
Like the wall he was sitting in front of right now.
It could be meaningless gibberish, or it could contain useful information.
If it was nothing, then he wasted some time, but if it was something, he might just gain something valuable.
'A bet I am willing to take.'
After all, he was quite confident.
'I have traveled over four hundred kilometers from my starting point, I doubt that many others have done the same.'
'With an increase in physical ability, players might be able to walk for twelve hours straight, but that increased capability needs food to function properly. Even if they did, the average walking speed is only about five kilometers per hour, meaning that even if they did walk twelve hours a day, they would have only traveled a maximum of a hundred and twenty kilometers.'
He could waste some time to see what all of this was about.
Lyn, on the other hand, could not.
She was currently two meters below the surface, the only illumination coming from a dozen small holes she made for ventilation, obscured by grass to anything that could see them.
She lay on a pile of sand in almost complete darkness, having removed the bigger parts of her armor so that she could sleep better.
She looked up at a ray of light entering her shelter and landing on her leg.
'This is horrible.'
The event had been tougher on her, having not experienced this kind of discomfort ever before, she would be lying if she said she didn't like the idea of just giving up.
[Would you like to give up?]
"Go away."
Her voice was tired.
'I can't give up, not so soon.'
She had managed to keep herself well-fed, and she didn't lack water.
'That's much better than most of the other players, right?'
But the quiet of the night did not answer her.
'This is acceptable, I can do it.'
She calmed down and began the breathing exercise that Reed had taught her to get to sleep faster.
She breathed in, counting the seconds in her mind.
'1, 2, 3, 4, 5.'
She held her breath.
'1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.'
She breathed out.
'1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.'
And then she breathed in again.
Repeating this a few times, she fell asleep within two minutes.
On the other side, Reed was busy digging out a hill.
A large part of the rock crumbled as Reed pulled out a slab from beneath it, revealing another wall and what seemed to be part of a doorway.
He cleared the rest of the area to reveal what was hidden underneath.
It was indeed a doorway.
Reed glanced at his radar to see if there was anything he should worry about.
Then his eyes glowed blue as he scanned the area behind the doorway.
The glow dimmed and vanished as he strode inside, a flashlight appearing in his hands.
He flicked it on and looked around the empty room.
There was nothing inside.
No furniture, no decorations, no other doors.
Not even more murals, it was just empty.
Reed tried to see if there was something hidden anywhere using various methods.
He knocked on the floor and the walls, he scrutinized every edge, he used [Celestial vision] just in case.
He found nothing.
"Haa..." He sighed loudly. "Guess it was a waste of time."
He was slightly disappointed by the result.
"But maybe not completely."
He gave another glance to the room, and smiled.
'This will serve for a good overnight shelter.'
It was embedded into the hill, making a defense easy, and he could easily block the only entrance.
The next few minutes were spent setting up ventilation similar to how he had made it previously, and half an hour later, Reed looked around his work.
'That's good enough.'
He removed his armor and lay down on a mattress, looking at the ceiling illuminated by a soft light from somewhere to the left of him.
'Today was not too bad.'